Advice on E.C and watering frequency in coco/perlite

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Observationist

Observationist

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Wow mate they look really nice!

Yeah, "Apparently" coco is the ultimate noobs medium to start with but ive had nothing but issues and headaches with one thing or another. If i ramp up feed strength i get ridiculous problems with EC and salt build up leading to toxicity and burn, on the flip side i keep EC'S low and as close to stable as i can possibly get then i end up with an under fed plants and diminished yeilds.

Thing is its going to be quite hard and extremely awkward having to move the plants out of the autopot bases as i was planning a "fixed" autopot setup with 2x scrog nets.....hmmmm maybe if im still going to have problems even with the EC's in the autopots then i may have to re-think as once the plants have been woven into the scrog nets its going to create a nightmare!

Thanks for sharing mate 👍
Well, there’s coco as a medium

Then there’s high frequency fert coco, that is a little bit more hands on
 
Madmax

Madmax

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Yeah mate im with you on that one! Ive been told countless times that im severely under feeding my girls with 1.2EC being the highest i can possibly go and thats still causing build up so i still need to "Mini flush" weekly with a lil calmag and ph 6.0 to reset the meduim for the following week ahead as EC rises my medium PH becomes very acidic dropping as low as 4.5! Tbh im really not enjoying using coco i have considered soil but i have been told that yeilds do suffer compared to coco or DWC.
Thats exactly what was happening to me on my second grow @MIMedGrower told me a low ph is salt buildup and no matter what i done i would get it again even after flushing and running lots of feed through to get it down but would come back within 3 feeds...so i went from the 5 gal pot to a 4 gal and added 2 handfulls of chunky perlite to every 10 of the 70/30 cyco light and then never went over 580ppm fixed it.i havnt had a problem since.i also drilled heaps more holes on the bottom of the pots.i dont even test runoff now..when i did check ,ph out is high 6.7 and runoff 2-300 under what im giving them that means i can feed more,but as the grow goes on it catches up in flower but never exceeds what im giving them..i only want to feed once a day 3 to 4 litres max and i think adding the extra perlite and dropping down a size in pots has help alot..
 
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Flowerpower420

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Thats exactly what was happening to me on my second grow @MIMedGrower told me a low ph is salt buildup and no matter what i done i would get it again even after flushing and running lots of feed through to get it down but would come back within 3 feeds...so i went from the 5 gal pot to a 4 gal and added 2 handfulls of chunky perlite to every 10 of the 70/30 cyco light and then never went over 580ppm fixed it.i havnt had a problem since.i also drilled heaps more holes on the bottom of the pots.i dont even test runoff now..when i did check ,ph out is high 6.7 and runoff 2-300 under what im giving them that means i can feed more,but as the grow goes on it catches up in flower but never exceeds what im giving them..i only want to feed once a day 3 to 4 litres max and i think adding the extra perlite and dropping down a size in pots has help alot..
Ah awesome! Il definitely give that a go on my next grow. Would clay pebbles mixed in with the coco/perlite work just the same? As im going to have to get some clay pebbles anyways to stop the moss build up on the top of the pots. Cheers mate, glad you got yours finally sorted 👍
 
Madmax

Madmax

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Im not sure bud but i wouldnt do it, i have been thinking of putting clayballs on top just to stop the top coco drying out and with the fans going it gets a little messy.
 
Zombierider

Zombierider

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Hi guys i am a little confused with EC'S and watering frequency,

I currently have 4 plants in 11l pots using 70/30 coco and perlite pre buffered bags.

Im also using the full mills nutrients range and im having a big headache with keeping EC'S in range and keeping the meduim wet/aerated

I cannot possibly follow the mills recommended feeding chart as the second i start to ramp up the strength of feeding the plants show signs of tip burn and nitrogen toxicity. The highest i can possibly go is 1.4EC MAX (At this stage of flower mills recommends upto 2.5 E.C i flow peak flower), but my outflow keeps slowly creeping up to the high 1.9-2.0+ with only baby food of 1.4E.C.....with another ballache of rootzone PH slowly dropping into the mid to high end of 4.5-5. Preventing optimum rootzone PH levels for phosphorus and potassium uptake. (I PH my solution to 6.0-6.2).

Now i have tried so many different things to counter this such as, lighter nutes more frequently as im currently doing now so im giving them 1.4 E.C, 0.5l every 3 hours to keep the medium constantly Saturated between 90-100% to try and combat salt build up but sure enough within a couple of days the run off is sky high,

Ive also tried allowing it to dry out for 24 hrs and flushing with calmag and ph tap water to push out exess salts and nutrient build up but the same thing happens when feeding resumes,

Ive tried lowering calmag and increasing base nutes, lowering base nutes and increasing calmag, eliminating calmag altogether which just leads to deficiencies within a couple of days, im at a total crossroad here...

Im getting more stable results with the 4 smaller but frequent feedings during lights on but tbh it just isnt practical Nor cost effective as im tipping 80% of what i feed down the toilet, But because im keeping the moisture content so high its also messing with my humidity percentage and is going to cause mould issues as im in mid-late flower now.

When i feed, my run off is way way way more than it should be, i seem to put more town the toilet than the plants are drinking just to try to keep E.C'S within range

Has anyone got any experience with mills nutrients using coco? If so what was your regime to keep a nice balance between feeds, moisture levels and salt build up.

Im flushing weekly before the next week feed schedule so the substrate is fresh and can uptake that next given weeks nutes without adverse effects but like i stated....its getting a bit too impractical.

Im thinking about autopots for my next grow but with eratic E.C's im a little unsure if this is a good idea as with auto pots there is NO run off which "in my head" will make things ALOT worse with no way of pushing salts and excess nutes out the pot. Sorry for the rambling on guys im just trying to put asmuch info in as i can.

Cheers in advance

Peace out ✌️
Firstly, try not to get too focused on EC, as that MIGHT not be the issue. Other things like light intensity and vpd might be the issue, as the higher the light intensity, the more the girls should be able to eat through their nutrients ergo, better tolerance of high ec. If there isn’t enough light, they won’t need as much nutrients and will show signs of over fertilization at a lower ec since your lights aren’t running them hard. That’s how I understand it at least. Make sure your at the correct daily light integral for your stage of growth (try out the photone app or measure DLI with a lux meter and some calibration
). If the light isn’t the issue, then here is how I water in high frequency fertigating and I got me a nice haul of some cheese cookies using this method.
I ran General hydroponics 6 part nutrients, in 1 gallon pots and 100% coco coir, no perlite or anything since canna told me no extra aeration is recommended. I start by watering them exactly as per the nutrient schedule, from twice a day as little babies, to upwards of 8+ times a day in flower. I just water till I get runoff, but not too much. If I see signs of a deficiency, I usually up the cal mag or the overall ec. I also follow the photone light schedule to a T and use the photone app to measure DLI.

If I were you I would make sure my light is on point, water your girls with ph’ed water until runoff, then slowly water in some fresh nutes at a strength and stage as per general hydro nutrient schedule. You can probably just water in a fresh batch of whatever nutrients your using. Every nutrient pretty much acts the same, it’s food. Give it to em and they eat it, just make sure it’s at right ph.
Disclaimer: I just ate a bunch of edibles and I have only grown one time. So take my advice with a massive pink Himalayan grain sized grain of salt.

 
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Flowerpower420

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Firstly, try not to get too focused on EC, as that MIGHT not be the issue. Other things like light intensity and vpd might be the issue, as the higher the light intensity, the more the girls should be able to eat through their nutrients ergo, better tolerance of high ec. If there isn’t enough light, they won’t need as much nutrients and will show signs of over fertilization at a lower ec since your lights aren’t running them hard. That’s how I understand it at least. Make sure your at the correct daily light integral for your stage of growth (try out the photone app or measure DLI with a lux meter and some calibration
). If the light isn’t the issue, then here is how I water in high frequency fertigating and I got me a nice haul of some cheese cookies using this method.
I ran General hydroponics 6 part nutrients, in 1 gallon pots and 100% coco coir, no perlite or anything since canna told me no extra aeration is recommended. I start by watering them exactly as per the nutrient schedule, from twice a day as little babies, to upwards of 8+ times a day in flower. I just water till I get runoff, but not too much. If I see signs of a deficiency, I usually up the cal mag or the overall ec. I also follow the photone light schedule to a T and use the photone app to measure DLI.

If I were you I would make sure my light is on point, water your girls with ph’ed water until runoff, then slowly water in some fresh nutes at a strength and stage as per general hydro nutrient schedule. You can probably just water in a fresh batch of whatever nutrients your using. Every nutrient pretty much acts the same, it’s food. Give it to em and they eat it, just make sure it’s at right ph.
Disclaimer: I just ate a bunch of edibles and I have only grown one time. So take my advice with a massive pink Himalayan grain sized grain of salt.

Awesome info mate! Very much appreciated bro thank you 😊
 
Madmax

Madmax

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All that goes completely opposite of how mine grow operates...if my light isnt sufficient so i dont have to use high amounts of nutrients ,why am i getting over 2p a light out of a 5x4 area...feeding once and under 600ppm ..and i am running a lumatek 600 zeus pro by no means an unsufficient light.so why dont my plants say...hey feed me more max..i just go by what they are showing me and i dont need to overfeed them..maybe i will bump up the nutes abd get 3lb out of that area 😃😃😃..if your going to flush ,flush with quarter strengh what you are giving them then feed less than what you were giving them..just flushing with water can fuck your ph up in the rhizosphere..
 
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