HOW TO WATER COCO FOR BEST RESULTS.

[Aqua Man]

Awesome thread with an awful lot of informative material.

I still have a couple of questions.
From what I’ve read, this advice is for those who are growing is straight Coco Coir.

is it the same for those of us who are growing in an Amended Coco Mix?
For example, the Coots recipe with Coco as the base media, instead of Peat?

For organic or slow release amendments I would say no.

 

[Aqua Man]

i am pretty sure i didnt hear that from him.

I'll find it for ya... its in the ideal growing conditions video he did.

 

[Aqua Man]

At 22 min.

 

[Jbrodigan]

How big of pots and how much perlite?

Environmental factors also need to be in a good place. Especially temps.

5 gal smart pots with a 70/30 coco to perlite mix. Temps were easy to balance. I was running an average between 74-78° lights on and easy 10° lower lights off. Exhaust constantly running. 60-65% in veg, and 40% in flower. Using a luxx 645 pro led. Just started another run. I was reading from happy pot farmer to let the coco dry out after transplanting clones. Seriously so confused. I honestly appreciate any help brother!

 

[Aqua Man]

5 gal smart pots with a 70/30 coco to perlite mix. Temps were easy to balance. I was running an average between 74-78° lights on and easy 10° lower lights off. Exhaust constantly running. 60-65% in veg, and 40% in flower. Using a luxx 645 pro led. Just started another run. I was reading from happy pot farmer to let the coco dry out after transplanting clones. Seriously so confused. I honestly appreciate any help brother!

Yeah in 5 galni would be at 50/50 coco perlite. The bigger the pots the more aeration you need to add. With LED you need to run warmer like 80-84f imo 64f at night is to cold for optimal growth and uptake in coco. It will work but not optimal.

 

[MIMedGrower]

At 22 min.

wow thanks i missed that.

 

[amekins]

Yeah in 5 galni would be at 50/50 coco perlite. The bigger the pots the more aeration you need to add. With LED you need to run warmer like 80-84f imo 64f at night is to cold for optimal growth and uptake in coco. It will work but not optimal.

Well this makes me super happy. Daytime 82-84 F, night 69-72 F.

 

[StealthLED]

I am glad you posted this. I have been looking for a solution for testing without trying to catch runoff. I will look into the Bluelab device some more, its the first I heard of it. Also glad this thread came up as I was just beginning to try and create a new schedule for the flower room. The veg room is easy, I just run an event every 8 hours. My plan was to run an event 30 minutes before lights on, another full event at 6 hours and then a final one about 45 minutes before lights out but not a full event.

I should add that these are in 2 gallon fabric pots.

Best £180 I've spent in a while! No more chasing runoff numbers it's great

I did a test the other day and this shows how important it is to keep coco around 90%+ saturated (some of mine do drop into the 80's not all plants dry at the same pace) I took a few feeds out from the schedule and let coco dry to around 60% and within 24 hours the ec had jumped from around 2.0 to over 3.0. I didn't flush just added the feeds back in and within 24 hours they was back to my input ec levels.

What I also found is feeding at 1.4-1.7 with little to no runoff I could let the coco dry to around 60% and the ec would drop in the pots, when increased to 2.0 if the coco dropped to 60% buildup would happen. Some might say 1.4-1.7 is a good level to feed at because ec is dropping so they're eating all that's being given, but I'd rather push my plants just that little bit and from what I'm seeing it's working.

It's a brilliant tool I know exactly what's going on in the root zone, I have 3 plants that I'd grown from seed the ec drops so fast in the pots after a feed that Im now having to feed them at 2.8ec and the ec is still dropping slightly, before I had the pulse I thought I was over feeding them because the buds just wasn't really growing, since I've upped the ec for them I've seen a increase in growth

 

[amekins]

My fabric containers are small—1 gallon. No perlite. I’ve been feeding 250 ml twice daily and more than half comes back as runoff. Could I safely drop to once a day now while they are really small until under that runoff drop some? First thoughts are it’s exposure to O2, but they’re pretty good with that in coco as is, if I also understand correctly. And how does one check the ppm of 25 ml?

 

[Aqua Man]

My fabric containers are small—1 gallon. No perlite. I’ve been feeding 250 ml twice daily and more than half comes back as runoff. Could I safely drop to once a day now while they are really small until under that runoff drop some? First thoughts are it’s exposure to O2, but they’re pretty good with that in coco as is, if I also understand correctly. And how does one check the ppm of 25 ml?

If your getting more runoff than need you can feed less often.

For ppm of 25 ml I have multiple plants but tall narrow container if need be add 25ml of distilled then multiply the reading by 2. Or just feed a bit extra when checking

 

[Fudge]

My fabric containers are small—1 gallon. No perlite. I’ve been feeding 250 ml twice daily and more than half comes back as runoff. Could I safely drop to once a day now while they are really small until under that runoff drop some? First thoughts are it’s exposure to O2, but they’re pretty good with that in coco as is, if I also understand correctly. And how does one check the ppm of 25 ml?

I feed much less often when they're small and root zone is still developing, I don't fully saturate the pots until then either, once roots are out bottom of the pot, I give them a good soak to run off of about 50% twice in case of any build up while I was just feeding a cup or so at a time. Add some beneficials and then I'm good to go.

 

[StealthLED]

I used let my run off drain to a tray if it was a small amount I'd use a cap from a air fresher or hairspray cap to check ec/ph.

This is my watering schedule for 1 gal fabrics in flower... (in veg I started at once every other day after a few days went to every day after a week or so twice a day and worked my way up like that)

6pm lights on
7pm 610ml. little run off on some plants
8pm 225ml. Nearly all 50ml run off
9pm 225ml. All with run off
10pm 225ml. All with run off
11pm 225ml.
12am 225ml
1am 225ml
2am 225ml
3am 225ml
4:30am 600ml
6am lights off
12pm 225ml. To keep coco moist when lights off

On next run I will be having lights on in the day time to track all run offs better, I've always had lights on in the night to keep room temps down because I've only been using a AC for past 12 months.

 

[amekins]

I used let my run off drain to a tray if it was a small amount I'd use a cap from a air fresher or hairspray cap to check ec/ph.

This is my watering schedule for 1 gal fabrics in flower... (in veg I started at once every other day after a few days went to every day after a week or so twice a day and worked my way up like that)

6pm lights on
7pm 610ml. little run off on some plants
8pm 225ml. Nearly all 50ml run off
9pm 225ml. All with run off
10pm 225ml. All with run off
11pm 225ml.
12am 225ml
1am 225ml
2am 225ml
3am 225ml
4:30am 600ml
6am lights off
12pm 225ml. To keep coco moist when lights off

On next run I will be having lights on in the day time to track all run offs better, I've always had lights on in the night to keep room temps down because I've only been using a AC for past 12 months.

So I’m going to have to water them that often??? Holy duck. I don’t know if I can manage that.

 

[StealthLED]

So I’m going to have to water them that often??? Holy duck. I don’t know if I can manage that.

Obviously it's on a timer mate lol
I also run led lights so my room is around 85f day and 75-80f night so that will make my pots dry out faster than a hps room at 77f

 

[amekins]

Obviously it's on a timer mate lol
I also run led lights so my room is around 85f day and 75-80f night so that will make my pots dry out faster than a hps room at 77f

Mine are hand watered. Day temps 80-84, night 69-72 F. Currently? More than half of the 250 mls twice a day (12 hrs apart) comes back as runoff.

 

[StealthLED]

Mine are hand watered. Day temps 80-84, night 69-72 F. Currently? More than half of the 250 mls twice a day (12 hrs apart) comes back as runoff.

Id say roots not established yet, shouldn't see much dry back with those cooler night temps. I used great white so my roots exploded really quick. Once them roots do get established in them pots you can get away with less watering than me but you will need a lower ec but then you won't get the hydro style fast veg and this might also have a impact on yeild.

 

[StealthLED]

If you do continue to use small pots get a irrigation setup mate, mines a cheap setup but works great. 13mm flex pipe looped from a pump in my res with these 13mm to 4mm cross connections going to wilma blue open ended drippers and a Nearpow timer (does seconds)

 

[Fudge]

Kelp extract is also cracking for roots, foliar spray is best I find, it's saved me a fortune on rhizatonic.

 

[amekins]

Id say roots not established yet, shouldn't see much dry back with those cooler night temps. I used great white so my roots exploded really quick. Once them roots do get established in them pots you can get away with less watering than me but you will need a lower ec but then you won't get the hydro style fast veg and this might also have a impact on yeild.

There are roots.

 

[amekins]

If you do continue to use small pots get a irrigation setup mate, mines a cheap setup but works great. 13mm flex pipe looped from a pump in my res with these 13mm to 4mm cross connections going to wilma blue open ended drippers and a Nearpow timer (does seconds)

That won’t be happening here. They will be hand watered as long as this is my living space.