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

Day 7 update, I have heat issues, but once I finish eating my dinner I'll start being a mad scientist again.

Pics in journal, link in sig.

I don't feed/water until it needs to. Last two feeds were barely damp 2" down, and pots felt light.

as far as the heavy feed, I'm running below Canna's "low feed" recommendations. They want me at 910ppm, I'm staying @600-625.

I have heat issues.....I don't mind making mistakes just as long as someone can learn from them. I hope your living in style.

Afternoon Folks,

I am wrapping up the changeover of my grow room from manual soiless mix to an automated hydro/coco setup. I am going with the canna coco line of nutes and was curious if the "canna start" all in one is good say for the first week or so from seed( with ph'd and calmag'd coco), before going all out with coco A&B and all the adds. After my first grow, I wish to deal with peat no more.
What size container/plug do you use when starting from seed and/or cloning?

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

ASMALLVOICE said:

Afternoon Folks, I am wrapping up the changeover of my grow room from manual soiless mix to an automated hydro/coco setup. I am going with the canna coco line of nutes and was curious if the "canna start" all in one is good say for the first week or so from seed( with ph'd and calmag'd coco), before going all out with coco A&B and all the adds. After my first grow, I wish to deal with peat no more. What size container/plug do you use when starting from seed and/or cloning? Peace and Great Grows Asmallvoice

Click to expand...

Seeds I pot them into a 4 in pot after they have popped. For clones the 1 in plugs are a good bet. I can't vouch for the canna products but leaving a seed to sprout without nutes is best in my experience. Let them get a couple sets first. I have ruined so many babies by jumping the gun. When it is time 300ppm is fine. I really never saw a big difference in the use of start products. Tap Water has minerals and the chlorine keeps the trays cleaner. Best of luck brother.

I grow high yielding genetics in Coco and I am not afraid to hit them hard as once my clones have established roots they are feeding on a base nutrient at 1000 ppm-1200 plus supplements usually at 200 ppm . Seedlings of course are built up to this strength of feed

Less is troublesome for me as I do not like to chase deficiencies and I sure the hell do not waste my time rinsing coco , not even with the imported bales .. No troubles and no worries I just set my pH in veg at 6.0-6.2 and once transitioned in bloom 5.8-6.0 and I feed continuously as well once in flower as I am not opposed to leaving them sitting in water then either .. I do raise my ppms a bit higher in mid bloom and I do not ever have problems with salt buildup as I always feed with at least a 10 % run off ..

Growing in Coco is a form of Hydroponics and my thoughts with Hydro is tune in and feed them well as it allows one to run at optimal levels obtaining the optimal yield and potency in the end .

Coco is really one of the least problematic methods of growing in my opinion , and it can be used for stealth grows as well , no perlite trails needed then . I do not use perlite as it hinders water retention and this can be a downfall once roots are established . Coco is a very ideal media and cannabis thrives in it with a little care and attention

Ok where do I get info on semi hydro with pine bark as medium, here? My tomato is in a pot with little potting mix and mulch added so I water daily and MG weekly. First tomatoes are on the vine so who has ppm info for MG for 1 tsp gallon application time to go up on ppm or do I just WAG it.

Hello June and the brutal summer. Well, I just wanted to address a few seasonal tweeks here that might help out. 1st off, it is bug season and a good idea would be to go and prevent your spaces from them. Utilize a multitude of different pest control methods and just be cleaner and more conscientious. Next, heat is an issue and can be the hardest to solve. I see a lot of high temps out there and people wondering about these new problems they are experiencing. Obviously, cool the room....easy answer. I use Silica to give the girls a little more tolerance to this kind of stress, I use dimmable ballasts to take wattage down as needed, I increase canopy circulation, and set my timers to the graveyard shift. Now, if you are just getting started would be a good time to learn how to train a canopy to maximize available space between the light and plant in case you need it.

Very nice thread. Glad to see cal/mag mentioned in the 1st post. I needed that in my 1st run. I'm fairly new to coco, with my current run being the 5th. The previous couple of yrs were done in perlite. I've seen better results since switching to coco I'm sure it has to do with the wicking ability of the coco.

The 1st few runs were with straight coir with a perlite rez, but last run and my current are in a mix of coco coir, chunk (mulch), and some perlite. When I broke down the last buckets with the mix the roots I encountered were the best I've ever seen in a passive hydro system. I think that using the chunks really helped with the O2 content in the root zone.

I've noticed several questions pertaining to starting seeds and clones in a coco environment. Here's a simple option that works real well and is almost idiot proof, I know because I use it, and it's just so damn easy. You can start your seeds/clones in your favorite soil seedling starter mix. I use FFof mixed with Black Gold seedling starter. Start in a 3" pot or even a party cup. Or just hollow out a spot in your coco and fill with soil if you want to start in the final container.
The soil will take care of all the feeding needs of the young plant for a couple wks. Then start your feeding regime. I've seen no problem with the roots at the soil coco transition if fact it's a become an "As One Zone".

WattSaver said:

I've seen no problem with the roots at the soil coco transition if fact it's a become an "As One Zone".

Click to expand...

It's true, this does work - some see a problem with it. Mainly with recirculating drip systems. They argue that organic material has no place in hydro systems, etc etc.
IMO if you flush good and water to runoff, it'll work okay. I did MG->Coco on my last grow.

Hey pot snob, dr if you prefer,

PLs indicate what brand/s and or mix of the types of coco u use. I know the smal particle coco will drown your plants so your statement of coco cannot b overwatered should b backed up with your mix and brand.

Just trying to help the newbies

Maybr drown is a lityle too far, id say bad air to moisture ratio, droopy leaves, slow growth....

More people need to look into, and give H3AD's coco recipe a shot. Veg is slightly slower (but still 100 percent healthy) compared to more complex feeds, but Flower is as good as anything out there, no matter how many additives you put in your mix, and how much money you spend.

KidKid1950 said:

More people need to look into, and give H3AD's coco recipe a shot. Veg is slightly slower (but still 100 percent healthy) compared to more complex feeds, but Flower is as good as anything out there, no matter how many additives you put in your mix, and how much money you spend.

Click to expand...

What is his recipe that you use? I will give it a shot.

I actually ran away from using Coco in my garden after a bad whitefly and gnat infestation. But I am sure they were not introduced in the garden via the coco because it came in brick form. It was just very hard to get rid of them versus my plants in the active hydro part in my garden. I have the 3.4 gallon Super Roots Air Pots that I am sure will work great with the set up. I have some Pro-Mix HP and a huge brick of GH coco. Can I mix the 2 products in some ratio so I wont have to buy perlite? I rather use the stuff I have sitting around and not getting used. Thanks.

I use air pots and coco, it's a tad messy, but honestly I cannot complain. I mixed mine with perlite, but it is not required. Even so, I got a bag of it for $6.

There's a link/pics in my sig if you want to see the process.

i have been using coco for over two years now.I feed every single watering .I do a 60 % coco (canna coco )40 % perlite.I water every 2-3 nights depending on how much they drink ,i never have run off except for flush i, i feed them about 1 gal per 5 gal of container.amazing results,amazing product ,top shelf and its k.i.s.s ppm 500-1500 ph 5.8 - 6.0 for the whole cycle.


I LOVE COCO

I started my 1st ever grow with coco and i love it, i wish i'd read this thread 1st though because i didn't add calmag or nutes to my brick initially and suffered mag def as a result.
My grow is in my sig, if you have any recommendations then please chime in

I can honestly say that what makes for a good Coco grow are habits and the reading of plant vigor. Off the bat, Cal mag is your friend!!!!, .75 Less nutes, and runoff.....also good to manage into this. The Ph is optimized as you water/flush......salts need tokeep balanced. ....I love coco. Ask specifics I gotcha.

reddiamond said:

I started my 1st ever grow with coco and i love it, i wish i'd read this thread 1st though because i didn't add calmag or nutes to my brick initially and suffered mag def as a result.
My grow is in my sig, if you have any recommendations then please chime in

Click to expand...

Despite the mag def another common mistake is to go overboard trying to fix it. Sticking to Cal-Mag is what I recommend only because the ratios of micronutrients are harmonious. For example, Epsom salts are a strong source of sulphur as well as mg and are used often. Now initially, the problem starts to fade and we put our minds towards new problems. While all of what we use depend on the healthy ratios of one element to another. Too much magnesium locks up calcium and the effects just snowball. Deficiencies are to be looked at in a codependents lens.

Burgertim,
thanks for starting this thread,
any one mixing their own nutrients? well, I live in the country of the inkas, there is no grow shop in this country and the best I can get here is coco and perlite, so I use 70% coco and 30% perlite, sincce there is nothing to buy here for our ladies, I-ve been mixing my own nutrients for a while now (2 years). I have a friend who is an old grower and grows organically in sunshine # 8 and tells me he feeds like 2800 ppms of organic stuff to his plants, we both use same size containers and same sized plants, of course, different stains.

to make things short, how much ppms of PK should I feed my girls in 14 liter pots and in week 5 of flower? I am using monopotasic phospate diluted like at 10% it is like a 13'14 but I dont like those ratios, I use like 300ppms.. should i use more?