🐺Newby nearly giving up. I'm trying coco /perlite 50/50 mix. After spending nearly $300 on seeds I have yet to have a two week old healthy seedling.

[FatNate]

So I read about buffering coco with cal mag and did a 8 hr soak. Then I read about soaking 36 hrs in calcium nitrate 100 grams per 1.5 kilos coco coit. I did this as well. After 3 gal tap water rinse per 5 gal bags coco perlite 50/50 mix my EC is 353. PPM is 180. PH 7.6. I read for seedlings EC 400 to 500. If I use distilled run off measurement then EC is 209 and ppm is104. This is coco perlite only. No nutrients added. I see a lower EC using distilled water and will go this route. I'm hoping with all this buffering done to coco coit I'll have better results. Am I on the right track? I have my VPD chart and thermostat for temp and humidity set. Hopeful.and frustrated at all my mistakes
Can someone with knowledge tell me if I'm finally heading in right direction?seedling ppfd 250, humidity 65% temp 24 to 26 ° c fan moving air.. I think I start nutes once 1st set true leaves open and go with Flora series nutes mix directions. Any feedback will be grateful. Newby...

 

[bustergrows]

what’s your light setup and how do you germinate the seeds? Also a newbie here so don’t want to give much advice but will say to try a half dose or even a quarter dose of nutes if you suspect that might be killing the plant.

 

[Blastfact]

Do a few soil grows and get the basics down before you go slow-mo hydro mad scientist mode. Good Luck!!!

 

[Eledin]

So I read about buffering coco with cal mag and did a 8 hr soak. Then I read about soaking 36 hrs in calcium nitrate 100 grams per 1.5 kilos coco coit. I did this as well. After 3 gal tap water rinse per 5 gal bags coco perlite 50/50 mix my EC is 353. PPM is 180. PH 7.6. I read for seedlings EC 400 to 500. If I use distilled run off measurement then EC is 209 and ppm is104. This is coco perlite only. No nutrients added. I see a lower EC using distilled water and will go this route. I'm hoping with all this buffering done to coco coit I'll have better results. Am I on the right track? I have my VPD chart and thermostat for temp and humidity set. Hopeful.and frustrated at all my mistakes
Can someone with knowledge tell me if I'm finally heading in right direction?seedling ppfd 250, humidity 65% temp 24 to 26 ° c fan moving air.. I think I start nutes once 1st set true leaves open and go with Flora series nutes mix directions. Any feedback will be grateful. Newby...

Lets go! I believe in you, this one is the good one. If it doesnt work though, you could buy buffered cocos from Atami to get them started.

Washed & Buffered Cocos

Discover Atami's Washed & Buffered Cocos, a high-quality substrate designed to optimize plant growth. Ideal for hydroponics and soil-free cultivation, it ensures excellent water retention, drainage, and air circulation for your plants. Enhance your garden with this versatile, eco-friendly medium.

atami.com

 

[Eledin]

Do a few soil grows and get the basics down before you go slow-mo hydro mad scientist mode. Good Luck!!!

Also this, soil is way more forgiving and they have food for 2-3 weeks in a light soil. Youre also less likely to burn them and if you do you will have more time to realize and hopefully prevent it from getting worse.

 

[R4V3N]

I think 65% is way to low for seedlings, I keep them just below the point of dew point. When you see the little balls of water gathering on them, just back off enough for that to evaporate. Humidity domes (even just home made) work wonders here. Somewhere in the mid 80's for Rh, and mid to high 70's for temps (23C'ish) would be ideal. It just seems you're giving them vegging conditions before they are actually ready for it.

You should run a side grow with soil, and get you some smoke while you work this out lol.

 

[Florida_Mike]

yeah bro, i'm with eledin, don't give up! just hang out here @ the farm, read threads

and ask questions. there are very knowledgeable people here who can walk you thru

any method of growing you choose; however, as others have stated, i believe you

would be better off with soil for your 1st grow imho. kind of learn to walk before you

try running.

good luck and happy growing

-peace-

 

[One_Bell]

Welcome FatNate,

A couple days ago I sprouted my first seeds. I used RQS soi plugs (something like rapidrooter) so You only have to add the seed and mist the pot. Hopefully they will survive. I am also a bit higher in humidity, like someelse mentioned above.

 

[Redneckx]

Lets go! I believe in you, this one is the good one. If it doesnt work though, you could buy buffered cocos from Atami to get them started.

Washed & Buffered Cocos

Discover Atami's Washed & Buffered Cocos, a high-quality substrate designed to optimize plant growth. Ideal for hydroponics and soil-free cultivation, it ensures excellent water retention, drainage, and air circulation for your plants. Enhance your garden with this versatile, eco-friendly medium.

atami.com

I used just atami b'cuzz, no perlite, or vermiculite. Just broke 1,5 bio tabs and placed it everywhere in the Coco.
Not my first rodeo with Coco but first time with a bought one and to be honest i never go back washing and buffing Coco again.

 

[carlosescobar]

So I read about buffering coco with cal mag and did a 8 hr soak. Then I read about soaking 36 hrs in calcium nitrate 100 grams per 1.5 kilos coco coit. I did this as well. After 3 gal tap water rinse per 5 gal bags coco perlite 50/50 mix my EC is 353. PPM is 180. PH 7.6. I read for seedlings EC 400 to 500. If I use distilled run off measurement then EC is 209 and ppm is104. This is coco perlite only. No nutrients added. I see a lower EC using distilled water and will go this route. I'm hoping with all this buffering done to coco coit I'll have better results. Am I on the right track? I have my VPD chart and thermostat for temp and humidity set. Hopeful.and frustrated at all my mistakes
Can someone with knowledge tell me if I'm finally heading in right direction?seedling ppfd 250, humidity 65% temp 24 to 26 ° c fan moving air.. I think I start nutes once 1st set true leaves open and go with Flora series nutes mix directions. Any feedback will be grateful. Newby...

I feel your frustration dude, took me 2 years to get dialled in and easily wasted £150 in seeds ( I ended up getting some cheap seeds of ebay and practising..mainly had to learn to stop watering, and make sure soil temp is over 20 dgrees, soil temp seemed to be one of the most important things...my first grow i overwatered, second grow i applied too much nutrients, 3rd grow was all males, 4th grow got taken by the popo, 5th grow was last summer and we had zero sun all summer, 6th grow, i got all excited and added nutrients and doubled the light , the plant froze up 2 weeks before harvest . then i found out why my plants didnt smell and only produced 1.5 oz , because i was using lemon juice as a Ph down which was killing my living soil. now i am trying autos in coco in fabric pots,

 

[Galgrows]

For folks who just want some home grown weed why make it more complicated? Go with basic soil and learn from that.

 

[Blastfact]

I feel your frustration dude, took me 2 years to get dialled in and easily wasted £150 in seeds ( I ended up getting some cheap seeds of ebay and practising..mainly had to learn to stop watering, and make sure soil temp is over 20 dgrees, soil temp seemed to be one of the most important things...my first grow i overwatered, second grow i applied too much nutrients, 3rd grow was all males, 4th grow got taken by the popo, 5th grow was last summer and we had zero sun all summer, 6th grow, i got all excited and added nutrients and doubled the light , the plant froze up 2 weeks before harvest . then i found out why my plants didnt smell and only produced 1.5 oz , because i was using lemon juice as a Ph down which was killing my living soil. now i am trying autos in coco in fabric pots,

My old oak floors are 68f right now. All of my duct is under floor in crawl space. Plastic tarp and lime on the dirt and I have a cut out in the main duct line at about 2" open for the central heat and vents loosely blocked for winter mode in the sandstone foundation. All I have to do is throw a rug out of the way and pull up a peice of 7/8" marine ply where a floor furnace once was installed and reach down and adjust the cut out. We are heading for the teens and twenties "F" in 24 hours. I will open the cut out to around 4" and maintain some heat under the house. Yeah it cost a bit to do so. But I'm in Oklahoma so it's cheaper here than most places in the USA. And my electric and nat. gas bills are on long term average billing. So my pipes never risk freezing and the ass of my plants are always protected. And I don't have to dress like I live up north. Also many would do good to always have the plants in a saucer on a elevator so the roots always stay around enclosure ambient or just below leaf temp...

 

[OldOneEye]

I used just atami b'cuzz, no perlite, or vermiculite. Just broke 1,5 bio tabs and placed it everywhere in the Coco.
Not my first rodeo with Coco but first time with a bought one and to be honest i never go back washing and buffing Coco again.

I have been growing in coco for about a decade. I have never rinsed or buffered my coco.
Sometimes we want to overthink things and make them more difficult than it needs to be.

 

[Illbill]

I agree with one eye. I don’t rinse and buffer. I do things way different than most. I use bricks that are already buffered. Real cheap on Amazon. I just hydrate it with a full dose of calmag and light npk that’ll get me through the first week or so. Coco is simple and if you mess up you can instantly start again just by flushing with your nutes. I use 5 gallon pots, which most people don’t. I water once a day, most people say you should be watering multiple times a day. I don’t even start watering once a day till flower. I let it dry back half way before I water again. Works like a charm. My last run in coco was veged for 4 weeks and the yield was over 10 ounces. Keep it simple and watch your inbound ph and inbound and outbound ec. I try not to get over 1.2 inbound ec and 1.3 outbound ec. Ph to 5.8 and it’ll drift up as it eats.

 

[ArtfulCodger]

@FatNate, how often are you watering?

 

[longbottom]

To simplify things and get off in the right direction without worrying about soil, try pete pellets for your seedlings. I've tried to start seedlings in many different types of soil (Even seedling soil) and have had a rough time. Seedlings and young plants can be very sensitive to soil and coco... (I had HORRIBLE luck starting seedlings in Coco made for seedlings...)

I have 100% success with all seedlings using the paper towel method and then moving to pete pellets... I've also planted directly in pete pellets and all seeds germinated and grew well..

Once the plant has a few true leaves or a few nodes, you can move it to the soil/coco... Note: my plants are very healthy in the pete pellet, but as soon as I transplant to soil, they struggle a bit until they get acclimated to the new soil/coco...

Note: a little pete pellet will allow a plant to go a week or two before needing to transplant...Once the roots are popping out the bottom you know its time to transplant. Note 2: careful with young plants, they need very little water. I use a paper towel to take a lot of the water out of the pete pellet after initial soaking and water with a very little water every couple of days (I'm talking a teaspoon !) it's very easy to overwater seedlings. You want the pete pellet to be damp, not soaking..(easy to tell by weight)

OP, I would bet my paycheck that this will solve your problem. I'm that confident !

Pardon Our Interruption

 

[smoker0420]

So I read about buffering coco with cal mag and did a 8 hr soak. Then I read about soaking 36 hrs in calcium nitrate 100 grams per 1.5 kilos coco coit. I did this as well. After 3 gal tap water rinse per 5 gal bags coco perlite 50/50 mix my EC is 353. PPM is 180. PH 7.6. I read for seedlings EC 400 to 500. If I use distilled run off measurement then EC is 209 and ppm is104. This is coco perlite only. No nutrients added. I see a lower EC using distilled water and will go this route. I'm hoping with all this buffering done to coco coit I'll have better results. Am I on the right track? I have my VPD chart and thermostat for temp and humidity set. Hopeful.and frustrated at all my mistakes
Can someone with knowledge tell me if I'm finally heading in right direction?seedling ppfd 250, humidity 65% temp 24 to 26 ° c fan moving air.. I think I start nutes once 1st set true leaves open and go with Flora series nutes mix directions. Any feedback will be grateful. Newby...

 

[Eledin]

I have been growing in coco for about a decade. I have never rinsed or buffered my coco.
Sometimes we want to overthink things and make them more difficult than it needs to be.

What coco do you buy? Because its probably already washed for you. You can buy cheap coco bricks but you need to wash those with PHed water I think he was refeering to that. Of course there's also good coco in bricks, I think even canna has coco in bricks now and those are totally fine to not wash but 1,50 euro coco bricks that I can buy from amazon are dirty as fuck and probably full of sodium.

 

[smoker0420]

Okay first time from start to finish did cloning for years I run tupor a great admendment with Flora Nova Nute's my lighting is amazing find awesome soil and the rest will or should fall into place. Flora Nova has everything you need so I use it because it works with out alot of add one you can but I don't get to radical..

 

[Ninjadogma]

I spent almost a year trying to get a grow going when I first started. If it wasn't one thing it was another. To begin with, instead of buying seeds, I tried to germinate seeds from a free pack I got in a 4/20 swag bag from the Eighth Brothers Farm. None of them ever popped. Then I went with clones, and well it was Summer, they were still young and I fried them. Got more, then an animal ate them. Got more and then I screwed up overfertilizing them. It was like the Goddess of Ganja issued a creed on me... "Thou Shall Not Grow!"

I feel your pain brother. The pinch on the wallet and blow to the confidence are hard to overcome but worth the perseverance.
If at first you don't succeed, then dust yourself off and try again.