First grow, a few questions.

[sydsix]

Can you folks suggest any great "how to" coco links? I've read most of the search results, of which there are many, but have yet to find a simple answer, like brand to buy, what nutes to use, ph levels, troubleshooting, bucket size, does coco work with Blumats, etc.

 

[deep buddy]

Can you folks suggest any great "how to" coco links? I've read most of the search results, of which there are many, but have yet to find a simple answer, like brand to buy, what nutes to use, ph levels, troubleshooting, bucket size, does coco work with Blumats, etc.

i can go simple for you
get good coco bagged not bricked canna or gold label is what i have used

get a good meter for ec and ph if you dont have one

ph 5.8

ec .5 to 2.0 ( i rarely exceed 1.5ec)

cns-17 is a great one part nute simple and easy and cal mag or calplex

i use bags or fabric containers 3 gals or less is good for your size tent

blumats do work for coco but i use DTW drip manifolds powered by pumps


your led's arent crap they are good for supp lighting my suggestion would be a 400 or 600 w hid and the led for good broad spectrum. but you will want to get the hid as soon as possible IMHO.

good luck anyy?'s hit me up,
Buddy

 

[sydsix]

Thanks Buddy, for the straight forward advice.

Actually I do have three more questions ;)

- What do you recommend to mix with the coco? soil? At what ratio?
- Does using coco (or a mix) have a greater chance of bugs, aphids, mites, etc?
- Should I sterilize the coco before hand? Rinse? Bake?

Thanks!

 

[sydsix]

also,

- Do I need something to capture the run off? Is there any run off from watering/care?

 

[deep buddy]

i use straight coco so that i can use less nute solution/water but that will be preferecne

coco is prone to gnats and root aphids there is a school that thinks they are hitchhikers from sri lanka(RA's) but they are also native to many parts of the us so... spectracide has worked great for me or an imid like merit75 or mallet. bti for gnats. easy .

i dont sterilize or rinse my coco but if your unsure check ec and rinse if needed

yes you will need something for the runoff i have large custom tables with plastic gutter to collect runoff. also you will need a few good solid inches of hydroton or some other such stuff for drainage in the bottom of your containers. i like to use sunleaves rocks for this but again you could use anything inert and that drains well . you are looking for 20% runoff untill you get a get idea of what your strains like

edit . you will fucking love the coco once you get it down trust me:pimp::pimp::pimp:

 

[sydsix]

Sorry, one more question.

I am on well water. I ordered a TDS meter and my water straight from the tap is about 60 PPM. Do you think I'll need a RO system?

 

[dankworth]

Sorry, one more question.

I am on well water. I ordered a TDS meter and my water straight from the tap is about 60 PPM. Do you think I'll need a RO system?

Maybe not, hopefully not. I had well water around 140 ppms, I though would not be a problem.

Unfortunately the water also contained a ton of iron bacteria. My ph would drift from 6.0 to over 7 within hours in my recirculating solution. The roots ended up looking like top ramen with their fucked up zigzagging structure.

It may be best to run a test reservoir to see if a nute solution will maintain a stable ph. Hopefully it would be okay. 60 ppms is not bad at all.

If you do have to buy an ro filter, do not buy it from the hydro store.
I bought a merlin 600 gpd ro filter from uswatersystems a few years ago for just over $300. And the $30 hm digital budget ppm meter that still works.
This water filter, rebranded and sold in the NGW/sunlight supply catalog, retailed for $600.

You may also want to look on craigslist for a good deal on equipment, if you go that route. But then there would likely be no warranty, so you would have to exercise more caution.

Sydsix, when I offered my advice to you earlier, I did so with the assumption that you would prefer to bang out a pound or more from a tent every so often.
Just so you know where I am coming from.

 

[ollie5572]

Hi Sydsix! Just read up on your first LED adventure. I was like you and was worried about heat, power consumption,etc. So I to pulled the trigger (probably a little to quick) on a LED system. It vegged beautifully under the LED, but when it was time for flowering... it was lacking. The tops were ok, lots of trichs, smelled good, but not much weight and little light penetration. I have seen logs of farmers on here getting great results with LED, but now the LED is only in my Veg tent. My flower tent is HID. My advice is to keep the lights as close as the footprint will allow and to prune the lower branches because they will not amount to much. Just my .02 Good luck bro. I will be following this one. Maybe you can do things much better than me.:banana1sv6:

 

[deep buddy]

Sorry, one more question.

I am on well water. I ordered a TDS meter and my water straight from the tap is about 60 PPM. Do you think I'll need a RO system?

i would get it tested if i were you. ive had buddies really get fucked from well water. not saying you will but its going to fluctuate. also besides elements there can be bacteria and other nasties.

also maybe an idea of what you are trying to achieve ie. how much , how often, how much time you have to dedicate to the grow. as dw said we all kinda assume your trying to max out your poTENTial here. so thats really important what you want as to what your willing to give to it.

 

[sydsix]

Hi Sydsix! Just read up on your first LED adventure. I was like you and was worried about heat, power consumption,etc. So I to pulled the trigger (probably a little to quick) on a LED system. It vegged beautifully under the LED, but when it was time for flowering... it was lacking. The tops were ok, lots of trichs, smelled good, but not much weight and little light penetration. I have seen logs of farmers on here getting great results with LED, but now the LED is only in my Veg tent. My flower tent is HID. My advice is to keep the lights as close as the footprint will allow and to prune the lower branches because they will not amount to much. Just my .02 Good luck bro. I will be following this one. Maybe you can do things much better than me.:banana1sv6:

Curious. What size grow area? Type of LEDs?

 

[sydsix]

So what is a good ppm? Am I to assume zero is "best"?

 

[dankworth]

I never changed my filter. I get around 25 ppms these days off my RO.
I have melted snow, mine was under 10 ppms.

Your 60 will probably be fine. I think the real danger, if any, would lie in bacteria like I had.

 

[sydsix]

Good to know. Thanks!

 

[sydsix]

What is everyone's opinion on Blumats?

Since I think I might go coco now, instead of DWC, I like the idea of "self feed". Obviously still need to keep an eye on things, but less hassle than hand feeding.

I would use my 5 gal buckets as run-off catch, with 3 gal smart pots of coco. One 5 gal bucket could hold the nutes/water. Thoughts?

:icon_dizzy:
I have a feeling you guys are going to get tired of my goofy noob questions. Sorry. Maybe someday I can pay it forward.

 

[phenotyper]

No experience with blumats, but I really like autopots with coco. Autopots are nice because it is a gravity driven system which self feeds. Also, hempy buckets with coco are awesome and super inexpensive to make!

 

[dankworth]

Blumats are cool unless they clog while you are trying to take a vacation and have a life. Then they will let you down.
You also may not run cool organic stuff(teas, etc) because of the possibility of sediment from the organics clogging the blumat.

The solution I settled on is a drip manifold with 1/4" tees for outlets, governed by a C.A.P. art-dne cycle timer. If you have a res that keeps a stable ph, and you drain to waste, you will have a system that cannot fail, cannot clog. You will be able to leave the house for up to a week when a setup like this is dialed.

Leadsled has a great tutorial on drip manifolds, and Trichomefan has a great drain setup involving corrugated roofing that is sloped to drain to a gutter, then the gutter drains elsewhere. It is simple and cheap to set up. It can also be built low to the floor to preserve your height inside the tent.
And the tent can always be placed on a "stage" or platform of your construction, to get a little more room under there if needed.
A 27 gal tote from Home depot makes a fun 13.00 reservoir that could feed a tent for a week maybe under a 1k.

Blumats have many points of possible failure with the system. Dialed, it is supposed to be pretty cool. But the drip manifold irrigating small amounts several times a day is the way to go if you are looking to engineer a self-maintaining system.

Less gray hair that way.

Coco performs best at a certain saturation rate. It produces best growth when it stays fairly wet. Definitely better growth than say irrigating every 1-2 days.

From what I have read from the big kids here, chow mix(coco/hydroton) offers better growth rates than coco/perlite mixes. I am moving towards chow myself.

Smart pots are cool.

Do not feel bad about the questions. A year from now you will be helping someone who is in your same spot.

 

[OilFreak]

LEDs ROCK!

I have 2 Lumigrow 330 watt LED's. Ive used them exclusivley on a Afghan Kush strain. Best AK I have ever smoked! The LEDs seem to really pull out the flavors of your favorite strains. But you dont get as big of plants. But the plants are better developed, with tight buds all the way to the bottom of the plant, even where it got little light. I think they are ideal in a small tent. Im going to run some more tests, but if you can afford LEDs for a small show and dont mind less product of MUCH better quality then go with the LED's.

Im mainly interested in the oil content of plants. Quality is my number one consideration because this oil cures cancer and Ive had 5 friends & family die from that dreaded disease. Im going to run some tests to see if the LED's increase oil content or quality.

 

[sydsix]

I have 2 Lumigrow 330 watt LED's. Ive used them exclusivley on a Afghan Kush strain. Best AK I have ever smoked! The LEDs seem to really pull out the flavors of your favorite strains. But you dont get as big of plants. But the plants are better developed, with tight buds all the way to the bottom of the plant, even where it got little light. I think they are ideal in a small tent. Im going to run some more tests, but if you can afford LEDs for a small show and dont mind less product of MUCH better quality then go with the LED's.

Im mainly interested in the oil content of plants. Quality is my number one consideration because this oil cures cancer and Ive had 5 friends & family die from that dreaded disease. Im going to run some tests to see if the LED's increase oil content or quality.

That's great to hear. What are you growing in? Coco, soil, DWC?