manco86 said:

I have made a mix of coco coir 70 percent coco 30 percent perlite in 5 gallon pots. I’ve also added 25 percent worm castings as well as dry amendments from the beginning then top dressing at week 4/7.. etc every two-3 weeks. My question is about watering. I know with organic dry amendments you don’t want to water until run off like with normal coco. I’m wondering if I let this dry back 50-60 percent and water again or keep fully saturated. I’ve seen conflicting views and I feel like with me adding the extra stuff it’s almost like a super soil/coco instead of normal coco and I should let it dry at least half. It seems to stay dark and damp for days and I’m at week 5. When I feel the coco though it doesn’t feel very moist. The top feels dry but looks wet and the bottom of the pot is still damp.

How would you advise watering this?
Most people at this point are watering daily or multiple times a day. I water 4 cups one day and get way too much run off. I wait two days and do 6 cups and get run off. Should I really be waiting 3 days 5 weeks into my grow to water? It doesn’t sound right but maybe..

Where’s the magic spot?

I’m going to try the weight thing but am afraid I’ll get it off so I’ve been weighing the pots starting this week with a scale but need to get that right now as well. I understand people treat just coco like hydro and soil they let dry back but I feel like the mix I have is in between so don’t know exactly what to do. My plants look super healthy right now and are doing great but I need to get better at this watering stuff and how to tell this mix I have is needing water or is fine.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

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Redneckx said:

Just headed back to Coco and your watering doesn't sound right. How much fit in your cup? Please gimme an amount in Liter you are feeding. How big are your pots?
Give us as much Infos y can and photo.
It could be an undeveloped root zone or the Coco got hydrophobic and drains more water then it should, that why Coco shouldn't dry out completely.
Try to water slowly, first moist the top soil then pour the water in steps with breaks(up to 15mins) between.
I am giving my plants the amount of water they can handle with a dryback of three days without drain because that was best when I was in peat and I stick to that. When the dryback gets shorter, increase the amount of water or when it takes longer stick a little back.

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Smokey_LaFleur said:

I use coco loco with natures living soil concentrate. I've noticed it's better to let em dry back a bit between watering. Younger plants in a 5 gallon pot, I wouldn't water a lot. Let em fill out a bit before watering to wet all of the medium. I never water til runoff. Your mileage may vary, but I ran into some calcium deficiency early on and I am bow adding cal mag.

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manco86 said:

I’ll get some pics here soon. I think I have overwatered but glad it’s coco because it hard to overwater. I need to let them dry back more I think. I was waiting like a day before watering again and it was running through. It’s hard for coco to come hydrophobic, that’s another awesome thing about it. When I let it dry around 2 days it will take 8 cups or 2 liters and hold it. 12 cups or 3 liters will push flush out about 10 percent. I’ll post pics soon

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manco86 said:

This is day 34 for these autos. I have LST the back left, mainlined the front and topped the back right. I fully saturated yesterday around 8:00PM. It’s now 11:24 the following day and they still are wet and dark. I’m think of waiting two more days before I do any watering and letting them dry back to at least 50 percent.

Let me know what you think. They’re short and squatty but will start stretching this week for the next 2-3 weeks. They seem super healthy to me. I just want to make sure to get this watering down right. I hear people say water everyday, water small throughout the day a few times, fully saturated and then let it dry for 5 days. I just want to be right here and I know I’m not supposed to get run off. I think 2 liters every 3 days right now may be the sweet spot until they stretched more. I’m assuming they will start drinking a lot more in the coming weeks with starting and going through flower.

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Smokey_LaFleur said:

Yeah, they're still kinda small. I'd err on the side of less water and keep an eye on them. Mine are almost 3 weeks into flower and I'm giving about 1/2 gallon every couple days. Since I moved them into 7 gallon pots, I will try to saturate most of the soil every couple weeks, then make sure to wait til the pot is light before giving any more. Again, trying to avoid runoff.

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