Biscotti winter grow coco coir

[TannedViking]

As my first grow is slowly nearing its end I have to say I really enjoy growing these ladies. Nothing like your own homegrown stash that beats the retailers around by miles. I got the bug, in big part due to this forum, and am going to do my second grow through to winter. The buds from shops just taste like shit now so I have to. Only growing one at a time until summer but this time I'm trying something I've never done before. Coco coir.
Thank you all for this community, it makes this hobby so much better than it already is.

Lets go

Biscotti photos seed from RQS.

Cellmax coco/perlite 70/30 mix prewashed, buffered.
Canna Coco A+B, Rhizotonic, PK13/14. Silic Rock and CalMag from Plagron. Germed 10/9.

Sunny Days 600W LED bloom/veg knockoff lamp (i think?), but it has been doing its job just fine. Fits the 40x40 perfectly.
3 loose 30W grow LED panels (no name knockoffs) to provide extra brightness when necessary. Mars Hydro Fan will be mounted on top of the tent on the outside

It was saturday 3AM and i was fkn gone when i did this.
Got a 25L(6.6gal) autopot but only a 40x40x140(1.3x1.3x4.6ft) tent. The pot fits perfect but it's 1/3 of the tent.

If i keep her small while letting her root well in smaller pots first I could let her fill out almost the entire pot with roots, then flip quick when put into the autopot. I've been thinking of a 4 stem braid to do this. But first lets get through the seedling stage.

 

[carlosescobar]

Good luck ! we will be here when the problems start lol i switched to coco 2 years ago and had nothing but problems, calcium deficiency, brown spots, nutrient burn, drying out, then one time i added 2ml of pk14/15 and locked the whole plant out, (i think salts had built up as well as it was near the end) photos might be a bit easier in coco, but ive just gone back to photos in soil and i cant believe how easy this one has gone ,

 

[TannedViking]

Good luck ! we will be here when the problems start lol i switched to coco 2 years ago and had nothing but problems, calcium deficiency, brown spots, nutrient burn, drying out, then one time i added 2ml of pk14/15 and locked the whole plant out, (i think salts had built up as well as it was near the end) photos might be a bit easier in coco, but ive just gone back to photos in soil and i cant believe how easy this one has gone ,

I've got both canna coco's light feed schedule and a guide on cocoforcannabis.com beside me. Good to have you guys around as well. Sounds like this is going to be a wild ride, so thanks haha.

Just made the first mix, using tapwater, silic+base+rhizo 1drop to 1liter, 642EC, 6.3Ph (just in case). Roots are setting nice.
The canna coco line has an insane amount of C and Mg already in it, so I'm skipping Calmag for now to see how she responds. She's building the second node now and already has a slight C defi showing. Didnt presoak in Calmag so that might've been it.

Edit: soil is absolutely easier. 100%

 

[carlosescobar]

Ive been getting into foliar feeding lately , thats always an option if things go a bit haywire...and you want to give the roots a rest or a flush.
is it an auto or photoperiod?

 

[TannedViking]

Ive been getting into foliar feeding lately , thats always an option if things go a bit haywire...
is it an auto or photoperiod?

Photoperiod. Wanted to have a bigger margin of error to work with. I would instantly murder or at least heavily stunt an autoflower first time on coco.
Never looked into foliar spray really, what is the main reason to using it over standard feed?

and you want to give the roots a rest or a flush.

As in what you'd do at the end of flower or is this something different?

 

[TannedViking]

Just got a more manageable autopot of 8.5L (2.2gal). I'll be using the big one in summer, maybe.

Still going strong

 

[TannedViking]

Growing quickly.
Watering twice a day with the same ratios, upping with 100EC per watering.
772EC this morning, 872EC prepared for later this evening.
C deficiency from 1st leaves doesnt show in the 2nd set, so the coco nutes dont seem to need extra calmag, yet.

 

[TannedViking]

Bit slower today but i overslept and fed her a bit late as well. I'll check how far her roots have spread tomorrow to decide when to pot her up as her 3rd node is clearly showing now.
Inflow is at 1156EC, 6.08ph and runoff at 860EC, 6.08ph. I feel like i need to keep it at at 1.1EC now until she fully grows the 3rd set to then up it slowly to 1.4? Anyone got some advice?

 

[TannedViking]

I've been reading and following along guides for coco but i'm getting a little lost and would like some help on this before i mess up so soon. If anyone has a good earlyveg coco guide, i'd appreciate it.

1. Every guide tells to fertigate once or twice at this stage up to 10-20% runoff but whenever i fertigate, i have 70% runoff, no matter the volume going in. Is this normal or am I misinterpreting something? Checking with single ply on top of the coco for moisture before fertigating.

2. She's on 1.0EC 6.0-6.1Ph. 2 days ago i checked the roots which were growing halfway up into the soil so i repotted her to the 8.5L autopot and will top-feed by hand for at least a week before turning it on. Since the repot i have not changed the EC or Ph but the runoff was at 1924EC yesterday with Ph at 5.7Ph. As suggested i increased the volume of water, keeping EC at 1.0 and the runoff now is 1586EC at 5.5Ph.

She looks fine? Has adjusted from the repot and is now visibly growing again.

What should I do? Keep the routine the same untill runoff stabilizes or?

 

[TannedViking]

Going out on a limb here but I think that some dry pockets of coco around the edges after repotting started 'stealing' water from around saturated coco, filling themselves up with leftover C and Mg the plant cant reach yet. It would explain the first single leaves worsening their wavyness and the higher EC from nutes gathering at the pots edges. Thinking of adding Calmag.

 

[TannedViking]

Added CalMag since yesterday at half dose. Havent added Rhizo since repot, waiting till she has settled enough roots. Probably adding small amounts again starting tonight.
Using 2liters to saturate twice a day. Inflow 1.3EC 6.0Ph / runoff 1.3EC 5.6Ph. Guess I was right, luckily.

 

[TannedViking]

Almost time to turn on the pump. Minimum of 2 more days as suggested by autopot. I also got an airdome with pump which will be coupled with the light schedule.
Need to get a new EC meter cause i dropped it in the water. Fragile thing. Read that measuring runoff Ph was like chasing ghosts so i stopped it for now. She still looks good (:

A leaf on the fourth node came out variegated, split down the midrib. Hoped it was a nice little mutation but it's clearing up again.

 

[JIMKSI64]

I had a White Widow grow where both plants would throw those leafs. No rhyme or reason to it.

 

[TannedViking]

It would have been a nice little trait, like purple leaves.

 

[TannedViking]

Prepared 20liters (~5gal) in the reservoir and did the first test. She's downed about half the tray of water in 3hours already so i will be turning it on permanently in a few hours if she keeps drinking like this. Roots peaked out of the bottom as well. Airpump will be on it's lowest setting when i do. Forgot the root disc on the inside, so i put it on the outside, gold side down.
Base nutes are on their max recommendation, 4ml cana coco A+B per liter with 75% of rec calmag and silic. Phed to 5.9. Not using rhizo to prevent clogging.
TDS pen is broken, need to wait till next week for a new one.

 

[TannedViking]

Autopot is up and running since last evening. The valve turns on every 8hours and she's doing great. Taking the max rec. of nutes like its nothing. As soon as I get my new meter I'll climb up to 2.2EC. No clue what it's at now. Last real reading was 1.4EC and I only went up from there.

I'm going to top her once, mainline her and flip the moment she looks stable. The idea is to treat her like an auto, giving her a bit over a month of veg before flip, with the bonus of not having to worry about one little stunt messing up an entire plant. Hence the max amount of nutes. Bit like autopotamus, but my own way.
All my autos and my last photo took 3months to complete flower, so no difference there. This way I can ram through as many grows in a year as I can, hoping for that one really good one.
Think the coco will make it harder to LST though as she'll always have water and I dont want to dry it out just to LST.

 

[TannedViking]

The one variegated leaf seems to push out a side with the same split. Might as well top down to 4 instead of 3 nodes to keep it.

Day 5 of using the autopot. Going great, still turning on every 8hours or so. Absolutely overestimated how much the tray fills so i still have a good 10L left in the reservoir that's now starting to develop a stink and a film. The system has a filter so i can stretch it a bit but i will clean out the res soon, add plain phed water for 12/24h before adding nutes again. Got to find a way to cool down the water inside.

 

[TannedViking]

Topped her above the 4th today and gave her the best tuck i could. It was such a small part of plant i dont think she'll take long to recover, if at all.
Will be taking off every little sidebranch from now on so I can manage it better in this small space. flipping between 1-2 weeks from today if all goes to plan.

Cleaned the res. It was simply stinky with a film on top. I'll start stirring every day to keep some kind of flow.
Filled it up with 10L this time, bout half of the last fill. Kept it on ph5.8 tapwater for 2 cycles and just now added nutes again. Everything maxed, she's at 2.8EC, 5.8Ph.
Got my new meter and tested some res runoff before cleaning, which was at 2.8EC and 6.4Ph. She's taking it all.

 

[stanknkatz]

View attachment 2542508
Topped her above the 4th today and gave her the best tuck i could. It was such a small part of plant i dont think she'll take long to recover, if at all.
Will be taking off every little sidebranch from now on so I can manage it better in this small space. flipping between 1-2 weeks from today if all goes to plan.

Cleaned the res. It was simply stinky with a film on top. I'll start stirring every day to keep some kind of flow.
Filled it up with 10L this time, bout half of the last fill. Kept it on ph5.8 tapwater for 2 cycles and just now added nutes again. Everything maxed, she's at 2.8EC, 5.8Ph.
Got my new meter and tested some res runoff before cleaning, which was at 2.8EC and 6.4Ph. She's taking it all.

An air pump and an air stone in your res would help keep your res from going stagnant. Pretty cheap and available at a lot of chain stores like wal m art etc.

 

[TannedViking]

An air pump and an air stone in your res would help keep your res from going stagnant. Pretty cheap and available at a lot of chain stores like wal m art etc.

Been looking into it but all was finding were air pumps to add ox to the water, which is not what i want as that will mess with the Ph. Same as an airstone would.
I'm looking at wavemakers now. They dont add air but only circulate the water inside. Also fairly cheap.