Dialing Plants In Coco

[whocares]

What method have you all found best to keep your ec and pH dialed in Coco. I typically see my pH and ec slowly climb. I'm feeding 5.7ph and 1.6ec and my runoff is between 1.9-2.1 ec and my pH is 6.1-6.4. Ideally I'd like to see my runoff and pH a little lower.


Do you prefer to get a little more runoff per feeding or flush once a week or so?

What's your feeding tip to keep plants in the happy zone

 

[cocoJoe]

You are feeding to heavy,, in my humble opinion..

Do you prefer to get a little more runoff per feeding or flush once a week or so?
What's your feeding tip to keep plants in the happy zone

Well I have done both methods.. I found you can feed the plants at ec 1.2-4 if you semi flush (not three times the pot volume) every 5 days and then wait 24 hours to feed..
I have gone to a semi flush every day before feeding at around ec 0.8 to 1.0..
Semi flushing is done with pH 6.0 water with 20 t0 30% runoff..
Both work but I am thinking feeding 4 or 5 days and then flush may be a little better for growth..

What ever you do ... best of luck to you.. :)

 

[jumpincactus]

You are feeding to heavy,, in my humble opinion..

Well I have done both methods.. I found you can feed the plants at ec 1.2-4 if you semi flush (not three times the pot volume) every 5 days and then wait 24 hours to feed..
I have gone to a semi flush every day before feeding at around ec 0.8 to 1.0..
Semi flushing is done with pH 6.0 water with 20 t0 30% runoff..
Both work but I am thinking feeding 4 or 5 days and then flush may be a little better for growth..

What ever you do ... best of luck to you.. :)

I agree with Coco even in flower that is a tad heavy on your ec

 

[whocares]

I agree with Coco even in flower that is a tad heavy on your ec

Ya know I agree with you both. In my experience 1.2 in veg has always been almost perfect for me.

This run I'm trying vegbloom. At 1.2ec most of my plants didn't look as happy as usual. But after speaking with HR I agree with them when they said bump it to 1.6. With vegbloom being a complete nutrient line I think you need to run a little hotter because there is a lot of extra things in there that a base wouldn't normally have.

I have 6 4x4 beds and I'm going to water them today and get ec/ph numbers and then water them again at the same strength and duration and collect numbers again.

Edit: here's the data

 

[whocares]

Results

 

[whocares]

I'm currently been watering for 2 minutes every other day. Today I basically watered for 4 minutes.

 

[Savage Henry]

Clean setup.

Organics mixed with salts do tend to make ec readings a bit unreliable.

@CelticEBE runs vb in coco with no runoff, maybe he can chime in on this matter.

When I've get runoff a bit higher than I'd like I'll dilute the Rez down day by day until it's like 0.2ec and run it low like that until the runoff drops to an acceptable level then resume normal feeding.

Your ph looks fine in my book.

 

[whocares]

Clean setup.

Organics mixed with salts do tend to make ec readings a bit unreliable.

@CelticEBE runs vb in coco with no runoff, maybe he can chime in on this matter.

When I've get runoff a bit higher than I'd like I'll dilute the Rez down day by day until it's like 0.2ec and run it low like that until the runoff drops to an acceptable level then resume normal feeding.

Your ph looks fine in my book.

Thanks for the love.

 

[MSH]

Damn that's a clean setup!!

 

[jumpincactus]

I'm envious of your op man. Very clean and tidy. Props +++ @whocares

 

[Wisher619]

do any of you feed multiple times a day in your coco or are you guys treating it like soil?

 

[cocoJoe]

do any of you feed multiple times a day in your coco or are you guys treating it like soil?

Yes,, depending on the plants needs.. Peace

 

[Wisher619]

Yes,, depending on the plants needs.. Peace

thanks....just wondering because I feed 3x a day to 10% runoff and I have never had a problem but I was reading above....
water every other day.....flush once a week....
never heard any of this before....well beside soil.....I have always treated my coco like any other hydroponic media

 

[whocares]

do any of you feed multiple times a day in your coco or are you guys treating it like soil?

Last run i did coco straight canna coco in 2gal pots. Vegged em for like 6 weeks. They were huge. I was watering once a day before flip. Then 2,3 and finally 4 times a day

 

[whocares]

thanks....just wondering because I feed 3x a day to 10% runoff and I have never had a problem but I was reading above....
water every other day.....flush once a week....
never heard any of this before....well beside soil.....I have always treated my coco like any other hydroponic media

i try to stick with the suggestion on canna coco bags thay say to water to runoff when 50% of the crop has lost 50% of its water.

I do look forward to feeding 1x-2x a day in the coming weeks.

 

[Wisher619]

i try to stick with the suggestion on canna coco bags thay say to water to runoff when 50% of the crop has lost 50% of its water.

I do look forward to feeding 1x-2x a day in the coming weeks.

yeah man so have I......I took a little sneak at this thread and found myself lost...like in the twilight zone........everyone I have ever come across treats coco like hydro media
and then I was reading above and started to get confused for a sec.....that'll teach me to not be wondering where I dont belong

 

[dirtyshawa]

I've been using coco for about a decade now and I've found answers to be all over the place on the boards. Personally, I just make sure my pH is accurate and checking runoff means absolutely nothing for me. Furthermore, I'm positive that you don't need to have any runoff. It's been years since I've had deficiencies in veg and the minor issues I do have in my grows is almost always when I add bloom boosters. Some strains can handle more, but typically I find it best to be gentle. Ime, using RO water and making sure my ph is 5.2-5.8 eliminates the need for a ppm or ec check of my runoff. The only other factors in getting things dialed in coco for me are understanding when said strain likes a specific nutrient. I foliar feed calcium everyday in veg until my plants are green enough. Too green, then straight pH'd RO. That protocol is the same in the flowering phase. I do add a smidge of nitro, after the stretch to bring me home. That's my method.

Edit: I also do this and it works great for me. Clones and seedlings are transplanted into 3gal pots as soon as they root. I saturate the pot completely and let them grow for about 7-10 days without having to feed or water. Coco retains water, so the root zones has the opportunity to exploded as fast as they can.

 

[CelticEBE]

Like dirtyshawa, I don't water to runoff. I used to, but then got into a situation where I couldn't so I adapted and now I am a firm believer in not watering to runoff.....why waste the water and nutes?

At first I was feeding three times, then just water with H16's finish, feed two times, then Finish and tea. Now I just lower my base and booster and feed 6 days a week then give them a tea.

I ramp up, and then down like I normally do.

One of the most important things I can tell you about Coco, is that you NEVER want to give it JUST water.

Things look good in there. V+B FTW!!!!

 

[whocares]

Today is day 14. The size+ finally showed up so i fed 4g ro/soft and 1g hd along with 1g of size+ at 5.7ph.

Heres a few pics and runoff/ph numbers. Top is friday and bottom numbers are today.

Plant pics are
1. Sour kosher, golden lemons and 24k gold
2. Golden lemons and djs gold
3.strawberry banana
4. 24k gold and florida og

 

[whocares]

Like dirtyshawa, I don't water to runoff. I used to, but then got into a situation where I couldn't so I adapted and now I am a firm believer in not watering to runoff.....why waste the water and nutes?

At first I was feeding three times, then just water with H16's finish, feed two times, then Finish and tea. Now I just lower my base and booster and feed 6 days a week then give them a tea.

I ramp up, and then down like I normally do.

One of the most important things I can tell you about Coco, is that you NEVER want to give it JUST water.

Things look good in there. V+B FTW!!!!

Glad you brought up tea. I tea with caps beanies and earth worm castings. I add the tea to a normal strength feeding. I add ca-25 and sea green to the foliar mix.

How do you feed you tea?