First time grower need help

[MiHomeGrown]

I've had septoria a handful of times, I don't believe it septoria, but I wouldn't rule out some type of a fungus issue yet, need sharper pictures of the spots.

PH could also be a factor of course, although looks a little dark for calcium spots?

No idea what to do regarding cocoa growing but I use Dolomite to raise and stabilize my pH in soil, don't know why it wouldn't work in Cocoa but maybe somebody else can tell you better than I good luck

After much reading and research Mg def is being caused by low ph. Which is now tiring into lockout.

My main concern at this point is why does the Ph drop after flushing with pure 7.8 ph water at 330ppm (tap water). The ppm in and out are virtually unchanged flushing but when checking the coco ph after like 1/2 hour it’s back down to 5.0. I can’t figure this out.

 

[Beachwalker]

After much reading and research Mg def is being caused by low ph. Which is now tiring into lockout.

My main concern at this point is why does the Ph drop after flushing with pure 7.8 ph water at 330ppm (tap water). The ppm in and out are virtually unchanged flushing but when checking the coco ph after like 1/2 hour it’s back down to 5.0. I can’t figure this out.

doesn't look like mag to me, good luck

 

[Aqua Man]

After much reading and research Mg def is being caused by low ph. Which is now tiring into lockout.

My main concern at this point is why does the Ph drop after flushing with pure 7.8 ph water at 330ppm (tap water). The ppm in and out are virtually unchanged flushing but when checking the coco ph after like 1/2 hour it’s back down to 5.0. I can’t figure this out.

Ph will drop if you are having root issues since the plant is not taking up nutrients they build up and the ph starts going down. Also coco is notorious for cation exchange

 

[MiHomeGrown]

Ph will drop if you are having root issues since the plant is not taking up nutrients they build up and the ph starts going down. Also coco is notorious for cation exchange

Shouldn’t the built up nutes start to wash out and the natural ph of the water take over after flushing about 5 gallons of water?

I can see at first it going back down but after 5 gallons of water I’d hope to have seen more of a change in the coco ph.

 

[Aqua Man]

Shouldn’t the built up nutes start to wash out and the natural ph of the water take over after flushing about 5 gallons of water?

I can see at first it going back down but after 5 gallons of water I’d hope to have seen more of a change in the coco ph.

I'm not a coco grower and don't understand it that well but I remember something about it buffering ability and cation exchange in many posts. Maybe @Enforcer could explain it. If you were in DWC or RDWC I could help ya but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the coco itself needed to be conditioned. Like flushing with cal mag. But again I'm not familiar with coco so best to let the coco guys who understand it fill ya in.

I know when there are root issues nutrients build up and lower ph.

I also know that coco's buffering ability is largely affected by cation exchange.

 

[MiHomeGrown]

I'm not a coco grower and don't understand it that well but I remember something about it buffering ability and cation exchange in many posts. Maybe @Enforcer could explain it. If you were in DWC or RDWC I could help ya but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the coco itself needed to be conditioned. Like flushing with cal mag. But again I'm not familiar with coco so best to let the coco guys who understand it fill ya in.

I know when there are root issues nutrients build up and lower ph.

I also know that coco's buffering ability is largely affected by cation exchange.

Thanks!

 

[MiHomeGrown]

Pretty good article about cation exchange. Now I understand better what you’re referring to.



After reading that and trying to understand my issue, I wonder if I should get some sort of flush product to add to the water to assist with the stripping of salts, etc. from my coco.

 

[Trustfall]

Start over in some promix. Coco is no way to do your first grow.

 

[Enforcer]

Don’t worry about the pH of the runoff. You’ll be chasing ghosts. Your water ppm is a little high. You may want to look into an RO filter. Until then make sure you take the ppm of your tap water into account when mixing up your nutes.

 

[MiHomeGrown]

Don’t worry about the pH of the runoff. You’ll be chasing ghosts. Your water ppm is a little high. You may want to look into an RO filter. Until then make sure you take the ppm of your tap water into account when mixing up your nutes.

At this point I’m not sure what to do. I’ve put 6+ gallons of water thru them. My coco ph in the pot is showing 5.3 after nearly 2 days of flushing with water as stated above. This is the second grow round for me and the first plant didn’t have any issues like this at all (heat yes. nutes and ph, no). These plants are the clones from the first one.

I f I can figure out how to get the coco ph to stay around 6.0 I’ll be ecstatic! I just don’t get why all this flushing isn’t pushing the ph up.

 

[MiHomeGrown]

Until then make sure you take the ppm of your tap water into account when mixing up your nutes.

I figure when I start feeding again I will try about 800-900 ppm total (water +nutes) and see how that works. I just don’t know if I should try feeding with the coco ph as low as it’s wanting to stay.

 

[Enforcer]

I figure when I start feeding again I will try about 800-900 ppm total (water +nutes) and see how that works. I just don’t know if I should try feeding with the coco ph as low as it’s wanting to stay.

I would feed at 6.0-6.2 and just see how they respond. Try not to change too much too quickly.

 

[Madbud]

Interesting read. Is it only foliar feeding or is this also for fertilization? Second thought, will it harm the existing buds if foliar fed or should I not do that at this point to avoid any further possible damage?

You could crush and dissolve a couple aspirin overnight in water then use a cotton swab to dab those blotches. Or neem oil on the infected fan leaves. It could be a deficiency/lockout but i would try to cover every possibility. Good luck

 

[Jack og]

Hey, sorry for the late bandwagon;
1. Coco and organic nutes don’t work.
2,. Why?
Well coco is in a sterile state, like hydro, add organic matter it’s starts to compost. Hence the ph issues and root lock out.
There isn’t a way to go back other then uppotting into soil with the coco still attached , washed off best you can and allow time to reaclimate. Being that it’s so far advanced into flower, this could be ill advised. So how do we recover?
Repot with new ph washed coco, into a larger pot, washing out Best you can the loose stuff.
Start with the correct nutes, remember coco is hydro.
Coco also needs more calmag then everything else, almost every feed and watering. But cal mag cannot be organic!
Salt farm coco.
Remove fungal damaged foliage.
Reduce humidity to 40-45% , bring temps to 65-75dgF.
Reduce blue light if led, if hid increase the wattage.
Hope this helps but remember coco will rot with organic feed and this will cause massive ph swings.

 

[Jack og]

I figure when I start feeding again I will try about 800-900 ppm total (water +nutes) and see how that works. I just don’t know if I should try feeding with the coco ph as low as it’s wanting to stay.

Feed no more then 500ppm, just feed more often. Coco feed daily if the plants are healthy, you with the issues , I’d say feed 4th watering: let the plant use up the nutes. 4th watering in coco is every other day if u water 2x a day. Least that’s what I do.

 

[MiHomeGrown]

Today I got 10 gallons of RO water. The attached pic is 2 gallons I mixed and one at a time fed the plants today. They only got shitty water and a lot of it before this for the last couple days trying to raise ph by flushing. You’ll see a heavy cal mag dose...

I’ve also got a ph pen, tds pen and ph up. Nutes are a ratio of 2-8-4 tiger bloom only. No other Fox Farm or anything besides botanicare cal mag.

Plants look about the same as the pics already on this thread so it hasn’t gotten worse. The buds are indeed fatter and smelling very wonderful. That kind of earthy citrus that’s just enough that makes you want to smell a little more deeply. Haha.

Anyway. Results show a slight increase in Ppm on the runoff. Not real sure if that’s good or bad but I’m thinking it isn’t good.

The heavy cal mag is an attempt to rebuffer the medium. Which, with a soil ph meter is showing 4.8, hence the slightly high ph in the solution. And also my newness to adjusting. I’ll get it right.

Here’s the water results as of 7:00pm eastern.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Beachwalker]

Start over in some promix. Coco is no way to do your first grow.

^

 

[MiHomeGrown]

^

While I have considered it, I don’t quit. I’ll learn lessons and improve this way. Starting over isn’t as valuable. This also isn’t my first grow. Just my first year...I started in April and I believe heat made it nanner at day 40. That plant is below in the pics from the side and top. Same grow space same everything as these plant just too hot. 85-87 for several days. That has been corrected. These top out at 80 around their 8th or 9th hour lights on.
I think I got out of whack taking poor advice from people that “grow” and that shit got me in trouble. Now, I feel like I am on a better track, regardless how these turn out, I’m more experienced and progressing in my ability as a result of these.

 

[MiHomeGrown]

Besides I have these going a veg tent in my bedroom and the learning from those in bloom is helping me on these.

One I’m trying to learn supercrop as you can see, and yes recommendations are appreciated on that.

The other I topped and was going to mainline but it popped the twine and tie down and didn’t stay down like it was supposed to. That will be a project for a different day.

The grow space is homemade 25x20x56. PVC frame. The top is a t5 rooting lamp that I’ve successfully cloned a dozen or so plants 7 of which are 48” tall outside at a friends house.

The bottom is a 600 (120w actual) Phlizon LED
And gives me room to grow plants to about 12” under the light before bloom.

The outside plants are the clones I did in June pic about 2 weeks ago

 

[Beachwalker]

Most of my super crops stand back up by the next day LOL I have to hook and tie them for best results. I'm not a Coco fan but it looks like you're catching on to it, looks good, good luck!