feed strength for multiple feeds using drippers

[goldenbrown]

Hello Iv been hand watering my cocoa for a few years now and now trying the drippers run to waste...here is what I have done so far.

Hand watered in vedge for 4 weeks , 3weeks in small pots from rooted clone then 1 week in big 20litre and then flipped to flowering.

Started using the drippers when I switched to 12/12 with 3 feeds of half a litre each per day(1 and a half litres everyday) with no run off but hand watering 1 time every week with big run off.

Now my first problem which arose in the first week was leaf tip burn and some slight hooking of leaves, I was feeding with an ec of 1.6 (800ppm US) which I know now is too high for multiple feedings but in the past ok for feeding every other day hand watering. My EC NOW IS 1.3 (650 PPM US) 1 and a half weeks into flowering but still maybe a little high but Im worried about lowering it further in case of deficiencies.

I must say after the nute burn episode I gave them a thorough flush with ph water and cal mag and then lowered my ppms on nxt feeding to 1.3ec.650ppm.

Well here goes the question can anyone help me on strength of feedings when feeding multiple times aday ???? Should I just keep the cocoa moist at all times or let it dry out then feed? (which would i suspect defeat the whole object of using drippers and mulitple feeds)..

Last night I hand watered til run off as Im just clueless on amount of times to feed or strength of feeds to use with drippers...please anyone with dripper expirience help???

Growing in tent dr240w..
8 plants in 20 litre pots (black kush)
two dripper lines in each pot with each dripper giving half a litre every 15min..so each pot getting a litre every 15mins
using hesi cocoa nute line with pwerzyme and super vit also bio balancer by canadian express and keep it clean by dutch pro (same as drip clean)

 

[Seamaiden]

Much lower, I wouldn't go above an EC of .8 unless they (the plants) say they need it. In fact, I'd start them off at around .5, then work up or down according to their response. If they need more, it can be more easily and quickly corrected than if they need less.

Curious about your nick, is it an homage to The Stranglers? If so, Peaches. :D

 

[goldenbrown]

Seamaiden thanks for reply and yeh it is a reference to the stranglers goldenbrown tune :) So you think that say 3 feedings a day at a lower ec for starters would be ok without having any run off?? And then adding more feeds and maybe a higher ec as I go along..Too be honest I do struggle with this as im used to hand feeding at a higher ec every other day with run off..But the reason Im trying this as I read somewhere that smaller several lighter feedings a day is way more beneficial than one big one ,like maybe the way an athelete would eat for optimum performance??

 

[Seamaiden]

If NO run-off, then I'd go with 4x/day, at an even lower EC. I say this because I know that when using chemical salt-based fertilizers it's very easy to end up with a medium that's oversaturated with remaining salts. And yes, I've found that the more frequent the feedings, at lower EC, the better the performance. I've also simply plugged my tray drains and flooded, let set for an hour or two (until media is thoroughly saturated) and then drained off.

I feel it's better for a few reasons. For example, the plant isn't being pushed to the point of toxicities developing. Since responses either way are fast when cultivating in coir, it's very easy to increase most mobile nutrients to sufficiently address any deficiencies should they come up. The exception to this is calcium, it must be offered from the beginning and in sufficient amounts, or problems develop later on down the road. Also, the media isn't being totally saturated and then drying out, it's being kept more evenly moist and the only plants I've ever grown that didn't respond well to that have been succulents.

 

[homebrew420]

1.3 is money @3x a day. You will be just fine with the salt buildup as well. A 2week flush starting at 1.3 will be thorough.
How much light?

Oh and it would be both rare and impresive if you were takling about a cacao tree, I think you meant coco.;-)

Peace