New to COCO, wanna help?

diggs99

diggs99

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone.

I am about to switch from FFOF soil to Coco DTW. I have been reading this section lots and have alot of the basics sorta figured out. Had a few questions, was hoping some of you more experienced coco growers could help me out with.

Has anyone used the House and Garden Cocos as their medium? good or bad? H&G seems to be a good brand in this game, it was the only kind our shop sells. I bought 1 x 50L bag for 25.00 Anything special i need to know?

Should i be using H&G nutes with their Coco or does it not matter?
I have the General Hydroponics Flora series already, but will go with H&G if thats what works best. Will be using h&g roots excellerator with whatever line i run.

I dont have any idea on how to automate watering just yet, i have looked into the blumats and am venturing down that rabbit hole now. For now i will just be hand watering and using drain pans for run off.

Ph 5.8-6.0?
Water with nutes everytime to 10-20% runoff
Cal mag is a must
dont let the coco dry out

Im sure theres a thousand other things im gonna need to know and learn along the way. If theres anything real obvious im missing, please use this thread to fill me in, im like a sponge lol

Also looking for best/simplest setups you guys are using for your DTW, im sure some of you have some amazing setups going on.

Thanks for reading and for any help you wanna throw my way.
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
Hey Diggs, welcome to what I consider the best grow medium out there.
No matter which coco you use, some say you can use it right out of the bag, buffer it.
Anytime coir is used I would still buffer it with Cal/Mag and pH'ed, low nutrient solution and lot's of it. I run Canna Coco and it is well buffered and clean but I still when potting do a long heavy flush with the above mention solution. I run Smart Pots and prior to planting the pots are filled with coco lightly compacted then flushed with multiple gallons of the solution two to three times. Will sure save you problems in the future.
This is JMHO after using coir for years, I love it, to me it is one of the best grow mediums.
Good luck on your grow and hope you find your answers, and if you don't you will still figure it out and grow some stellar cannabis.
 
diggs99

diggs99

Well-Known Member
gr865 said:
Hey Diggs, welcome to what I consider the best grow medium out there.
No matter which coco you use, some say you can use it right out of the bag, buffer it.
Anytime coir is used I would still buffer it with Cal/Mag and pH'ed, low nutrient solution and lot's of it. I run Canna Coco and it is well buffered and clean but I still when potting do a long heavy flush with the above mention solution. I run Smart Pots and prior to planting the pots are filled with coco lightly compacted then flushed with multiple gallons of the solution two to three times. Will sure save you problems in the future.
This is JMHO after using coir for years, I love it, to me it is one of the best grow mediums.
Good luck on your grow and hope you find your answers, and if you don't you will still figure it out and grow some stellar cannabis.
Click to expand...
Thanks gr865

appreciate the info/advice

I had seen that mentioned in my researching travels, like you said, most claim they can use straight out the bag without issues, im kinda like you, take the extra precaution to avoid future issues. So thanks, ill keep that in mind for sure.
 
diggs99

diggs99

Well-Known Member
gr865 said:
Sorry for butting in, but you can use any good quality coir, so long at to buffer it well! I would not use any bricks though, JMHO.
Click to expand...
Thanks gr

Ya the shop I buy from only sells bags of H&G , no bricks

I think I'll do as you suggested regardless and buffer it.

Another question if you don't mind.

How are you guys starting seeds after germination?

Direct to coco?
Rapid rooters?
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
I do direct in coco.
20170929_100830 (2).jpg

I soak them for 24 to 36 hrs, punch a shallow hole, plant, then use a mister ever few days just to dampen the area. Usually takes only a few days to sprout.
 
diggs99

diggs99

Well-Known Member
gr865 said:
I do direct in coco.
View attachment 4291968

I soak them for 24 to 36 hrs, punch a shallow hole, plant, then use a mister ever few days just to dampen the area. Usually takes only a few days to sprout.
Click to expand...
Once sprouted, you begin with light ppm nutes?

Are you DTW? got any pics of your setup? id love to go automated, still reading up on it yet
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
No nutes, I use RO so I prep it, 1 gallon, .5 gram of Epsom, .75 ml GH CaliMagic . I use a regular spray bottle, mist them one to two time per day, and since I keep a fan blowing on them to help strengthen the stem the top tend to dry out so I check it days an if looks near dry to the seed lever I use a 60 ml oral syringe and just damper the area around the seed, once sprouted I lightly water around the seeding when it needs it. You want to get the roots stretching for the water. Same as in soil. Good roots, good grow results.

I do run DTW and auto drip.
Here are a few pics of my setup. I have changed rez's, now have a 27 gallon Commander, that serves double duty as it is also the rez for my cloning machine.

The rez Untitled.jpg

The 8 port mainfold
20181005_095126 (2).jpg

The 24 port manifold
20190110_195517 (2).jpg

The reason for the 24 port manifold, my current grow.
20190120_125655 (2).jpg
The dripper setup
20190126_210651.jpg

I will not be running 24 again, max will be 16 but mostly 8 plants.
You can see my latest grow in my sig.

Good luck there!

GR
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
Those are the emitters for the 24 plant grow, I use a different setup for my 5 plant vertical grows.
I use the 8 port manifold for my vertical grows, pic above.
These are the emitters I use for my 5 plant vertical and 8 plant horizontal grow.
20181005_095120.jpg
 
diggs99

diggs99

Well-Known Member
Oh wow man, thanks so much for that detailed description of your setup

It looks nice and clean. Awesome job

I will be examining your pics for a while lol
 
TintEastwood

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
Nice setup, gr865. I like your style.

And ya, that h&g is perfect. Once you know (do your homework) about coco, ca, mg, cations, yada. Good to grow.

Still.....deficiencies can happen, be prepared. bongsmilie

My barebones coco cmh/co2 grow.
20190227_172544_HDR.jpg
 
JohnDee

JohnDee

Well-Known Member
gr865 said:
I would not use any bricks though, JMHO.
Click to expand...
I've used bricks with no problem. You just need to flush with lots of tap water to ensure Na is at low level. Then just do a calmag flush as per usual.

@diggs99 Looks like you've done your research well. Can't comment on your coco brand but you are not required to use same brand nutes. Only real caveat is to avoid pure RO water flush as it will undo calmag buffering.
JD
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
TintEastwood said:
Nice setup, gr865. I like your style.

And ya, that h&g is perfect. Once you know (do your homework) about coco, ca, mg, cations, yada. Good to grow.

Still.....deficiencies can happen, be prepared. bongsmilie
Click to expand...
Yeah TE, sounds like is on track.
I know some will disagree with me, but I believe Less is More.
I run Canna nutes, but can be adjusted for whatever nutes you use.
I run 200 to 250 ppm base nutes in veg and 300 to 350 in flower. most everything else is per recommendation, Cannazym, Rhizotonic, Boost (at their suggest mid range), PK 13/14, Calimagic, Epsom, Drip Clean and at least a weekly Great White treatment.
This was my last worksheet. I have changed a lot of things since my last few grows, I was getting burn during the latter part of the grow. Changing the runoff also, I had been trying to reduce my runoff, big mistake, now I am at least getting 30%.
20190301_164959 (2).jpg
GR
 
W

watts11

Active Member
gr865 said:
Those are the emitters for the 24 plant grow, I use a different setup for my 5 plant vertical grows.
I use the 8 port manifold for my vertical grows, pic above.
These are the emitters I use for my 5 plant vertical and 8 plant horizontal grow.

why the change in dripper? do the axle ones nit flow well with the extra plants?
also you don't need to have more your runoff if you flush often
Click to expand...
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
My pump is only 1.2 gallon a minute @ 80 psi, so not enough volume. This setup for 24 plants works well, but I like the distribution pattern with the Rainbird stream rotors the best and will go back to them when I run my 5 plant vertical this next grow.
Your right about the run off, that is why I have increased the runoff volume for each of my cycle times.
 
diggs99

diggs99

Well-Known Member
im considering running either H3ADs formula or the Lucas formula with GH flora series i think. I like the simplicity of things , its easier for a newbie like myself to keep things under control but still learn as im going lol

I already have that line here at my house, so if theres no reason to buy other nutes ill just use these up this first run in coco.

I have In my cupboard

GH flora Grow/Micro/Bloom
GH Amor Si
GH Koolbloom
Botnicare Cal mag
Mykos

Anything on this list not needed? or anything missing that i should add?
 
TintEastwood

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
Good stuff to start with since you have it. I used it for several runs, including an outdoor on head formula.
Now I use Mega Crop as my base nutes. (in addition to using GH Si and CaliMagic, dry koolbloom as needed)

H3AD - 2017. It works.
Orchard.jpg

Cola-Town.jpg

7 Gal stuffed phatness. lol
Trunkage.jpg
 
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