First grow - let's go coco!

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Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

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Hi all,

First time grower, running a coco run in the pursuit of immaculate medicinal buds. Learning a lot every day through experience, along with the help of many people here - special shout out to Aqua Man for his invaluable advice.

Got 4x 'Green Crush', also called Green Crack but don't like the association with that horrible stuff. Sativa dominant, seeds from crop king seeds. Germinated 5, 1 was weak and snapped its own cotyledons off trying to get helmet off. One sprouted cotyledons, but after almost two weeks, no leaves. The other 3 were good though one sprouted upside down and had its root hanging out. Turned it around and it's going good, a little stunted compared to the other 2, but who knows if that's related or if it's just a bit 'special' genetically. Sprouted 2 new ones as I wanted to get 5 and had ditched 2, both in warm water, one had split and started forming a root within an hour. Planted it and it was up the next day, and it just goes from strength to strength. The other seed never popped. So now I have my 4, one is a week behind into dirt, but development wise only a few days behind the other 3.

For the first week I didn't give Nutes due to my ignorance. Read that the seeds have all they need for a few weeks, but that's in soil I guess. My plants never really 'suffered', though I did look this up quick when I started to notice some yellowing. The 3 got their first feed a week in (pH'd water only before that), which was the first feed for my little gal, so she's had Nutes all the way through and it shows. Again she might just have really good genetics, but is at least 3 days quicker than the other progress wise. The 3 responded well and got a beautiful vivid green very quickly, and started to show some quicker growth.

I am running a nutrient tank with Canna A+B, started at 1.1 EC, up to 1.4 at this stage, working towards hitting 1.7 from the first day of true veg. pH to 5.7. Last run the EC was 1.3 in, 1.4 out, so in a good range atm. The tank has a fish tank pump with an air ball attached. Pumps out thru 13mm, to an FND system. 25 litres of Canna Professional in each, no Perl/Vermic for this run, will add this next time and compare for ease of watering and results. Water system has timer that can do minutes so once it's dialled in multiple waterings a day are no real issue.

Lights are Mars Hydro TSL 2000 x2, side by side. I have germinated under these, currently set at 30 inches, 25% of max, delivering 230 PPFD at the plants. I misinterpreted some info here as well, and had the lights very close to the plants for a couple of days before I realised. You'll see on particularly 2 of the older girls there is some warping of the first leaf, thought maybe some calcium deficiency in the early days, Aqua Man has said more likely is to do with too much light. I find that PPFD result amazing for such a cost effective light - I got the 2 delivered, from the 7/4 sales, for $420US. When set at max, 14 inches above canopy, will deliver up to 980 PPFD in the peak areas, with nothing below 700, even at the corners. Look forward to seeing how it does, but happy so far. I think the node spacing so far is amazing, even though we haven't got to the multi fan leaves yet. All my spaces at the moment are 5mm (1/5 in.), which I'm led to believe is pretty good. Makes me think we've got lighting just about right for this point.

The small room is all concrete and render so maintains stability incredibly well. Well sealed from pests also. Have fixed and sealed a vent which I was pleased to find connects to the central evaporative air. As it's usually warm here, that is on most of the year delivering cool, dry filtered air to the room. I have then connected the exhaust to an existing disconnected exhaust fan that was also handily in the room. I disconnected the fan, and over the whole I attached a vent outlet I found at the hardware store, upside down against the ceiling. It's screwed straight into the plasterboard which is not perfect but the flashing tape helps support it, and to seal it also. The air is not turned on at the moment, but the suction from the exhaust pulls air through the central air system, meaning that only air which has passed through the filters in that system is entering the room. Couldn't ask for more in terms of environment tbh.

I found during early seed development, just leaving things still kept me at around 65% RH during days, and up to about 83% during lights off (10am-4pm). This was great for that stage, now I'm a bit further on it's time to have the exhaust on, that's a bit high for humidity during a cool period. With the lights on the room gets up to about 77, then down to about 64-65 with lights out. At that temp 83% RH is gonna be a problem sooner than later. So I have the exhaust on now since yesterday. Haven't run it through a lights out yet, but last night, it dropped max temp down to 71, which I could have done without, but RH sits at 55% which is nice and pretty good for that temp, and I've definitely seen already a burst from the plants, especially in terms of 'thickness' - leaves have spread and plumped up more with the constant flow of fresh air, I imagine CO2 ppm has been dropping off without something driving new air through, so they'll be loving it.

Photos attached - love the close up cam on the iPhone :) White spots are splashes mostly, warping on first leaves on 2 biggest girls is noted, have accepted that would be the case based on early treatment, but overall health seems very good. New growth is almost electric green I love it. Love to hear any feedback though or things that you've learned to watch out for. I know these are early days and me and my ladies have many laps of the track still to do but I think with early colour and structure I'm starting with good genes, and I think this early period showing great spacing and development I should be in for a good first run. Cheers all, hope you enjoy the photos and my setup isn't too shoddy :D
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Day 17 since germination. Have started giving the girls foliar feeds of a half strength rhizo solution, pH down to 6.3. They love it. Colour has just gone to another level, they look vibrant and healthy. Really happy with progress to this point. 3-5 days from being able to move into a full veg program. The Little one was a week behind into soil but is racing along, 4-5 days behind her sisters in real terms.
 
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Jumpingspider

Jumpingspider

541
143
looks like a good start.

a word of caution regarding your foliar feeding - see those droplets? they can act like magnifying glasses and burn the leaf. Maybe give em a little tap to shake off the excess water or go a just a little lighter on the spraying
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Thanks mate. Yeah I did get a couple of little burns on some of the younger leaves. I only foliar spray just before lights out now. Have attached photos of my girls on day 34 today, all were topped in the last four days. Cheers again!
 
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Jumpingspider

Jumpingspider

541
143
Have you added any CalMag? Coco is notorious for locking up Calcium and Magnesium... I am using Canna A/B as well but i add Calimagic and epsom just in case its not available already. The cation exchange sites in coco will lock on to the Ca and Mg
 
Jumpingspider

Jumpingspider

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143
Also check this guide out by @Aqua Man - very informative breakdown of why we always want coco saturated.

 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
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Lookin good, Welcome to the farm and may your grows be awesome!!!!
Thanks mate, look forward to sharing more as they progress, and hopefully getting some good advice before I make any big fuck ups! Hopefully just a week or so from throwing down the trellis, they look like they are gonna have lots of good bud sites hopefully.
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Have you added any CalMag? Coco is notorious for locking up Calcium and Magnesium... I am using Canna A/B as well but i add Calimagic and epsom just in case its not available already. The cation exchange sites in coco will lock on to the Ca and Mg
I have now mate. I think the whole thing started from realising I am getting 700 EC water from the tap in a city where 400 is considered high. So right the way through the beginning they weren't even getting their full dose of Canna A/B because of the 1700 EC I was giving them I didn't realise 700 was inaccessible salts from the water lines. Since switching to rain/distilled water two days ago I've noticed the difference already, being able to give the proper dose of A/B, and yes also add some Calmag which is really helping. If you look you can (obviously haha) see the lack of magnesium in the bigger, older fan leaves, which I think is a remnant of that stage. Looking at the new growth it looks a much healthier green. Green Crack is a very light foliaged Sativa dominant hybrid, but can definitely see the new growth doesn't have that yellow trail down the leaf segments where the Mg lack was showing before. Will certainly keep an eye on it as the new growth develops though but I'm supremely confident that identifying the hard water issue is going to make all the difference. Have also added some Cannazym to make sure the roots are optimal, they'd already filled 6 gal of coco in 23 days, but want to make sure they stay healthy and white.

That guide of Aqua Man's is basically my watering bible, as well as him having given me lots of his time answering questions. My early watering issues were as a result of veering away from these instructions basically. Think I am going to have to get rid of those big fan leaves on Girl 2, they just want to sit in the dirt it's gonna do the plant no good. She'll slow a bit from not having big fan leaves for fuel but I don't think those leaves are bringing much anyway, and the new growth already looks vigorous. Will only help the new stuff get more light. Other than that I think they're doing ok! Thanks for the advice and for taking the time! :)
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Have you added any CalMag? Coco is notorious for locking up Calcium and Magnesium... I am using Canna A/B as well but i add Calimagic and epsom just in case its not available already. The cation exchange sites in coco will lock on to the Ca and Mg
I think what you are saying is exactly what happened, except what happened was the exchange sites locked onto the unavailable carbonates in the heavy water which just made it hard for the plant to get any accessible Mg between the unintentionally low Nute levels and the suspended salts. Again think the RO will fix a lot of the issues, with the distilled water filling the void in the meantime ;)
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Holy shit 700ppm? That should be illegal
Seriously right! Haven't worked out if it's the mains supply or something in the house plumbing, but I know for damn sure I'm glad neither I, my daughter or my other girls will no longer be drinking it. Gave them distilled water this morning which meant I could give them 1/2 strength A+B, Calmag, rhizo and Cannazym. They loved it. ☺️
 
Jumpingspider

Jumpingspider

541
143
Sorry should clarify 700 EC. Not sure which scale to use to convert that. Still high, normally 200-300 around these parts
Oh yeah my bad. I thought you were talking about TDS. I've only seen ec measured in smaller numbers like maybe you meant 0.7 ec?

250ppm is not terrible for tap water but getting rid of most of that will help your plants out a bunch.
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Yeah I do mean 0.7, just some metres will measure 0.7 millisiemens as 700 micros for more accuracy. It's still a lot when I've only got 1.8 or so to play with to get actual nutrient into. I'm finding green crack, especially this far into veg, handles 2.0 EC beautifully, so I've been able to crank the lights up and give them 2.0 of pure actual nutrient and no TDS and they are exploding.
 
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Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Oh yeah my bad. I thought you were talking about TDS. I've only seen ec measured in smaller numbers like maybe you meant 0.7 ec?

250ppm is not terrible for tap water but getting rid of most of that will help your plants out a bunch.
Realised I was using my iPhone like an old man and not taking proper advantage of the camera. Kept wondering why I think my plants look great irl and everyone sees photos and thinks they're hungry. Realised I should be using a cool filter that takes some of the yellow spectrum of the LEDs out. This is what I actually see when I open the tent. Much nicer photos.
 
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Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Realised I was using my iPhone like an old man and not taking proper advantage of the camera. Kept wondering why I think my plants look great irl and everyone sees photos and thinks they're hungry. Realised I should be using a cool filter that takes some of the yellow spectrum of the LEDs out. This is what I actually see when I open the tent. Much nicer photos.
Hey brother... looks to me like humidity is high around the leaves.

What's your room RH?

Do you have some slight air movement through the plants like fans?

This may make you hesitate but take those large fans on the bottom off and get a bit of air movement through the plant. She's a squat indica leaner so gonna need some defoliation here and there to keep good air flow.

What are the day and night temps? If you can get night temps 5-10f cooler may increase internode spacing a bit if they aren't already.
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

708
143
Hey brother... looks to me like humidity is high around the leaves.

What's your room RH?

Do you have some slight air movement through the plants like fans?

This may make you hesitate but take those large fans on the bottom off and get a bit of air movement through the plant. She's a squat indica leaner so gonna need some defoliation here and there to keep good air flow.

What are the day and night temps? If you can get night temps 5-10f cooler may increase internode spacing a bit if they aren't already.
Hi legend. Yeah humidity is tricky because I don't have a hook up to the fan. I need to hook it to some kind of hygrometer that can turn in and off between a humidity range. Temp ranges are only 75 down to 68 but humidity varies much more. But thank you so much for killing the last bit of my doubt about taking off old lower leaves. Even though I've seen plants respond beautifully there are those People who say never trim a leaf. My experience of the plants is leaves that are taking more than they're giving need to go. Good to see you back man. Hope you had a great break.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Hi legend. Yeah humidity is tricky because I don't have a hook up to the fan. I need to hook it to some kind of hygrometer that can turn in and off between a humidity range. Temp ranges are only 75 down to 68 but humidity varies much more. But thank you so much for killing the last bit of my doubt about taking off old lower leaves. Even though I've seen plants respond beautifully there are those People who say never trim a leaf. My experience of the plants is leaves that are taking more than they're giving need to go. Good to see you back man. Hope you had a great break.
Not sure on your budget but I use these... cheap and I find they work extremely well. Just plug the fan into it.

 
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