Did you ever try hydro?I think they drink more because it's more available compared to in soil. But thats just guessing. Somethings optimized, perhaps me tracking the pH?
I have done many types of hydro for years. Flood and Drain and DWC to be the ones I did longest. I have to say the water consumption is at that same level. When I grew in missouri with flood and drain I noticed about 5 gallons of water per light per day but that included tray evaporation.Did you ever try hydro?
If so, is the waterconsumption with coco higher, lower or the same?
Almost tempted to do an experiment adding a tiny percentage of vermiculite to some coco just to hold a little more h2o.
Yea that would be the case, but in coco u actually want to multi feed rather than feed once a day... I wouldn’t tell ren how to grow cause he can grow! But since u got a higher plant count, look into smart pots. 1-3gal pots will grow u 1-2p’s plants, multi feed on a drip.. way to goMother Earth Perlite/Coco VS Mother Earth Coco (Comparison + Pics)
So I've noticed that straight coco regardless of brand tends to always win against perlite coco blends or other "coco" blends. I did a side by side comparison with #5 pots and Mother Earth 70/30 Coco vs Mother Earth Coco and the results are obvious. Don't add Perlite to your coco. I was...www.rollitup.org
Sorry I didn’t read everything, maybe just upsize your pots one more time?
Ya I feel that. I end up feeding once a day by the end. Definitely wouldn’t tell anyone how to grow just trying to helpYea that would be the case, but in coco u actually want to multi feed rather than feed once a day... I wouldn’t tell ren how to grow cause he can grow! But since u got a higher plant count, look into smart pots. 1-3gal pots will grow u 1-2p’s plants, multi feed on a drip.. way to go
This is very interesting my res can get quite cold during winter I drift my ph as well while I feed start at 6 and let drift down to 5.7 how long have you been using the warm water with good results? I like how your experimenting good job and do they seem to be using more water as well from the warmth...i would imagineSo, a few things I learned this round:
1) Coco is one thirsty bitch. Having to water every 4 - 6 hours for 20 days ish on some strains during peak drink. Could barely keep up on RO filtration.
2) Warm the water up! When running an RO filter it takes time to fill my drums. When the plants are drinking so fast I need to mix nutes and use them before the water has any time to warm up. Cold roots = slow growth so I chucked an aquarium heater in to bring it up to around 78-80F and wow what a difference. I am not running DWC and the roots aren't drowning the whole time so I am not concerned and haven't had issues with root rot. I will be doing this from now on. I used to be stuck in the DWC mentality and thinking I needed to keep the nutes cooler than warmer. If asked now would I want my coco water at 70F or 80F I would take 80F all day long.
3) Monitor the pH of the media! This was key. Feed a plant and track the pH between that and the next feed. I noticed my plants were drifting down between feeds. Usually around 0.4 - 0.6 was my drift. Watering at a pH thats on the high side of the goldilocks zone allows the pH to drift through the entire zone. If I start in the middle then I end up below the zone. By doing this you get superior uptake of all nutrients. I am also able to detect plants that are out of range and through adjustive feeds bring them inline and get immediate results because the adjustive feed will swing through the goldilocks zone. This has led to the discovery that out of whack soil / coco pH has been the problem when I get a plant that is all fucked up despite feeding at the proper pH. Not all plants will be the same so check them all. Some will think this is dumb but I will be doing this from now on. I noticed that most say 40 - 50% of the swing happens in the first third of the time after the watering. Another reason not to water in the middle of the zone since you will spend more time outside (below in my case) than inside.
Never stop learning!
Not concerned with DO levels as the roots aren't constantly drowning (wet dry cycles on the coco). If I was keeping them drowned it wouldn't be good at all. Like I said, I didn't start warming the water until the later part of the run. I darn near killed a few plants early on the run by watering them all at the same frequency but those ones were staying drowned. I learned that I need to treat the coco like soil just not let it get as dry, but it still needs to dry some to get oxygen, that was with cold h2o.Sweet run, trim jail awaits! lol. Interested to hear your thoughts on the warmer water tho? Being do levels drop as the water is warmed. I have to put heaters in the Rez this time of year but have the temps capped at 70. And yes coco will go through lots of water, it has excellent aeration and drainage capabilities allowing for almost hydro like growth rates when dialed in and multi fed per day.
Funny you say that, my buddy runs the wool, n we talking shrub style grow, he top feeds the wool for 3 hours when they wake and same again 4 hours before lights out...Dissolved oxygen is only required if the roots are constantly submerged, ie: dwc. When they get oxygen directly it's way better. Like flood and drain for example, you rarely see root rot in that type setup and then it's probably rockwool thats flooded too often.