I have been growing four clones in coco in my clone tent under a florescent light & they have been thriving despite being jammed in. I have been watering every two days until runoff & they were in 6 litre square pots. IMO they were well overdue for a transplant & had a good root mass, they had been vegging for 8 weeks & looked fanatstic. The min & max temps of the clone tent wer 30C max 18min Humidity 50 - 70%RH & all was great.

I got my Wilma 4 pot all setup, & got the 11litre pots all ready & transplanted each clone. I have a good inch of clay pebbles at the bottom & filled the rest with coco. The temps in the main tent they are in now are max 24C min 18C. Humidity 38 - 56RH.

I put the drippers in & started a flow & sat with it to see how much time until runoff. 45mins later & still no runoff? I had to leave them a few hours so I turned the pump off & left. When I came back they were drooping!! I thought they must be too dry as the coco looked dry on one side. I decided to change the drippers to the blue ones that flow more & gave the plants a good soaking, it took about 15mins, so I set the timer to come on for 15mins at lights on every day.

The following day I got in there about an hour after the watering & noticed they were dropping even more??? Slightly clawed down leaves on the AK47 & POG, the 2 C99's are just drooping with no clawing down.

The coco feels damp, not waterlogged at all, I can scrape some up & it falls apart easily, it's also not packed tight, I can bury my hand down the side & it feels equally damp all the way down. On their second day in there I tied the tops over & they have turned up nicely over night but still drooping? Am I underwatering or overwatering?

Now I am not sure? The instructions say I should use the other drippers so I have changed back & set the timer to come on for 45mins every day but I don't even know if this is OK? I am in two minds whether to give them more water or wait until they dry out? Currently the dripper pump is unplugged.

It's my first time in coco & at first it seemed quite easy like soil, but now they are in the Wilma I am scared

How heavy should a fully watered 11 litre pot of coco be? Should I be able to pick it up easily?
I was under the assumption that the Wilma system keeps the medium damp all the time, but that goes against the soil method of drying out before watering?

I'll try & get some pics pater when lights come back on but my camera is playing up so I hope my description is enough

I'm so confused, please help me

ive got the blue drippers in my wilma

have you any pics akpog ?

if the coco i8s damp wet moist then i doubt its underwatered , i will drip mine for 15 mins every day in veg and 3 times a day in flower

at the moment , im using wet dry cycle as they went in yesterday and am waiting for roots at the bottoms before feeding daily

Hi AKPOG

I've found it is almost impossible to overwater coco.
You may get problems if you leave pots standing in water/nutrient for a few days.

From what you are saying, the plants haven't rooted through the 11 litre pots yet?
It may be a case of the excess water in the non-rooted part of the pot is contributing to an 'overwatering type' symptom and it should fade over the next few days as the plants develop more roots.

You are still in veg period??......do you run 24/7 or 20/4...18/6?
If you have a dark period and are going in to check at lights on.....you will find plants a little droopy before they 'wake up' so to speak.
This would be especially true if your temps are dropping to 18 degrees......I've been struggling with low temps too over the past few days.


HTH & ATB

ive one plant in a builders bucket of coco atm and im feeding it once every other day with around 2 litres of nutes this is giving a little run off at the bottom

seems happy enough !!!! think you can over do it though myself !! im allowing it to dry out before watering again....

why not try giving it less see what happens ??

peppi

How dry are you letting it get Peppi?......that is a dangerous game IMO, coco fibre is much different to compost and IME I have found it best to be kept constantly damp. There is a very fine line between letting the coco dry out and having a
plant wilt irrepairibly.

As I said above, I think it is very hard to overwater; unless you allow the pots to stand in the runoff.....and even then I've found it is rarely a problem other than an increase in room humidity.

ATB

im feeling the weight of the bucket once it feels light i water ..this is about every 2 days ..
ive also some seedlings which are showing signs of been over watered just like the flowering plant did when it was smaller ..
ive been doing the same with these checking the weight and once they are light watering them again ,
tbh im finding its working ok but the seedlings still show signs of overwatering these are been fed around every 3 days or once they feel light which ever comes first

tbh im not finding coco as easy to work with as a proper hydro set up and im defo gonna be going back to some form of real hydro once my flower area becomes empty ............ probably mop buckets and bubbling tbh

peppi

i agree with this

Hi Peppi,
I don't know how much time you have on your hands to keep checking the weight of the pots......but if the method is working for you, then great
I usually scrog mine - so feeling the weight in the pots is not an option for me.

Seedlings are very different to small plants, clones and larger plants......and I would agree that some can show overwatering signs in coco when they are very young.

One problem that you may encounter (may have already encountered).....as the plants get bigger, their demand for water increases massively. The two day gap you are using to start with may work very well, but there will become a point when daily watering is essential IMO becasue they are using a lot of water.....you could find for instance, that you water, check the following day and find all is fine, decide not to water and go back the next day to find at best a droopy plant and at worst one that is dead.

Take care folks

ETA - it may help some to remeber this is in effect a hydroponic method.....and letting the roots dry out in nft, f&D etc is a big no no.

yep your spot on there FAI, when i first started in coco i used a wet dry cycle, found the plants didnt like it i now water every day and the girls seem to get on far better

yes mate i agree

there water intake has and is increasing all the time and my plant is up to about 2 litres every other day there not reaching the point of wilting or anything

im not letting those pots get to light of course there is some moisture left in them when iam re watering

tbh im struggling with the coco and iam gonna go back to a bubbler once this is done as i find those much easier to care for and maintain

peppi

Thanks for the response guys



Ah excellent, another Wilma user So you find in 11litre pots the blue drippers give enough water over 15mins? The literally drip & 11 litres of coco is a lot. Am I right in thinking it is just to keep it all wet, rather than wetting it until runoff? So when I repotted I should have watered normally until runoff, then setup the drippers to trickle feed daily through veg & 3 times daily through flower?

I think I sort of understand now. Thanks buddy




That is somewhat relieving, I do hope they pick up.

Yes they are in veg still & I planned to veg for another 10 days or so to allow rooting, then switch to flower.

I checked them this morning & that is just before lights off & they were drooping in the same manner, if not a little worse Last night min temps were 20C, they don't get much higher than 25 in this cold weather, but they are not too cold for sure.

I just have to prey they pick up. Do you think I should plug the timer back in so they get a dripper feed at lights on & continue like that & hope they pick up or let them dry out somewhat first?
Judging by the assumptions I made above I perhaps should keep a dripper feed daily to keep it wet & judging by what you have said the coco has really good drainage & hard to over water?

Thanks again

is there any roots at the drainage holes in the pots ?

tbh i havent turned the drippers on yet i will do it 2moro , but have been assured the the blue will be enough over a 15 minute flow

one thing i have found as well doing it by weight of pot after watering in coco
dont forget that as the plant gets bigger .....if you pick the pot up
it will always feel heavy...as the plant is getting bigger and heavier

i tend to check the weight by picking it up by the trunk of the plant
that way i can feel the difference between the weight of the plants and the pot below

or dig a finger in the pot and check that way

No roots yet, as I said I only have just transplanted them, day 3 now in the Wilma.

Should I just continue with 15mins per day while in veg to keep the coco damp & hope they pick up, or wait until it dries out to see if they pick up?

Never had this trouble in soil

i wouldnt water until they have roots at the holes

i potted up tuesday and watered in , i may turn the drippers on 2moro for 1 feed but im think i wont until the roots are at the drainage points

Why buddy? I'm starting to wonder what the Wilma is actually for! I bought it thinking I could save myself going into my GR every other day & more like once a week! So far it has caused me to be in my GR 4 or 5 times a day!

as soon as the roots are out you home free

i watered mine tuesday and havent seen them since , wont untill 2moro . when hopefully i switch on the pump

its all about a good root system , once they have enough they can cope with what you throw at them

Hi

I don't use drippers but I've learnt how to keep mum's in hand-watered coco in the last 6 months...

My experience is that a consistent watering regime/pattern is important - it was when I was almost randomly watering that my plants started to show signs of overwatering.

I kept my clones constantly wet by watering at irregular intervals and they simply didn't thrive (roots would show through the bottom of the pot & then die).

I now let the coco get almost dry (sometimes the plants do wilt) before watering and stick to this routine and the plants seem to be doing OK (I've kept them alive for 9 months).

Link here for my tale...

Perhaps I'm the exception that proves the rule...

Stan

Thanks for that info buddy, I've been pretty much doing it like that while they were in the clone room & not on drippers, they thrived too as I said. Maybe you are right? They do say with dripper systems that a constant moist coco is best, but I might have to end up doing a water every 48hours with the flood drippers instead of the arrow ones that drip drip.

I don't suppose there is someone here that has done a few grows with a Wilma that can confirm is there? I'm sure there was a user callen Wilmagrower or Wilmaman or something? Maybe he can pop in to help?

So far, last night about 6 hourd after lights on I had a peek & the C99's look a lot brighter, but the POG & AK47 are still wilting, but have hardly any curl now so hopefully tonight they will be perky. If they are then it was definite over watering & I'll be much more careful in future