Coco or hydro?

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kulan hunter

Well-Known Member
i am 3/4 weeks from the end of my grow, i want to don't know which type of grow to use next i don't want to grow in soil i had a few problems with the soil and would like more control over the grow.

my grow area is only 1m by 1.5m i want to fit 3/4 plants in the space, also i have a only a 1.2m in hight to work with.

which should i go for DWC (bubbler) or coco ?
 
Florida Girl

Florida Girl

Well-Known Member
kulan hunter said:
which should i go for DWC (bubbler) or coco ?
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Coco is hard the first time around if you don't do your homework.... hell even if you do. Coco will kick your ass and make you work to get it right.... trust me ...I'm still licking my wounds. I didn't give up on it though... I toughed it out and learned a few lessons I will share (and hopefully a few other Coco growers will back up)

1) Thoroughly soak Coco with PH corrected water. Coco doesn't take kindly to a PH over 6.5 (I keep mine at 5.7 - 5.9 with the Hempy style container... which I HIGHLY recommend).

2) Do NOT NOT NOT use Coco alone! Use Hydroton pebbles in the bottom half of your container to facilitate drainage and oxygen.

3) Don't believe the hype that Coco has enough nutes for young plants... IT DOESN'T! Maybe for tomatoes (real tomatoes) but not for marijuana! You need a good organic nute labeled for use with seedlings. (I use Botannicare Pro Grow). This is important! My first 5 plants died due to no food because I refused to NOT believe the Coco label that said they weren't needed. Lesson learned the hard way! Even my youngest seedlings now get the Pro Grow dose for seedlings with every watering and they are doing great!

4) Plants in Coco take a while to get going.... growth is always slow in the beginning... you have to be patient.

5) If you do Hempy style in the manner I suggested above (1/2 Coco 1/2 hydroton) then you MUST water/feed EVERY DAY until the roots fully reach the bottom reservoir. This is non negotiable! When I held off a day because I thought every day was too much... my leafs curled looking dry.... every day watering is working (my roots haven't yet all reached the bottom reservoir). You don't have to drown them... just water daily (with correct PH water).

I know NOTHING about DWC so I can't help you there.... but if you read the thread https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/59705-hempy-collective.html then you will likely be sold on this method as well. The thread is long... so take your time to read it all... TONS of good information there!

Good luck :peace:

 
K

kulan hunter

Well-Known Member
thank you FG. its is a big thread. i have read the first few pages and it has the info i want on it. FG if i do have any questions after i have read the full thread and searched the net could i PM you if i can't find the answer? Thanks Again (may your fingers always be green)

i have a few weeks before next grow plenty of time to weight out the pros and cons of each system.

i would like to here from some one who has tried both methods
 
K

kulan hunter

Well-Known Member
thank you MJ i will take a look at you journal after i have read the hempy link left by FG it looks like a good system very long thread 50 odd pages but i will check out your links
 
Florida Girl

Florida Girl

Well-Known Member
kulan hunter said:
thank you FG. its is a big thread. i have read the first few pages and it has the info i want on it. FG if i do have any questions after i have read the full thread and searched the net could i PM you if i can't find the answer?
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sure you can PM me... but that would not be making full use of your resources here. I'm a noob. I can only tell you what I've learned....nothing beyond that..... your best bet is posting here and letting everyone answer your questions... you will get much better advice then just mine alone..... I'm still learning and love reading what others have to say.... I've learned a ton from just reading posts. I do have some specific Coco knowledge (learned the hard way)... but there are even more here with way more knowledge...


mared juwan said:
I'm using 100% coco so far and it's my first grow.
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I don't know how you did it because when I did 100% Coco I killed my babies. I'm guessing it had to do with container size... and I may have started too big and watered too much... and drown them. After I changed to starting with soilless starter plugs and then moving to a 1/2 Coco and 1/2 hydroton I did MUCH better!!! Who knows why something works for one and not another???? Maybe climate? All I know is what is working for me :D

:peace:
 
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mared juwan

mared juwan

Well-Known Member
Florida Girl said:

I don't know how you did it because when I did 100% Coco I killed my babies. I'm guessing it had to do with container size... and I may have started too big and watered too much... and drown them. After I changed to starting with soilless starter plugs and then moving to a 1/2 Coco and 1/2 hydroton I did MUCH better!!! Who knows why something works for one and not another???? Maybe climate? All I know is what is working for me :D

:peace:
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Yeah, I'm cheating. I'm using 2 gallon containers but I'm treating it like soil. No regular watering like hydro. Just water when the coco gets pretty dry and the pot is light.
 
Florida Girl

Florida Girl

Well-Known Member
DR toadstool said:
hi just curious can you mix coco with soil and use it as a admendment?(sp):blsmoke:thanx in advance
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As far as I know you can use Coco with EVERYTHING. If you are a soil grower then using a few 2 inch layers of Coco throughout should help with drainage/aeration ... throw in a 20 hydroton pebbles and you should be golden!
 
K

kulan hunter

Well-Known Member
so i have read 20 odd pages of the hempy buckets method (it looks great just what i was looking for) and i am now looking at running a hempy bucket with 100% perlite as my medium for my second grow, this seams perfect the control over nutes and ph without the messing about with 40 litres of water air pumps ect... you get with hydro

i have had a couple of ideas how to make this bucket more user friendly
a tap at the base to empty the res for flushing
water level tube on the side for the res


i will continue to read up on it tomorrow its 3:30 am here so i am off to bed

i am sold for now

Thank to all
 
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K

kulan hunter

Well-Known Member
well after reading up on a few methods i will be trying the hempy buckets with 100% perlite next grow

i might take one of my little cuttings (which are flowering clones) and try it out one that tomorrow see how it goes thanks for the input
 
specialkayme

specialkayme

Well-Known Member
kulan hunter said:
so i have read 20 odd pages of the hempy buckets method (it looks great just what i was looking for) and i am now looking at running a hempy bucket with 100% perlite as my medium for my second grow, this seams perfect the control over nutes and ph without the messing about with 40 litres of water air pumps ect... you get with hydro

i have had a couple of ideas how to make this bucket more user friendly
a tap at the base to empty the res for flushing
water level tube on the side for the res


i will continue to read up on it tomorrow its 3:30 am here so i am off to bed

i am sold for now

Thank to all
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Not to poke fun or anything, but I really wouldn't recomend modifying the setup. It's very simple and basic and is intended that way.

That being said I've grown with hempy buckets (100% hydroton pellets) for the past 8 months. They were alright, but never really got the explosive growth that everyone else did. I then moved on to coco. No I use straight coco with one plant, and 50/50 coco perlite mix with the other. I use AN sensi grow and have treated it just like soil (just watering two times or so a week, whenever it gets dry). You need to watch this, because the coco has amazing water retention, and if you water too much (which is easy) your plants will die.

But treating the coco like soil I have seen AMAZING growth. Very pleased.
 
D

drifter1978

Guest
hey folks i use coco and have for the past 5 years and i have only been on this site a few days and i see that any body who uses coco waters every couple of days which i have to say is a complete surprize to me i water every 6 hours for 15 minutes it used to be every 4 hours,and have had no problems with root rot or any thing.
 
B

blackout

Well-Known Member
i use a coco mix with some hydroton ,not much ,but i have them in a big tub ,so i dont have to water more than once or twice a week ,but i did take a hint off V.Vs ,and now have a layer of sand on top ,and i have a lot less hassle with fungas knats ,which seem to love coco , i have plenty of rain water so that is all with organic nutes ,and they all luck very happy ,both white widow and aussie blue which is getting a bit out of controll ,i still have all of my hydro toys ,but at present this suits the situation , get good coco ,and you dont even have to flush it ,much better than before ,sorry to ramble had a sample of the white widow ,very nice.
 
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drifter1978

Guest
hi people fungus gnats suck the sand idea is good.they did tests where i come from with sand and saw dust i think it was 25mm of sand to prevent fungus gnats digging in not sure about the saw dust thickness but if you do use saw dust becareful what wood it comes from and make sure it is not treated wood get natural i would say pine would be your best with its natural talents to fight disease and keep things clean
 
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