Mr Mackey’s coco journey

  • Thread starter MrMackey
  • Start date
  • Tagged users None
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
Hey good people of the farm! Guessed it’s about time I document my work so I can see what I do when I get it right and when I get it wrong hopefully this diary will help me out and more importantly others out!

I've been growing for around 10years on and off and seriously for around the last 3years or so and am on a mission to master the craft it’s my obsession and it’s been very up and down in consistency and this is where I want to improve.

I have experience in dwc diy totes which went very well but wasn’t for me as I upscalled to nft trays Which done me well for almost a year when I hit a hot summer and lost way to much, which put me on to coco and that’s where I’m at now. I’ve done diy drippers and never got that right they would block/water unevenly but in hindsight this is what I see me going back to but need to improve on what I tried before. Currently I use the alien easy feed system for those who don’t know it’s like a beefed up version of auto pot but with a battery timer so I can decide when it lets the water through to feed. There ok they do work but the biggest problem I have is flushing is just way to much a pita and don’t feel like I’m getting the growth rates coco is capable of being bottom fed.

my next cycle will be going into the veg room at some point this week and I plan on documenting the one room from rooted clone to dried bud
 
ChaoticNeal

ChaoticNeal

62
18
U need a manifold for even water distribution u can make one out of pvc pipe tho

To keep the lines clear/clean, I’d cover ur intake with a very thin piece of cloth bout as thin as a dryer sheet I use small fabric nursery pots from amazon an snap the cover Back on an ur golden but now you will have to replace the cloth from time to time.
 
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
In the meantime I’ll describe my current setup (always looking for improvements if you see any) as I’ll be moving this year and starting over from scratch

veg room has 6x 600w metal halides one over each 4ft tray, I start my cuttings in 1l pots for around 10-14 days and pot on to 8l pots after 14-20days in ecothrive charged coco/perlite 70/30mix
The room is controlled by an opticlimate which keeps my day temps between 25-27 night temps 20-22 and rh between 50-60% my co2 levels are usually around 600-700ppm in here
There fed from 2 reservoirs the smaller 100l res feeds the 1l pots with an ec of 1.1-1.3 and ph 5.6-6.0
the larger res for the 8l pots and mothers is set to 1.4-1.6ec ph 5.7-6.1
My starting ec is 0.4 I add calmag to 0.7 then advanced micro grow bloom 1:1:1ratio to the desired ec, them H&G roots excellurator, hesi supervit, cannazyme and forgot to say sprinkle some great white in the transplant hole when potting

everything is hand watered 5out of 7days a week and never to run off I aim to water enough so the plants are heavy until the next watering they seem to like a little dry back so the top looks dry but is still wet if you scratch back the top layer

this crazy concoction has worked great in the past and also had terrible results lol which I put down to not changing my mh bulbs in 18months of constant 18/24 useage since fresh bulbs a few months ago I’ve noticed a steady increase in plant health particularly with side branches growing instead of just spindly little sticks and roots are started to come back to a fairly decent level though still not what I once had at the start there 10x better than they was at the worst

i run gavita de fixtures in my flower rooms dimmed to around 750-850w most of the time depending how tall the plants are and how healthy they look at the time. Also climate controlled by opticlimates lights on temps of 26-28 night temps of 21-19 rh 40-55% co2 is around 800-1000ppm until flush I just run the fans with fresh air.
Feed wise I’ve tried a lot with the products I have adjusting ratios and ec levels with no real perfect run so far it’s currently getting something like 1ml per l of calmag from 0.4ec tap water to 0.8or so with calmag then ionic coco bloom soft water to 1.2-1.4 then some additives I use are cannazyme 2ml/l this is used pretty much all the way until flush
Flowerburst from Buddhas tree used for the 1st 3weeks of flower that’s then swapped for pk 9/18 from Buddhas tree from week 4-7 starting 0.25ml/l up to 0.5ml at week 5 and 6 then back to 0.25 week 7 and hesi supervit 7ml does a 500l res I also add Epsom salts throughout most of flower at 0.2ec my ph is always 5.8-6.2 during flower but mostly 5.9-6.1 depending how much daily drift I’ve had (most days hardly moves but some days it’s dramatically changed like 4.x or high 6’s)
I have all plants bottom feeeding by the easy feed after around 10days of handfeeding in 22l fabric pots there’s around 4 plants per light some runs I’ve achieved 8-9oz per plant consistently in the earlier days of this set up and as low as 3-4oz per plant which has been a trend lately unfortunately HOWEVER things are looking up at the moment and look to be on target for around 6-7oz plants on there way 🤞🏻
This rooms currently at the end of week 6 and has been the best I’ve had in a while but still noticed what looks like a calcium def appearing over the last few days or so on the gg4 and og
 
1B7B37A6 8435 4855 9B63 A52DB5EB7484
20F9CFC1 3087 417A 844A 18724656709A
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
U need a manifold for even water distribution u can make one out of pvc pipe tho

To keep the lines clear/clean, I’d cover ur intake with a very thin piece of cloth bout as thin as a dryer sheet I use small fabric nursery pots from amazon an snap the cover Back on an ur golden but now you will have to replace the cloth from time to time.
Thanks for the tip, been looking into floraflex manifolds and caps for the next attempt at drip irrigation probably with smaller fabric pots like 1-2gal it’s the pump size for how many plants I’m stuck on the most with that at the moment I could have upto 200plants in 1 room and don’t know if I’ll be better off running separate pumps for separate columns going for that kind of number
 
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
What I thinks a calcium def seems to be getting worse going to flush with a 0.8ec cal mag/cannazyme solution tomoro and see if they improve only 3 weeks left until the chop so hopefuly they bounce back and tighten up

what do you think? Any tips?



46802D56 FD24 483A 999C 8358599402F6
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Calcium and potassium. Do you run enzymes by chance? I would flush through with some enzymes to help clear out and rebalance the media. Like 3 x the volume of the pots and then give a balanced light feed of like 400-500ppm.

But I'm not a coco grower yet. So I would wait for others before doing anything. Just getting the convo started basically.
 
ChaoticNeal

ChaoticNeal

62
18
Did u clean & let ur coco soak in a cal/mag solution before u started ur seeds a lot of people won’t do this and it’ll cause potassium/calcium def later into flower.
 
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
Calcium and potassium. Do you run enzymes by chance? I would flush through with some enzymes to help clear out and rebalance the media. Like 3 x the volume of the pots and then give a balanced light feed of like 400-500ppm.

But I'm not a coco grower yet. So I would wait for others before doing anything. Just getting the convo started basically.
Thanks for the advice aquaman I do run cannazyme at 2ml/L and I’ll be flushing them all tomorrow I normaly use just calmag at 1ml/L cannazyme at 2.5ml/L and some yucca as a wetting agent when I flush but only ever flush about 20-30l through (22l pots) I got 42 to get done and have to wet vac out the run off it’s tedious to say the least but I want to save these babies 😁
Did u clean & let ur coco soak in a cal/mag solution before u started ur seeds a lot of people won’t do this and it’ll cause potassium/calcium def later into flower.
I never done that before I guessed it was only coco bricks that needed it? the coco I use is eco thrive charge 70/30 it’s supposed to be properly prepared already is there a way I can test this with a new bag because I’ll do whatever I need to do but don’t want to create unnecessary work Lol
 
ChaoticNeal

ChaoticNeal

62
18
Thanks for the advice aquaman I do run cannazyme at 2ml/L and I’ll be flushing them all tomorrow I normaly use just calmag at 1ml/L cannazyme at 2.5ml/L and some yucca as a wetting agent when I flush but only ever flush about 20-30l through (22l pots) I got 42 to get done and have to wet vac out the run off it’s tedious to say the least but I want to save these babies 😁

I never done that before I guessed it was only coco bricks that needed it? the coco I use is eco thrive charge 70/30 it’s supposed to be properly prepared already is there a way I can test this with a new bag because I’ll do whatever I need to do but don’t want to create unnecessary work Lol
Bagged coco is washed but usually isn’t buffered and sometimes even if it’s a good brand they’ll make a mistake and skip soaking it in cal/mag it’s best to always buffer it just Incase, you can always flush the medium and reset it afterwards with ur nutrient solution.
 
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
It might help to add more cal/mag to what ur feeding her tho u could get a little burn but that’s better than a def.
Thanks man, how much calmag would you say to try my starting water is 0.4ec and my plants are maxing at 1.8/1.9ec at the moment on week 5 then I drop back to 1.6 does it sound about right?
 
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
Bagged coco is washed but usually isn’t buffered and sometimes even if it’s a good brand they’ll make a mistake and skip soaking it in cal/mag it’s best to always buffer it just Incase, you can always flush the medium and reset it afterwards with ur nutrient solution.
When pre soaking with cal mag how strong do you set the ec?
 
ChaoticNeal

ChaoticNeal

62
18
You sir have some very resilient genetics I’ve never been able to bring the ec past 1.6 without burning my plants, How many times per day do you water them?

Now If u feed them 1.8 an ur tap is 0.4 I’d use your regular nutes to bring that up to 1.2 an then the rest up to 1.8 would be just cal/mag. Hope this helps man coco loves calcium it pretty much eats it itself u might have to add more than that if this doesn’t fix it thats why most pre soak it in cal/mag.
 
ChaoticNeal

ChaoticNeal

62
18
When pre soaking with cal mag how strong do you set the ec?
When I use coco I’ll soak it for a day at the most an I like to have the ec at 2.0 pure cal/mag.

It pretty much becomes a macro nute in coco I used to run just coco an the best calcium I’ve found was this kind it’s very strong and affordable takes maybe 1/4 a teaspoon per 5 gallons of water
880E6204 6371 4EAF 9219 8C18FA1ADD6F
 
Last edited:
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
When I use coco I’ll soak it for a day at the most an I like to have the ec at 2.0 pure cal/mag.

It pretty much becomes a macro nute in coco I used to run just coco an the best calcium I’ve found was this kind it’s very strong and affordable takes maybe 1/4 a teaspoon per 5 gallons of waterView attachment 987227
Your a true gent thanks for taking the time to help me here I’ve actualy had an ec of 2.6 on this strain in the past and got good yields and 10/10 bud but plants never look healthy I’m flushing right now and the ec is coming out at 1.9 on average I’ve dropped it with phd water to 1.0ec and will do a final flush to all amount of run off at the end with something much lighter 1.0ec or so of mainly calmag and cannazyme and see what happens over the next few days keeping the ec lower than I have been really appreciate the help mate I’ll see if I can get that calcium supplement over here
 
MrMackey

MrMackey

74
18
They get fed once a day but it’s gravity bottom feed system so unlike everyone else I can’t get run off each day starting to think I need a much lower ec now
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom