Rinsing Coco and hydroton?

[GanjaAL]

Should you use RO water or is Tap water fine?

My tap is pretty hard with a range in the 300's that last time I checked. Still new to all the science and might be over thinking this a little.

Thanks everyone as I am finally going to get this thing cranking.

 

[Confuten1]

Sup Al, hope all is well, I also have hard water 300-400 and I use it to rinse coco and hydroton. I have RO but dont use it to rinse because I would run out too fast and have to wait untill my 55gal drum refills. When i rinse im rinsing 60-80 gallons of medium at a time and use about 300 gallons of water. (GOD thats a alot and a waist).
hope this helps.

Confu

 

[GanjaAL]

Thanks brother... All is good in my neck of the woods. Finally getting ready to start. Time to rock this.

Thanks for the help on this.... I think I am working this to hard instead of just getting it done...LOL.

Yea I have a 75 gallon rez and spent to much on my growonix but rather have that on standby for nutes and tea. I am right there with you... 6- 15 gallon pots. Man that is alot..... I am going to use my tub when the wife is not home.... ahahahaha...LOL She would kick my but if she found out.

How goes it with you?

 

[Cort]

I wash with super hot tap.

I charge with PHed RO + mild nutes with extra dose of epsom. I charge the coco till ph and runoff are where I want them. Cheap dry nutes are fine for this.

 

[GanjaAL]

Sounds great Cort... will give that a try and will be using a fresh batch of Caps bennies FTW!

What is your ratio of Epson to gallons of chow medium?

 

[Cort]

I just make mix GH maxi bloom at about 1/2 strength, 5ml/g cal mag and add an extra spoon of epsom knowing the coco will absorb what it needs. I flush with that till in/out on pots is same ppm and ph, usually about 3 gal per 5gal smart pot.

I run 7.5ml/g cal mag for first week or so after transplant into new coco then back off watching for deficiencies. Im no pro by any means, but it seems to work.

 

[GanjaAL]

Thanks brother... we are all in this together. I am such a noob but learning everyday from the boards and books. Now it will be my second run and hoping coco is more forgiving. DWC was just to much going on that I could not get it fixed.

 

[JACKMAYOFFER]

Good info from Cort he is rite on never flush / pre charge coco with just RO always use base and cal mag. tAs far as Hydroton it should be washed seperate use a 32 gallon trash can with a bunch of holes drilled in the bottom and on the side. You can rinse with just tap. After athey are rinsed mix them in with the coco then pre charge your coco as stated above..JACK

 

[GanjaAL]

Thanks Jack... have not seen you around in a while brother. Thanks for chiming in brother.

 

[ttystikk]

Nice to see you, Jack! I have learned a lot from your posts over the last couple years.

I run a chowmix half Coco and half hydroton. It goes in 8" net pot bucket lids over 5 gallon buckets, which themselves make up my rdwc system. In addition to the water beneath, I run a top feed irrigation system with the inlet pump sitting in my headbucket, aka 'epicenter', pushing rdwc water onto the substrate. Not only do I never rinse my substrate from one run to the next, I leave everything but the old stalk in it! The system I've set up constantly flushes the substrate with whatever mix is in my rdwc at the time. Proof is in the pics;

 

[GanjaAL]

That is insane brother. I am just doing race tables DTW SCROG in 50/50 chow. Using Aquaflakes for its stablity and clean runs and mixing a seperate organic line that I was given but running that in a seperate rez. Also throw in some of Caps packs with a tea recipe done up in a DIY votex brewer. Hoping for a better run than my DWC that failed.

Line up is:

Rerserva Privada OG Skywalker

Fake GSC from BC bud depot (BASTARDS!)

and may toss in OG Raskal's WIFI I am not sure yet.


Getting excited as I need this up and running as I am tired of looking at an empty room smoking other peoples meds...LMAO!

Need to be smoking my own homegrown!

 

[Cort]

Yes, pre wash your hydroten before you mix it into your chow! I have old pots that dont have big holes in them that I use. Dump some water over the bucket with a bit of a shake till its clear.

 

[GanjaAL]

Yea I had planned to. Little confused though. Did jack mean not to rinse the coco at all and just charge?

Thanks again brother.

 

[Confuten1]

What coco are you using? some of it like cana and h&G coco dont need to be rinsed jus precharged as jack stated. most other coco is way to salty to not flush/precharge/

confu

 

[GanjaAL]

Canna.... so I will check it out. That company that hooked me up with those organics told me a great way to figure out way to see what is in it and if a rinse is even needed(just re-read it 15 minutes ago).... see what happens when I take the time to read the info people send me...LOL. Hoping for the best this round as you all know that the DWC was a complete disaster.

 

[Cort]

Just grab a small pot of it and rinse it with RO, check the ppm. You will know right away if you need to flush.

I rinse with super hot water to ensure I am bug free. Crank that water heater up to high for the afternoon and have at it. Im small time in a 4x4 tent tho. If you are production minded or have large quantities to do like Jack does, my little guy antics wont work.

 

[GanjaAL]

Yea... I have a soil sterilizer. It was a little pricey but I think it will be worth it in the long run. That is what I was told to do and as long as it was under 400 it was good to go. Anything more than that I was told to leach it and then charge it as not to have problems later in flowering dealing with calcium issues. Thanks again Cort as all of you are confirming what I have either read or been given advice to do. Love this board.... Best farming board ever.

 

[JACKMAYOFFER]

60% CANA COCO 40 % Hydroton feed 2 to 3 times a day in peak flower Drain to waist.Feed

 

[GanjaAL]

Jack... you are the man brother! Thank you so much for the motivational shot. Up early today getting things in order and ready. Hope mine comes out as tasty. I will be running 50/50 for simplicity but any particular reason you went 60/40? Just trying to pick your brain brother....LOL. Only thing I could think of was to save a little on the nutes watering only 2-3 times a day. Wow... is all that comes to mind. Thanks again for droping these picks in this thread.... I think by the looks of this have found the style of grow I would like to do for life.... I bet they were tastey too!

 

[JACKMAYOFFER]

Im in beds so I did 60 -40 works really good you can water as much as you want or a few times a day... In veg only once a day.. In flower 2 - 3 times a day. I have since changed all my room to some sort of chow mix some rooms I run more coco and less Hydroton some I run 60-40 Just depens on how much I want to water. I have had good sucess running Aptus once a week and Caps teas once a week the other 5 days just base and a little cal mag , Im also testing with Rock wool Crutons if it turns out good I will try a bunch of different ways with them.. JACK