Lapplandish making it happen in coco and stuff

Hello there fellow ICMaggers!

I've been growing in soil before and just wanted to try something new for now. I read this forum a lot and find out that coco is an interesting option. So I decided to go for it. I'm hand watering.

And now let me introduce my growing space. It's a small and very dry closet. Inside that closet there is a DarkRoom 60 which is very well ventilated. My lightning would be 120W-Led light, but I have 250W mh/hps set if that Led doesn't seem to work out well.

I decided to use GHE flora series nutrients, pH-down and epsom salt in this go. And if I need something more, I buy it. I thought that pH would be good between 5,8 to 6,0. Now I'm running 400 ppm. I think I go with GHE schedule. But if someone could give me a good advice about what ppm should be, let me know!

My strain in this run is going to be Big Bud because I love to take some good day time smoke during summer. And I think that is also good for partying. I go with Sensi feminized version.

The big one was planted two weeks earlier than those other four. Big one is also coco mixed with soil approx 50/50. Four others are pure coco only.

Here's my feeding solution specs:

Solution 1:

• 10 liters tap water
• 2 ml grow/micro/bloom
• 10 ml pH-down
• pH 5,8
• 400 ppm

Solution 2:

• 10 liters tap water
• 5 ml grow/micro/bloom
• 10,5 ml pH-down
• pH 5,5
• 600 ppm

Solution 3:

• 10 liters tap water
• 7 ml grow/micro/bloom
• 10,3 ml pH-down
• pH 5,5
• 700 ppm

Solution 4:

• 10 liters tap water
• 15 ml grow, 10 ml micro and 5 ml bloom
• 9,7 ml pH-down
• pH 5,5
• 920 ppm

Solution 5:

• 10 liters tap water
• 5 ml grow, 10 ml micro and 15 ml bloom
• 9,7 ml pH-down
• pH 5,6
• 820 ppm

Solution 6:

• 30 liters tap water
• 40 ml micro and 60 ml bloom
• 9,7 ml pH-down
• pH 5,6
• 670 ppm

So here is some pictures for you!

14.02.2010



Ok. In these pics the bigger plant is just transplanted to 3,5 l pot and those other four are in 1 liter pots to do seedling stage. I run these with 1. nutrient solution for next two weeks.

21.02.2010



Here the big one is starting to grow well and other four are still buiding roots, I think.

28.02.2010



Older plant had some issues last week and it's now recovering after flush. Younger plants are starting to increase their growth. I switched to 2. nutrient solution this day.

07.03.2010



All plants have been transplanted to 6,5 liter pots two days ago and they are doing fine - no signs of stress. This is their final home..

14.03.2010



Plants are doing very well and this is the beginning of last vegging week. Now I'm running solution 3.

21.03.2010



Started flowering today. Switched to 4th solution.

28.03.2010



Nothing much have happened.. switched to 5th solution.

04.04.2010



First flowers have shown up. One hermie found. Switced to 250W HPS and to 6/9..

11.04.2010



Three weeks of flowering behind and all looks good. Plants are way happier with lower ppm solution.

18.04.2010



Four weeks flowering period behind and plants showed sex three weeks ago. They don't strecth that much anymore and they are starting to build up some mass.

TAG... YOU'RE IT!!

call me crazy but that looks like hydroton clay pebbles......

not coco......

generalgrievous said:

call me crazy but that looks like hydroton clay pebbles......

not coco......

Click to expand...

you're crazy!

I'm betting it's coco & he just dressed the top with hydroton. I'd probably do the same if I had some around, looks pretty!

it helps keep the gnats at bay also imho.

WOW.. I never thought that handful of clay pebbles would cause any discuss here..

Well there are coco under those pebbles just like mayorofthdesert said.. and those pebbles are there to even the moisture in coco and to reduce evaporation.. and also because they keep the gnats away just like whadeezlrg thought..

make it happen lapp, im watching

cheers m8

Lapplandish said:

WOW.. I never thought that handful of clay pebbles would cause any discuss here..

Well there are coco under those pebbles just like mayorofthdesert said.. and those pebbles are there to even the moisture in coco and to reduce evaporation.. and also because they keep the gnats away just like whadeezlrg thought..

Click to expand...

Will perlite work the same way.....?

generalgrievous said:

Will perlite work the same way.....?

Click to expand...

I don't know, I haven't tried. But it's possible that it works the same way because I think the principle is basically the same with both.. if someone knows better, educate us!

your large seedling is perfect.... looks very happy..all of them do.
i like the clay pebble top dressing thing... on top of the benefits listed.. it sure does look nice and clean...

..... we're doing the same thing...i'm an old backyard soil grower moving inside with coco...
we also have a very similar lighting theme.... i'm vegging under CFL's... early flower under 180W LED and moving in a 250W hps with the LED for late flower....my veg box is 2.25 sq. ft. and my flower area is 6.

my first attempt was absolute failure to toxic salt build up death... but i've come along ways thanks to the hand watering coco thread.

my second is in it's fourth week of flower and kickin' ass... this old soil grower really likes coco...

my third is in it's first week and you can check it out ...HERE... good luck and hope to see ya roll through...

Jeejee Lapplandish mon!

Which led you got ??

generalgrievous said:

your large seedling is perfect.... looks very happy..all of them do.

Click to expand...

Thanks man!

..there have been something wrong with that large plant this week.. I don't know what, but it doesn't look too happy to me.. I think I might have overwatered it because leaves dangle and the growth is slow, but other than that there are not any signs of anything else wrong.. I think that one is going to be ok soon.. And for the overwatering I think because coco makes the whole soil really wet.. Well.. we'll see about that..

But anyhow, younger plants however look absolutely great!

nukkumatti said:

Jeejee Lapplandish mon!

Which led you got ??

Click to expand...

..the one wich a person sales in chilifoorumi.. you can find it from there..

Well there.. I decided to try to find out if nutrients are running out from that larger plant and watered it with 400ppm solution until enough run-off.. then I found out that my plants EC is actually 3,77 ms/cm and ppm is 2400 which is quite high even for Big Buds I think..

So my question is do I need to flush the soil with that 400ppm solution to get rid off the salts..? And is that run-off accurate? The plant is in mixed soil / coco solution 50/50..

What should I do or should I just wait and see?

Here's few pics..

Lapplandish said:

is that run-off accurate?

Click to expand...

I'm also curious about that. I'm 5 days into flushing (pure R/O) & was pretty surprised on the first day when my runoff measured around 2400ppm. It's now down to about 1700. I wonder how much of this is disolved bits of coco or something other than nutes? I use 50/50 coco/perlite & I do rinse the coco well before use but the bricks I get (forget brand) have LOTS of fine coco dust once they're broken down. I know I don't get all of the super fine stuff out. I've been using autopots (i think you're also using autopots, right?) that water from the bottom with zero waste. Because of that I assume I'm getting more build-up than someone who hand waters with run off. I'm thinking it might be a good idea for me to flush periodically throughout the grow.


As far as overwatering - if it weren't for the soil in your mix, some people would say it's impossible to overwater coco/perlite if you hand water from the top and let the runoff go to waste. Every watering introduces new oxygen into the mix which this particular media is able to hold and keep available to the roots. Have you read the "Head Goes Coco" thread? It's packed full of great info on growing in coco:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55683

I'm also curious about whether to flush with pure R/O, a flushing agent, or a weak nute solution. So far it's been pure R/O for me but I've recently found that some people (Jorge Cervantes for instance) say a weak nute solution pulls more out

mayorofthdesert said:

I've been using autopots (i think you're also using autopots, right?) that water from the bottom with zero waste. Because of that I assume I'm getting more build-up than someone who hand waters with run off.

Have you read the "Head Goes Coco" thread? It's packed full of great info on growing in coco:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55683

I'm also curious about whether to flush with pure R/O, a flushing agent, or a weak nute solution. So far it's been pure R/O for me but I've recently found that some people (Jorge Cervantes for instance) say a weak nute solution pulls more out

Click to expand...

I'm hand watering with approx. 20% run off, so I think there shouldn't be salt building up - instead of that there can be bad soil.. I think.. and with watering so much, the soil isn't working properly..

I have read it a bit - read more that hand watering thread.. I think I should read that well also..

Yeah.. Flushing should allways be done with weak nutrient solution because R/O water doesn't bound salts allmost at all..

I lost my nerves and just flushed that plant with 6 liters of 400ppm 6,2 pH solution.. Now all I can do is wait and see if that plant comes out winner.. that's not easy, but since those little babys are doing fine, there's nothing too much to worry about..

Lapplandish said:

Yeah.. Flushing should allways be done with weak nutrient solution because R/O water doesn't bound salts allmost at all..

Click to expand...

I had no idea……. Been flushing with strait R/O.....

how weak of a solution are we talking for flushing?

generalgrievous said:

I had no idea……. Been flushing with strait R/O.....

how weak of a solution are we talking for flushing?

Click to expand...

I still have to say that this is my first time coco grow, so things might be a bit different from what I'm saying.. but what I've read refers to that.. So I think I'm correct here.. I wish some more experienced grower could confirm that..

Also it's not absolute disaster to flush with R/O water, not at all, but it's not as effective as with weak solution.. and, in addition to that when you flush your medium very precisely there shouldn't be a problem with running out of nutes if you go with weak solution - that might happen with R/O water if you are careless..

My solution is 400ppm.. it is a solution for seedlings in early stage and it should do its job just fine.. ..But here you have to see that this is the only solution I have flushed with, so there can be many many more solution depending on the grower..


I think I could give the amounts in that solution:

gro / mic / blo
2 / 2 / 2
pH-down
10

ml per 10 liters tap water

after that

pH 5,8 (for now on I think I'll go with 5,5)
400ppm

Weekly update!

Weekly update!

First I have to say.. congratulations Man Utd!!!!


My bigger plant is recovering nicely after flush.. leaves were bit hard before flush, but now they are getting softer like they should be. So I think the flush took care of the problem.

Small plants are now starting to build up some new leaves fast, so I switched to my 2. nutrient solution which is 1200ppm 5,5pH. Leaves were light green this morning but after new nutrient solution they are getting darker green. I just hope this isn't too heavy solution, but people tend to say that Big Bud yields as much as you give nutrients to it.. I think next week I'm going to go to 6,5 liter pots..

And here's some pics for you all!

Time to transplant them!

Time to transplant them!

I decided that it was time to transplant my little girls.. Now they are in 6,5 liter pots, and those will be their final homes.. Bigger one was a bit thirsty looking and it took a lot of water.. I think they will be vegging till next weekend and start flowering period after that..