In over my head..

tree beard

Well-Known Member
Hello all, hope everyone is well!

I'm new here, and new to indoor growing as well. First, a little history on me. I've been growing outdoors for years, just a summertime thing here. I usually pick up a couple clones, plant them in a spot in my yard that only gets full sun about half the day. On average get about a lb off each plant which lasts me till the following season. Nothing fancy, just pull out the garden hose each morning and give em a drink. Nothing fancy, no nutes, just some bloom booster when the time is right, simple.. Only issues is the bugs eating the leaves. Not sure, I suspect grasshoppers as the bite marks are huge.. This past grow they really tore em up, to the point where I decided I'm doing this indoors from now on. I've dabbled with indoors a few decades ago (in my 20's) and from what I remember it was pretty easy. Fast forward 30 years and here I am, clueless... Went to my local grow shop and told him what space I have, what my intentions were, and to set me up. I came home with a 4x8 shorty tent (low ceilings), 2 nextlight mega pro series lights, 6 inch inline fan, 2, 6 inch oscillating fans, 3, 6 inch stationary fans, an 8 pot, 4.9 gallon autopot setup, 3 bags of canna coco, and GH calmag ( I use RO water, my well water here is disgusting) and GH 3 part nute system. Ordered some feminized seeds and away we go! Or so I thought..

Looking back now I wish I would have done so many things differently. Trying to start 8 plants from seed was an absolute nightmare. Over watering, under watering, too much light, not enough light, if there was a f##k up to be had, I mastered it.. So after killing numerous seeds and seedlings, I finally got 8 going that looked pretty viable. I got them going in solo cups, then transplanted to one gallon pots, then finally to the auto pots. I hand watered for the 1st few weeks as per their instructions. They looked pretty decent, not great but not horrible either.

So after I was confident the roots were doing their thing, I added the recommended amount of nutes (1st mistake) to the resevoir and turned it on. After a few days they looked like they were sprayed with roundup, way too much nutes. Some were stretching to the lights faster then I could raise them, some didn't do anything, just stunted and in limbo. I've topped them all and did a little lst. I've got some 2x4 chuncks under a few to try to keep the canopy somewhat even. I've cut the nutes down to half dose but doesn't seem to be much change after about 4 or 5 days.

I was also thinking they have root rot, roots just sitting in water can't be a good thing, can it? Yesterday I put a timer on the resevoir to open it for 2 hrs a day to see if that helps. As they sit now, their yellow, look burnt and I'm running out of head room in the tent. I would just flip em and keep fingers crossed, but in the condition they're in, I feel like I should wait a little longer.

So far I am absolutely hating coco! On a different note, I have a few moms going in a closet and 6 clones going in a tiny 2x3 tent, grown in fox farms ocean forest and they look beautiful, green, lush and happy! Maybe me and coco just weren't meant to be, lol.. Sooo... not sure what to do with this sick looking grow in the 4x8. Rip em out and start over? Keep on keeping on? I've got so much time and $ invested in it, I hate to throw in the towel but I just donno.. Either way, after this grow I'll give coco one more try with clones, but so far it's been quite discouraging.. any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!
TB
 
Let's start with some pics of the sick plants. We can't tell you much without those. Then what temp and humidity are you having for lights on and off? I'm not familiar with auto pots but I'm sure some here are and they can help with those.
We'll try to get them back on track with you. Coco is a harder media for newer growers in my opinion but it sounds like money wise you're pretty invested in it so we will work with what you have. The other big issue is your ph. Are you checking ph and EC?
 
Pull the buckets out of the autopot system and hand water daily to 10-20% runoff.
Autopots/bottom feeding coco doesn't work very well.
Use them for soil grows.
Thank you. I thought I read somewhere the opposite was true. Guess the guy at the grow shop gave me some bad info.. will give this a try, thanks again!
 
Yeah you better off running these buckets as drain to waste and water every day one time till runoff. With ph of 5.8-6.2. Those auto pots aren’t great but you can used the base for a drain just put something in there to hold the pot up off the bottom of the base and hand water to runoff
 
Let's start with some pics of the sick plants. We can't tell you much without those. Then what temp and humidity are you having for lights on and off? I'm not familiar with auto pots but I'm sure some here are and they can help with those.
We'll try to get them back on track with you. Coco is a harder media for newer growers in my opinion but it sounds like money wise you're pretty invested in it so we will work with what you have. The other big issue is your ph. Are you checking ph and EC?
Thanks for the reply. I try to keep ph around 6
My temps average around 78-82, RH is at 53 and I have no idea what the hell EC is.. Sorry, I'm very green to indoor growing..
 
Yeah you better off running these buckets as drain to waste and water every day one time till runoff. With ph of 5.8-6.2. Those auto pots aren’t great but you can used the base for a drain just put something in there to hold the pot up off the bottom of the base and hand water to runoff
Thank you sir, I'm on it!
 
I forgot to add, I do have the little inserts for the pots installed. I forget what the hell they're called, air domes or something like that. They do keep the bottom of the medium off the bottom of the tray
 
Thanks for the reply. I try to keep ph around 6
My temps average around 78-82, RH is at 53 and I have no idea what the hell EC is.. Sorry, I'm very green to indoor growing..
No worries that all sounds like good ranges. Keep your feed down to at least half of what bottles say and roll with that. It’s easier to work with a deficiency and access of a nutrient so keep the feedings on low side
 
I forgot to add, I do have the little inserts for the pots installed. I forget what the hell they're called, air domes or something like that. They do keep the bottom of the medium off the bottom of the tray
Yeah the air domes are supposed to add air to the roots. But what I’m trying to say is keep the inner plant pot up off the bottom off the feed base so you can poor water into the plant and it drains out the bottom and collects in the feeder base so you can discard the runoff. Also get a cheap EC meter or PPM pen so you can test what you’re feeding and getting in the runoff and you will be able to get these to the finish line. Let them dry out some before watering again.
 
Thanks for the reply. I try to keep ph around 6
My temps average around 78-82, RH is at 53 and I have no idea what the hell EC is.. Sorry, I'm very green to indoor growing..
EC is electrical conductivity if I'm remembering right. It's a measure of how strong the nute mix is to make it simple. You use an EC pen that's like a ph pen, just measures different things. It's also expressed as PPM which is parts per million. I use ph and ppm to figure out how much I'm feeding them and there's some good guidelines on EC over at the Coco for Cannabis site. Here's a link to them so you have additional resources.

There's some really experienced guys here with Coco but I do soil with dry amendments for simplicity so I don't know what EC to target. Different strains as well as growth stage determine the amount of feed the plant needs. Give it too much and you get burned tips and lockout of other nutrients. Too little and it starves and looks pale and has deficiency issues. Knowing what EC level you're feeding let's you make accurate adjustments and is really important with any salt based nute grow in my opinion.
 
Yeah the air domes are supposed to add air to the roots. But what I’m trying to say is keep the inner plant pot up off the bottom off the feed base so you can poor water into the plant and it drains out the bottom and collects in the feeder base so you can discard the runoff. Also get a cheap EC meter or PPM pen so you can test what you’re feeding and getting in the runoff and you will be able to get these to the finish line. Let them dry out some before watering again.
Awesome man thanks!
 
EC is electrical conductivity if I'm remembering right. It's a measure of how strong the nute mix is to make it simple. You use an EC pen that's like a ph pen, just measures different things. It's also expressed as PPM which is parts per million. I use ph and ppm to figure out how much I'm feeding them and there's some good guidelines on EC over at the Coco for Cannabis site. Here's a link to them so you have additional resources.

There's some really experienced guys here with Coco but I do soil with dry amendments for simplicity so I don't know what EC to target. Different strains as well as growth stage determine the amount of feed the plant needs. Give it too much and you get burned tips and lockout of other nutrients. Too little and it starves and looks pale and has deficiency issues. Knowing what EC level you're feeding let's you make accurate adjustments and is really important with any salt based nute grow in my opinion.
Thank you so much!
 
Looks like I've come to the right place, you guys are awesome! I'd have put a "like" on all your posts, but I'm not seeing that option. Wonder if you need a certain amount of post counts or something? Anyway gonna roll with the good advice given to me here, thanks again!
 
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