Coco Thread!

[TokeItUpUk]

Just curious if anyone has used organic nutes in coco and how did you go about it? Did you still have to ph?

Reason I say this is because my organic bac nutrients say they work in both soil and coco.

Quite tempted to experiment on a clone.

[Johnny Innes]

So I'm doing my 1st coco grow, I'm using plagron roots, zym, and A+B, I also have a bottle of plant magic bloom boost which is pk13/14, do I need green sensation or canna boost/accelerator, I have a bottle of topmax would that work as a boost/stimulator?

Another question is, do I need cal/mag?

Thanks.

[tokenroll]

Stick with straight coco grow and bloom, a pk13/14, cal-mag if needed. The less shite you add the easier it is to get good results and resolve any problems.

[The Rogue]

Ive never used a nute chart growing in coco its better to read your plants as 90% of the charts way overfeed with a few twice as high ec/ppm as you really need. here,s wot i do.

rooted cutings = first watering 1mpl rootstim.

2nd watering 0.5ec vitalink plant start (thats including my 0.2 ec tap water) plus 1mpl rootstim takes the ec to 0.6 in total. give your starter pots just enough so your feeding everday.

when those pots are showing plenty of roots via the bottom pot up into 3 ltr pots and do the same except i up the vitalink plant start from 0.5 to 0.7 ec and 1mpl rootstim.

when they are rooted go into your final pots be them 6.5, 10 or 15 ltr pots assuming your plants are around a foot tall i start them on 1.0 ec veg nutes a+b plus rootstim, as they grow i keep an eye on the bottom fan leafs for any fading before uping ec, i never go above 1.5 ec in veg, when swiching to bloom i stick with the veg nutes untill week 2, that helps to stop early fading then switch to bloom nutes. stay at 1.5 ec and when you start using boost or pk i add them first to the new res and make the rest up with a=b bloom, imho you should never need to go over 1.6ec in coco. i then flush for the last 10 days 5 days with ripen, the last 5 pure water. job done and always cracking results.

reason for using plant start instead of veg nutes on newly rooted cuts/seeds is plant start is high in phosphorus and lower in nitrogen which helps the plants root faster as apposed to veg nutes a+b..

enzyme products i feed once a week, made up seperate to the res feed and top fed from a jug even though im growing drip feed in wilma,s.

pk boosts i use from week 3 to week 7, then overdrive week 7 and 8, then ripen week 9 and pure water week 10.

cal/mag should only be used if you have a deficiency, 0.2 ec for 3 days should sort that out,newer growers should take a little look at cal/mag deficiency pics to know wot to look out for. and lastly if your room is running hot and your struggling with high temps, lower your feed ec 2 or 3 so the plants can take in a little more water and dont get over fed.

job done and all is good.

The Rogue.

Edited June 12, 2015 by The Rogue

[Redeyezman]

Switching from crouton rockwool to coco next round. A few questions if you please. Trying to have smoothest transition using majority of what I have.

What I have:

1. FloraNova Grow

2. FloraNova Bloom

3. CalMag

4. Flushing agent. Use this once before start on only tap water without pH adjust.

5. Various size containers, to up pot.

6. A lifetimes experience with air pruning.

7. clay pebbles used for bottom/air layer

What I need: (i think?)

1. some root agent. can i use same one in veg and bloom?

2. root riots to start seeds. was using 1inch rockwool cubes with varied success. so looking forward to a simpler/healthier start.

3. can i continue my clay pebble bottom for air layer? about 3 inches generally.

4. I dont mind hand watering, and unsure if i should be top feeding, bottom feeding, or some combination of the two? I guess this is one of those personal preferences, but I hand carry all water, and try to keep no standing water to help with lower humidity...So considering that is top feed, and top water fine? Just track what comes out? I understand run off is always higher than what you put in, and not to go nuts over correcting.

5. all other advice is welcomed!

Thanks for reading.

[Guest]

I don't think you need a flushing agent for coco. It is really easy and quick to flush. Just regular un ph'ed water is fine. I wouldn't use anything except coco in those pots. all you are doing is decreasing your root mass by using anything else in there. I don't like root riot cubes personally , prefer pure coco with 1ml per litre of root stim, the H&G one to start.

bottom feeding is fine, I'd change the trays out every week though as salt residue tends to build up when they dry out.

Bottom feeding is amazingly easy to see when the plants need watering. It works. I'd make sure the plant is fully rooted out in it's pot first though.

[vegas16]

I've done rock wool cubes to start (from clones) then straight into the coco with a a few clay pebbles in the bottom for drainage, no way near 3 inches tho, maybe 1/2 to 1, max in about 7-8ltr pots (i think not 100% sure they're about 10inches across) its just what i was shown and never had any reason not to carry on, used weak coco a+b then building up (as per the online feeding chart with a bit of pk week 5) i hand fed them thro the top, KISS, had good results I'm happy with it and see no reason to change.

each to their own i suppose, i dunno if the feed you got will substitute the a+b but i don't think its expensive (the a+b) and its obv designed for coco by them so i dunno if cost is a factor and you trying to keep ur costs down if they're similar, i dunno maybe they'll be ok.

Edited September 28, 2015 by vegas16

[Redeyezman]

FloraNova came highly recommended few years back. Also, one of the winners of "Cream of the Crop" said FloraNova Grow is the best he's ever used in coco, but uses something else for bloom. I thought the challenges of PK with coco where just user error? The FloraNova Bloom works fine in my rockwool, I'm switching because water uptake. I think yields are lacking because lack of water. I hand water twice a day, and really cant make time for more. Love hand watering, and excited from the coming simplifications. Gonna be ak48regs. thinking 12/12 from seedling method. i got mh so can get nice node spacing on her, then switch to 1kfull specturm

[Mr PM]

Hi ya guys,

This will probably get merged, but thought I'd give it a go anyway.

I've read this and other posts, and just wondering with people do with seedling, I always seam to struggle with this bit, suffering from super slow growth and last time yellowing of the bottom leaves, are you watering them little and often or, flood and drain from day one and let them dry out or what?

Cheers guys

Atb✌

[dingo bingo]

I try to keep them moist when theyre young, not drenching the coco. Feed with Formulex at 0.9 EC.

[Gsyrup]

@Mr PM

I give them wet dry cycles, but don't start them in a relatively massive pot either. I half fill 1ltr pots then top them up as they stretch.

I only water the coco at the rooting stages when half of the weight has dropped after a watering, gives it chance to dry and the roots to grow but doesn't over-dry it too much and cause huge EC spikes in the medium and other problems.

[Mr PM]

Hi ya guys, thanks for the replies (hay that rhymes )

I've been starting them in 300ml pots,

Thinks it's the wet dry thing I mess up, worry that I've over watered, then panic and probably under water :-/ .

I know it's not really a viable question, but I'll ask anyway .

How long would a pot that size take to dry do you think?

Do you flood to run off every time @@Golden Syrup?

I've got a few extra seeds, so I'm going to run a little test for myself, and wonder which ways to go, I've popped a couple into some coco soaked and squeezed out with 2ml/l root stim, and a tiny shot of cal mag,

I've started a seperate post on it too, these two ways seam to be the main two, wet and dry(flood) and the little often approach.

How much, and how many times a day would you water @ dingo bingo

Hoping not to to buy anything new if I can help it, I will if I have to, but locally supplies are spares to say the least .

At the mo, I've got;

A+b (grow and boost)

Root stim

Bloom boast

Granules

Calmag

All pm coco

Made it through the last one, and hopefully make it through this one, but would be good to get it working abut smoother,

Those poor plants :-/

Atb ✌️

[Gsyrup]

@Mr PM

Its a bit too much of a "how long is a piece of string?" question imo so I can't help with that one, best thing to do is just test the weight of the pot by lifting it up every day, you'll soon get a feel for it. I always fully soak the medium when I water.

[dingo bingo]

As Golden Syrup says there's too many factors that vary day by day - you just need to get a feel for it. To help you get the feel you can use some weighing scales, water until run off then weigh. You'll want to water again when the pot is half the saturated weight. The important thing is to not let the coco dry out - it really stunts the plants.

That list of nutrients seems ideal! Only thing that may be worth adding is some Silicon (I use PM's Hydro Silicon and it works well at improving the plant's defenses). A lot of people recommend PM's Evolution foliar feed too but I haven't had enough experience with it to recommend it myself yet.

PS. When you say "I've popped a couple into some coco soaked and squeezed out" - you're not actually squeezing the coco are you? It helps a lot, especially at early stages, to keep the medium as fluffy and airy as possible. Eg. water with a fine rose and don't push the coco/medium down when potting up.

Edited February 16, 2016 by dingo bingo

[Owderb]

Providing you are not putting plants into pots that are far too big then my advice is water till run off every time, even seedlings when in small pots want watering till run off

Wait till they are around 50% dry and water/feed again. I f they are drying too quick its either too hot and dry in the room or the plant is probably too big for the pot

Owd