Hello Coco people!

Seems to be alot of people interested in growing in coco lately but getting confused were to post,so here it is,the unoffical coco thread.

Post your tips on watering, ph, ec ,nutes, anything really about growing in coco..

Keep your ph between 5.8-6.2

Happy growing!

p&q

Owderb has recently ran two diaries that have great tips and tricks to running coco. you can find the link Here. The newest coco diary he ran is here. coco's a fun medium to grow in, been running it for a bit now myself and haven't looked back.

Nice, I've been wondering why people mix their coco with hydroton?

Niceone Madhatta81

Your right two exellent Diaries by Owderb there..of which Ive followed myself on my first coco grow. Its just abit of fun really a thread for coco only growers either newbies or experienced folks to have their say..

Probally turnout like a lead balloon ...or you never know it could be a great help for the future.

p&q

Hello Donjon

From what Ive read mate it helps with drainage..how I dont know tho? maybe someone will answer you soon.

I know some folk have a lair of clay balls at the bottom of their pots and some people mix it 70/30 80/20 60/40 ect:

I was looking in greens earliar and theres even a bag made up now you can purchase.

p&q

No idea, presumably they think they're getting better drainage....but pure coco is great (esp. fine grade cocos like Canna or B'Cuzz). Some people put a couple of layers of hydroton in the bottom of flood and drain setups so that the roots don't sit in any water (canna doesn't like wet feet apparently).

GN

I use clay pebbles in the bottom of my pots, coco holds the water longer, but because I run air directly to the root zone via a soaker hose, I find that having clay pebbles helps stop it getting to boggy down the bottom of the pots, and easier to inject some air under the root zone.

Honestly, try it, they love it, I place the soaker hose in the clay pebbles (25%) and top up the rest of the 25L pots with coco, with a 360 dripper on top.

A mate has just setup his autopot system using something similar - their 'airdomes' which are basically airstones planted at the bottom of the coco in the pot. Means there's no need for the hydroton and there's a mini DWC thing going on. The plants go mental apparently....gotta try it myself...

GN

I'd like to know more about these airdomes mate !

I have no tips, but I do have a question. To get the most from a plant in coco, are all of these useful, or are some snakeoil:

Nutrients
Enzymes
PK 13/14
Root Stim

Cheers.

, airdomes, we tried them about 4 years ago, you just pump air into the bottom of the pot, 6 months with and 6 months without-no difference whatsoever to yield or growth, yet more snake oil designed to part you from your cash, spend the money on a good extract and carbon filter, a much more sensible purchase, we also tried coco then switched to b n q cheapest compost, fed with coco food all along in a wilma system, no difference apart from compost being about 1/5th of the price of coco and looking less suspicious when you buy it, its a weed, it grows in pretty much anything, save your money!

i ran an autopot on my last grow with the airdomes and coco, had very pleasing results..very easy to use with little hassle...

Sounds good to me fella

Was unsure of the root stim myself as Ive never used it before but look at these results & as you can see theres some difference in 6 days.

What you planning on buying?..let us know.

p&q

Good thread peace&quiet .. I love the coco and am just starting a grow using plant magic coco nutes and plagron coco.. I usually use canna coco but couldn't get any.Plagron and PM working well together so far.. Gonna start a diary soon so this thread will be useful..Nice one..

PP..

Base Nutes - gotta have....
Enzymes - don't have to have, but they maintain the roots and aren't expensive...worth doing even infrequently (e.g. once a week)
PK13/14 - useful for bigger yields
Root Stim - I consider it essential, especially if you want decent buds....roots = buds. Look after your rootball and you'll be happy imo.

FWIW I rate Canna Boost, especially with a PK. Really does add massive weight and quality ime. Am trying B'cuzz right now but if it isn't as good I'm going straight back to Canna, even if it is expensive because it does exactly what it says on the tin ime.

GN

Well grow shop sold Canna AB, so I was figuring rest of their range since even if it's not ground breaking, it works according to most.



What would you classify boost as? Also, what would Nitrozyme be considered as essentially 'doing'? (that's at anyone btw)

Cheers boys.

You don't need the Nitrozyme - it's a nitrogen heavy product that is good for people who take loads of cuts from mums because it helps generate new cuts. More for the bigtime commercial guys than percy imo.

Boost is a flowering booster....some people say it's snakeoil....but it's probably a cocktail of all kinds of stuff. Canna claim it makes the plants photosynthesise more/faster/better, and so in conjunction with more PK as the fuel, it rocks. I started growing using the Canna UK calculator and it is a blinding way to start. They don't tell you to overfeed your plants and it forms a great basis for your own tailored regime (with or without Canna products).

I've literally just stopped using Boost because of the B'Cuzz boosters but it'll be interesting to see how my plants fare on the new stuff. Will do a side by side shortly.

GN

AH ok, because I read froma couple sources AB didn't provide enough N, so been whacking some of that in there.

Wicked anyway. Appreciated.

Is the Canna Boost Accelerator worth the money then? At £200 for 5 litres I would expect so?

I was planning on using pk13/14 in flowering but saw in another thread this feeding schedule for canna which also recommends Canna Boost -

Click to view attachment (thanks to op)

I dont want to spend that type of money if it does effect the plants that much

Cheers

great thread bud

looks like a thread that should remain pinned at the top to me ???

got a dripper on the go at the moment but once its finished ill be switching back to coco to gain some headroom...

be watching this thread was interest thats for sure !!!

peppi

hi peeps this is my first grow in coco n its soo good, used to use clay pebbles n the difference is amazing, i dont mix it or use clay pebbles either. i bought a new type from growell called galuka coco and you dont need to mix or use clay pebbles as the drainage is the same as pebbles. excellent stuff wel recommended

i was actually being deadly serious, b n q compost is just as good as coco, fill one pot with compo and run it along side the coco, save you a few quid in the long run

canna boost is over rated and over priced if ya ask me
pk 13/14 is much better

Niceone Peppi

Tell me tho,will you be using your drippers & coco? Im quite interested in this method as pulling plants out a tent to feed can be a pain in the arse at times & its gonna get worse soon as they will need support. Whats the script with theses drippers then? could I have a small res outside my tent? Any info would be appreciated bud.

p&q

Cheers NMW I was also recommended PK13/14 so that is definately on my shopping list.

Being a newbie to coco I was advised Coco A and B as the main feed but a quick search on here Owd says to use "Growers Ark Coco grow/bloom , Growers Ark root-stim and Growers Ark boost it (pk boost)"

Is there rough nutrient schedule to follow using these nutes like the one for A & B?

Also, I have had a quick look on a few hydro shops I order from but cannot locate the growers ark feed anywhere. Do greens horticulture stock it?

Sorry for all of the questions, Im just trying to learn as much as I can incase I encuonter any problems. I have only ever grown in soil so dont want to cut corners etc now I am using coco. All is looking ok mind but if there is a better feed to use I will happily change over

Last question for now I promise

Do we water the same "wet-dry" cycle as soil? I have been watering about every 2 days in Coco.

Google growers ark fella youll find it no problem , was going to try it myself but opted for the hesi range because Im new to it also pluss they have a handy grow schedule which Im following and alls well so far.

Greens dont stalk it either.

As for the wet/dry cycle thats a no always keep your coco moist & dont let it dry out,every 2 days works for me & Im 4 weeks into 12/12 in 6.5 litre pots,some people water daily & rekon they have better results,but as I said this is my first attempt in coco so cant say otherwise.

p&q

the dripper ive got now is dead simple ,tubing splitters and a pump the medium is clay pellets

tbh mate gonna go back to handwatering mainly to gain some headroom back and i find it easier to just mix the nutes and water them rather than messing about with a rez

i also soon intend on doing one large plant topped and trained in coco that should be interesting to see

peppi

Cheers buddy..souds good/easy enough maybe something to think about in the future for me. Its just a pain getting into watering plants in a tent that got me wondering about drippers,being a big lump I sometimes struggle when wattering & dont like to bring the plants out of their enviroment.

Goodluck mate with your coco adventure!

p&q

Nice one P&Q, really appreciated bud. I will stick to how I am watering then I did a google search and clicked the 1st couple of links. Oh well, yet another different hydro shop to order from . A shame greens dont stock it if it performs so well. I saw the hesi range, does this perform better than the A & B then?

Still hoping Owd will see this thread and give us a feeding schedule for growers ark nutes

Couldn,t tell you what performs best mate as this is my first attempt with the hesi range,what I can say tho is Ive not had to pull off any leaves yet and at 4 weeks flower thats a first for me in 5 years of growing

So either the hesi is good or Im getting better at growing or maybe a combination of both..all good tho.

Maybe greens will stock it in the near future I know what you meen about ordering else were I did call them reguarding the growers ark and they just seemed to want to puch more stuff myway.

Have a look thro Owderbs diarys he tells you how much grow/bloom/root stim/boost he uses.

p&q

My friend has that problem but came up with a genius and very simple idea.

Cut up a water hose into correct lengths. Tape each section to a different plant pot and putting the other end of each hose where you can access (front of tent or something) . Label your pots 1-10 and then each hose 1-10 (or however many plants you have or cannot reach) and then when it comes to watering, use a 1 litre jug and poor your water down each hose section.

Obviously have a slight decline when watering so the water goes into the pot but it is a cheap solution to your problem. My friend has set his up so the hoses are at the front of his grow room attached to a beam so all he has to do is open the door and poor water down each hose section. The bad part to this though is, as you know from my other thread, my friends plants have thrips and I am sure if he physically had to water them he would have spotted them earlier Still, a good solution to accessability problems!

Hope this makes sense mate

e2a - cheers mate, I had a quick scan through Owds threads but there is a wealth of information in there and at the time I didnt have much time. I will re-visit there later today and steal his schedule

Sounds interesting mate.....but

How does he deal with the runoff if theres any? At the mo when we water theres only a slight run off in some and we need to get to that saucer to empty it? as I dont want them sitting in the solution.

I was thinking about having no runoff then someone said you need a small runoff and this stops any salts from building up in the roots like a little flush kinda every watering?

Still learning tho so I guess errors will be made along the way.

p&q

Funny you should ask that One of his plants was sat in a saucer of water at one point due to overwatering and yeah it didnt do it much good!

I wasnt aware of watering until there is run off in coco until yesterday when I read it so yeah true, that is going to be hard to water until run off doing this . My friend watered little amounts everday last grow and didnt water until run off which I guess is why it worked ok.

Ah well, just a thought!

It does sound an ar*e after watering each plant having to go round and empty the run off everytime? Do people do this?

Dont worry about it mate its all good for us new ones to learn..Ill hold my hands up here and admit we have 10 big plants that get watered every 2 days with their feed at 1400ml per plant..and theres no runoff!! But they are big/healthey looking great and dont droop or show signs of anything bad,maybe something bads occuring in the pots tho that I cant see..if thats the case Ive learned next time water till theres a small runoff.

Then theres the 3 other plants we call the small ones,due to a oscalating fan falling on them when they were young Now these are basically the same as the others but only take around a litre of water every 2 days and have a little runoff in their saucers,but these are at the front of the tent and easy to empty after half an hour

Lazy stoners indeed..but for the time being..its working!

p&q

Nice thread peace&quiet i'm in.

I'm only on my second go with coco, watering from the bottom this time around.

Gotta love those coconuts.

I have gone through Owd's Smellyberry diary and WOW, great work Owd. They turned out amazing, time for me to change feeds I think.

Here is what I pieced together from his diary but unfortunately he didnt give any information about the vegging stage.

Always ph to 6 unless stated

1 Week Into Flower - Growers Ark Bloom Nutes of about 3ml per litre taking EC to 1.4 and 0.5ml Growers Ark Rootstim per litre of water
3 Weeks Into Flower - Stop Using Rootstim and Start Using PK/Boost at 1ml per litre of water (I am guessing keeeping the bloom nutes the same as week 1)
4 Weeks Into Flower - Up PK/Boost to 1.5ml per litre (adding GA bloom to take ec to 1.6)
5 Weeks Into Flower - Up PK Boost to 2ml per litre (adding bloom to take ec to 1.8)
6 Weeks Into Flower - (2 weeks from the end) Stop PK/Boost - EC dropped to 1.5 with bloom nutes
7 Week - Into Flower - EC to 1.2 using 50% GA grow and bloom nutes - no ph down

I will PM him and ask him about the vegging nutes

Guys and gals,

There is no 100% recipe for mixing coco nutes - owd's schedule was for his nutes, his water, his environment and his plants. It's a great starting point, especially if you're growing the same strain, but ultimately you'll get the best results from dialling in your own plants. You really can't follow someone else's feed schedule blindly - you've gotta listen to the plants as they'll tell you what they need via their leaves and general health.

Generally most people veg @ EC 1.5 and flower @ EC 1.8, but obviously some strains are hungrier than others...and it also depends on what your base tap water hardness/softness is (more crap in your water = less nutes to the plant).

As for run off, it is SO important to water to run off and not treat coco like soil. Treat coco like clay, or any other hydro medium. Some people do the wet-dry cycle in pots, but if you were in drippers you wouldn't do a dry cycle, so why bother in pots??! I get better results with frequent daily feeding than I do with every other day. The downside is handwatering to waste can get expensive, so I've switched from Canna to B'Cuzz and the nutes are cheaper and go a lot further, which means I can afford to water more frequently (rather than pour expensive Boost and Rhizo waste over my garden plants and lawn!). I'll post results when I have them, but it's too early to tell.

I also can't stress the use of Canna UK's Grow Calculator for Canna users because it's an absolutely awesome starting point and you can't go wrong with it (i.e. they don't tell you to roast your plants like many others do). PlantMagic would do really well to do something similar but until they do I have been planning to do the EC work and post it here to save others the effort.

GN

crap mate! used it on 4 previous grows
using hammerhead instead of boost & pk13/14 on this grow at a fraction of the price

wot a big difference in favour of the hammerhead over the canna.

i wont use canna again mate,

just my 2p

All i use in veg is the A+B grow with an ec of around 1.2 with a ph of 6.0. I also add rootstim too but thats it, nothing else

My young ones are fed with GA First Feed which I use at full strength as per bottle instructions

Owd

Minority - I have been getting awesome results using Boost and a PK (Hammerhead, but I used to use PK13/14). If you are going to use Boost, you really ought to use a PK with it otherwise you're not getting full benefit from the Boost....i.e. spending big money on a fancy booster but not getting optimal results.

The Boost is claimed to increase photosynthesis and basically charge up the engine of your plant, but it needs the fuel to produce results - and the PK is the additional fuel for bud development (according to Canna). Gotta have the PK to see the additional benefits.

If you're only going to use one, use the PK imo. Not only cheaper, but more effective than Boost alone imo.

GN

Great information thanks all.

Cheers to Owderb aswell for posting what you used in veg nice one mate

GreenNinja - I kinda gathered from all of my reading that feeding etc was strain specific and it was a case of getting to know the plants (mores the pity ). Also I honestly didnt realise how important watering until run off is, I must do some more reading on this. How much run off are we talking? Until it just comes through or quite abit?

b.t.w - Is it ok for me to swap straight from canna a & B to growers ark?

Thanks again all, I cam see this thread becoming a hive of information

The rule of thumb is 10% of the pot size, but the principle is to flush the nutrient through the coco and roots. This does two things - firstly it ensures there's no salt residue around the roots as the nutes are absorbed, and secondly it helps to draw air down into the roots.

I prefer to pull my plants out of the tent and put them on a bucket with a grate on it, and then pour on the nute mix in a litre jug so that it floods down. I stop when it starts to come out of the drainage holes - don't overdo it otherwise you're wasting nutes, just until 10% run off or so.

Pot size is also another big factor here. I tend to use 3.5l pots for flowering and they need feeding daily, but also are much more manageable and easy to pull out of a tent. 11l pots are much harder to haul out, or less convenient, so I water to 10% runoff on the saucer. I know it's not ideal but hey, that's life. I'm going back to growing exclusively in 3.5 and 6.5l pots though, the 11l pots have been a test and ime they don't provide sufficiently big returns to warrant the nute use or inconvenience.

GN

Fantastic mate cheers. I currently have my plants in 14l pots but I wont bother with my White Rhino seeds that are coming through then. You learn something new everyday! I honestly thought the size of the pot would still make a difference what with them getting root bound or something. I guess not.

Its not easy this going from soil to coco

Thanks again for the info mate, really appreciated

That's just my experiences - yours may vary...but I had a long discussion with a friend about this, but he has been a soil grower up until a year ago. He reckoned an 11l pot practically takes up the same space as a 6.5l pot, especially when you consider the plant extends beyond the perimeter of the pot, so bigger pot = more soil = more roots = more buds. So I went to 11l pots.

However, in coco everything changes. It isn't soil. The roots develop better in coco than they do in soil and the medium is much more efficient. You can grow much bigger plants in coco in smaller pots than you can in soil (ime, but I think it holds true). When my lights come on later I'll take a photo to show you a Santa Maria plant in a 3.5 l pot and you'll be impressed at how big it is in such a relatively small pot (due to daily watering and the coco effect).

Soooo...I now think that there is a point in coco at which there is a diminishing return...i.e. the optimal pot size is probably around the 3.5-6.5l mark, depending on how you grow and what you grow, and how you feed. I really feel it is more about frequency of feed than pot size.

Here's some rootpr0n for a Santa Maria I chopped last night in an 11 pot. The roots aren't heavily matted or particularly rootbound and I think it shows that the pot size could have been too big. I've no real idea, that's just my feeling. Wait til you see the 3.5l Santa Maria photo tonight and you'll see what I mean

GN

i dont think that watering till run off is essential guys, as long as you are keeping the coco damp. Look at peeps who feed from the bottom, they cant water till run off, and just feed from the top when the top is dry

Totally agree, one word autopots.

Niceone Yan...Welcome aboard mate!

How you finding watering from the bottom? I had a wee go at it at the begining of this grow but bottled out of it,cant explain why tho they certainly supped it up ok! It just never felt right with me,maybe because I watered compo from the top I dont know..

Would like to here some more from bottom feeders who dont have any runoff,I can see why you would water from the top and get a runoff..so would wattering from the top with no runn off be the same as watering from the bottom with no runnoff?

Keep the opinions coming lads..

p&q

Thats a nice root mass GN

Looking forward to seeing the 6.5l pots pics, should be a good comparison there!

P&Q, I know what you mean about watering from the bottom. It just doesnt seem right for some reason

If the chilli plant I had this summer is anything to go by they should love getting it from the bottom! That was in coco getting fed the run off from the MJ in a saucer and is the best i've grown yet.

Back to the good stuff...

When they were in their 1L pots they were sucking it up like nobody's business, it's nice and easy for me too which is always a bonus. They've only been in the bigger pots (straight to 6.5) for a few days so i'm watering top down at the moment, will let you know how it goes once the roots reach the bottom and I start going bottom up again.

My favourite thing about coco is that it doesn't matter how much mess I make with it. The carpet friendly growing medium.

...oh and the speed of root growth obviously

Hi All,

I am just staring my first grow with coco, well actually my first grow ever. So here are a few questions i am hoping some of you more experience guys maybe able to help me with:

1) When should i first starting giving my pants the nutes? Straight away? When proper leaves appear? Worried my seedlings have no nutrition to grow...?
2) I have read different opinions regarding watering (water until runoff or not). From my reading i thought you had to do the wet/dry cycle so that you dont drown the plants? Is this not possible with coco?
3) Also what is the best dist for the lights to be with seedlings? I have a twin 55w flourescent and did have it approx 22" above the pots. Through reeding other posts i have now moved it to about 8" above the pots, is this ok?

Also any other important thing to consider with seedlings and coco you may be able to advise.

Thats all for now, hopefully i will hear from some of you pros soon.


Thanks

Oooooooo Weeman. I would'nt give my pants nutes at anytime man. You'll wake up in the mornin with 10 foot wide Y-fronts or something.