Coco coir~ God mode ? HELP

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Kgunge

Kgunge

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FEEDING SCHEDULE HELP
Hey everyone, I’m going to go straight to the point as I am so exhausted with trial and error , online searches , etc.

BEFORE YOU READ- please understand this is a commercial grow. A poorly operated one to say the least. We have100+ lights. Lots of space.

STATS: we use 20 gal containers , indoors , 70/30 coco to perlite mixture. Double ended Gavita HPS. Average temp 78-82F ,
avg rH 45-55, mills nutrient line , PPM7 during veg 600-1100 , flower 1100-1800 PPM7

FEEDSCHEDULE: once a daywhen Lights turn on, 2 gals at a time, no runoff.
• once a week mega feeding, means irrigation with added enzymes and microbes
• 2-3 normal schedule feeding (mills chart)
• water at the end of the week
⚠️There is usually one day in between feeds that we do not feed and instead let it dry out, so that gives us usually between 3-4 feeds a week ⚠️

My question is this ⚠️⚠️ —>continue this route ? Or lower ppm and feed half strength but daily.
Salt build up, weird growth , some leaf burn here and there. I’ve been taught by my superior this way of feeding in coco and I cannot help but think we are doing it wrong. Everywhere online says smaller feeds more frequently (which we cannot do as boss won’t accept automatic feed systems) so we have to manually feed and only have the option to do so once a day. I’m also not sure that 20 gal is the way to go in coco. I think that we should go smaller containers , feed more often , and feed weaker nute solution. I’m so confused about coco coir it’s driving me insane....

if there are any knowledgeable people in here with coco coir and commercial settings. I’m willing to set up a video call andeven pay you 50$USD an hour. if you are the correct candidate.

I’m not sure if I’m breaking any forum rules since I’m new, sorry about that.
Whatever information you need regarding the specs I’ll be more than happy to supply you that information to help Better understand the situation.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
FEEDING SCHEDULE HELP
Hey everyone, I’m going to go straight to the point as I am so exhausted with trial and error , online searches , etc.

BEFORE YOU READ- please understand this is a commercial grow. A poorly operated one to say the least. We have100+ lights. Lots of space.

STATS: we use 20 gal containers , indoors , 70/30 coco to perlite mixture. Double ended Gavita HPS. Average temp 78-82F ,
avg rH 45-55, mills nutrient line , PPM7 during veg 600-1100 , flower 1100-1800 PPM7

FEEDSCHEDULE: once a daywhen Lights turn on, 2 gals at a time, no runoff.
• once a week mega feeding, means irrigation with added enzymes and microbes
• 2-3 normal schedule feeding (mills chart)
• water at the end of the week
⚠There is usually one day in between feeds that we do not feed and instead let it dry out, so that gives us usually between 3-4 feeds a week ⚠

My question is this ⚠⚠ —>continue this route ? Or lower ppm and feed half strength but daily.
Salt build up, weird growth , some leaf burn here and there. I’ve been taught by my superior this way of feeding in coco and I cannot help but think we are doing it wrong. Everywhere online says smaller feeds more frequently (which we cannot do as boss won’t accept automatic feed systems) so we have to manually feed and only have the option to do so once a day. I’m also not sure that 20 gal is the way to go in coco. I think that we should go smaller containers , feed more often , and feed weaker nute solution. I’m so confused about coco coir it’s driving me insane....

if there are any knowledgeable people in here with coco coir and commercial settings. I’m willing to set up a video call andeven pay you 50$USD an hour. if you are the correct candidate.

I’m not sure if I’m breaking any forum rules since I’m new, sorry about that.
Whatever information you need regarding the specs I’ll be more than happy to supply you that information to help Better understand the situation.
Can take a shot and give you my opinion.

What are the nutrients you are using and how exactly are you mixing them? This is crucial info for watering as synthetic and organic are treated completely different.
 
Kgunge

Kgunge

63
18
Can take a shot and give you my opinion.

What are the nutrients you are using and how exactly are you mixing them? This is crucial info for watering as synthetic and organic are treated completely different.
Thanks for your response. We use Mills nutrient like , it’s a mostly organic product with some synthetic. We use a 500 gal reservoir with an air stone to mix. Connected with a pump and a hose to manually hand feed.
 
Kgunge

Kgunge

63
18
You are doing a commercial grow in Coco and you don't do run off and also let your Coco dry out once a week.....
You need to stop treating the Coco like soil and quickly read up on proper way of watering Coco
Like I said , I’ve exhausted my options doing research. There is not a link that I have not read. You could’ve said something constructive instead of acting like you know something. Thanks for wasting your own time :)
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Thanks for your response. We use Mills nutrient like , it’s a mostly organic product with some synthetic. We use a 500 gal reservoir with an air stone to mix. Connected with a pump and a hose to manually hand feed.
So IMO organics don't use runoff. The reason being you will be washing your nutrients out of the soil... likewise don't go by ppm. Now with that said synthetic is completely the opposite.

With a blend its hard to say depending on what the organic or synthetic components are. Maybe can get an idea of the issue if you can grab a pic of the plants. I know this is a no no but even just one plant that doesn't show anything in the facility.

2 gal a day in a 20gal pot seems reasonable and they must be drinking quite well not to get runoff so that's a good sign.

The dryback can lead to issues but drybacks are often used in crop steering but I'm not educated enough to say if they are being used properly I can only ly assume they are. But after a dry back the next full feed I would definitely be getting some runoff to reduce any buildup that has accused from this.

I did a thread on watering coco that pertains to synthetic nutrients only. But the principle could be used I feel in your situation just reducing the runoff to say 5% would probably help increase the stability of the rootzone.

With 20 gal pots you will get much less fluctuating so even 5% runoff a day would like make an improvement in the stability.

In a commercial grow you need to balance cost and productivity... so I can see why your senior is going this route. If you were all about productivity I would say smaller pots more perlite and more feedings and more runoff. You save on media but probably increase on containers and nutrients but also labor or cost to get rid of runoff.

Even if thise pots were 50/50 coco perlite I think you would see better growth rates. But I assuming this meets his needs of only wanting to water once a day so maybe not the most ideal in one sense but when you look over all it makes perfect sense.
 
JSH1973

JSH1973

Supporter
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Like I said , I’ve exhausted my options doing research. There is not a link that I have not read. You could’ve said something constructive instead of acting like you know something. Thanks for wasting your own time :)
Well it was meant as help telling you to quickly read up on watering Coco, there's excellent guides around the forum and Internet, but don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut :-)
 
Kgunge

Kgunge

63
18
Well it was meant as help telling you to quickly read up on watering Coco, there's excellent guides around the forum and Internet, but don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut :-)

I think that’s a great idea ;*
 
Pippins

Pippins

74
33
Just curious why you are using 20 gallon pots of coco in a commercial grow. Seems like you could do much better with multi feeds per day in smaller pots, spend less money on media, less on nutrients and increase productivity by adding more plants. People here grow trees in 1-3 gallon pots, I see no reason going bigger than 5 gallon even if you veg for a long time, which seems counterproductive for a commercial grow. I'd look into automation if I were you, you just aren't getting the most out of coco on that scale unless you are feeding multiple times throughout the day-which is difficult when hand watering 100s of plants.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Just curious why you are using 20 gallon pots of coco in a commercial grow. Seems like you could do much better with multi feeds per day in smaller pots, spend less money on media, less on nutrients and increase productivity by adding more plants. People here grow trees in 1-3 gallon pots, I see no reason going bigger than 5 gallon even if you veg for a long time, which seems counterproductive for a commercial grow. I'd look into automation if I were you, you just aren't getting the most out of coco on that scale unless you are feeding multiple times throughout the day-which is difficult when hand watering 100s of plants.
Think he said the boss doesn't want to automate. So I assume the 20 gal and lower perlite mix is to allow for watering once daily even at their biggest.
 
Kgunge

Kgunge

63
18
Think he said the boss doesn't want to automate. So I assume the 20 gal and lower perlite mix is to allow for watering once daily even at their biggest.

yes exactly right ! I always assumed 20 gal in coco is counter productive and this forum and another agreed with that statement. Since I’m stuck in the 20 gal until harvest , would you recommend anything change in my feeding regimen until then? Should I do daily feedings instead with a lower PPM/EC? Thanks in advanced
 
Anthem

Anthem

4,155
263
yes exactly right ! I always assumed 20 gal in coco is counter productive and this forum and another agreed with that statement. Since I’m stuck in the 20 gal until harvest , would you recommend anything change in my feeding regimen until then? Should I do daily feedings instead with a lower PPM/EC? Thanks in advanced
I had to switch away from Coco Coir because I was trying to run it like Soil. I was starting to get a handle on it and it was just easier to switch to hydro. Here are a couple of things I would suggest because it sounds like the boss is difficult. I would implement a feed water schedule. Secondly, I would go a flush with just PH water once a week, followed after the flush by a light feed. IMO the problem with COCO and running it like soil is that the salts build up and ultimately lower the yield of the grow. If you could do 2 flushed a week I believe it would further enhance your grow.
 
Anthem

Anthem

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263
Imo yes ppm way to high but with organics that can be misreading.... I never feed over 800ppm usually but I would try dropping back to at least 1000.
@Aqua Man I ran it up higher with a feed/water program. I would say to stay below 1200 but either 1200 or 1000 and flushing it really going to help the grow out. The bummer is that the grower is going to notice how steller the plants look after a flush and wonder WTF. I know I did.
 
ezenzyme

ezenzyme

625
93
Whats your problem smarty pants??? What happens when you lets coco dry out if your so smart???

And also, your tidbits of information with no pics its like playing pin the tail on the donky.......

Whats the PPM and PH of your water?
Whats the PPM and PH of your feedings?
Did you buffer your coco, what kind of coco did you use? Did you wash it?
Any slurry tests or run off tests done?
What kind of microbes and enzymes are you mixing with your salts?
What is it that your feeding? Salts? Whats its NPKs?
 
Kgunge

Kgunge

63
18
Whats your problem smarty pants??? What happens when you lets coco dry out if your so smart???

And also, your tidbits of information with no pics its like playing pin the tail on the donky.......

Whats the PPM and PH of your water?
Whats the PPM and PH of your feedings?
Did you buffer your coco, what kind of coco did you use? Did you wash it?
Any slurry tests or run off tests done?
What kind of microbes and enzymes are you mixing with your salts?
What is it that your feeding? Salts? Whats its NPKs?
My tid bits of information seems to be way more than what the average user posts. If you got hurt that I told someone with no good intentions to get lost then that’s on you. My post is thoroughly written with the addition of welcoming more questions.
I can tell that you have no plan on assisting other than trying to make yourself look smarter.
we’re all in the same niche, we are pioneers in this industry for what we do. All of us.
Thanks for your time
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
I called the nutrient line , 70/30 ratio synthetic to organic.
I would say then yes you would benefit from both runoff and lower ppm.

Is this room co2 supplemented? Because that can increase nutrient demands as it will slow transpiration rates.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
I guess what I would suggest first is water one plant to run off and test the ppm coming out. A better method is use a syringe to draw water out of the media at the end of the day an test it. That will give you a good picture of what's going on in the rootzone. This would be easiest at the bottom of the pot where there saturation zone is

I would do that before anything else.
 
ezenzyme

ezenzyme

625
93
Its stated here over and over again that without proper detailed information and photos how could any one every make a accurate diagnosis....you cant...ever. Hey lets troubleshoot a system for problems that include "Salt build up, weird growth , some leaf burn here and there".
Let me tell you from experience that without being able to see the issue and get a full picture its just a crap shoot discussing technique and not really solving the problem? Dig?

Ever look into the infirmary here? The read me thread?


Well here is the line up of questions that i encourage everyone to answer so that we can have some idea of whats going on heres the soil growers questions more apt than the hydro growers.

Soil Growers:
1. Are you growing from seed or clones?
2. How old are your plants?
3. How tall are your plants?
4. What size containers are they planted in?
5. What is your soil mix? Is there anything beyond coco pearlite?
6. How often do you water and what type of water do you use?
7. What is the pH of your water?
8. What kind of fertilizer do you use and what is its NPK ratio?
9. Do you foliar feed or spray your plants with anything?
10. What kind of lights do you use and how many watts combined? (HPS, MH, fluorescent, halogen, incandescent "plant lights")
11. How close are your lights to the plants?
12. What size is your grow space in square feet?
13. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space?
14. What is the pH of the soil?
15. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space?
16. How much experience do you have growing?

and really without pics its still just talking about technique.....

and about the q of coco drying out i wanted to honestly see how much you have read up, but since your so adversarial let me tell you why;
When you let coco dry out the salts in your nutes will bind to the coco creating nutrient lock out and make your plants look hungry, thats why you want to keep coco at a more constant saturation that you would in soil.
 
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