NEW TO GROWING IN COCO, ADVICE NEEDED!

[Massgrower98]

Hi guys, I'm starting a autoflower grow in coco coir with a 30 % mix of perlite and I'm using roots organic dry AMENDMENTS Grow,bloom, and calcium/magnesium for the coco...
THE BRAND IM USING IS CHAR COIR COCO... When planting seedlings should I amend the medium or is there enough nutrients to last for the first 4 weeks USING CHAR COIR COCO? I planted some auto seedlings and pre amended the medium and put them under a 900 watt viparspectra led and they seem to be stunted I'm new to growing in coco so advice is much appreciated...

 

[10w30]

good luck with it, sounds like a fair amount is happening. coco needs nutrients from the very first watering/feeding. there was a thcfarmer who had the quote "if you dont flush your coco, things get loco" so i'd be prepared to flush often with steady nutrients and PH levels. with the light at a good level you should start noticing improvements. hopefully. Good luck.

 

[PlumberSoCal2]

Hi guys, I'm starting a autoflower grow in coco coir with a 30 % mix of perlite and I'm using roots organic dry AMENDMENTS Grow,bloom, and calcium/magnesium for the coco...
THE BRAND IM USING IS CHAR COIR COCO... When planting seedlings should I amend the medium or is there enough nutrients to last for the first 4 weeks USING CHAR COIR COCO? I planted some auto seedlings and pre amended the medium and put them under a 900 watt viparspectra led and they seem to be stunted I'm new to growing in coco so advice is much appreciated...

Go real lite on the nutes. A seedling has enough for it's first week then start the fertigations at 1/4%. Water 3-5 times a day always with nutrient water. The plant can't ever sit in the drainage. You'll need to figure out what to do with the waste water. Lawn, flower bed or even down the drain.

As long as you have good lighting they'll grow like weeds.

 

[Massgrower98]

Go real lite on the nutes. A seedling has enough for it's first week then start the fertigations at 1/4%. Water 3-5 times a day always with nutrient water. The plant can't ever sit in the drainage. You'll need to figure out what to do with the waste water. Lawn, flower bed or even down the drain.

As long as you have good lighting they'll grow like weeds.

Well I'm using dry AMENDMENTS so I can't feed with every water... I'm gonna take a picture and video of my setup so people can get a better idea on what I'm doing

 

[Dirtbag]

Dry amendments with coco is difficult and you really need to know wtf you're doing. I wouldnt do it personally and think it's not really advisable generally due to the strong cec and insane water holding capacity. The media will generally stay too wet and will lead to a hot rootzone, which will stunt growth. Coco should be fed like the hydroponic medium that it is, using a properly tailored nutrient solution.

 

[PlumberSoCal2]

Well I'm using dry AMENDMENTS so I can't feed with every water... I'm gonna take a picture and video of my setup so people can get a better idea on what I'm doing

I wouldn't. Coco is very different than soil. I charge the coco (filling the cation exchange sites) by soaking in a strong cal/mag (1000+ ppm) solution for 24 hours, flush and use.

 

[Dirtbag]

I wouldn't. Coco is very different than soil. I charge the coco (filling the cation exchange sites) by soaking in a strong cal/mag (1000+ ppm) solution for 24 hours, flush and use.

Smart man. That's an important step for most coco that I think a lot of people skip. Some brands such as canna come prebuffered and it's not as necessary, but it is still a good idea.

 

[PlumberSoCal2]

Well I'm using dry AMENDMENTS so I can't feed with every water... I'm gonna take a picture and video of my setup so people can get a better idea on what I'm doing

I started with coco this past Aug

Plumber's First Coco Grow

I was hoping to plant seeds 2 days ago but found the coco I bought needed to be strained and calmag charged. About 75% dust per bag although the dust, mixed with 30% perlite looks like a good seed mix. Rinced about 8 qts of coco dust in a nylon bag then...

www.thcfarmer.com

I've had a blast but I took several months of research before starting and believe it paid off. I did this in an unheated greenhouse with a few LED's to keep the plants in veg. In the past month I've harvest 7 of 12 plants.

If you do this right the growth rate is exceptional and problems are few. All I've really had to do is mix nutes and water often.

 

[Terpz719]

I wouldn't. Coco is very different than soil. I charge the coco (filling the cation exchange sites) by soaking in a strong cal/mag (1000+ ppm) solution for 24 hours, flush and use.

I'm on my second coco grow, and am finding it more challenging that I expected. Would you still pretreat coco even when a run off test was very low like 20 ppm? Do you think the amount of run off from new unused coco and CEC two separate issues? I had CalMg issues with Canna coco that had around 200 ppm run off and haven't had the CalMg issues with Mother Earth coco that had 20 ppm run off. I didn't wash or pretreat either since they were both washed and buffered by the manufacturers.

 

[Terpz719]

Dry amendments with coco is difficult and you really need to know wtf you're doing. I wouldnt do it personally and think it's not really advisable generally due to the strong cec and insane water holding capacity. The media will generally stay too wet and will lead to a hot rootzone, which will stunt growth. Coco should be fed like the hydroponic medium that it is, using a properly tailored nutrient solution.

Are you fertigating multiple times a day? If so do you run the EC a little lower than when feeding once a day?

 

[Dirtbag]

I'm on my second coco grow, and am finding it more challenging that I expected. Would you still pretreat coco even when a run off test was very low like 20 ppm? Do you think the amount of run off from new unused coco and CEC two separate issues? I had CalMg issues with Canna coco that had around 200 ppm run off and haven't had the CalMg issues with Mother Earth coco that had 20 ppm run off. I didn't wash or pretreat either since they were both washed and buffered by the manufacturers.

Were you using coco specific nutes? If not were you adding calmag? I find it's necessary to add .2-.3ec Calmag if using regular nutes with coco, especially if using RO.

Also container size makes a big difference. With coco small pots with less media holds onto less Ca simply due to the lower volume of media around the roots, which is why I believe it's actually easier to use small containers and multiple daily feeds. For 2-3 foot plants and veg times under a month I use 1 gallon fabric pots. If growing bigger plants with veg in excess of 1 month I'd use 2 or 3 gallon fabric/smart pots max, But I'd pot up to that from a 1 gallon regular plastic pot after a few weeks veg.

 

[Dirtbag]

Are you fertigating multiple times a day? If so do you run the EC a little lower than when feeding once a day?

That is dependent on how well rooted the container is. My preference for coco is 1 gallon fabric pots. First week or so after transplant I start by watering every other day for a couple days, then once a day for the first couple weeks of veg. By 2-3 weeks veg I water about 2 times a day, up to 3 times a day by the time I'm in flower and the plants are a couple feet tall or more.

EC I run about the same as I would in hydro, start around .7-.8, second week onward 1-1.3 ec, In flower 1.3-1.5 ec. I keep an eye on runoff and adjust the EC accordingly never letting runoff go over .3ec of what's going in. In that case I drop ec .3 ec. eg, if i feed 1.5 ec and get 1.8 coming out, I'll drop it to 1.2 until runoff stabilizes around 1.4-1.5 then slowly creep it back up until its stable.

 

[Terpz719]

Were you using coco specific nutes? If not were you adding calmag? I find it's necessary to add .2-.3ec Calmag if using regular nutes with coco, especially if using RO.

Also container size makes a big difference. With coco small pots with less media holds onto less Ca simply due to the lower volume of media around the roots, which is why I believe it's actually easier to use small containers and multiple daily feeds. For 2-3 foot plants and veg times under a month I use 1 gallon fabric pots. If growing bigger plants with veg in excess of 1 month I'd use 2 or 3 gallon fabric/smart pots max, But I'd pot up to that from a 1 gallon regular plastic pot after a few weeks veg.

Awesome! Thanks so much for the info in both your post! I really appreciate your posting your pot sizes and EC numbers. I am/was using RO. First go round when using Canna coco and 5 gal pots to flower in, I was using Canna nutrients, and ended up adding CalMg. This go round with Mother Earth, I'm using Megacrop in 3 gal pots, and saw early on that I needed extra CalMg too. I've been adding .3 EC CalMg.

Overall my EC numbers are very close to yours. I'm in week 4, 3 gal pots, 2+ foot tall plants, total EC going in is 1.6 3x per day. Run off EC is well within range but the confusing part has been run off pH which is about 1.0-1.2 higher than input.

 

[PlumberSoCal2]

I'm on my second coco grow, and am finding it more challenging that I expected. Would you still pretreat coco even when a run off test was very low like 20 ppm? Do you think the amount of run off from new unused coco and CEC two separate issues? I had CalMg issues with Canna coco that had around 200 ppm run off and haven't had the CalMg issues with Mother Earth coco that had 20 ppm run off. I didn't wash or pretreat either since they were both washed and buffered by the manufacturers.

Si. I always charge the coco before use. 16-20 qts at a time in a 5 gal bucket then rinse well. This has nothing to do with run-off ppm's, this is about changing the cation exchange sites in the coco to calcium and magnesium. It will naturally happen over time but this starts the plant off right and you'll avoid calcium deficiencies.

 

[Terpz719]

Si. I always charge the coco before use. 16-20 qts at a time in a 5 gal bucket then rinse well. This has nothing to do with run-off ppm's, this is about changing the cation exchange sites in the coco to calcium and magnesium. It will naturally happen over time but this starts the plant off right and you'll avoid calcium deficiencies.

Wait, you use silicon? Thanks so much for the info!