My Coco Method

[FastForward]

Has anyone actually tried using beneficial bacteria in coco?

I'm using Piranha powder in early veg, but am about to try a bottle the stupidly expensive Voodoo Juice because I don't know how else to get hold of nitrogen fixers - any ideas?

Also, thanks for those links. They make up a 40 quid basket and I'm up for giving them a try. I'm fairly certain that the Diamond Nectar I was using in my first grow had a big impact but have been relying on the Canna Coco AB to provide it since my money has been tight....so a new cheap source is great. Was about to buy bottles of the AN or Hydrogarden stuff....but I can buy a shitload more of your farmer giles stuff :)

 

[British_Hempire]

That supplier I linked to are serious horticultural folks, they make nutes for all the top exhibition vegetable growers, if you look around their site you can get everything you need for a stonking ganja grow, they do a whole range of poly pots that I really like, much easier to store than plastic rigid pots. I firmly believe the cannabis specific nutes are 3x the price they should be as in most instances you can find a version that costs a third the price.

 

[FastForward]

I reckon you're probably right on the price thing for sure. They've got some great products there - like coir bricks. And I'd definitely rather support a UK nute co - get in contact with them and rebadge them under a "BH NuteCo" brand and feeding schedule :)

For the moment I'm going to supplement my existing regime with seaweed and humus products from Kays, molasses from Asda (Lyle's Black Treacle) and some Guanokalong liquid bat shit. I've recently started adding in silicon to help me with my ongoing war against pm but have just swapped to the Growth Tech stuff from the Hydrogarden because it goes further and doesn't require any fancy premixing.

I've also got a pot of Rockdust here that I've been meaning to do something with in coco, after some early soil tests.

 

[British_Hempire]

Sounds good mate, keep us posted. I might have to talk to kays about making me some custom nutes.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

Sourcing inexpensive products is well worth the time. I found a company that sells me 50 lb of 70% fulvic acid for 7 bucks a lb. I divide up the order among a few friends. I pay $22 for a 5 gal for molasses at a feed lot. This company makes some nice teas, www.nutri-tech.com.au/index.html with some nice foliar N fixers. For Bios www.bio-organics.com/ I use their landscaper blend which is the same as piranha for $85/3lb. I buy it But I still have no idea AN use ecto's with herb. It is the same price as just endos so I do not miss much I guess.
I use inland empires chunky and their reg coir with still has long hairs. I find I lose on weight using a pithy coir. I get about a 220 ppm runoff more then the tapwater going in. I just run hot water thru a 44 gal brute trashcan with a drain added.Not much work just a little time. My base nutes I buy in Mexico as they only sell it by the tons in the US. that company is Haifa Chemicals which I am told is available in Europe. Their aminos are strong and dirt cheap.I was just given some Megafol aminos from Italy to try which might be available in your neck of the woods. I also get my humic acid in Mex I pay $30 for a little more then 5 gal. It has a grey water smell but works well. I also get my kelp down there, not the same as north Atlantic seaweed but is so cheap I just use a little more.
I just threw these prices up as I feel people should look elsewhere.Hydro shops know they can charge us a lot more then farmers. Suerte JK

 

[Mosca Negra]

Well said JK! I completely agree with your assessment of the ultra high costs of nutes associated with the kind of farming/ gardening we love.

Now all we need is a collective for our nutes...

"Power to the People, no delay!" ~ Public Enemy

 

[mikeexpo]

Hello can you use coco in a flood and drain set up.

 

[todgerdelburro]

Excellent thread B_H, an interesting read as I have always stuck to Cannas A+B, PK, Boost & not a lot else, as it works very well for me. I would love to play around with some different mixes but worry about the mess I would get myself into....

Hello can you use coco in a flood and drain set up.

you can, but it might not be best. if I was doing a normal E&F I would use hydroton and take advantage of it's oxygenation and cleanliness. I have run coco on a continuous drip, but was not totally happy and now just run it as drip to waste. I have though, had ideas about "activating" my coco though by E&F to, say, 2" depth in a 4" hydroton bottom in a pot of coco to speed up the rate of growth... I will be trying this on a couple of my outdoor plants.

 

[mikeexpo]

thank you.i stay with the hydroton.

 

[lilzayne]

Yo great thread BH. I was just wondering if you flush according to when ur plants look like they need it, or if you try and keep a flush part of your normal regime kinda like zoolander? Once again great thread... feelin very motivated to screw with some organics in coco.

 

[British_Hempire]

I do a 3 week flush at the end of flowering. If I see any signs of burn before that, I often give em plain water for a day.

 

[addamzbomb]

awsome thread ive learned alot

 

[Memorias]

These are the threads I really enjoy and learn from . So much detail Thanks BH!!

 

[Samoan]

Ello folks

Getting to thinking about setting up a new grow and was running down what I need to buy for my coco method so I figured why not share the details of how I grow.

Veg Nutrients:

1. Seaweed Extract - local UK brand or Vitax or Maxicrop or BioFito, I add this to every nute mix and also use it as a foliar spray.

2. Base Nutrient - I have used Canna Start, Formulex, Bio Biz Grow, Plagron Alga and others, all with good results, I like Fomulex a lot but these days I prefer to stick to organics and Biobizz and Plagron organic nutes have both given me good results in coco.

3. Fish Emulsion, any brand wil do, they have an ec of 5-2-2 or 5-1-1, a great way to given a nitrogen boost without the risk of frying your plants, pongs a bit but is the shizz for vegging big green healthy plants.

4. Liquid Silicon - I use Growth Technology brand because it's the cheapest and it works, give stronger stems and seems to increase overall health.

5. Rooting hormone - I used to use Rhizotonic but Roots Excelurator by H&G is even better, not cheap but works wonderfully well, I add it to every feeding in veg at 0.1ml per litre and I get explosive root growth, the seaweed extract also helps with root growth.

6. Liquid Worm Humus - I use Chempak brand as I can get it locally in the UK and it's cheap compared to other liquid humate products. There are loads of others from AN, GHE and others, I suppose they all work as they all contain humic and fulvic acids.

I start feeding freshly rooted clones and seedlings at ec 1.0, which usually works out at something like 2ml per litre fish emulsion, 2ml/l base nutrient, 2ml/l seaweed extract, 0.5ml/l liquid silicon, 1ml/l worm humus and 0.1ml/l roots excel. I slowly build up the ec levels to 1.4 or 1.5 although as I handwater I tend to alter the ec levels for each plant as I see deficiencies or clawed leaves. To be honest I rarely have any problems with deficiencies or overfert in veg as I use organics nutes with the exception of the liquid silicon.

Any comments on my veg routine?

Flowering Nutrients:

1. Liquid Worm Humus - although Canna Coco A+B has humic+fulvic acids added I like to add more as it allows me to reach an ec of 2.0 with many plants.

2. Liquid Silicon

3. Seaweed Extract

4. Base Nutrient - I prefer Canna Coco A+B, works so well and I have zero problems using it so I see no reason to switch unless they produce an organic BioCanna version of their coco nutes.

5. Roots Excellurator - I use this for first 3 weeks to get the plants to fill out the larger flowering pots with roots as I usually transplant plants when I put them into flower.

6. AN Hammerhead - I used to use either Atami or Canna PK13-14 but after a tip from joeshmoe I tried AN Hammerhead and find it gives a bit more resin just as joe said it would so big props to joe for that tip. Also, it's pretty cheap compared to other AN products and often cheaper than Canna PK.

7. Canna Boost - it's so expensive but it works

8. Molasses - for sugars, I am going to experiment with other sugar sources such as white sugar (sucrose), golden syrup etc. Products like Vitrasol, Carboload and ATA Organics Flava are just molasses really and I find a cheap jar of unsulphured blackstrap from the healthfood store works just as well and it's certified organic.

9. Rooster Liquid Tomato Booster - for Potassium, I use Rooster brand liquid chicken manure as an organic source of K bu they have ceased production so I will have to find an alternative product or make my own liquid from dry chicken manure.

10. Liquid Bat Guano - for Phosphorous. I have used No Mercy and Guanokalong brands with success, there are others such as Budswel and I guess they work just as well.

My nute regime is rather complex but let me give you a rough breakdown for a typical 14 week flowering run of the type of sativas mostly grow:

Week 1 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, roots excel, canna coco a+b, Canna Boost, ec 1.5 ph 6

Week 2 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, roots excel, canna coco a+b, Canna Boost, ec 1.6 ph 6

Week 3 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, roots excel, canna coco a+b, Canna Boost, ec 1.7 ph 6

Week 4 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, canna coco a+b, Canna Boost, AN Hammerhead, Molasses, ec 1.7 ph 6

Week 5 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, canna coco a+b, Canna Boost, AN Hammerhead, Molasses, ec 1.8 ph 6

Week 6 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, canna coco a+b, Canna Boost, AN Hammerhead, Molasses, ec 1.8 ph 6

Week 7 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, canna coco a+b, Canna Boost, AN Hammerhead, Molasses, ec 1.9 ph 6

Week 8 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, canna coco a+b, Canna Boost, AN Hammerhead, Molasses, ec 1.9 ph 6

Week 9 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, seaweed extract, Liquid Chicken manure, Liquid Bat Guano, Canna Boost, AN Hammerhead, Molasses, ec 1.9 ph 6

Week 10 - Liquid worm humus, liquid silicon, Liquid Chicken manure, Liquid Bat Guano, Canna Boost, AN Hammerhead, Molasses, ec 2.0 ph 6

Week 11 - Liquid worm humus, Liquid Chicken manure, Liquid Bat Guano, AN Hammerhead, Molasses, ec 2.0 ph 6

Week 12 - Liquid worm humus, Molasses, ec 0.8 ph 6

Week 13 - Molasses, ec 0.6 ph 6

Week 14 - water ec 0 ph 6

That is the nute regime I used to produce 0.9w per gram with 8 plants in 1.5 litre pots of coco under a 250W HPS in a 85cm wide 45cm deep wardrobe and I have produced 45g per plant with my El Yucateca and Highland Oaxacan Gold cuts in 1.5 litre pots so I reckon it works very well, the end product is very clean as i cut out nutrient for the last 3 weeks just giving water and molasses with a lil bit of humates in week 12 to help with the uptake of the remaining nutrients held in the coco medium.

I cut out all Nitrogen after week 8, just giving P and K in the form of AN Hammerhead which gives great yield and resin production and liquid chicken manure which improves yield and bat guano which improves taste, cutting out the N really increases the density of the flowers and the plants end up with beautiful autumn colours on their leaves by the end of week 11 when I stop feeding. The 3 week flush means I lose a load of lower leaves and the others turn yellow, but I feel this is how plants should look by the time they are done - withered and yellowed foliage but glistening fat juicy buds.

I like your theory of the 3 week flush letting the plant use up all the remaining nutrients it has before harvest