all the facts jack
There are so many factors for ideally growing in coco, could write a small book. I hope none of my posts come across wrong. I am into knowledge transfer and sharing so everyone learns and improves. my intentions are never to steer anyone wrong nor am I am NOT a know it all. I am constantly trying to learn and improve and enjoy sharing that in the hopes that others will get the most in the least amount of time.
I have alot of love and passion for growing. I like to know the facts and all of them. Then can use those facts to my advantage.
Unfortunately I been told or hear or read statements like
"it does not matter". Well all those little factors add up to make or break a grow's results. basically it does matter to me.
I wish when I started in coco there were more facts out there. Little did I know that the commerical ag industry had already been using coco for years.
you cannot over water coco is a very general statement that does not disclose all the facts. coco can hold up to 8x its weight in water and still retain air. ideally more air in the medium performs better. I whipped together a chart like someone explained and drew out to me. It really helped me out. Once this sunk in then things started to really excel. Plants were reaching for the sky and not as droopy. 2-3" of growth instead of 1" daily. Also the chart kinda shows why you go not want to let coco dry (or any medium) and the lower chart is water holding/air porosity of saturated substrates (thanks jk)
treat coco like hydro-that means use nutes every water or a nutrient problem will occur.How many and how much can be a problem as well.Stick with a good fert that has most macro and micros in it and you wont need a million additives.I used gh flora nova bloom, molasses and sea kelp( i believe it was neptune).SEemed to always balance out at 6.0-6.3 with that combo and r.o water.
You seem the right idea allowing for run off.Without it you will have lock out problems.SO ph 5.8-6.3,10-15 percent run off .Keep an eye out for cal mag as well.I did use a touch of
botanicare cal mag in veg week2 and flower week 3,5.
never had a problem with overwatering cause it drains so well.
run off is very key. I was only trying to provide a rough guide because you can use coco in different ways.
example %
I water to 10% runoff. then I should probably flush every 2 weeks.
I water to 20-30% runoff. can get away with less flushing.
Ec of feeding. many feedings when a plant is trying to transpire can easily allow salt build up. the plants tend to drink more water than nutes and then lockout. generally many growers enviroments have less than ideal humidity/ temp ratio (vpd) and that then accelerates this problem of excessive transpiration and water uptake.
vs
a heavier feed followed by waterings reduces the salt buildup and keeps the plant healthy. the feeding does leave behind some nutes so the plant is up taking them the rest of the week. if it was going deficient is easy to add more not take away overfeeding. A common problem is overfeeding.
to keep plant it healthy, a higher% of runoff instead of flushing can make up for less than ideal water/air ratio and schedule.
I do agree with your runoff comment and that you can treat it like hydro.
But not entirely true that you have to feed or water every day. without the proper balance I have gotten worse results than less feedings.
strain enviroment are all key factors.
I think if you do not know what your doing (like when I started, not referring to anyone here) and do feed or water everyday then you can produce worse results than if you were
educated on all the facts.
my point again: I wish I was told the facts when I started not just a few sentences without details. trying to get
ALL the facts out without being confusing.
for example:
you can't overwater coco. fuckin a. yes coco is forgiving so you can over water and get away with it. but what if you leaned about dialing it in.
open minded to try it?
example scenario:
800-1000 ppm every day x 7 days = 7000ppm in a week and your plants can get overfed. let take a bunch of water and leave behind those salts.
lets say you got less light 400-or 600 watter not 1000's and no c02, maybe a light feeding strain, maybe also a less than ideal enviroment.
plants can not uptake all them nutes and yield quality will suffer.
Try to look at the entire picture to ideally set things up.
I am not trying to put down
anyone's advice, I am just trying to provide all the facts. especially ones
that I wish I knew years ago when starting off in coco. instead I had to read and test what works and ask around. years ago I did not see as many people growing in coco and there was not as much info out there (online and in cannabis industry).
coco can work in many ways (hydro or not, wicking or not, top feed or ebb and flow) and it is very forgiving.
respect and thanks for sharing
gotcha...
Coco is rinsed many times before it is baled and packaged for sale. It sits out in the sun to dry, leaving it exposed to many micro-insects that lay eggs in the moist coco. The insect eggs lay dormant until we, the grower starts to water it back the life.
EarthJuice coco,Hydrofarms can come loaded with root mealies, and some other unidentified nemotodes( not all are good) Empire , that stuff grew field grasses in my pots! and major gnats!. Not all my experiences with these coco products were the same..Some were clean, free of excess salts..and sometimes the coir required 3+rinses before it was under 200ppm
Bacterial inoculants are never really Fast acting, having an established Bacillius t.i. colony just acts as a barrier as the bacteria will have established endotoxins already in the planting mix.. Its like spraying a systemic miticide on plants that dont have mites on them. Its more of a precaution, and since BT wont just "knock out" gnats by touching them, the actual toxins produced by BT will be there if the larve do show up.
Gnatrol is what i use, there are cheaper products, but Gnatrol actually has a dose...Where as those dunks are like grabbing a handful sugar out of a jar when the recipe says 1cup. I also treat my coco like hydroton...many flood cycles a day, so my coco stays wet.
leadsled, I know you know whats up, we just have different methods of using bacterial/fungi inoculants.. Great tips for OKcomputer's brain to soak in. He should be rocking it soon.
the precaution may be better served as fungi that benefits the plants imho. just because you like to buy infected coco does not mean the op will and providing general advice like that is not ideal.
dunks have a dosage. 1scoop per pot every 2 weeks. forgot that gnatrol is Powdered now so little bit better too.
Problem was that gnatrol liquid goes bad. both products are the same ingredient and both work (in time). Just trying to offer alternatives. coco does attract gnats as it decomposes.
that is precaution is moot if you do not kill the adults. my point is trying to share all the facts not only a portion. since you buy infected coco that works best for your setup as prevention. I do not buy infected coco and I do not have to do that type of prevention. Instead I like to be proactive with establishing healthy bacteria and fungi on the roots. if the coco is clean and roots are healthy. using
great white or similar fungi will be good enough preventitive to keep away the gnats.
other problem is the advice on watering feeding. if you do overwater (yes it can be done in coco,
coco is more forgiving so you can overwater and still get good results)
overwatering can also contribute to the gnat factor.
when i first grew in coco, was given same advice. you can not overwater. then i noticed something.
plants reaching for the sky sometimes and other time they are not. Maybe not droopy but leaves fall down and plant is not excelling at a fast rate. yes it is growing but not jamming. got educated on air water ratio and how because coco holds up to 8x its weight. I researched asked questions and looked into the commercial greenhouses. they been doing this a very long time and got the science to back it up. I wanted the science and proof of what works, not stoner myth disclosed without all the relevant information and facts.
fertigation can be tailored and used for better performance.
I also like feeding 4-6 times per on cycle. trick is to break the volume of the feeds down into smaller volumes but still get runoff by the end of lights on. this retains more air the medium, plants excel insteadof just grow and are reaching for the sky because they are really happy and healthy.
over watering can decrease air ratio and therefore yields and growth, and changes for gnats. reinforceing my point above not trying to be reptetitive
also have found that flooding (ebb and flow) is all or nothing and will not allow that control. yeap can use airy coco or alot more perlite to and try and help from keeping coco too saturated.
imfo dtw will prevail and perform better. thanls for sharing
If it was me,and it used to be,I would use JHs nute :damnhippie:schedule.just my 2 cents.peace, Fuzzy
Right on, post up a link to his feed. Reminds me that Zoolander also is a canna user and have his schedule posted up.
Peace
