As always, first off, big thanks to all of the people here at the farm. Without you, I would be guessing my way through my hiccups. Sory about the novel.
In the old days all I had was the indoor grower's handbook for info. Those seemed like simpler times. For me that was 4" rockwool cubes and powdered 1 part nutes. 20-10-20 for veg, 6-30-30 for flower. That was then.
Fast forward to many years later. Here I am making an attempt at growing in coco. Man have I got a lot to learn. So I have gotten some great advice from some senior farmers here that has been helpful, but leave it to me to still screw it up. Anyhow, it was recently pointed out to me, that I am lacking details in my thread on just exactly what I have been doing to these girls. I will do my best here.
The Chem Valley Kush and Sour OG are now at day 25 of flower.
As I stated in response to Motherlode,
The "pre charge" was flimsy and not more than 1 hr soak in RO w/
CaMg at 5ml per gal ph 5.8 No other nutes whatsoever.
Veg nutes once the girls were in veg. This strength was run for one month.
25g RO H20 @ 30ppm
125ml
Botanicare CaMg+
100ml
Canna Coco A
100ml
Canna Coco B
125ml Cannazym
25ml Roots Excel
10ml Drip Clean
That came out to 5.7ph 860ppm. Other batches of the same mix 850-950 ppm. This is the same strength that I am feeding some seedlings with, that are less than 1' tall, just under T5. They look great.
For PH down I am using Grow More brand. For PH up I am using
Grotek Pro-silicate.
Meters are Hanna tri-meters. Got 3, calibrate them at least once a month.
At this point waterings were once every other day, after lights on. I.E Feed, off day, Feed, off day,
CaMg RO water @350 ppm, off day, repeat. To be clear, on feed days, I am watering with
CaMg water for about 30 sec, to moisten the coco, then feed till I get a good amount of runoff.
They got that strength for about a month. After a couple of weeks, I checked runoff against the feed. PPMs going in were just about 900. Runoff was at 760.
Great White was mixed into some RO and top fed 1 day before the flip.
A couple of foliar feedings here and there. One 1.5 weeks before flip. Another 1 wk into flower.
Foliar
500ml OR H2O @30ppm
1.2ml Nirozym
.25ml
CaMg
After 1 week in flower, I changed up the nutes a bit.
25g RO H20 @ 30ppm
125ml
Botanicare CaMg+
150ml
Canna Coco A
150ml
Canna Coco B
150ml Cannazym
150ml Canna Boost
10ml Drip Clean
30ml +or-
Grotek Pro-Silicate for PH up
PH'd to 5.7 PPM 1100
After 2 feedings it seemed that the plants were drying up too much in 2 days, so I then changed to once every day feedings. Same rotation. Feed, feed, water. Now at about 1 min
CaMg H20 then 2 Min Feed.
It should also be stated that up to this point, all the lights were at 600w setting. At 2 weeks into flower, I bumped them up to the 1k setting. The hoods are
adjust-a-wings. First time without air cooled lights for me. I'm pretty damn positive that I was over heating plants from the proximity of the hoods to the canopy. I have them raised up about as high as they can go at this point. The CVK girls are anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 feet, while the Sour OG's are at least a foot taller. The tallest Sour OG is without a doubt, the most unhappy girl in the house.
Now I go through so much
CaMg H20, at this point I am mixing up 90g at a time in one of my big tanks. I mix 90g RO H20 @ 30ppm with 450ml
Botanicare CaMg+ and PH to 5.8 and ppm comes out to 350-380. Lasts me about a week.
Starting out week 3 feed
25g
CaMg H20 @ 360ppm
125ml
Canna Coco A
125ml
Canna Coco B
150ml Cannazym
150 Canna Boost
125ml PK 13/14
10ml Drip Clean
PH'd to 5.9 1230 ppm
Week 3 day 2 another foliar feed, same formula.
That brings me to last Monday's nutes.
25g
CaMg H20 @ 400ppm
150ml
Canna Coco A
150ml
Canna Coco B
150ml Cannazym
150ml Canna Boost
50ml Rhizotonic
10ml Drip clean
PH'd to 5.7 1220ppm
It was also pointed out to me that I am running too hot and dry in the room. I changed the setting on my CHHC to 70% to at least get the RH up. Now, the dehuey is not running at all during lights on. That has got to be a good sign.
Today is just
CaMg water day.
Tank reading at feeding 6.1ph 370ppm. Last time I checked runoff it was with feed water. This is with
CaMg water.
four samples.
First sample, is from the table section with my best looking CVK's.
6.2ph 680ppm
Second, also from CVK. #2 best health.
6.4ph 550ppm
Third, right from the worst plant directly. The too tall Sour OG.
6.7ph 430ppm
Now I will start it off with saying that I know just enough not to sniff paint. With that said, if I remember correctly a good farmer here told me to watch the runoff to see what they are eating. I guess the part my thick head did not get into it was that I should be doing that on a regular basis, as to learn every move your plants are making. After all, I am 100% noob (rhymes with boob) with so much of the ways of the coco, and the finer points on reading and feeding my plants. I am too busy building the shit out of something, to stop and watch the flowers grow. That has to be a new goal for me, to find that balance. Any way, rambling on...
It seems that the Sour OG is underfed compared to the others, based on the runoff. It would seem the opposite would be more likely. Again, please allow me to don my dunce cap.
Current canopy temps: Left front CVK 82f RH 63%. Right rear SOG 82f RH 51%. Rez temp 63.9f. I have more thermometers coming, so I can have at least 4 running to get a decent cross section of temps at different parts of the canopy. CO2 running from propane burner set @ 1200ppm. I just bumped it down to 1000ppm. I figure save a little heat from the burner. AC is pretty much maxed now. The thermostat is set on 72, fan high. Still just stays at 80. Maybe I will have to bump down the wattage on at least a couple of the hoods. I really don't want to if it is not necessary.
I snapped a couple of pics to show some problem areas. Gotta change computers to post em up. Be right back,
-TF