Second round with coco - thoughts

[BCrocker]

I am about to start my second round of coco. First one was about 2 years ago and didn't work out so well. Trying out some MK's, and Bubbas

This round I am doing the following:

RO Water
Canna or H&G feed schedule (haven't decided which line yet)
Canna coco
7 gal smart pots

40 plants under 10 x 600. (will be changed to 1000watt next round.

Area for plants is 7' x 15'

I have built the floor they are sitting on at a slight angle so the run off will be funneled into a bucket. Will have pics up soon. Advice on nutrients is welcome. :)

I was thinking of adding a layer of hydroton at the bottom of each smartpot too..

 

[TrichromeFan]

You already have the nutes? If not, cns17 is super easy for coco. What went wrong last time with the coco?

-TF

 

[SweetTooth]

I would say with pots that big add some perlite to the mix so the pots can dry out faster when the clones first go in.

 

[minster]

I point out I am a newbie BUT -
I had problems with Canna nutes in RO water - even with a calmag supplement which was hard to source. I had a response from Canna saying their ideal starting water EC was 0.4 with their Canna Coco nutes. By the time I had a response I had switched nute companies so I am unable to verify

I tend to use a mix of RO and tap water to bring the hard water down to around EC 0.4 -0.5 and start from there

hope that helps

Mini

 

[TrichromeFan]

Defintitely step the pots up to the 7 gals with a couple of transplants. For canna, you need to use cal mag at a rate of 5 mills per gal minimum. Again, 1.4 EC for veg, rising up to 2.2 EC max in flower. Also, on any nutes, it is important to pre soak your coco in a lighter nute solution for a day before you use it.

-TF

 

[BCrocker]

You already have the nutes? If not, cns17 is super easy for coco. What went wrong last time with the coco?

-TF

I haven't decided on nutes yet.. I will look into cns17. Last time the place had a mixture of soil and coco... So the coco got underfed, underwatered as it dried out quicker than the soil. (pro-mix, soil-less I suppose)

I would say with pots that big add some perlite to the mix so the pots can dry out faster when the clones first go in.

Good call, I was thinking of adding a layer on the top as well to prevent gnats

I don't want to be watering/feeding more than twice per day. Eventually I would like to setup a drip system on this setup.

I point out I am a newbie BUT -
I had problems with Canna nutes in RO water - even with a calmag supplement which was hard to source. I had a response from Canna saying their ideal starting water EC was 0.4 with their Canna Coco nutes. By the time I had a response I had switched nute companies so I am unable to verify

I tend to use a mix of RO and tap water to bring the hard water down to around EC 0.4 -0.5 and start from there

hope that helps

Mini

Ideal starting water EC as 0.4 ... but how do they know what that 0.4 contains? It doesn't necessarily have to be cal. hmm I will look into this. I can just give it water from that tap that sits at ~180ppm, not sure the EC yet.

Defintitely step the pots up to the 7 gals with a couple of transplants. For canna, you need to use cal mag at a rate of 5 mills per gal minimum. Again, 1.4 EC for veg, rising up to 2.2 EC max in flower. Also, on any nutes, it is important to pre soak your coco in a lighter jute solution for a day before you use it.

-TF

 

[BCrocker]

Defintitely step the pots up to the 7 gals with a couple of transplants. For canna, you need to use cal mag at a rate of 5 mills per gal minimum. Again, 1.4 EC for veg, rising up to 2.2 EC max in flower. Also, on any nutes, it is important to pre soak your coco in a lighter jute solution for a day before you use it.

-TF

Agreed, I will go from 4" pots, to 1 gal, to 3 gal, then to the 7gals.

Or should I go 4", 1gal, 2gal, 3gal, 5gal, 7 gal...

 

[TrichromeFan]

I say if you are ending up in 7's, then skip the 2's & 5's.

-TF

 

[SweetTooth]

For food you might not want to over look good old GH nutes. This thread is a good read, check it out. 6/9 lucas seems like it is a good way to go.

 

[cemchris]

Def cut it with perlite or something similar. When I first started out in coco I was in the pure coco state of mind. Couple years later Im at 50/50 mix and they kick ass and take names. For 7 Gal pots you wont have to water more then twice a day maybe until the end. As long as you are on top of your transplants.

 

[Gaval]

Im pretty new to coco i add 100 ppms of cal mag to my rez an the ladies seem to like it. A pretty cool an cheap trick i thought of for watering my plants i use a garbage can filled with my nutes for the week, turn on the pump an water each pot from a half inch pump line

 

[BCrocker]

I will add some perlite.. I still haven't decided what nutrients to go with !

 

[altimood]

Def cut it with perlite or something similar. When I first started out in coco I was in the pure coco state of mind. Couple years later Im at 50/50 mix and they kick ass and take names. For 7 Gal pots you wont have to water more then twice a day maybe until the end. As long as you are on top of your transplants.

I just completed my first coco round and loved it. I'm in 3 gallon pots flooding 4x8 trays for 1 -2 hours every 4 days. Perlite seems like a good idea but what would that do to my frequency of watering? Would it work in the 3 gallons I wonder or do you think I'd need a bigger container with the p-lite?