Coco Thread!

[Guest peace&quiet]

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

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

[namaste666]

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?

Edited October 25, 2009 by namaste666

[Guest peace&quiet]

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

[yan]

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.

[namaste666]

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

Edited October 25, 2009 by namaste666

[GreenNinja]

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

[Guest minority]

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 -

(thanks to op)

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

Cheers

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

[Owderb]

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

[GreenNinja]

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

[namaste666]

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

Edited October 25, 2009 by namaste666

[GreenNinja]

How much run off are we talking? Until it just comes through or quite abit?

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

[namaste666]

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

Edited October 25, 2009 by Owderb

[GreenNinja]

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

[Guest Poacher]

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

Edited October 25, 2009 by Poacher

[wappagrower]

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.