Beds Are For F***ing! Small Pots = Big Buds!

[symbiote420]

This is my SFV/(Star Dawg F2) vegged for 4 weeks and topped on the 1st day of bloom in a 3 gallon......

..... that pic was taken on the 2nd, I'll get some recent pics of her tonite at day 59. And she's going 70!

 

[GrowGod]

2 gallon coco smart pots for the win!!!
Only way beds work with coco is if you have a shit ton of plants in that bed.

 

[caregiverken]

Great work guys!

Ive never grown in Coco
1 gals would never work for me in soil
if your watering/feeding twice a day, that's pretty much hydroponics isn't it?
I've seen guys rock the 1 gallons though guys like @MakinGoo gro dank in one and 2 gallon pots

 

[MrBelvedere]

Is there different grades of coco? Like sometimes it's fine and sometimes it's coarse and sometimes it's very coarse? It seems like most people have great luck with pure Coco but sometimes it looks like it's ground up very fine and needs perlite? Curious about that Thx.

Great pictures in small pots, awesome.

 

[GrowGod]

2 gallon smart pot coco :D this one has a few more days of flush

 

[GrowGod]

Is there different grades of coco? Like sometimes it's fine and sometimes it's coarse and sometimes it's very coarse? It seems like most people have great luck with pure Coco but sometimes it looks like it's ground up very fine and needs perlite? Curious about that Thx.

Great pictures in small pots, awesome.

Pure coco as long as your in small pot you will be fine. As far as different sizes the chibky coco is hot with salts every time I have tried it. Always use the good stuff that's risned properly and is ph'd accordingly

 

[symbiote420]

Great work guys!

Ive never grown in Coco
1 gals would never work for me in soil
if your watering/feeding twice a day, that's pretty much hydroponics isn't it?
I've seen guys rock the 1 gallons though guys like @MakinGoo gro dank in one and 2 gallon pots

Yeah the only way a one gallon would work for me is if I flip em right after cloning lol

I'm not in coco I grow in lightly amended soil and I topdress with different dry meals like seabird guano, 5-8-4 Fruit & Flower, kelp, ewc, etc.... with a huge plant being in a smaller pot it needs plenty to eat, plus they'll drink much more efficiently as well. The microbes at and just below the drip line are like piranha, they'll ravage anything organic they come in contact with the topsoil (every seen what a leaf or paper thats landed on it looks like?) organic inputs = organic production.

 

[xPeacePipex]

Their are a few types of coco due to processing and manufacturing byproducts. We have coir the finest, it can even be almost dust like. Next their is birdnest or loose thread, then we have chips and more. It can be processed into just about anything from mats to containers and more.. I have always liked the fact that it is a renewable source and cheap too..

I do have to say like Symbio nailed it spot on in his response a few posts back. I would have to say the same thing if explaining the reason why coco has its advantages over other types of media .I found the gnats to be an issue even when using salt based nutes and straight coco. I wound up using Hyposapis Miles (Soil predator Mites) in order to keep the little flying Nemesis under control. I still keep them now that I am in a vegan only coco based soil.. I let it age for 6 months min and it really is chucked full of microbial life and thanks to the coco I never have anaerobic soil no matter how much I water or feed..

Another aspect most do not mention or know too much about with coco is bottom feeding. You can let a plant feed continuously this way no matter if it is hydro based or organic.. I make living soils utilizing coco more then anything else. I limit my peat in the formula and I use only the finest aged compost as well before I let it compost for another 6 months.. One can supercharge coco in many different ways and I see it having a level of better then hydro if you know how to rock it and keep it at just the right tension .. Some people find a tensiometer to help then but I use my own feel and experience has been my best guideline through the years with coco..

 

[xPeacePipex]

Oh as well the reason why some Coco is salt ridden would be partially due to the fact that farmed green coconuts are boiled in a brine in order to remove the husk easily. Then there are the coconuts collected on the islands and seashores. These will be salt ridden from the sea itself. Next up is the aging and piling that some coco is subjected to through the ages of decomposing it is often exposed to salty water in the air. Their have been piles of coco in Sri Lanka for over a hundred years. Talk about having value lol.. Long story short the coco industry here is not too regulated and the majority of it comes from Sri Lanka and this is probably the best of it all from my experiences.

I have purchased some of the off shot shit sold as coco and I wont mention brands. But many are poor quality and most likely the bottom of the listed above in the sense of being salt ridden and filled with other contaminants like sticks and stones as well as rock salt- seen this too.. I have also looked into coco sold in the herptoculture industry being that I breed reptiles along with cannabis. I spoke with some of the largest suppliers in our field and they too rely on the same coco that I do as salt in excess is no good for amphibians, arachnids and reptiles kept on coco as a bedding for cage or when used as soil base for terrarium setups.. I may be buying bales from this direction soon as they offer them in bulk cheaper then anywhere else I can find.

 

[stonestacker]

Damnit prime now I'm rethinking my rock wool.

 

[MGRox]

Great thread @Prime C ......... I'm in soil though, you coco guys got a major leg up cause while peeps are being lead to believe it's more roots equal more fruits in my tad over 39 years of gardening my observations have been the more you're able to water the bigger the harvest! Some think it's the force feeding that fuels the growth in plants..... main reason hydro yields are bigger than soil is water!
....

Bingo! I was reading some stuff recently that in by no means compares to years of experience, but was pretty much saying that. It's not worth bringing up the paper for this, but they stated that in hydroponics; the most significant factor of final yield was related to pot size and watering frequency.......that's it!!! (and this was a paper investigating nutrient profiles too!!)
Edit: urrr uhm. Of course considering environment and medium is within ranges (ph, temps, nutes etc).

 

[Prime C]

Great thread @Prime C when I finally got my mind back right I had to do a complete 360* ........veggin' plants three to four weeks, two weeks in a solo, two more in their final 3 gallon home before the flip and I'm watering once or twice everyday. Strain dependent I've got anywhere from 4.5 - 10!! I'm in soil though, you coco guys got a major leg up cause while peeps are being lead to believe it's more roots equal more fruits in my tad over 39 years of gardening my observations have been the more you're able to water the bigger the harvest! Some think it's the force feeding that fuels the growth in plants..... main reason hydro yields are bigger than soil is water!

Smaller pots allow you to give your gals much more water in soil or soilless mediums without the risk of disease and pathogens like root rot, etc. If you're running organics just take counter measures for the fungus gnats lol I use neem cake, Sea-90, and Gnatrol faithfully.

It totally goes against the grain when thinking a larger root mass is better. Only down side to the smaller pots is tipping over!

@caregiverken the multi feed does change it to hydro of sorts. The difference is the coco. It produces top quality big buds not lacking in density where in my experience hydro lacks the density. I dont use any boosters just steady Eddy on the nutes. And to get the added benefits of organic I try to use a tea once a week. But that doesnt always happen lol! I get a little lazy when they are just stacking on cruise control. :p

 

[ClassV]

Great thread. This affirms some things I've noticed and wondered about while learning to grow. Coco has been a good medium for getting started, but it has a learning curve of its own. Thanks for posting this!

 

[Prime C]

Bingo! I was reading some stuff recently that in by no means compares to years of experience, but was pretty much saying that. It's not worth bringing up the paper for this, but they stated that in hydroponics; the most significant factor of final yield was related to pot size and watering frequency.......that's it!!! (and this was a paper investigating nutrient profiles too!!)
Edit: urrr uhm. Of course considering environment and medium is within ranges (ph, temps, nutes etc).

Nice info thats spot on what im talking about. The cation action in the coco is a nice organic/hydro combo.

 

[Prime C]

Is there different grades of coco? Like sometimes it's fine and sometimes it's coarse and sometimes it's very coarse? It seems like most people have great luck with pure Coco but sometimes it looks like it's ground up very fine and needs perlite? Curious about that Thx.

Great pictures in small pots, awesome.

I like GH brick coco. Nice and course is the best with some added growstones or perlite. Rinsed with half strength veg.

 

[Skoosh]

@Prime C:
So, you're chopping at the end of the month?
Would you mind taking pic of the root mass, please?
Props in the meantime, for sure!
@xPeacePipex:
Excellent information, thank you for taking the time...

(EXCELLENT signature line, BTW!)
Sk
;-)_~~

 

[ftwendy]

Nice discussion guys. We're all on the same page I think.

Frequent cycling from 100% saturated to 50% dry is the foundation of all nutrient film technique (that's what you're describing @Prime C and the 'almost hydro' that @caregiverken mentioned).

Size restricted root zones and porous media encourage rapid drinking which let the upper portion of the roots dry out a bit, and that drying action draws in a breath of fresh air/oxygen between waterings as the water is transpired up and out of the plant. The frequent dosing and drying cycle keeps the lower portion of the root zone replenished often with nutrient rich water, and the top portion sucking in gulps of fresh air. It's all about the upper and lower portions of the root zone having the right input at the right dosing frequency.

Bear in mind that the plant wants fresh air at the top and access to clean nutrient laden water at the bottom of the root zone, and you're on the right track. The trick to successfully applying this idea is to encourage your plants to COMPLETELY colonize the entire root area that you provide... once the root zone is full you can start watering more than once per day, and that's when things get exciting.

 

[ftwendy]

I need to correct myself: NFT is all about constant exposure to a very thin pool/film of nutes.....not so much the dry/wet cycle I described above, but the idea is the same for all plants grown in soilless media: frequent exchanges of air and nutrients make for bigger plants.

 

[brimck325]

multiple feeds = lot of oxygen too

 

[souf69]

I can't load my pic, says something bout an extension. I run one gals in coco, four days veg. I pretty regularly hit between three and five zips a plant.