50% runoff w/coco & lower ec?

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Zombierider

Zombierider

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So I’m in the middle of week 1 of veg growing in coco coir and rice hulls. Plants seem to be growing at a good speed, however I am consistently getting a lower runoff ppm that inflow ppm. Also, I get roughly 50% runoff. I’m fertigating 1 gallon fabric pots with roughly 120ml per pot, and I’m getting like 60ml of runoff. I’m trying to follow @Aqua Man watering coco guide, but when I put 5% of the pot size I got what seemed like more than 50% runoff. So I guess I’m just wondering what I might be doing wrong? Feeding @460ish pm’s and 6.1ph, gh flora trio+floralicous plus.
 
50 runoff wcoco  lower ec
tobh

tobh

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bump up the EC of your feed by 0.2. You're doing good, keep questions like this in your grow journal so that we're not cluttering up the forum with short threads please.
 
jguit

jguit

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120ml w/ 60ml runoff in pots your size sounds like you're watering much too frequently. If you were following Aquaman's watering schedule, it should be 250ml with approx 50ml runoff w/ 1 gal. containers. If you were to feed them on your current schedule with 250ml as Aquaman recommends, you'd get getting about 200ml runoff. Which tells you that your coco is still saturated.

So to answer your original question.. If you're getting more runoff than expected, you're not letting your pots dry out enough. Wait longer between fertigations.

If you consistently feed 250ml, you'll want to see approx. a shot glass worth of runoff. When you no longer see runoff when feeding 250ml, increase your fertigation schedule.

For instance, if you were feeding 250ml w/ 50ml runoff every 2 days and all of a sudden you dont see any runoff, increase your schedule to once every day. If you notice no runoff when feeding once a day, up your feeding to twice a day.... etc..

@tobh's advice is sound, crank up your EC a notch, lower your pH a touch and water when 250ml gives you 50ml runoff. Your roots will appreciate letting your coco dry out a bit in the beginning.
 
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Zombierider

Zombierider

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@jguit thanks for clarifying this for me. So, if i were to go from twice daily to once every two days, would it stress the plant and all? Maybe this over-fertigation caused this mag issue.
 
jguit

jguit

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@jguit thanks for clarifying this for me. So, if i were to go from twice daily to once every two days, would it stress the plant and all? Maybe this over-fertigation caused this mag issue.
Nah, it wont stress your plant. Try tobh's suggestion of raising the EC a bit and see if it resolves your mag issue. If that doesnt help, then consider adding .5g of epsom salt per gallon to your feed.
 
DanC520

DanC520

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These guys know their stuff, so no issues there. From my limited experience, overwatering like not possible once plant fully established. I feed daily off rip and move to multi as soon as a I can (still getting the ramp up dialed in). I often have more than 20% run off. Aqua goes for 90% saturation iirc, so I’d think he’s not getting much dry back regardless, he just better than me at being less wasteful. I think up your nutes / EC the move though. Just my two cents.
 
Zombierider

Zombierider

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S
Nah, it wont stress your plant. Try tobh's suggestion of raising the EC a bit and see if it resolves your mag issue. If that doesnt help, then consider adding .5g of epsom salt per gallon to your fee
I upped my ec by .2 for this mornings fertigation and skipped second fertigation. Should I skip fertigation tomorrow and just fertigate the next day at a higher ec? The idea of not fertigating for a whole day is scary lol. I’ll give the Epsom salts a try if it doesn’t resolve in the next few days. I appreciate the help!
 
Zombierider

Zombierider

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These guys know their stuff, so no issues there. From my limited experience, overwatering like not possible once plant fully established. I feed daily off rip and move to multi as soon as a I can (still getting the ramp up dialed in). I often have more than 20% run off. Aqua goes for 90% saturation iirc, so I’d think he’s not getting much dry back regardless, he just better than me at being less wasteful. I think up your nutes / EC the move though. Just my two cents.
Yup, I’m gonna up my ec and aim to water just once a day once I get my runoff values under control. They are eventually going into 5 gallon fabric pots so once a day fertigation is the goal.
 
jguit

jguit

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Skip a day and see what you get.. If no runoff, then feed once a day, check runoff, adjust feedings, etc... Dont worry about skipping a day with a plant that size.
 
Zombierider

Zombierider

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Skip a day and see what you get.. If no runoff, then feed once a day, check runoff, adjust feedings, etc... Dont worry about skipping a day with a plant that size.
Got it, I’ll report back in a few days to let y’all know how the girls are doin.
 
Zombierider

Zombierider

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Does anyone have experience with general hydroponics flora line with coco? I’ve been adding like 3ml of Calimagic per gallon to the recipe instead of the listed 1.9ml per gallon. Do you think adding the extra cal mag might mess with the recipe? I have been also diluting my nute mix with cal mag water (3ml/gallon) to get proper EC. The cocoforcannabis dude seems to add extra cal mag throughout the grow cuz coco is a “mag-whore” lol. Also, I use RO water for my nute mix.
 
C56E38F8 1604 4DB2 88EB 23F81B2EBA15
jguit

jguit

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I'm not familiar with GH's feed schedules but one approach when using RO would be to add your CalMag suppliment first to get your EC to around .3 and then proceed with the rest of your feed. The thinking is adding the CalMag to get your RO water to resemble something similar to decent tap water.
 
Zombierider

Zombierider

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I'm not familiar with GH's feed schedules but one approach when using RO would be to add your CalMag suppliment first to get your EC to around .3 and then proceed with the rest of your feed. The thinking is adding the CalMag to get your RO water to resemble something similar to decent tap water.
I have the option of using well water @64 ppm, but never had the water tested so I’ve been using ro.
 
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