When to water coco?

[aperry975]

I'm a new coco user, long time rw/hydroton user. My question is what time of day is best to water coco? I'm hand watering once a day at lights on to 10-15% runoff and just wanted to know if this is ideal or if it really even matters.

 

[ProdigyGrower]

I run coco in 7gal pots and I hand water the best way i found is to feel what it feels like when you first fill the pot with coco and put the plant in feel the wight of it then water it and feel the weight of it. So you can tell when it needs to be watered the longer you do it you will be able to just look at it and tell but i dnt think it really matters on a specific time. I think somewhere with in the first few hours of the lights on would be best unless they dnt need water and then water them when they do you know what I mean.

 

[aperry975]

I run coco in 7gal pots and I hand water the best way i found is to feel what it feels like when you first fill the pot with coco and put the plant in feel the wight of it then water it and feel the weight of it. So you can tell when it needs to be watered the longer you do it you will be able to just look at it and tell but i dnt think it really matters on a specific time. I think somewhere with in the first few hours of the lights on would be best unless they dnt need water and then water them when they do you know what I mean.

from what I've read, you don't want to treat them like soil and wait for them to start drying out. you should be running solution thru it on a regular basis (once a day), kind of similar to hydro. is that not correct? I've heard it holds way more air than rw too which means I could actually run solution thru them more than once a day but since I'm going drain to waste, that would be expensive.

 

[GanjaAL]

I too have always been curious on this. My two biggest fears... overwatering and bugs in coco.

 

[phenotyper]

I'm curious about this too. I want to run coco and perlite in hempy buckets, and I've done perlite + vermiculite in the past. Would it be better to top drip drain to waste in coco? I have a waterfarm that I could modify for a recycling system with a smart pot liner. Any thoughts?

 

[tokinupon1]

I've just started using coco and I've been watering everyday mixed 60:40 coco To perlite and I transplanted today roots were explosive and white as can be also have been seeing the white fuzzy roots rite near my drippers. I'm loving this coco will see when it comes flower time but I think I found my new fav medium.

 

[MakinGoo]

I run CoCo also & u can't over water them.. But I let mine dry out juss like soil with no problums at all.. I've heard many times not 2 let ur coco dry out but I do & the plants don't even wilt.. The pots r bone dry & light as fuck & sill no problums what so ever not even a limp plant.. The reason I let them dry out is cuz when I keep the coco moist the gnats seem 2 love it.. They hate it when it's dry.. But other then the pesky gnats u can't go wrong with coco.. I water when ever I get a chance never on a certan time some times morning sometimes at nite when ever I get a min.. My coco fully drys in 3 days but sometimes I can't get 2 them & let them go 4 days no problums..

 

[ProdigyGrower]

I have never ran soil just pure coco and I Dnt let it dry out completely I hand water every day and your right it is impossible to over water coco becausebit will only hold so much water because of all the air in it if you were running on a drip system you would water 2 to 3 times a day but if your hand watering 1 Time a day is plents I usually water a half gallon to a gallon and a half per plant it just depends on the size of your plant and the size of your pot one thing to remeber is pot size is important in coco some like to run 3 gal smart pots witch is fine I just think that nothing under a 5 gaining should be used but that's just me I really like 7 gallon pot the best even though I'm trying 7 gallon smart pots and 10 gallon geo pots I think the geo pits are way better IMOP there much higher quality and hey have a bunch of differen styles like transplantable where the side is Velcro and it's easy to transplant in just a bunch of options but ya 1 time a a day when their small about 1/2 gallon a day when their medium to big plants medium to big a gallon or a gallon and a half gallon will do fine you just have to find that balance you will get it from experience watering .

 

[GanjaAL]

how fast is the growth compaired to RDWC?

 

[aperry975]

My first go is with 3 gallon smart pots, i saw some guys journal on here "ogonly" and he had 2 inch thick stalks in 3 gallon pots and I was sold. Went out that day and ripped the youngsters out of my hydroton. i agree you can't overwater coco, its a rather amazing medium in my short time from my short experience. Big roots equals big yield and all I'm seeing so far from it is explosive root growth. Never thought i'd move from hydro into a more soil-ish medium but I'm sold so far. I'll watch out for the gnats, i used to get them in my rw slabs on cocomat. Nothing a little h2o2 or mosquito dunks won't cure. i don't see many using peroxide in coco but I don't think running it sterile would be an issue if the need arises.

 

[negative 1]

coco is a lovely medium i think personaly. watering can be done as in soil or in hydro ...the true beauty of it all is you get the best of both worlds. drip system is nice if you are hydroponicaly sound and hand watering if you have more of a soil background and are working your way to the hydro side. a million people will tell you a million different things. pick what works for you stick with it and improve your growing capability.

 

[sealed138]

if you don't amend your soil with some type of aeration (perlite), and don't have the right pots it is definitely possible to overwater in coco.
50/50 mix works great.

 

[ronvmpc]

feed feed water. Do this every other day. If running an ebb table I flood 3 times during lights on (flower) for 15 mins. Same thing for top drip when I use the spider hoses. Don't let coco dry out. There's a simple water schedule for ya. :cool

 

[tokinupon1]

I'm pretty sure I'm starting to have issues with over watering so going to try every other day. See if that fixes it

 

[odankeus]

In my opinion, you can overwater coco.. however, if you are hand watering it becomes harder to do. yes coco has a threshold for water intake which cannot be exceeded, but if you do not let the pots dry out the roots will not stretch to their maximum looking for food since the soil is constantly saturated. Now the amount of times you water a week depends on the size of your container and stage of growth. I water 3 gals every other day or every three days depending on height of plant, with 5 gals i go every four day to third when they start putting the weight on. I have gone longer a day or two just because i had to with little ill effects. For gnats i use diatamacious earth and yellow sticky pads. its the larvae you need to worry about not the adults too much.

 

[cemchris]

Coco can be over watered. Specially when the root system is young and not filling the pot yet. The reason they say don't let it dry out is it makes pockets and channels in the coco which will hinder water and nute delivery. Now in smaller pots I don't see this as true but in bigger pots I can see this happening.

For the OP seems like the right thing to do. I would water every day if the need it. I water my 2 Gal on an ebb table twice a day and my 6in pots 3 to 4 times a day.

 

[freegrow]

I run CoCo also & u can't over water them.. But I let mine dry out juss like soil with no problums at all.. I've heard many times not 2 let ur coco dry out but I do & the plants don't even wilt.. The pots r bone dry & light as fuck & sill no problums what so ever not even a limp plant.. The reason I let them dry out is cuz when I keep the coco moist the gnats seem 2 love it.. They hate it when it's dry.. But other then the pesky gnats u can't go wrong with coco.. I water when ever I get a chance never on a certan time some times morning sometimes at nite when ever I get a min.. My coco fully drys in 3 days but sometimes I can't get 2 them & let them go 4 days no problums..

I got same view . I even see the extra growth from drying and then watering (happend by acident at first) was watering everyday got behind
coco went dry and when I fed they jumped did you notice this Goo ?
got stem rot on some too from overwatering my 2 pennys :hi

 

[aperry975]

In my opinion, you can overwater coco.. however, if you are hand watering it becomes harder to do. yes coco has a threshold for water intake which cannot be exceeded, but if you do not let the pots dry out the roots will not stretch to their maximum looking for food since the soil is constantly saturated. Now the amount of times you water a week depends on the size of your container and stage of growth. I water 3 gals every other day or every three days depending on height of plant, with 5 gals i go every four day to third when they start putting the weight on. I have gone longer a day or two just because i had to with little ill effects. For gnats i use diatamacious earth and yellow sticky pads. its the larvae you need to worry about not the adults too much.

True story......I once grew kyrptonite (killer queen x mendo purps) and got fungus gnats. The strain was so sticky in the grow, all the adults got stuck to my flowers like "purple" sticky pads. It took forever to trim that.

 

[iscrog4food]

if you don't amend your soil with some type of aeration (perlite), and don't have the right pots it is definitely possible to overwater in coco.
50/50 mix works great.

THis guy knows what he is talking about! pure coco watered multiple times daily = root rot + shitty yields. If you want to water multiple times you need a bunch of perlite or pumice or even hydroton will work.

ALso if you are having a problem with gnats dont waste your coin on mosquito dunks. you can order the same thing that is in them (BT toxin) concentrated on ebay. Look for a product called microbe lift BMC(Biological Mosquito control). for 25 bucks you get a bottle that will treat like 5000 gallons of water. $25 gets you like 12 mosquito dunks and you really dont know what the application rate on them should be haha (how many square feet is a 100 gallon res :sign0065: )

 

[fuzzy]

I know when i run hempies, i water about every 3 days in 3 gal.I pick the buckets up to feel the weight.You can really tell the weight difference.peace,fuzzy