Coco: Tips, techniques, and the facts you will need

[ASMALLVOICE]

I am in my first grow with coco. I got off to a bad slow start because of me, but now that I got my head outa my ass, I can easily see why this is an awesome medium to grow in. I ph at 5.7 to 5.8 and water 3 times a day till 20% run off and my wastewater ph is 5.9-6.1 and that has been fairly steady from below 300ppm to my current level of 700ppm ( tap water is 170-190 ppm outa the faucet at 7.9 to 8.1 ph )

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

 

[Y0da]

I use a reverse osmosis filter. If however, this is not an option I would definitely draw the water 2-4 days prior depending on how much there is. This allows the chlorine to evaporate. If it is not much, and you don't have the time, boiling the water will remove chlorine rapidly.....remember to let it cool to under 70 degrees before adding nutrients and feeding.

an airstone also helps to remove chlorine and oxygenate the water, useful for larger res sizes.

 

[Y0da]

Recommendations for hard water? unfiltered city water is 170ppm.

I feel like there's a simple solution, I don't need much.

use a food formulated for hard water?

 

[Y0da]

I was hoping to try some different options this weekend, and see what's best for my usage. I was going to try 2-3x methods and see what I can get it down to.

The chlorine separation by evaporation ... should I add an air stone? or flooming device? Or is it really just fill a bucket and wait a day or two?

Either/or, both if you like

 

[big liverski]

i am on my first coco grow and it is going well, just wondering if you flush with just water before harvest and for how long?

 

[Machupichu]

big liverski,
flush it 7 - 9 days, I-d recomend to go 10 days if you-re in search of the white ash and da good flavor. The first day of flush, go heavy on the amount of water, after that, just water em to keep them alive. I try not to water em the last 2 days, specially if you give them total darkness, even if you don-t, it will help you to dry faster

 

[Cpt. Plant it]

GO full line 15ml of grow 5ml of bio marine 10ml of cal mag, 15ml of bloom 5ml bio marine 10ml cal mag in flower. Everything else check the feed chart online. Brick of GH coco and perlite at a 60/40 ratio with r/o water. Mix just before you feed, no need to ph anything ever, not even the flush water. I flush for about 10 days with a little run off in the saucers. Results are great, and my ph pen hasn't been used in a long time. I honestly believe the r/o water is a little over kill, and I could have just used a simple two stage filter. I also use a compost tea every two weeks, and discontinue the tea at about three weeks before harvest. The tea is not necessary but I do believe that it helps with flavor. Imho

 

[burgertime2010]

Flushing coco is more delicate than just tap flooding unfortunately. Whatever period you decide appropriate remember the plant is NOT done and ph, ppm, stress all are still as important as ever. So taste is as much drying and curing as it is flushing. High chlorophyll remaining in the leaves will effect the taste as well. But the Flush is a period where the plant needs water that has minerals and can hold a ph. Minerals are what allow the water to be conductive and thus carry ph. The Ph keeps the plant eating, metabolizing, and helping to plow through leftover nutrients......This will have no impact on the taste. My flush is @200-250ppm and I ramp down into it with longer feeding times. Stress is still a factor until 2 days before you chop.

 

[ASMALLVOICE]

^^^^ Second That ^^^^

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

 

[big liverski]

thanks machupichu and burgertime

 

[reddiamond]

My flush is @200-250ppm and I ramp down into it with longer feeding times. Stress is still a factor until 2 days before you chop.

Can you give some idea of your ramping down schedule, at what week do you start and how quickly do you step back with the ppm's etc.
I am doing my 1st ever grow and decided to use coco with the full canna line with magnecal+, i haven't gone over 1200 ppm though.

 

[burgertime2010]

Well, I would ask about how long of a strain you have? The nutrient line, the salt build up, and other variables apply. Now, coco only needs 75% of the ppms as hydro. My ramping down is nutrient specific but consists of diluting solution as well as replacing nutrients. Read the thread and there is a lot of info you can use. I can give you a hypothetical too.

 

[reddiamond]

My nutrients are the full canna coco line and magne-cal+ and the strain is a 9 week flower.
A hypothetical is at least a start point for me and i can hopefully dial it in with subsequent grows.

 

[burgertime2010]

Well, hypothetically I would be watering at full strength with a finishing agent with 3 weeks to go. My leaves show no signs of deficiency or abundance. I would mix 4x the nutrient solution that I use for a single watering. Ex 100 gal mixed and 25 gal used. After the first watering replace the 25 gallons used with 25 gallons clean water. Now you have a diluted solution to use 4x. This is the first ramp down. The next part is to eliminate additives that are no longer necessary and simplify the solution. A/B, bloom, cal-mag...just the essentials and the plants are ready to eat a good meal so I go back to full strength. Now, with each feeding I dilute the solution so the ppms decrease by 50. With a week left your ppms are at 1/2 what they were. The last week is the flush.

 

[fearnoevil]

Just wanted to say thanks to the OP for posting this great info. I've been using the Hempy system for a while with straight perlite, and after reading this I was inspired to add coco coir to the mix. I've added 40% coir to 60% perlite in my current grow and I've noticed the difference, the plants seem greener/healthier, the root structure more extensive and I don't have to feed as often. I'm still working on getting the nutes balanced, but so far I'm glad I gave it a try. ;?D

 

[reddiamond]

Well, hypothetically I would be watering at full strength with a finishing agent with 3 weeks to go. My leaves show no signs of deficiency or abundance. I would mix 4x the nutrient solution that I use for a single watering. Ex 100 gal mixed and 25 gal used. After the first watering replace the 25 gallons used with 25 gallons clean water. Now you have a diluted solution to use 4x. This is the first ramp down. The next part is to eliminate additives that are no longer necessary and simplify the solution. A/B, bloom, cal-mag...just the essentials and the plants are ready to eat a good meal so I go back to full strength. Now, with each feeding I dilute the solution so the ppms decrease by 50. With a week left your ppms are at 1/2 what they were. The last week is the flush.

Thanks for that, very informative

 

[Dr. Skunk Bud]

I am having problems with ph in my 50/50 coco perlite mix. I just recently transplanted my plants into autopots I watered them each with 1 gal of tap water with the recommended dose of veg+bloom that's what Im using. This was done roughly a week ago the pots are still wet and my p.h. in the pots is 4.5. I did not ph the water before I put it in. This is my first go with coco. What do I need to do to get the ph up? They aren't growing right any suggestions would be great. I did not include any pics because they are still pretty small just topped them yesterday. They have a pale green color to the leaves.

 

[Dr. Skunk Bud]

Well it seems my ph problems stem from my water supply just too make sure I drew some water off and it was measuring 5.0 so it isn't any wonder the ph was so low

 

[reddiamond]

Well it seems my ph problems stem from my water supply just too make sure I drew some water off and it was measuring 5.0 so it isn't any wonder the ph was so low

Did you read the 1st post, i didn't do this with my 1st grow and it took about 3-4 weeks before my ph balanced out, i'm using the same 50/50 mix too.

Breaking the buffer is the first thing on your list assuming the coco hasn't been conditioned. Our objective is to rinse the coco with large amounts of water containing Cal-mag @120ppm and 200ppm of Veg solution at a ph of 5.8

 

[HGK420]

I use a reverse osmosis filter. If however, this is not an option I would definitely draw the water 2-4 days prior depending on how much there is. This allows the chlorine to evaporate. If it is not much, and you don't have the time, boiling the water will remove chlorine rapidly.....remember to let it cool to under 70 degrees before adding nutrients and feeding.

I know I'm months behind on this and I got reading to do to still catch up but I've found that if you use a high pressured hose that has a jet setting or something (mine has a center setting that rocks) when filling you bucket/Rez to water you can get a good about of the bleach/chlorine/chlroamine out. All just observational but my ladies haven't changed the way they are growing and I've been using heavily bleached city water for 2 weeks now. Switched em over from RO. Me and a buddy thought up the agitation method talkin about using an airstone to get it out.

Again sorry for ressurecting this thread before I'm all caught up, il get there soon lol

And is there anyway besides just watching my girls growth patterns to test if I'm getting good colonization still?