Flowering in coco - any difference from soil?

phxazcraig · Feb 21, 2022

I'm about 6 weeks into my first coco grow, and the results have been amazing in the veg state. The plants are huge and have grown faster than I thought possible. I flipped the lights from 18/6 to 12/12 at the beginning of the week. I've pretty much finished trimming the plants (lollipop style) and am planning to let them grow undisturbed for the flowering cycle, if they don't get too tall.

So - what to expect in the flowering stage that is specific to coco coir? I'm pretty new to growing in general, but I did have a nice tent full of buds last October when I grew in soil.

The veg state was fast, but flowering takes as long in coco as soil to finish, correct? What should happen to the growth rate during flowering? Do I expect the plants to get taller than they would in solil? Do the plants get fatter than if grown in soil?

I've been searching the internet for this information, and surprisingly I don't find anything. All the articles and comments on growing in coco tend to focus on the vegetative state, which is certainly very different from soil.

MY expectation is that plants will be about the same height but with fatter buds. Maybe wishful thinking as I really don't want them to grow taller than usual.

phxazcraig · Mar 23, 2022

Here's a reply to my own question. So far, there isn't any difference in coco versus soil - except I'm pretty sure buds are getting fatter in the same amount of time.

Certainly bud growth is nothing like the explosion I saw in veg. A huge, fast stretch in the first 3 weeks, but that's typical. And then.... it's like I've been riding a train at 100mph through mountain curves, and suddenly it comes out into a long straight stretch and slows down to 25mph. Now I just peek in daily and wonder if things are bigger than last time I looked.

ThatRapperWeed · Mar 23, 2022

The main difference is in flower you'll need to feed more often most likely. It depends on environment, plant size, pot size, perlite percentage (if any) and pot type. When I used to hand water coco, I'd be in 3 gallon cloth pots that had to be fed twice a day in flower and that probably wasn't often enough.

phxazcraig · Mar 23, 2022

ThatRapperWeed said:
The main difference is in flower you'll need to feed more often most likely. It depends on environment, plant size, pot size, perlite percentage (if any) and pot type. When I used to hand water coco, I'd be in 3 gallon cloth pots that had to be fed twice a day in flower and that probably wasn't often enough.

I've been feeding 5x daily for more than a month.

Today it seemed the buds were fatter and particularly more sticky and smelly.

Cashmeh · Mar 24, 2022

Bro, I think your ahead of the curve on the feeding rates when compared to most. Your disregard to waste has allowed you to excel past most. Only you will know your medium can handle since your pushing growth rates. The only way I see you gaining more, is by having more runoff lol. . and im sure only you can figure that out.

What did you say your coco mix was? Did you use perlite or what do you use for drainage?

phxazcraig · Mar 24, 2022

Cashmeh said:
Bro, I think your ahead of the curve on the feeding rates when compared to most. Your disregard to waste has allowed you to excel past most. Only you will know your medium can handle since your pushing growth rates. The only way I see you gaining more, is by having more runoff lol. . and im sure only you can figure that out.

What did you say your coco mix was? Did you use perlite or what do you use for drainage?

I'm not trying to push, just want healthy plants in Coco, and this is how they are turning out.

I am running Roots Organics coco mix, which I think is 70/30 coco/perlite plus some goodies. Buffered. One bag filled my 4 airpots.

Got a new EC meter yesterday. It reads 100 points higher than the old one, so I've been running stronger than expected. Input now 1350, output 1650, with a couple of gallons extra fed through last night when I refilled the reservoir.

I look very closely at the buds for signs of too much light. But I don't really know what to look for. The leaves look ok with some tip burn but nothing else. The center buds look different from the edge buds. The edge ones are growing furiously while the center ones have scorched looking pistols, but are fat. The center buds look at least a week older.

Because I'm controlling temp and humidity well and have a lot of airflow, I think the leaves are putting up with the brightness, which is at 1300 PAR. No tacoing or praying. Lots of trichomes everywhere.
I know from experience that buds this size really shrink, so I think I have a ways to go. Can't wait to get a yield on this crop.

phxazcraig · Apr 3, 2022

phxazcraig said:
Because I'm controlling temp and humidity well and have a lot of airflow, I think the leaves are putting up with the brightness, which is at 1300 PAR. No tacoing or praying.

Turns out I didn't see leaf damage at first because I'm looking sideways at the top of the canopy. It's at eye level, and you cant really look down at the leaves. The top fan leaves are looking yellowed and blotchy now, so I've turned down the light.

dbrzz · Apr 21, 2022

phxazcraig said:
I'm not trying to push, just want healthy plants in Coco, and this is how they are turning out.

I am running Roots Organics coco mix, which I think is 70/30 coco/perlite plus some goodies. Buffered. One bag filled my 4 airpots.

Got a new EC meter yesterday. It reads 100 points higher than the old one, so I've been running stronger than expected. Input now 1350, output 1650, with a couple of gallons extra fed through last night when I refilled the reservoir.

I look very closely at the buds for signs of too much light. But I don't really know what to look for. The leaves look ok with some tip burn but nothing else. The center buds look different from the edge buds. The edge ones are growing furiously while the center ones have scorched looking pistols, but are fat. The center buds look at least a week older.

Because I'm controlling temp and humidity well and have a lot of airflow, I think the leaves are putting up with the brightness, which is at 1300 PAR. No tacoing or praying. Lots of trichomes everywhere.
I know from experience that buds this size really shrink, so I think I have a ways to go. Can't wait to get a yield on this crop.

So the burned up pistils in the middle is light burn. This is why the quantum board spider farmer light is not optimum. The Center PPFD is way too hot compared to the outside perimeter. Also the IR output on the Spider Farmer is pretty intense and you can get a sunburn being under that light more than five or 10 minutes at a time. I am going to invest in the bar style lighting. These lights have a better PPFD spread than the quantum boards and no heat issues.

Flowering in coco - any difference from soil?

Flowering in coco - any difference from soil?

phxazcraig

phxazcraig

ThatRapperWeed

phxazcraig

Cashmeh

phxazcraig

phxazcraig

dbrzz

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