Newb trying with coco+automatic drip irrigation. Advice needed

[biginjvpvn]

Hello everyone. I've got some seeds from Canna Fest so I wanna try on coco this time. I'm also planning to run it with automatic drip irrigation system.
What I wanna know is should I start it straight in the final pot or better to start with rockwell cubes and then repot it?
I'm planning to grow 3 plants in 2x4 tent

 

[shnkrmn]

Is Rockwool your choice of starter medium? If you like it, go with that. Germinating and growing seedlings in final pots can be tricky in terms of watering properly.

What is your plan for automating?

 

[coreywebster]

I'd go with small pot of coco , then pot up z few times.

I'd also drill holes in the bottom 3rd of the pot if using hard pots

 

[biginjvpvn]

Is Rockwool your choice of starter medium? If you like it, go with that. Germinating and growing seedlings in final pots can be tricky in terms of watering properly.

What is your plan for automating?

Yeah as a starter. Rockwool was a suggestion from the friend of mine but I've read a lot contradictory opinions on that so I'd prefer to use the coco from the start to finish.

Considering the fact I live in EU county with poor Amazon experience my build is:
Reservoir 25 L(6.6G)
Irrigation pump -750l/h(200GPH)
Hydro hallos

Btw would you recommend to use stones or the wavemaker in the reservoir or both?

 

[coreywebster]

Probably not necessary in a 25ltr res but I'd go with wave maker over air stones.

I'd just run it drain to waste.

 

[Star Dog]

I start in the final pot whenever its possible, i like the uninterrupted root growth.

That aside, hydro halos are better for dtw like @coreywebster suggested, fwiw Dtw would be my 1st choice aswell.

Good luck.

 

[Kola_Kreator]

2 plants will be more than enough in a 2 x 4. You will run into overcrowding if you go with 3. And I would run a 50 litre rez minimum, or go bigger if you can.

 

[biginjvpvn]

I start in the final pot whenever its possible, i like the uninterrupted root growth.

That aside, hydro halos are better for dtw like @coreywebster suggested, fwiw Dtw would be my 1st choice aswell.

Good luck.

Thank you! Does it somehow affect on the final yield? Just speaking from the ex-soil grower perspective when it affects on 'not properly developed root architecture '.

 

[biginjvpvn]

2 plants will be more than enough in a 2 x 4. You will run into overcrowding if you go with 3. And I would run a 50 litre rez minimum, or go bigger if you can.

My fabric pots are 15 L and I was thinking to put one 10L.. Do you think it will be tough? Noted about 50L rez. Thanks. I guess then I should go with wavemaker instead of stones?

 

[ProPheT 216]

Rw for the win

 

[Star Dog]

Speed was always important to me if I didn't have a seed ready in 30 days I was disappointed in me.

I found straight to the final pot gave a better plant for 30 days, I'm familiar with potting up but ime you knock it of its stride a little each time, also roots grow outside the pot, roots gets broken off essentially getting wasted, I can't help picture they roots being buried in a big pot of coco and drawing up nutrient.


Root architecture hmm idk?

Bud architecture' yes absolutely.

 

[1212ham]

My fabric pots are 15 L and I was thinking to put one 10L.. Do you think it will be tough? Noted about 50L rez. Thanks. I guess then I should go with wavemaker instead of stones?

You don't need large pots for DTW coco, especialy with multiple feeds per day. Most use around 5-12 L. I run two autos in 7L pots and a slightly larger tent, might go to one plant next time.

I start in coco with .5l cups and transplant after a couple weeks. I've also had good results up-potting 2-3 times.

 

[Kola_Kreator]

My fabric pots are 15 L and I was thinking to put one 10L.. Do you think it will be tough? Noted about 50L rez. Thanks. I guess then I should go with wavemaker instead of stones?

Both air stones and a wavemaker would be the best option in the 50 litre rez. 2 x 15 litre fabrics in your tent should fit nicely. I wouldn't do 3 pots because your plants will get massive when they hit flower and they need space to breathe. But it does depend on how long you want to veg for. If you are in veg for at least 4 weeks just go for 2 pots.

Don't skimp on the watering. In coco you can easily grow 10 ounce plants with the right genetics as long as you water them multiple times per day. With those halo rings I usually water every 1 or 2 hours depending on plant size and each watering runs for about 7-15 seconds depending on how much she is demanding.

 

[Kola_Kreator]

Thank you! Does it somehow affect on the final yield? Just speaking from the ex-soil grower perspective when it affects on 'not properly developed root architecture '.

Transplanting to develop root structure is a bit bro science IMO. Best way to do it that I've found is to germ/clone in Rockwood and then plant the Rockwood straight into the final pot of coco. Rockwool tends to have a very low pH so it's best to get a bucket of water pH'd to 6 and swish the rockwool block back and forth in it. This gives the rockwool a much better pH.

 

[Star Dog]

Transplanting to develop root structure is a bit bro science IMO.

I agree with this opinion 100%, that's based on experience.

 

[coreywebster]

@Star Dog , bit of an unfair comparison if you're using a smart pot , since it creates a completely different root structure.

It's not bro science .
It's basic gardening and applies to some plants and substrates more than others.

Cannabis might not be the best example , being how short it's life span is.

But generally speaking, in soil , people start in a small pot to decrease chance if root rot.

As for root structure, roots circle, they expand outward in nature looking for water, in a normal pot they hit the plastic and the receptors know they hit something due to lack of calcium. So they follow it round, creating circling.

As roots grow longer they grow thicker, that can cause choking off of the tap root.

If you look inside that circling most of the rootmass is on the outer edges.

So it goes into a bigger pot and it repeats.
And a 3rd time..
You have multiple layers of circling, more root volume, more root efficiency, in a non problematic location than if you'd just grown a plant in a single pot, because if they fill the outer edges then they end up working their way inward , eventually choking the plant.

It's called girdling, especially happens with trees .
But if you kept a cannabis plant long enough , flowering, revegging ect it could happen.
Nobody really does that though, and we would probably chop back the root zone if we did.

But it's come from centuries of humans growing plants, so it's a bit daft calling it bro science.

And you can't compare anything air pruned to something not air pruned. It's totally different

 

[Kola_Kreator]

@Star Dog , bit of an unfair comparison if you're using a smart pot , since it creates a completely different root structure.

It's not bro science .
It's basic gardening and applies to some plants and substrates more than others.

Cannabis might not be the best example , being how short it's life span is.

But generally speaking, in soil , people start in a small pot to decrease chance if root rot.

As for root structure, roots circle, they expand outward in nature looking for water, in a normal pot they hit the plastic and the receptors know they hit something due to lack of calcium. So they follow it round, creating circling.

As roots grow longer they grow thicker, that can cause choking off of the tap root.

If you look inside that circling most of the rootmass is on the outer edges.

So it goes into a bigger pot and it repeats.
And a 3rd time..
You have multiple layers of circling, more root volume, more root efficiency, in a non problematic location than if you'd just grown a plant in a single pot, because if they fill the outer edges then they end up working their way inward , eventually choking the plant.

It's called girdling, especially happens with trees .
But if you kept a cannabis plant long enough , flowering, revegging ect it could happen.
Nobody really does that though, and we would probably chop back the root zone if we did.

But it's come from centuries of humans growing plants, so it's a bit daft calling it bro science.

And you can't compare anything air pruned to something not air pruned. It's totally different

I'm not going to get into the debate but in my experience of trying both ways I get bigger root systems in a shorter time planting from rockwool into the final. I use fabric pots with Coco/perlite. So I feel that when growers are growing in Coco and using fabric pots they are applying bro science if they think up potting is doing something good.

 

[Star Dog]

Fair enough @coreywebster i can't coment on growing from seed in regular pots.

The op is has felt pots they're purpose made for air pruning roots.

 

[Roguedawg]

Just use coco from beginning, get two 2 gallon max size container if you want to fertigate few times a day. You will use few gallons of nutrient solution per day so size your rez according to how often you want to fill the rez. Hopefully you can drain to waste easily.

 

[f.r]

@Star Dog , bit of an unfair comparison if you're using a smart pot , since it creates a completely different root structure.

It's not bro science .
It's basic gardening and applies to some plants and substrates more than others.

Cannabis might not be the best example , being how short it's life span is.

But generally speaking, in soil , people start in a small pot to decrease chance if root rot.

As for root structure, roots circle, they expand outward in nature looking for water, in a normal pot they hit the plastic and the receptors know they hit something due to lack of calcium. So they follow it round, creating circling.

As roots grow longer they grow thicker, that can cause choking off of the tap root.

If you look inside that circling most of the rootmass is on the outer edges.

So it goes into a bigger pot and it repeats.
And a 3rd time..
You have multiple layers of circling, more root volume, more root efficiency, in a non problematic location than if you'd just grown a plant in a single pot, because if they fill the outer edges then they end up working their way inward , eventually choking the plant.

It's called girdling, especially happens with trees .
But if you kept a cannabis plant long enough , flowering, revegging ect it could happen.
Nobody really does that though, and we would probably chop back the root zone if we did.

But it's come from centuries of humans growing plants, so it's a bit daft calling it bro science.

And you can't compare anything air pruned to something not air pruned. It's totally different

You are not going to be girdling your cannabis plants, That is an issue with trees, same with J rooting that rears it's ugly head multiple years after being transplanted into the environment from nursery stock.

You will get a finer root mass (more feeder roots) with air pruning pots can be a pro for sure. But it does come with it's cons, for instance your medium will dry at much faster at the outside compared to the middle leading to inconstant moisture and EC levels in the medium. You will also be upping the humidity in your room could be a pro or con. they also cost a fair bit more (but in regards to a small grow not that bad)