Coco..daily watering?

[Bluebear]

Hiya

Ive been reading for a while now on how to grow passive hydro using coco as my medium,any experts out there please check thro my plans for my up and coming grow and leve any tips that you think I should be taking into account..thanks for reading!

Please have a look thro my plan on growing in coco for the first time,any comments or tips feel free to add..appreciate your time,

Medium: coco with 30% clay pebbles hand watered,

Room size: dr120

Fans= 5" rvk for intake (active)
6" rvk for extraction with cf (attic)

ec truncheon ph pen ph up/down

Nutrients hesi txt complex hesi bloom hesi pk/13/14

OK heres what i plan to do,start my clones off at an ec of 0.8 and pot them into 1.4 square pots once rooted and water by hand from the top daily untill i get a small run off,after roots appear at the bottom ill feed from the bottom then,so in first pots for 7/10 days then moved up to 3.5,s and as above for another 10 days then into their final pots of 11 litre for 10 more days before i switch to flower.

The water i use daily will be from a 10 litre bucket stood and bubbled for 24 hours before i add any nutrients and ph,

I plan to water each day maybe every 2 days max as long as i dont let the coco dry out,the final ph will be kept at btw 5.8-6.2 My background ec is 0.8 so ill half this to 0.4 so if im after an ec of say 0.8 it should show up at 1.2 on my truncheon,

The plans been in action since last thursday when my rooted clones come out the prop,only thing thats changed is ive not added any clay pebbles & my pot sizes..Ive put them into 1.4 litre pots and plan to keep them in these for 2 weeks then onto their final pots wich are 6.5 litres...now my delema I watered them in on thursday morn with 300ml of ph ajusted water (5.8) & 2 days later some were still moist whilst others needed another watering in with the water that had been stood and bubbled for 24 hours i added 1ml of hesi tnt complex per litre of water ie: 10ml of hesi nutes in 10 litres of water.

Heres were im now getting conflicting reports after much reading! Watering! should it be daily even in their first pots with a small run off or should I be waiting till the roots fill this small pot before watering on a daily basis? when i check them the tops have dried and some are still wet should i still carry on and rewater even if they are moist?

Apoligges for this rant but i really would like to know what you coco farmers would do

Thanks in advance people!

Bluebear.

 

[robbiedublu]

I just water every other day or even every 3rd day until the roots fill up the pots.

 

[Bluebear]

Hello Robbie thanks for your reply fella :)

So once your roots fill up the pot do you then start feeding daily with a small runoff?

Bb.

 

[robbiedublu]

Thats it pretty much. I usually water until I have a bit of runoff but not absolutely every time. I also flush with plain ph'd water every 2-3 weeks. I've never used hesi nutes, only canna.

 

[Bluebear]

Me again,

Still stuggling to get to grips with this medium because they are in litte pots (1.4 litres) dont know what that is in galons? Anyway they are also under a 600 hps all be it a fair distance from the top of them,today I needed to water again after watering them yesterday,seem to be drying out a bit quick,so today I gave them extra 400ml and all had a runoff wich I emptied afterwards..sound right?

I knocked one out the pot and theres roots there but they dont seem to be taking to the coco..just dangling,saying that they are nice and white. also noticed today that the tops were a pale coulor so Ive upped the nutes too 2.5 mil per litre and game them a good doze of root stim aswell at 2.5 ml per litre of water..should I stick with it or bin them and start again?

BB.

 

[Towelie]

Hey there Bluebear

I believe your pot size is somewhere around 1/3 of a gallon. I usually let my pots dry out a little with coco in the beginning and after I transplant, this will make the roots go searching for water and grow faster. I usually water every other day but there is no set regiment, every plant is different and you have to be the judge of when it needs food. If you are watering with little runoff that is fine, less waste, however keep in mind that it is possible for salts to build up within the medium, and it is a good idea to test your runoff occasionally.

Stick with it, nothing is hopeless, though it would be nice to see some pics. How old are your babies again?

 

[Bluebear]

Good morning Towelie

Thanks for your time buddy very much appreciate it!

I think thats what my problem was/is letting them dry out to much long time compost grower and old habbits die hard I guess.

Since I gave them a good soaking yesterday with added nutes an some root sim Im sure theres abit of improvement looking at them this morning.

Theres no sign of any salt buildup as of yet..so thats fine. Thing is with hesi tnt it dont show up on my truncheon something to do with organic material in it cant remember the name,so yesterday I went with the dossage on hesi,s scedule and will stick with that untill I flower when from what ive read I can take proper readings.

They are only 6 days old fella they come out my prop last week I also think having 13 with some drying more than others thro me a tad,were as before I was watering them all at once and leaving them 4 days and repeating.

Ill stick with it bud and try get a picture of them later on when the lights come on,till then thanks again for your time.

BB

 

[Towelie]

Oh I see. Well yes, you must keep them moist at least since the coco really doesn't carry any nutrients.

Glad to hear things are looking up, give them some time and keep feeding them, I think they will turn out.

Only 6 days wow, and ready for food already? Be careful, I'd start with 1/4 dose, then 1/2, then 3/4 and then on the fourth feeding maybe start full nutes, they are still young.

 

[Bluebear]

Hello Fella

Dont know if I mentioned it mate but these are clones..so feeding from the start yeah!

Think I under fed first couple of times tho..was scared id fry them..

Theres a pic in the infirmary section were you can see them

Today Ive upped their nutes too 35 ml of tnt complex in 10 litres of water so 3.5 ml per litre,

Also gave them 3ml per litre of root stimulant aswell..all got 300ml of ph ajusted (5.8) water today they have been pale green a few days now so fingers crossed its foo they need and will green up more in the coming days.

Bb.

 

[solarz]

With coco, you have to remember to treat it like hydro...not like soil. Also beware of the cation exchange properties with coco...it will eat some nutes, while releasing others.

 

[Bluebear]

With coco, you have to remember to treat it like hydro...not like soil. Also beware of the cation exchange properties with coco...it will eat some nutes, while releasing others.

yes fella were I messed up i rekon was feeding them daily,this aint nessesary untill they are in flower,I ned to let them fill out their first pots first,before wattering more,Its a slow process but Im getting there.

BB.

 

[GroHi]

BB, I generally feed them to full run-off of 30-50% when hand-watering, drain2waste, and can get away with this through flowering at once per day, though more frequently would be best.

To contrast, in my recirculating coir pots (7" square w appx 2L each), they will get 3-4 feeds per day where I'm getting 100% run-off at each watering.

Here's the logic, the higher the run-off level, the closer you are to bringing the medium into equilibrium with your source nutes. The pH & ec will fall closer to your starting mix with a higher run-off rate. Also, you don't have salt build-up in coir this route. Also your CEC doesn't fall out of whack.

Going this route, I manage my rez levels & watch my run-off measurements daily. There is no specific flush in this routine outside of the final 11-14 days which is just ro water... seems to take me a little longer to get a pure flavor out coir w/o a flush in this range, depending.

Anywho... play around with higher run-off rates as I find it makes growing in coir very easy.

BTW, once the roots take (after first week), the higher your feed frequency the faster your growth rates... within reason. Early veg needs x1 per day & you can bump that to x3 per day for faster growth once they hit 10". It really is a hydro medium.

Peace.