Making the Switch to Coco Beds 1st timer

bigdrty · Jan 20, 2012

Hey my fellow coco heads..
I decided to make the switch to Coco beds from 6" Rockwool cubes. I just cleaned out the room and installed 8 4" drains in each side of the tables, I was wondering if this is going to give me enough run off? Should I mix in Chunky and Regular Perlite or just go Straight Coco only?
heres some pics of the tables. Let me hear your thoughts and suggestions. Also with coco can I feed every watering or do I need to Feed, Feed water? or can I feed every watering and give a good flush on every 7th day?
Nutes will be H&G aqua flakes A&B, Drip Clean, root excel, Hydrozyme, calmag, and Carboload. thanks for the support.

http://i60.invalid.com/albums/h40/klay213/IMG_0782.jpg

http://i60.invalid.com/albums/h40/klay213/IMG_0781.jpg

http://i60.invalid.com/albums/h40/klay213/IMG_0780.jpg

SweetTooth · Jan 20, 2012

Looks good. Those beds will drain like that for sure. Go with pure coco and dont cut it with anything. Bagged Canna, Botanicare, Bcuzz, or Gold lable is what you want to use. Start feeding at 0.5 ec and work your way up from there. Feed every day and never feed just water. It is a good idea to give some strait water every 7 days if your running the ferts pretty hard but resume feed after giving plain water. Dont over fert because flushing out that much coco is going to be a bitch. The only other advice I have for you is pull those beds off the walls 6". It will narrow your walk way but increase your yield as the ones on edge wont get cramped. Looks good man. What strain are you going to put in there?

(IMO With no offense to anyone, coco beds are a fad and in a few runs you will want to switch back to cubes)

SofaKingHigh · Jan 20, 2012

I'd feed, feed, water. Helps prevent salt buildup from sneaking up and burning the tips. But with drip clean and the enzymes it may not be an issue.

Straight coco. Better root mass and dries quick all the same. I don't see a benefit to cutting coco with perlite.

You've got tons of drainage, shouldn't be an issue related to that.

Get it on, I want to see 8kw of dank overload the space!

pussOGbrah · Jan 20, 2012

just a heads up house and garden claims hygrozyme doesnt jive with their nutes..they say it screws with ph.

Sympz · Jan 20, 2012

how much water would you feed a plant in coco, just the same as soil? untill it starts to drip out the bottom of the pots ? I'm thinking of going coco :)

bigdrty · Jan 20, 2012

SweetTooth said:
Looks good. Those beds will drain like that for sure. Go with pure coco and dont cut it with anything. Bagged Canna, Botanicare, Bcuzz, or Gold lable is what you want to use. Start feeding at 0.5 ec and work your way up from there. Feed every day and never feed just water. It is a good idea to give some strait water every 7 days if your running the ferts pretty hard but resume feed after giving plain water. Dont over fert because flushing out that much coco is going to be a bitch. The only other advice I have for you is pull those beds off the walls 6". It will narrow your walk way but increase your yield as the ones on edge wont get cramped. Looks good man. What strain are you going to put in there?

(IMO With no offense to anyone, coco beds are a fad and in a few runs you will want to switch back to cubes)

Thanks for the Info, I think I am going to run Botanicare Coco this run due to price, Canna Coco has a very nice consistant feel, the Botanicare has a lil more chunky texture, But I heard something where its suppose to beneficial to Micros and Enzymes. Is pre-charging the Coco with Calmag necessary or can I just feed with a low EC 0.5 or is pre-charge needed? I am switching to coco beds to save me from taking trips to dump over 100 cubes.. while hoping to Reuse the Coco as much as I can :)
going to have around 12 Diablo OG per Light with around a 2 week veg.

SweetTooth · Jan 21, 2012

Calmag is going to depend on what base you decide to run but I would say precharge your coco with a 0.5 ec solution of nutes and they should take off good. That botanicare bagged stuff is ready to go out of the bag and
i would only precharge the bricked stuff with a shitload of calmag. But on a side note, while were talking about calmag I think that Organicare Calplex is a better product for precharging or feeding coco for that matter because your not adding a shitload of unwanted N or Mg. Gives the grower more control over your nutrient profile

bluewaves · Jan 21, 2012

Beds are crazy good if u run it rite ...I love to try coco beds next to see if it's any better then my soiless beds ....good luck

Lowman · Jan 21, 2012

Never ever feed coco with straight water. Not even when you flush. Cut nutes down to 1/4 strength if needed..but never straight water. Lookin good, Carry on.

Peacheater81 · Jan 21, 2012

I agree with all advice above. I ebb and flow a coco table with Aqua Flakes and it works really well, love it. I would suggest using H&G's multizen and then Bud XL instead of hygrozyme and carboload. I have ran hygrozyme with aqua flakes and did see the pH swings and I have also heard this from their reps too. Multizen is also cheaper cause you use less amounts (3.8ml/gal vs. ~5-10ml/gal of hygrozyme). And all H&G's things mix together much better.
I flush with 1/4 strength nutes once every other week then every week for the last 3 cause I'm using shooting powder.

I use RO with a little calmag+; aqua flakes has so much cal mag in it that you might not need it. I was using 5 then 3 ml/gal from veg into half of flowering and then just dropped it after wk 5 or so.

I would just feed at .5 EC and not worry about precharging. I use Canna.

I also agree that you should consider moving those off the walls a little, if you could get back there that would be best. PM is always bad in those areas.

Your setup looks great and I want to try some coco beds outside this coming season.
Best of luck!

DrCALIGREENTHUM · Jan 21, 2012

Lowman said:
Never ever feed coco with straight water. Not even when you flush. Cut nutes down to 1/4 strength if needed..but never straight water. Lookin good, Carry on.

why so can you elaborate?

MegaYielder420 · Jan 21, 2012

DrCALIGREENTHUM said:
why so can you elaborate?

Yes please I would like to know how you came up with this theory.

SweetTooth · Jan 21, 2012

a sudden drop of ec in the root zone can actually burn the roots

bigdrty · Jan 22, 2012

pussOGbrah said:
just a heads up house and garden claims hygrozyme doesnt jive with their nutes..they say it screws with ph.

I have noticed Ph swings with using Hydrozyme in the AquaFlakes. I normally ph my nutes to 5.6 then add 5ml of Hydrozyme, Drops my PH a lot, But then I let it settle overnight and by feeding the next day it usually jumps back up to 5.8

Heres a update on the beds. I went with the Botanicare Coco. I picked up 20 bags, and have about 8" in depth of coco in the beds. Hopefully that should be enough coco to let the roots spread along the beds. I also filled the drains with Extra Chunky Perlite and a very light bottom covering, Hoping it prevents any clogging and allows good drainage.

planted 12 Diablos per light and going to start feeding at around 250ppms.
Ph at 5.6 question on watering the beds, How much water do I water per tray? Should I give a good 1st soaking until I see run off, Then most likely will be feeding every other day unless I see the coco drying up..
I heard its pretty hard to overwater Coco.. I will be using a waterwand to feed, But really want to make a pvc manifold to go Drip..
any thoughts on how many times and Long I would have to feed if I decide to go with a drip system?

http://i60.invalid.com/albums/h40/klay213/IMG_0803.jpg

http://i60.invalid.com/albums/h40/klay213/IMG_0808.jpg

bigdrty · Jan 22, 2012

SweetTooth said:
The only other advice I have for you is pull those beds off the walls 6". It will narrow your walk way but increase your yield as the ones on edge wont get cramped. Looks good man. What strain are you going to put in there?

Yea I would if I could. but when I made these tables I had to brace them off the main wall to support them. just some 2x4's and plywood.

crossouttheiis · Jan 23, 2012

looking really good man. I really like the beds, but I have a limit to stick too

OGONLY · Feb 4, 2012

Now I see why you need so many babies lol. Looks pretty good in there buddy. I'm hurt that you didn't think of me when you needed some coco advice haha.

Just have to add that I use straight R/O for my last 12 days flush and have no issues doing so. Plants leaves stay pointed upward til the last days. And I don't PH that water either. So yes you can use plain water during flush and your plants won't have issues.

BCrocker · Feb 5, 2012

I just did a bunch of coco beds, canna with 33% perlite mixed. Wondering now if they will dry out too quick? What is the reasoning of straight coco in the beds instead?

SweetTooth · Feb 5, 2012

With clones that big jack it up to 500ppm/ 1.0 ec

tricomb · Feb 6, 2012

My 3x3 bed I been watering 2 gallons every other day...7 day of flowering,prolly have to step it up to everday in the next week or 2

Making the Switch to Coco Beds 1st timer

Making the Switch to Coco Beds 1st timer

bigdrty

SweetTooth

SofaKingHigh

Guest

pussOGbrah

Sympz

bigdrty

SweetTooth

bluewaves

Lowman

Peacheater81

DrCALIGREENTHUM

MegaYielder420

SweetTooth

bigdrty

bigdrty

crossouttheiis

OGONLY

BCrocker

SweetTooth

tricomb

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