A couple of Basic questions on Coco

[Welshwizzard]

Evening all.

Just a couple of quick ones really. I get everyone will have their own way of doing it coco style but if you have a way that works for you every time please do leave a post :)

Popping seeds very soon, can I go from a paper towelled tap root showing seed into a pint size pot of coco and then after a bit of growth, trasfer t the big pots that will go right through?

Finally, will I need to mix perlite in with the coco as I want to go as natural as I can and only add nutes when in flower. Good or Bad idea?

Personal experiences wanted :)

Thanks!

One eager to learn guy.

 

[budm]

Yes to starting in coco, but realize coco has no nutrients in it like soil. You will need to feed long before flowering.

 

[UNITEDGROOVES]

Sup, Welsh...

Best thing to do is from tap root transplant into beer cups with pure coco Or soil would even be better, this way you won't need to worry about them yellowing out and feeding them, and it can get tricky feeding little seedlings.. Once they grow about a foot tall you can transplant to 5x5 squre pots with pure coco and feed them veg nutes.. No need for perlite, pure coco will work.. But if you plan to feed multiple times during a day during flower then hydrton (chowmix) or pumice works much better then perlite.. But during veg just stick with pure coco until you're able to take cuts and flip them into flower.. Let me know if you need any more input or have any questions...

peace

 

[Welshwizzard]

Yo man, cheers for the reply! Was planning to go from beer cups into their final pots but you recommend changing to their final pot a couple of week before flipping and use a mix of coco and pumice as the final medium? The plan is to go from seed to flower and take a few cut for the next lot before these ones flip. Was just going to use coco and no extra nutes in veg, is this a must have then? Wanted to stay away from extra additives as much as poss really. So wasnt going to do multiple feeds daily unless I had to.

 

[UNITEDGROOVES]

yes, that would be best.. So once you transplant into your final pots they'll blow up in there since there is fresh coco/pumice and ready to flower... You can't leave them in just pure coco without nutes they will yellow out and die on you.. Thats why I recommend to use soil while in cups (most sensitive seedling stage) so you won't need to feed them, but once they get large enough you'll need to put them in a bigger pot. At this stage you can transplant in coco with no issues so they can mature enough to go into flower... And the maturing stage will require nutrients because coco has no nutrients in it....
hope this helps.

 

[Welshwizzard]

Yeah mate that explained a few bits I wasnt too sure on.
Sweet so Ill go with potting soil to start with an once they out grow the pint pots Ill put them into the big ones full of coco / pumice mix and after a couple of days start adding veg nutes. Is there any go to veg nutes for coco specifically that go all the way to flower or do I need to start adding bits of each nutrient differently.

So much to know! Thought I'd get away with coco and no nutes haha.

 

[UNITEDGROOVES]

CNS 17 by Botincare is good and coco specific... Canna CoCo A & B is also coco specific and cheap works well.. Also heavy 16 and Dynagro also work really well with coco these 2 are more concentrated and you'll use less. As far as when to feed you need to read the the feeding schedules.. For example, the CNS 17 is a 1 part Grow for vegetative stage but the Cana Coco A & B is a 2 part so you use both A & B for veg & flower, only the amounts per Gal changes when you switch over to flower... Also make sure not to use too big of a container, 2 gal is enough for coco to grow big plant in, in 3 gal you can grow trees.

 

[Welshwizzard]

Yah my pal uses canna a + b in very small amount while in veg and goes full when in flower. Think I'll have a go with that!

Will pumice / perlite need serious monitoring on the ph side? or is the canna a + b pretty stable and trusty?

 

[Seamaiden]

I've only skimmed through the replies. Has anyone hit the issue of properly charging the coir, if it's not a brand that's pre-charged, etc?

 

[Welshwizzard]

Not sure what that means. Do you mean a medium that has nutrients in itself already?

 

[Seamaiden]

Essentially, yes, that's what I mean.

As mentioned previously, coir is not soil, because it offers no real nutritive value to the plants as they're growing. That means we have to provide it. There are some ways around this and a couple of other issues to be aware of, such as its propensity to 'lock,' on a molecular level, specifically to Ca and Mg. Ca, being immobile, is a difficult deficiency to work around as it's also pretty much absolutely VITAL to life processes (in fact, IMO it should be considered a macro-nutrient along with N, P, and K). Therefore, it must be accounted for and provided in available (not necessarily soluble, but plant-available) form to the plants from the beginning, or you're going to end up chasing your tail trying to correct it.

The other issues inherent with coir is that it tends to provide an excess of K, which means that a few elements, such as Ca, are interfered with. Also, if you give a feed that is excessive in K, you're going to lock out Ca, which means a whole cascade of problems ensue.

They workaround for this, IF you're working with a coir that is not properly pre-charged, is to pre-charge it yourself. What's that? Pretty simple, it's basically filling the available spots with Ca, Mg, and a mild vegetative nutrient solution.

 

[Welshwizzard]

This is far more detail and involvement than I anticipated! I was kind of just hoping coco would be easier to be honest.
So would the Canna A+B not be enough nutrition itself, I will also have to add another type of feed? I dont have vast amounts of cash monies (shouldnt have bought expensive seeds!)

I get how it would be difficult for the uptake of nutrents when there is not there in any form unless added.

So, Ill need, Canna A+B, PK, and what else at the very least for a Coco grow grow?

Much appreciated response pal.

 

[Welshwizzard]

Going t get my coco tomorrow or sat morning, think the place has canna coco charged up. Thats a better option?

 

[Seamaiden]

That I don't know, I don't really use whole nutrient lines, mostly because I am seriously cheap. For answers to that, I would defer to those who've actually used it. I can do a search on it and see what I come up with, tell you how I would work with it, but right now I'm assuming that the A is a vegging solution and the B is a flowering solution, which means different ratios of NPK. I don't know if they've accounted for micronutrients, Ca, Mg, etc. But for coir the most important things to remember is that the plants will need everything provided to them by you, and to stay on top of Ca.

Oops! You got a post in before my reply. I haven't worked with pre-charged coir, but I understand it's tits.

 

[Trend]

Canna coco medium and canna coco a/b. No need to charge or do anything fancy. Ideal start water around 50ppm. 1.0-1.3 ec. Feed every watering and every transplant.

 

[Welshwizzard]

Awesome man. They are in tiny tiny pots right now ( see link in sig). Will be transplanting into some bigger pots once I have real root formation I reckon. Using Coco professional so washed that out before use and going to wait till they are in their next size up pot before adding any a & b. Hopefully end of this week or next week when they look ready and are almost 2 weeks old.

Sound alreet? Cheers for the input though man, much appreciated.

 

[SuperSilverHaze]

ive used canna a/b last run and i went back to gh maxibloom for a decent all around nute from rooted clones thru flower.

1 small scoop maxibloom = ~7gm added to 1 gal of tap h20. i run my girls in 1-2 gal pots most times but they veg in keg cups so they can dry a bit to promote root growth. i only top feed 1 x per day dtw (drain to waste).

i run 100% coco and it gets reused ~5x before its too fine of a grain for my like. i toss it when its a more soil consistency and new coco i like the chunky kind to mix w/reused coco. i flush/wash new coco really good and press all h2o out and then re-water w/1/2 strength nutes.

my avatar pic is a pollen chuck grown w/1tsp mb per gal tap h2o and i let my ph drift a bit but feed daily.

 

[SuperSilverHaze]

transplanting from keg cup to bigger pot w/o stress.

everyone has their method but i use an empty keg cup to act as a place holder for the new arrival as i fill the pot w/coco. this allows me to to fill my pot and when done i remove the empty keg cup and a perfect hole is there for the transplant to fit.

i cant believe i was filling my pot half full, placing transplant in pot then filling in around the plant. my plants dont skip a beat now.

peace

 

[Seamaiden]

Hey.. now that's a pretty good idea! Very Martha Stewart.

 

[SuperSilverHaze]

im just passin what i saw over at the mag........i wish i was that martha stewart.

on the martha note.........to maximize veg area when growing in keg/solo cups you can use those nifty door hanging shoe holders....hang it vertically and you can put the cups in the shoe holder pocket.

while i have not used this yet palidin420 posted pics of his use of it. ez to load many veggin plants.


peace