Any advice, dos or donts with coco grow???

[Gdawwwg]

Its been a while....

Started out early this year with dwc in my first grow. Went drastically wrong 3 times lol

After reading up the basics and being told coco is more forgiving and better for beginners im going to give it a try.

I have :
Mars hydro 1.2x1.2m tent
Mars hydro 6 inch fan with controller
Mars hydro 450watt led
Dehumidifier and humidifier with controller
General hydroponics 3 part nutrients
Shogun silica
Ph up down

I will need to get some coco. I live in the uk so preferably uk based product. Iv seen canna coco and ecothrive with charge. Anybody used these??

Thinking 6 plants from cuttings

They will be in fabric pots, is 12 litre a good size??

Just looking for general advice.
Any specific dos and donts..
Or a good routine of daily things to do

Pretty much a noob seeking knowledge from the coco experts

 

[Aqua Man]

Can start here as most of the challenge in growing if you can keep a good environment is watering.

I recommend canna coco it’s certified pest free and is a quality product

HOW TO WATER COCO FOR BEST RESULTS.

Ok writing this cause i see this issue often and rather have a thread to link than explain this each time. This is not my work but a collection of info from many members here and I have put into practice myself. So first off COCO is NOT soil. For best results we want to keep it saturated...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[Gdawwwg]

Can start here as most of the challenge in growing if you can keep a good environment is watering.

I recommend canna coco it’s certified pest free and is a quality product

HOW TO WATER COCO FOR BEST RESULTS.

Ok writing this cause i see this issue often and rather have a thread to link than explain this each time. This is not my work but a collection of info from many members here and I have put into practice myself. So first off COCO is NOT soil. For best results we want to keep it saturated...

www.thcfarmer.com

Thanks man some good info in there. The canna coco seems a reliable brand from what people are saying. As soon as i get everything set up il drop a few pics

 

[Observationist]

I’ve been using BURPEE coco, I like it

Might go with bricks though for bulk

 

[Observationist]

I’ve been learning coco, just follow aquaman coco threads, can’t go wrong.

Love the coco, I like going heavier with the perlite, then I add some vermiculite, sand and peat moss.

My mix maybe around 40/40 coco/perlite then the sand/Verm/ little bit of Peat

 

[Gdawwwg]

9 amnesia haze cuttings in canna coco. 11ltre fabric pots. Just set up today. Gunna feed water and root feed for now and proper nute feed on next watering

 

[GrimReffer]

I’ve been using BURPEE coco, I like it

Might go with bricks though for bulk

I use brick coco and it works great. You should look for pre buffered, I got a 11 pound brick off Amazon for 18$

 

[GrimReffer]

9 amnesia haze cuttings in canna coco. 11ltre fabric pots. Just set up today. Gunna feed water and root feed for now and proper nute feed on next watering

Make sure you never give just water in coco, always at least a low nutrient solution. Watch runoff EC/ppm as the get older and never let coco dry out and you should do fine in coco.

 

[Gdawwwg]

So it's day 8 I think lol and it's not going great

Had some unwanted guests so the plants got taken out there pots and put in a bag for roughly 12 hours. Managed to re pot 8. 1 snapped. So obviously I didn't have much hope. But thought fuck it I might aswell see if they bounce back. This whole thing happened 3 or maybe 4 days ago BTW.

So iv fed them and just sat back waiting and this is what they look like.

I don't know if it's the stress or bit of a beating they took but I'm leaning more towards environmental or personal error I'm making as they are still showing new growth. Slow but its there. What's everyone think

 

[Gdawwwg]

Just to let u guys know....

I'm using
Gh trio nutes
5ml micro grow bloom

Orca beneficial Bacteria 3ml
Shogun katana roots 2ml
In 10l tap water with dechlorinator

Ph 5.8-6.0

450 watt Mars hydro led on 60%
Rh 60-70%
Temp 78-84
Running extraction fan

84 is highest its been its summer here and heat wave atm so hard to keep temps down. On average its around the 80 mark. 84 being the highest iv seen today.

Not been feeding everyday been letting dry a little but not too dry slightly moist before I feed again

 

[GrimReffer]

Just to let u guys know....

I'm using
Gh trio nutes
5ml micro grow bloom

Orca beneficial Bacteria 3ml
Shogun katana roots 2ml
In 10l tap water with dechlorinator

Ph 5.8-6.0

450 watt Mars hydro led on 60%
Rh 60-70%
Temp 78-84
Running extraction fan

84 is highest its been its summer here and heat wave atm so hard to keep temps down. On average its around the 80 mark. 84 being the highest iv seen today.

Not been feeding everyday been letting dry a little but not too dry slightly moist before I feed again

I like to add perlite to my coco but I have seen success in just coco. You are doing good and I think they will recover with time. Keep up the good work.

 

[Gdawwwg]

I like to add perlite to my coco but I have seen success in just coco. You are doing good and I think they will recover with time. Keep up the good work.

They look a lot better now.
Got to a point where I'm sick of trying everything. Literally sit here reading and trying to correct everything. I was sat there like wtf what else can it be.

So I pretty much gave up hope and thought fuck it I might aswell give them one last feed and hope for the best.

But this time I doubled the feed kind of knowing its way too much for them to handle or so I thought anyway. Went to check on them and green colour is back and they are growing.

I'm no expert but 1 thing I haven't tried yet and I just feel it in my gut is they may need cal mag. Iv never used cal mag on any of my 3 attempted grows.

I know my gh trio probably contains some cal mag but maybe not enough. So perhaps doubling the feed gave them the calmag they needed?

 

[GrimReffer]

They look a lot better now.
Got to a point where I'm sick of trying everything. Literally sit here reading and trying to correct everything. I was sat there like wtf what else can it be.

So I pretty much gave up hope and thought fuck it I might aswell give them one last feed and hope for the best.

But this time I doubled the feed kind of knowing its way too much for them to handle or so I thought anyway. Went to check on them and green colour is back and they are growing.

I'm no expert but 1 thing I haven't tried yet and I just feel it in my gut is they may need cal mag. Iv never used cal mag on any of my 3 attempted grows.

I know my gh trio probably contains some cal mag but maybe not enough. So perhaps doubling the feed gave them the calmag they needed?

I like to pre buffer my coco with a heavy dose of cal mag and run the cal mag water solution through it until the runoff matches the EC/ppm going in. But after that I don’t use much cal mag, may just be the nutrients I use tho. Never ran the trio.

 

[figgie]

Not been feeding everyday been letting dry a little but not too dry slightly moist before I feed again

...and i think that is part of the issue. Coco is not soil nor should it be treated as such. Coco requires it to be treated more like hydro in the sense of not letting it dry out ever. Watering coco medium constantly and always with some cal-mag.

 

[GrimReffer]

...and i think that is part of the issue. Coco is not soil nor should it be treated as such. Coco requires it to be treated more like hydro in the sense of not letting it dry out ever. Watering coco medium constantly and always with some cal-mag.

It is ok to let young plants dry back a little. I usually feed every other day in solo cups until they start drying back faster and faster. Once they need to be fed everyday it’s time to transplant. Yes once the roots are established then feed every day. Also I hardly use any cal mag and definitely not every single feeding.. again maybe it’s just the mega crop nutrients I use but you shouldn’t need cal mag all the time. Better yet use Epson salt instead as it’s usually not so lacking in ca and more lacking in magnesium in coco.

 

[Gdawwwg]

I like to pre buffer my coco with a heavy dose of cal mag and run the cal mag water solution through it until the runoff matches the EC/ppm going in. But after that I don’t use much cal mag, may just be the nutrients I use tho. Never ran the trio.

Yeh I think I missed a trick there definitely would have been worth buffering the Coco first

 

[Gdawwwg]

...and i think that is part of the issue. Coco is not soil nor should it be treated as such. Coco requires it to be treated more like hydro in the sense of not letting it dry out ever. Watering coco medium constantly and always with some cal-mag.

I'm watering every 2-3 days atm about 1.5 l per feed. Letting it dry out but not completely. Starting to get like a green layer of top growth on the Coco. Is this harmful to the plants?

 

[Gdawwwg]

It is ok to let young plants dry back a little. I usually feed every other day in solo cups until they start drying back faster and faster. Once they need to be fed everyday it’s time to transplant. Yes once the roots are established then feed every day. Also I hardly use any cal mag and definitely not every single feeding.. again maybe it’s just the mega crop nutrients I use but you shouldn’t need cal mag all the time. Better yet use Epson salt instead as it’s usually not so lacking in ca and more lacking in magnesium in coco.

I think I may try adding every other feed or roughly once a week. See how that goes. I started the cuttings in there final pot so I won't be transplanting. In 11l fabric pots. I know it's a silly question as u. An veg as long as u want really. But from looking at the plants how long do u think I should veg for??
Maybe another 2-3 weeks?

 

[GrimReffer]

I think I may try adding every other feed or roughly once a week. See how that goes. I started the cuttings in there final pot so I won't be transplanting. In 11l fabric pots. I know it's a silly question as u. An veg as long as u want really. But from looking at the plants how long do u think I should veg for??
Maybe another 2-3 weeks?

Transplanting will help your growth rates, starting small and working up. Unless they are autos I always transplant. Putting them in the final size pots is most likely part of your issue. It makes watering them more difficult. The amount of veg time really depends on a lot, like what kind of training you want to do and also height restrictions. I would definitely get your plants healthy and growing strong before flipping.

 

[RootsRuler]

I've grown in practically every medium you can think of and have always gone back to soil. Probably the most forgiving of media.

Definitely need to up the Cal/Mag. Coco is notorious for being cal/mag thirsty.

The first time I grew in coco I had the same problem. I had a soil PH meter so I tested the soil at root horizon and, regardless of my religiously feeding at 6.0, the soil PH was at 4.4......nutrient lockout. I raised the PH on my feedwater to 7.0 and checked soil PH an hour after watering. PH was 5.2. Continued feeding at 7.0 until soil PH leveled out and was able to maintain a 6.0ish PH level. Went to 6.0 feedwater and continued to monitor soil and waste water PH.

As important as it is to have your feedwater at the correct PH soil PH at root zone is just as, if not more, important since this is where the roots live and the interchange of nutrient to soluble nutrient happens. If PH is not where it needs to be it doesn't really matter that your feedwater PH is spot on. The roots will lock it out because conditions are not to it's liking.