HOW TO WATER COCO FOR BEST RESULTS.

[justice8965]

Yup, already have an air pump and two stones ready to go. Any way to prevent ph drift? I have a ph probe that will be hanging in the res 24/7, so I'll always know what it is. I'm guessing just keep an eye on it and adjust as necessary?

 

[Aqua Man]

Yup, already have an air pump and two stones ready to go. Any way to prevent ph drift? I have a ph probe that will be hanging in the res 24/7, so I'll always know what it is. I'm guessing just keep an eye on it and adjust as necessary?

Yup exactly.

 

[euphoria526]

Ok, a day later and the seedlings look good, coco for the most part still looks like it’s holding moisture with a few of them barely starting to took dry at the top. Wait to fertigate tomorrow? Or mix up another weak batch of jacks right now?

 

[Aqua Man]

Ok, a day later and the seedlings look good, coco for the most part still looks like it’s holding moisture with a few of them barely starting to took dry at the top. Wait to fertigate tomorrow? Or mix up another weak batch of jacks right now?

100-150ppm when young like seedlings you can allow then to dry a bit more. Try to feed just at or after lights on. That gives then time to take up before lights out. Tomorrow should be fine.

 

[euphoria526]

100-150ppm when young like seedlings you can allow then to dry a bit more. Try to feed just at or after lights on. That gives then time to take up before lights out. Tomorrow should be fine.

Thank you aquaman! I’ll check back in tomorrow with some pics. This veriagated one is going to look pretty!!

 

[Aqua Man]

Thank you aquaman! I’ll check back in tomorrow with some pics. This veriagated one is going to look pretty!!

May grow out if it... its pretty cool but not beneficial.

 

[Taurus]

Ok writing this cause i see this issue often and rather have a thread to link than explain this each time. This is not my work but a collection of info from many members here and I have put into practice myself.

So first off COCO is NOT soil. For best results we want to keep it saturated between 90-100% that does not mean you can't go below this but you may see slower growth or nutrient issues over time if your consistently letting COCO get to dry.

Coco has an amazing gas exchange and air holding capacity when compared to soil. For this reason it is next to impossible to over water. Over watering is NOT to much water... its lack of o2. You will see this in soil with less drainage but because of coco's high drainage, air holding capacity and gas exchange its highly unlikely to see this in coco.

I do suggest if growing in more than 1 gal pots to add perlite if you are seeking faster grow rates. However if you want to water less often then you can eliminate the perlite as this will lower the drainage. As a rule of thumb:

1gal no perlite
2gal 20% perlite
3gal 30% perlite
4gal 40% perlite
5+gal 50% perlite

You can do more or less but it will affect the frequency of watering required. More perlite the more frequent you will have to feed. Personally I feel the better the drainage the faster the growth but its a balancing act and the above ratios i would say are a great place to start.

Coco has a low CEC (cation exchange capacity) so it does not hold onto nutrients as well as something like soil so we feed with every watering to keep a balanced nutrient ratio, ph and ppm in the coco. To do so we also need to flush out some of the last feed with each feeding to prevent a nutrient buildup which can affect all of these. THINK OF COCO AS SOILESS... much closer to hydro and very similar to rockwool.

I won't get into ppm in detail as thing will change quite a bit from grow to grow depending on many factors. But generally speaking start at around 300-400ppm and work up to around 800ppm. Now some may need to alter that as it will depend on your specific grow conditions.

HOW OFTEN DO WE FEED!!!

Ah the always debated subject.. 2 times a day, 1 time every 2 days, 10 times a day????

Forget that nonsense... like I say each grow is different so we need to use a better method. Let the plants tell you!!!!

Ok here is how we calculate it simply to your specific grow conditions, stage of growth, pot size and every other variable. You will never need to wonder am I feeding to much or to little again.

The formula:

1.Feed 5% of the pot size as your nutrient solution.
2. Of that we want 10-20% to come out as run off.
3. If you get more you can lower the frequency.
4. If we get less we need to increase the frequency and for that feed we need to add more to get our run off.

So I will do the calculations up to 5gal below to save you all some time. Feed the amount listed and check to make sure you get runoff of the amount listed from there adjust to dial in the feedings as they will change as the plants grow.

REMEMBER THIS IS A GUIDLINE AND NOT A HARD RULE. Our goal is to get as close as reasonably possible. It's not gonna kill your plants if its not exact.


I'm gonna round up.

1gal. Feed 250ml get 25-50ml of runoff

2gal. Feed 500ml get 50-100ml of runoff.

3gal. Feed 750ml get 75-150ml of runoff.

5 gal Feed 1litre get 100-200ml of runoff.

By doing this your plant will tell you how often you should be watering for best results.

Plant transpiration happens during photosynthesis so we only need to water during the lights on period. But in smaller containers you may find that you need to fertigate once in the middle of lights out if fertigation events are higher. Its unlikely but if your coco is dry before the first feed its not a bad idea to toss one in. Generally feed a couple hrs before lights out for the last time but you want to split the events evenly throughout lights on.

It may sound like you will be watering way to much but when you calculate how much you are feeding and then the frequency its not much more than most already do, just supplied in a manner that provides much greater stability. You will be using much smaller amounts of nutrient solution and by feeding much more frequently it doesn't take much to get your runoff while keeping the rootzone ph, ppm and moisture content ideal.

Hello , I’m a soil guy mostly, this is my first time using straight coco (char coir 8L bricks)and all I’m getting is what seems to me is magnesium deficiency. My ph is 5.8 and my EC is 1.9. I’m in week 3 of veg and using Rare Dankness nutrients. What am I doing wrong because my room is dialed in , c02 900 ppm, humidity 75 and temp is 82?

 

[Aqua Man]

Hello , I’m a soil guy mostly, this is my first time using straight coco (char coir 8L bricks)and all I’m getting is what seems to me is magnesium deficiency. My ph is 5.8 and my EC is 1.9. I’m in week 3 of veg and using Rare Dankness nutrients. What am I doing wrong because my room is dialed in , c02 900 ppm, humidity 75 and temp is 82?

Looks like light bleaching

 

[Shayne010944]

Hello , I’m a soil guy mostly, this is my first time using straight coco (char coir 8L bricks)and all I’m getting is what seems to me is magnesium deficiency. My ph is 5.8 and my EC is 1.9. I’m in week 3 of veg and using Rare Dankness nutrients. What am I doing wrong because my room is dialed in , c02 900 ppm, humidity 75 and temp is 82?

1.9EC seems way to high to me ? , my plants couldnt handle 1.8ec so i ended up dropping to 1.0 - 1.2 and im in week 9 of flowering

 

[Frankster]

Looks like light bleaching

I was going to say potassium, but I think your spot on. Plus, it's farther into the interveinal area's than I would expect with potassium issues, and no actual necrosis, yet.

amazing how that mimic's a nutrient issue. Are those mostly top leaves?
Yea, now I see, it progresses from top down.

 

[Aqua Man]

1.9EC seems way to high to me ? , my plants couldnt handle 1.8ec so i ended up dropping to 1.0 - 1.2 and im in week 9 of flowering

Agree.

 

[Frankster]

1.9EC seems way to high to me ? , my plants couldnt handle 1.8ec so i ended up dropping to 1.0 - 1.2 and im in week 9 of flowering

Yea, seems high to me also, I keep my flowering regime around 1200 tops, and I try to keep veg around 800-900, rarely over 1000 depending on the situation. But that's just me. I do use a little foliars up above, so they get some that way too.

 

[Frankster]

Some of the small plants I'm flowering using this technique. Basically beer cup challenge size. Been watering them once daily. These are autoflowers.

 

[Frankster]

Here's some that are getting a bit bigger, in 1 gallons. These are in the veg room lol, bunch of others over in the flowering tent even farther along. I"m basically being overrun, so I need to move some stuff outside. Everything in veg watered once daily, some of these are slowing down some, so maybe once every two days, but I spray the outsides with microbes, and on top of the soil, during the off days.

 

[Frankster]

One from out of the flowering room, with the UV lights, they are getting very sticky and smelly. They seem to be very dense also. Seem to be ripening faster than I anticipated. Is that too dark green?

 

[Arkos]

Is that too dark green?

Looks like it yes, how far along are they into flower ? I'd start lowering the nitrates immediately although some strains do have super dark green leaves.

 

[Frankster]

Looks like it yes, how far along are they into flower ? I'd start lowering the nitrates immediately although some strains do have super dark green leaves.

The bottom pic, My guess would be around 3 1/2 weeks into flower. I certainly want to keep them green, but not too green.

I also have this strong urge to share my red beet juice with the plants, but I think I'll start with doing it to a smaller one in veg, But, I've learned my to suppress these insane compulsions.

 

[chemistry]

Hello , I’m a soil guy mostly, this is my first time using straight coco (char coir 8L bricks)and all I’m getting is what seems to me is magnesium deficiency. My ph is 5.8 and my EC is 1.9. I’m in week 3 of veg and using Rare Dankness nutrients. What am I doing wrong because my room is dialed in , c02 900 ppm, humidity 75 and temp is 82?

My vote would go to nuit burn, if you look in at the first pic, top right, you'll see a burnt to death leaf and a fair bit of tip burn, and as we all know, new growth gets hit the hardest.

 

[Arkos]

The bottom pic, My guess would be around 3 1/2 weeks into flower. I certainly want to keep them green, but not too green

Yeah I get ya, when the new growth is a lighter color green than the rest you are on track.

 

[Shayne010944]

This was my nute burn at 1.9ec

I’ve learnt 1.0 1.2 max is enough