explosive growth in coco coir

[phxazcraig]

Here is a short video that make it easier to see the state of the canopy. This is after I clipped a bucket full of leaves and branches.

 

[phxazcraig]

Today I measured the top of the canopy to the light from the taller buds - 12 inches. They have grown about 15 inches since I swapped the tent 8 days ago. I thought they were growing about 2 inches a day, and I was right.

One bud was about 4 inches taller than that, and I supercropped it today - just massaged the stem and bent it over. I may have to do that to a lot more shoots, and I may need that second trellis net in there too.

I thought things would settle down in flower, but until this stretch is done I'm in there a lot tweaking things. Got it defoliated, more, but nothing like the manicured grows I've been seeing here. I always feel like I'm a little behind this crop. The runoff EC is spiking again - over 2000, with input under 1500. I'm already watering 5x daily, so I've increased the watering amount to increase runoff and drop EC. Which means I'm going through a lot of water, which means mixing nutes in a big tub every other day. That's a pain, but on the other hand my runoff is making all the house plants - indoors and out - take off and bloom.

Had to dim the lights a bit as the canopy grows. Have to move the temp/humidity sensor too, as the canopy keeps growing into it.

It's been a very busy little hobby.

 

[dbrzz]

First coco grow. I'm finding it very interesting. I didn't know plants grew this fast!

Here are two pictures. One from Jan 28, thr other from February 7.

Cococoir 70/30 perlite= nice big buds!!

 

[dbrzz]

First coco grow. I'm finding it very interesting. I didn't know plants grew this fast!

Here are two pictures. One from Jan 28, thr other from February 7.

Cococoir 70/30 perlite= nice big buds!!View attachment 1225725

Pic from Feb 15, 2022, flower started Feb 22. Pic from 17 days later, 3 week of flower!!

 

[phxazcraig]

Pic from Feb 15, 2022, flower started Feb 22. Pic from 17 days later, 3 week of flower!!

Sure wish I'd started my flowering earlier. My mistake was waiting until the plants filled the net from tent side to tent side before starting flowering. The lights come on in 10 minutes when I'll get my first view of the crop today. If they grew another 2 inches overnight I'm going to have to start supercropping. Though I have toyed with the idea of buying the 2-foot extension for the Gorilla Grow tent...

 

[dbrzz]

Sure wish I'd started my flowering earlier. My mistake was waiting until the plants filled the net from tent side to tent side before starting flowering. The lights come on in 10 minutes when I'll get my first view of the crop today. If they grew another 2 inches overnight I'm going to have to start supercropping. Though I have toyed with the idea of buying the 2-foot extension for the Gorilla Grow tent...

I am growing autos so veg cycle is what the plant says it is. I sprouted this one 8 Jan 2022. Flower started 22 feb. I topped it once at the sixth node and set my first scrog net to spread the canopy, then I have the second scrog net for the cola support.

 

[dbrzz]

Coming hard to the second scrog net now!

 

[phxazcraig]

Coming hard to the second scrog net now!

That's an auto? I'm impressed that you could top them like that and still have enough time for them to recover. Then again, I really must have messed up my autos - first time grow.

 

[phxazcraig]

Sure wish I'd started my flowering earlier. My mistake was waiting until the plants filled the net from tent side to tent side before starting flowering. The lights come on in 10 minutes when I'll get my first view of the crop today.

Whew! Today the canopy looked about as tall as yesterday. The stretch seems to be at an end. One shorter plant is catching up to the other three, but those three look (hopefully) as tall as they will get. I've also mostly finished defoliating the heaviest stuff to allow better airflow. I'm trying for a lot of biomass (leaves) through flowering to power the plant. I'll see how that turns out.

Currently I have about 12-14 inches of distance to the light, and I've turned the power down. I have PAR 500 all the way in the corners, but up to 1300 right in the center. I'm wishing I knew the upper edge of how bright to allow that center without burning the plants. I want some penetration into the canopy as well. I can turn the power back to 1000 in the center, but I'll be at 350-400 near the corners.

 

[dbrzz]

That's an auto? I'm impressed that you could top them like that and still have enough time for them to recover. Then again, I really must have messed up my autos - first time grow.

ILGM Banana Kush auto. I grew two of them on my balcony and I grew two in my tent. I live in Tucson Arizona and the BananaKush endured 115° of desiccating death rays from the sun. And I still harvested like eight or 9 ounces of one plant. The two I grew in my 4 x 4 tent, produced 14.7 ounces and 15.3 ounces trimmed bud. I am shooting for 20+ ounces on this one plant as I just added CO2 @ 1500 ppm friday!
Here is some pics of my first run outdoors on the balcony using autopots. Banana kush autos

 

[phxazcraig]

ILGM Banana Kush auto. I grew two of them on my balcony and I grew two in my tent. I live in Tucson Arizona and the BananaKush endured 115° of desiccating death rays from the sun. And I still harvested like eight or 9 ounces of one plant. The two I grew in my 4 x 4 tent, produced 14.7 ounces and 15.3 ounces trimmed bud. I am shooting for 20+ ounces on this one plant as I just added CO2 @ 1500 ppm friday!
Here is some pics of my first run outdoors on the balcony using autopots. Banana kush autos

Very nice! In the past month or two, I've come to the conclusion that to grow well outdoors in the Sonoran Desert you should start autoflowers in the winter or spring. Something that will flower before those 115F days in June. Never thought they would get that big though.

My first grow last year consisted of four very sad little autos in a 4x4. Ultimately I got 3 ounces off the whole crop...

 

[Cashmeh]

Now I know that's passive hydro, but that looks like active hydro growth rates. How much runoff ya get.. Id assume lots

 

[dbrzz]

Whew! Today the canopy looked about as tall as yesterday. The stretch seems to be at an end. One shorter plant is catching up to the other three, but those three look (hopefully) as tall as they will get. I've also mostly finished defoliating the heaviest stuff to allow better airflow. I'm trying for a lot of biomass (leaves) through flowering to power the plant. I'll see how that turns out.

Currently I have about 12-14 inches of distance to the light, and I've turned the power down. I have PAR 500 all the way in the corners, but up to 1300 right in the center. I'm wishing I knew the upper edge of how bright to allow that center without burning the plants. I want some penetration into the canopy as well. I can turn the power back to 1000 in the center, but I'll be at 350-400 near the corners.

Very nice! In the past month or two, I've come to the conclusion that to grow well outdoors in the Sonoran Desert you should start autoflowers in the winter or spring. Something that will flower before those 115F days in June. Never thought they would get that big though.

My first grow last year consisted of four very sad little autos in a 4x4. Ultimately I got 3 ounces off the whole crop...

So this is my second grow in the tent

 

[dbrzz]

Now I know that's passive hydro, but that looks like active hydro growth rates. How much runoff ya get.. Id assume lots

I grow in coco and hand water till 10-20% runoff.

 

[phxazcraig]

That seems a very large distance difference between your tall colas and the bulk of the shorter ones. My canopy is maybe 12-18 inches thick. I wonder how much your light power changes from top cola to average ones?

 

[dbrzz]

That seems a very large distance difference between your tall colas and the bulk of the shorter ones. My canopy is maybe 12-18 inches thick. I wonder how much your light power changes from top cola to average ones?

A whole lot of difference. I think the tallest cola is sacrificial. I try for what is best for the overall plant and burning a bud is part of the game. Or chop it off!! I just let these grow naturally with some defoliation to aid light penetration.

 

[phxazcraig]

Now I know that's passive hydro, but that looks like active hydro growth rates. How much runoff ya get.. Id assume lots

I've not kept any notes, but now I wish I did. I also never properly measured the halos, though I quick-measured one. I've recently upped the watering to 40 seconds each, to get more runoff and drive down the runoff EC. I'm getting at least 2 gallons of runoff per day right now. I'm pretty sure I'm putting in 4-5 gallons a day. Input EC is just under 1400 right now, but this morning the runoff was over 2000. This afternoon it's down to 1750 or so. I'm letting that, plus signs of tip burn, set my input EC and watering amount. For my grow, I seem to get tip burn above 1200EC or so, but maybe that is due to EC spiking at the roots? In any case, the last thing I see is any signs of deficiencies in the plants.

It's been since flowering that I really started going through water and nutes. For a long time I was at 4x daily and 20-25 seconds per event and getting low-EC runoff. Then I switched to 12/12 (and changed the nutes a bit) and started seeing more water usage and higher EC runoff. I initially added the 5th event, and since then lengthened watering events from 25 to 30 to 35 and now 40, based on getting runoff and low-enough-ec runoff. I'm very glad I have uses for all the 'used nutrients'. Some of my house and yard plants have bloomed for the first time in years, if ever.

 

[Cashmeh]

I've not kept any notes, but now I wish I did. I also never properly measured the halos, though I quick-measured one. I've recently upped the watering to 40 seconds each, to get more runoff and drive down the runoff EC. I'm getting at least 2 gallons of runoff per day right now. I'm pretty sure I'm putting in 4-5 gallons a day. Input EC is just under 1400 right now, but this morning the runoff was over 2000. This afternoon it's down to 1750 or so. I'm letting that, plus signs of tip burn, set my input EC and watering amount. For my grow, I seem to get tip burn above 1200EC or so, but maybe that is due to EC spiking at the roots? In any case, the last thing I see is any signs of deficiencies in the plants.

It's been since flowering that I really started going through water and nutes. For a long time I was at 4x daily and 20-25 seconds per event and getting low-EC runoff. Then I switched to 12/12 (and changed the nutes a bit) and started seeing more water usage and higher EC runoff. I initially added the 5th event, and since then lengthened watering events from 25 to 30 to 35 and now 40, based on getting runoff and low-enough-ec runoff. I'm very glad I have uses for all the 'used nutrients'. Some of my house and yard plants have bloomed for the first time in years, if ever.

I figured it was alot of waste to get that kindof rates. Ive seen coco and would have to do it the way your doing it if I went that route. Im actually going to be testing NPK ppms individually, along with others to see if I can make it the entire grow without dumping anything, minus the end. So far my veg room can go 2 months without a res change, basically the entire grow just topping off, they vegging. . fuck it right. The flower system is quite different, anyways check it out if you get bored. "6 strains in the same hydro system". Again though, you have excellent results, just assuming a higher running cost for nutrients that most lol. .But in the end, its always worth it. Whatever gets that yield faster. I dont actually understand the timers and shit for coco,

Anyways your shit looks amazing, glad to see people figuring out how to get it done. Again, mind blown growth rates for coco drip, prolly the best ive seen.

 

[phxazcraig]

Anyways your shit looks amazing, glad to see people figuring out how to get it done. Again, mind blown growth rates for coco drip, prolly the best ive seen.

Thanks, I stand on the shoulder of giants. I have mostly followed the advice on cocoforcannabis and it has worked. And I've been conservative trying to stay out of problems. And I have beginner's luck as this is my only coco grow.

I am also giving these plants everything they need, within reason. I've not been afraid to throw money at it if I thought it would save some labor, give me more/accurate information or improve the plants. (Hence the Bluelab controller, HLG-600r light, swapping in AC-Infinity fan, swapping tent in mid-grow, etc.) I'm trying to maintain a happy balance between too much and too little. My first grow was all about finding too much, the second too little. This is my third grow, first coco. I must also be lucky in my seeds since they've just done phenomenally well. (Though only 4 out of 5 germinated.) My reasoning is that the alternative is buying an ounce or two a month at $200 each minimum. My last grow got me 18 ounces of bud, of various quality. I figure that had to be worth $4000 right there, so all the money I've put into this since last year was covered in that one grow. This next one will move me well beyond the break-even point, even if I put $100 in nutrients in. (I haven't tried to cost it out.)

Finally, I haven't figured it out, I've had a ton of questions answered here in these forums, and other people have figured it out. I just act on good advice.

 

[dbrzz]

I figured it was alot of waste to get that kindof rates. Ive seen coco and would have to do it the way your doing it if I went that route. Im actually going to be testing NPK ppms individually, along with others to see if I can make it the entire grow without dumping anything, minus the end. So far my veg room can go 2 months without a res change, basically the entire grow just topping off, they vegging. . fuck it right. The flower system is quite different, anyways check it out if you get bored. "6 strains in the same hydro system". Again though, you have excellent results, just assuming a higher running cost for nutrients that most lol. .But in the end, its always worth it. Whatever gets that yield faster. I dont actually understand the timers and shit for coco,

Anyways your shit looks amazing, glad to see people figuring out how to get it done. Again, mind blown growth rates for coco drip, prolly the best ive seen.

Thank you!! Jacks 321 and epson salt and blackstrap molasses!! Cheap and works perfectly