Welcome to the farm. What nutrients will you be using? Do you have a ph pen/meter - you will need one. Will you be filtering your water?
Generally speaking, in my experience in coco, here ya go:
1)mix a generous amount of perlite into your coco. This will help the roots get more oxygen - bigger healthier rootball makes bigger healthier plants and bigger healthier plants make bigger better buds.
2) Invest in a good myco/beneficial bacteria supplement. I use
Voodoo Juice and
Great White. Now
Voodoo Juice is very expensive unless you know where to get it. Great White is expensive too but will last a long time. It is worth it. The beneficial bacteria and mycos help establish a healthy rhyzosphere. You don't need both. I like both, personally. STo start, get the
Great White, or Oregonism, or something else. Give a little bit in your nutrients when you feed until the 2nd week of flower.
3) pH your nutrients to 6.0-6.1. I get great results at 6.1
4) Don't let your pots dry out too much. Lean to find that sweet spot. When coco becomes too dry, you run the risk of killing off those beneficial bacteria and mycos. It's a hybrid of hydro and soil so keep it damp, not wet, not dry, but slightly moist. If you're meant to grow and serious about it, you'll learn the sweet spot. On the other hand, before you water, pick up your pots. If they are heavy ( literally and this means the coco is still really wet) leave them alone. I'll say it again LEAVE THEM ALONE. see below
4.5) You are your plants worst enemy. Learn to leave them alone. DOn't coinstantly change up your nturient strength, don't want to overfeed to make them grow bigger faster. It doesn't work that way. Set your environment, learn to read your plants (this comes with time, be patient and ask lots of questions) and leave them the hell alone. By all means, sit in your rooms and stare at them. Talk to them, Dance around the room in shear happiness that you are finally growing your own meds safely, but leave the plants the hell alone.
5) I've been running Advance Nutrients in coco for 7 years. Go ahead and flame me, but the shit works very very well. At one point, I was getting 6-8 ounces per plant in 3 gallon pots. My routine is: feed, water, feed water, feed water, etc. When you find that sweet spot with a strain, you'll know, but take notes. That way when you are running multiple strains, you can check your notes on what each strain likes and more importantly doesn't like. You have to find what works for you. I found what works very well for me. A lot of people use
General Hydroponics with success. A ot of folks use, Canna, Age Old, House & Garden, fox Farms, etc. You have to find what works for you. Personally, I won't support Scotts or Mosanto - so I will not use GH,
Botanicare ,or
Gavita (lights). That's just my pissed off inner hippy speaking. Take a stand and don't let people push you around..
6)Temps can vary as can humidity. Once you get a grip on growing, worry about that. My veg room runs from 85-90 in the summer with a 75% relative humidity to 65 degrees in the winter with a 30% rh. I still grow awesome buds. As long as your flower room isn't running too hot, you'll be fine, and by too hot, i mean mid 80's and up. Yes your buds will be fluffy and you'll have to water more frequently, and that means toning down your nutrient strength to match feeding/watering more frequently. But, you'll still have good homegrown meds and that's priceless. I've never met a stoner who said, "No way I'm smoking that, bro. It's way too fluffy...." Get my point? Don't shoot for perfection the first time you grow. Shoot for not killing your plants and getting some smokeable buds. I have a great friend who lives in Florida. He grows year round. His flower room temps hit the 90's for much of the summer. His still puts out great buds - I know they get me high as hell. Oh but wait, that's too hot, you say? LOL. I say this plant is resilient and will grow damn near anywhere. Learn to adapt your plants to the environment you create and also learn to adapt to your plants and what they want.
7) Finally, do yourself a favor. Don't freak out over a fan leaf that yellows or curls up and dies. If the rest of the plant looks good, there's little to worry about. The plant may have just decided it wanted to dine on that leaf at that time. 95 times out of 100, if your leaves taco up (meaning they fold up along their long axis like a taco shell indicating a slight magnesium deficiency)m chances are it's because the pH in the pot is slightly lower than 6.0. Calibrate your ph pen, let the pots dry out a little more than usual and next time you feed, ph the nutes to 6.1 and add a little epsom salts. Coco, when kept wet will turn acidic. So let it dry a bit more next time.
we're here to help. good luck.
