Watering during Veg Coco

Hi

I've got 4 plants in veg
Under one 600w hps
They are in 12 or 15 litres pots

I'm using coco soil and coco A&B nutrients

Is it best to water and have a little run off or no run off at all?

And is it best to make sure all the soil is bone dry before watering again?

As its coco the soil is ginger colour and goes brown when wet so it's quite easy see when the top is dry

Thank you

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I've only been growing for 2 years, but I have read a lot on this subject.

I think you always want runoff no matter what medium you are using.This works as a mini flush each time to flush out accumulated salts. Also because the plant will use more of certain nutrients during different stages leaving behind an unbalanced nutrient ratio. The better drainage you have the more you can water and reset the balance. It can be a good idea to give them a good flush when switching to Bloom nutes from veg nutes. I use GH

I'd say that you want your pots to be light before watering, but you don't want the plants to be completely wilted. When the medium is very wet the plant cannot take in air to the roots. The plant basically drowns or suffocates. This is why we water heavily then let it dry out then repeat. During heavy flower we may need to water every day. It's during early veg that they seem to be most sensitive to over watering.

If your plants dry out too quickly you can add a layer of perlite or hydroton to the top.

There are different theories on watering. I use a coco/perlite 50/50 mix and feed everyday with run off everytime - I have never had to flush. If you mix the coco with perlite it is literally impossible to over water.

I've asked one of my mates who grows and he waters every 3 days until they are bone dry and he normally gets a good 4/5 oz per plant and he never goes to run off

He uses coco soil and coco A&B (which is why I got it)
He's got 12litre pots and waters them with under 2litre water then waits till they bone dry then waters again under 2litres water

He gets a 10litre water can puts 40ml A and 40ml B in it then waters 5 plants and still as abit of water in the can left which he throws away.

I've also read that over watering is far more dangerous that under watering your plant is that true?

aesthetics1990 said:

Hi

I've got 4 plants in veg
Under one 600w hps
They are in 12 or 15 litres pots

I'm using coco soil and coco A&B nutrients

Is it best to water and have a little run off or no run off at all?

And is it best to make sure all the soil is bone dry before watering again?

As its coco the soil is ginger colour and goes brown when wet so it's quite easy see when the top is dry

Thank you

Click to expand...

"A Guide to Growing Cannabis in Coco and Perlite
A “soil -free” growing medium.
For the purposes of this piece, I’m making some basic assumptions about anyone contemplating using this grow medium. They are:

• That you have a few successful marijuana grows under your belt, but feel you could do better – or that you have grown in soil and encountered problems.
• That you understand the wet/dry cycle.
• That you possess a pH pen, properly calibrated and use it every watering. Strips are not good enough – buy a pen. Don’t continue reading this til you have.
• That you are prepared to spend money on nutrients.
• That you are growing in pots, either under lights or outdoors."

http://www.growersguidetocannabis.com/a-guide-to-growing-cannabis-in-coco-and-perlite/

Oh blessed coco. Never let it completely dry. Once dry it's harder for coco to rewet unless you water reeeaaall slooow, otherwise the water likes to run through it. Let it dry some if you like but never dry. It's not good for the roots either. Depending on whether you are running pure coco or coco perlite mix can determine how often you feed/water. I feed everytime I water. Never plain water unless I am flushing. If unsure, practice lifting the pots to familiarize yourself with the weight to give you an idea of when to feed/water. Some say 10% runoff. Runoff is good. The key though to coco and runoff is that you are getting a good wetting of all of the medium. If the coco is dry lets say, and you water and see runoff, that does not mean you have good saturation. If your coco is dry you need to water slowly to get the saturation. What I did in the past was to give each plant a little watering then go to the next, making a rotation. I would do this until all the water was gone. This allowed a good even saturation. Lifting the pots helps learn/know when they are watered good. Then the runoff is legitimate.

Coco is a GREAT medium. I recently switched to coco chips on a drip system and am in love with everything about it. I can feed/push them harder and more frequently and they just grow like crazy. I say this in pretty much every coco thread I chime in on, but PH and calmag are your keys to success. If you don't PH to 5.7-5.9 everytime, or add calmag to every watering/feeding you can expect problems.

I can't see myself growing any other way other than possibly NFT as I want to do a vertical grow at some point. The only other reason I see myself growing in another medium is to try it, learn it, and master it. I would like to have all mediums under my belt in case I ever get the dream job of growing in a wholesale or dispensary grow op.

What he said.