Coco - time between waterings?

Morning All,

I am on my first dtw/coco grow. I am noticing that the coco coir (botanicare) dries out very quickly. I have my (2 week old from seed) plants in 1 gallon plastibags and when I water, I do it slowly and only a little at a time so as not to have the water pull itself through the media too fast. I was watering once every 24-30 hrs, and after the plants got up a bit (3 nodes), this was not sufficient and they dang sure showed me.( thought I was going to lose 2 outa 3).

My question is, being that I am using a more coarse coco (not straight pith) could that be why I need to water more often, I know I have read, both start easy on the water and then progress, but I am thinking I need to hit them a bit more. Less water but more often because after like 4 hrs, the top is dry all the down as far as my index finger goes( 3+") and should I get a more refined coco to transplant them into the 3 gallon pots for flowering or just run the more fibrous coco or does it make a difference?
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So I am thinking once every 6 hrs for 1 minute (about 1/4 gal per plant per watering) produces a wee bit of run off.

I humbly appreciate any and all assistance.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

They say you cannot overwater coco but you sure can waste nutrients. I use a fine coco mixed with perlite in 3 gallon pots and water every day skipping a day here and there. You have to water as needed and if your coco requires that what can you do? Personally, I would use a finer coco as it retains moisture well encouraging roots to occupy the top part of the root zone instead of drying out. I think perlite is a good addition as it helps with drainage and aeration. A balance between the two will produce the best results.

Thanks for the reply M8,

I know once I get them into the flowering room, things should calm down, just getting them up and going seems the hard part. My first grow, I think I had 2 casualties from seed and then the only ones after that were males. I used the jiffy started discs on the first grow, but I just went straight to coco and perlite from the get go this time.

Live and Learn - just hate doing it with good seeds...lol

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

I use a mixed coco, coir pith and chunks, and then cut that with some perlite. I stopped using straight coir, because it took too long between waterings, and maybe thats perfectly fine, never saw any over watering conditions. It just bugged me. Then again I'm using hempy buckets which will go longer between waterings.

If it were me when you up size your container, I'd mix your chunk 50/50 with some coir, perlite is optional. IMO the chunk helps in aeration in the root zone.

I have the coarse premium perlite mixed in at a little less than 20%. I ordered the canna coco 50l bag yesterday. I still have a few of the small compressed botanicare bricks but I will need a bit more than that come transplant time. I know even tho I packed the pots when I transplanted them, that coco does pack ok, but it is still easily disturbed, say compared to peat of soil, even right after watering.
Learning every day

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

The coco will stay mixed together quite well, same as moss in soil. I have noticed that after several waterings that the perlite in the upper inch will work it's way to the top. I've put just straight coir in for the top inch and this seems to take care of the perlite rising condition.

I take pics of my plants every day( that I can anyway) to see what direction I am taking these poor things... lol. I do think I was letting them dry a bit much, I am almost finished with my small 10 gallon res, just insulation and getting a small air pump. I want to be automated on that 100% before July 4th weekend, got a 4 day weekend at the lake I want to take advantage of.

Peace

Asmallvoice

Doing a rather serious water retention test on 1 gallon and 3 gallon pots with coco/perlite(15%)
Will have an update tomorrow. Its learnin' time now...lol

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

You should check out hydro city see if ur local shop Carries it. The best I've had , it has coco , perlite and lava rock. Yum yum

If you treat coco as hydro, you can water as much as you like - as long as you have good drainage. burgertime2010 is pretty much spot on. I use a medium-coarse coco and water more often. Finer coco can compact and doesn't drain as well, unless you add perlite (which I don't).

ASMALLVOICE said:

So I am thinking once every 6 hrs for 1 minute (about 1/4 gal per plant per watering) produces a wee bit of run off.

Click to expand...

I should have mentioned, that will work well in my opinion. I water my plants at least 4 times a day - one minute at a time - during 12/12 using an automated system.

damn, can't sleep.

Anyway, last night I played with a 1 gallon and a 3 gallon plastibag pot packed with coco and perlite(15%). I moistened the coco prior to filling the bags, so I could get a decent pack. I then pressed the water out of the coco to a point that would simulate dry( it was actually easy, coco does not hold onto that much water) and then measured the amount of water used to get a bit of runoff. I then waited 4 hrs and watered again using the same amount and measured runoff.
The second watering produced 20% more runoff with the same amount of water used. So after the medium is moistened, it holds a little moisture but not enough to keep a flowering plant going for long without more. I then pressed them again to simulate drying and it held pretty close to the same as the first time I pressed the water out. I watered them one more time with same amount and got damn near duplicate results.(within reason).
I do know that if you trickle the water onto the media, it makes a difference as to how much it retains before it dumps from gravity alone vs watering quickly and the water pulling itself through and giving you even shorter "drink" times for the plants. So there seems to be a "tension" to the media and it reacts accordingly, at least from what I am seeing.
Hope this helps someone out there...lol, I feel better knowing, that is for sure.
So in conclusion, it pays greatly to know the rates at which your media loses moisture. I was going too light and damn near lost 2 plants right off the bat...lol

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

What you're experiencing is wicking versus chanelling. When you water coco slowly, capillary action allows all the coco in the pot to absorb as much water as it can before it drains any excess. When you water too fast, the water "chanels" through the coco and drains before the remainder of the coco in the pot has time to wick the incoming moisture and saturate itself.

Prawn Connery said:

I should have mentioned, that will work well in my opinion. I water my plants at least 4 times a day - one minute at a time - during 12/12 using an automated system.

Click to expand...

This is how i handle my feeding for coco