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My 1st Go w/ Coco Ebb & Flo

Coco Ebb & Flow
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Enough Lurking - time to post ~ I recently stumbled across this site after being introduced to Coco by a close friend. This forum & specifically this category has been a great help along with advice of some close friends. I am by no means a pro & have learned tons from this forum already so I wanted to share my experiances & learn from others along the way.

Background:
I recently got into the grow scene myself about 2 years back. I have read some books over the years but IMO word of mouth / experience is the best advise any grower can have. One of my best bro's has been in the scene for 5/6 years now & continues to astound me with the quality & quantity of his crops - I guess you would call him my mentor.

I followed my partners setup & was originally running 4x4 cubes on top of 3 foot slabs & stuffing about 36 plant per tray, a little tight but worked out OK & ended up with about a 1LB dry weight of goods. A general rule of thumb I like to follow is 1# per 1000 watts. ( He however is pulling in the 1.5 - 2.0 range ). This is his second grow in Coco & the one who recommended I move to it ASAP.

I started this thread to let people know that Ebb & Flow works with Coco. What my bro's have done works & I am simply following his lead. I am running virtually the SAME exact routine & chemicals as I did with Rockwood ( as is my mentor ) & the only thing changing appears to be the quality / yield of the overall grow. I can say my stocks are WAY bigger than they have ever been in rock wool, ( still in Veg & many are bigger than cutting time on my last crop).

I took his advice & just setup my first grow with Coco. I started with about 40 clones from my bros Granddaddy Purple Mother & placed them in the Hydro dome. We placed a heating pad under the dome & the flouro's right on top of it. In about 10 days most all of them had some healthy amount of roots poking out the bottom.

Coming from cubes I made a lil bit more of a mess with the transplanting & Coco setup. It was however very easy & overall I spent less on supplies than with Rock wool. I am 2 weeks into my Veg stage & the roots are poking through in force into the coco mat. Things are looking good & I plan to move them into bloom & the end of next week. OK, enough BS'n here's the details.

*btw both of my local shops were out of 8" pots so you will notice some 6" lurking, most I have plastic underneath to prevent them from penetrating as I
stealing / transplanting them & turing them to my moms.


SETUP & SUPPLIES:
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ROOM = 9 x 8 feet
LIGHT = SS 1000 HPS & mover
TRAY = 4 x 8 feet
4x8 Coco Matt
8" Coco pots
2 Bags BCUZZ Coco
30 Granddaddy Purps
6" Inline fan in
8" Inline + Charcol Out



WATERING & NUTES:
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60 GAL RES
GH F-Gro
GH F-Micro
GH F-Bloom
* Cal Mag
* Super Thrive
PH 6.0 avg
FLOOD = 2X a day @ 15 mins.



General View:



Tray / Room


Another Tray / Room


Tray / Room


Tray / Room



I will keep everyone posted on any new developments but wanted to share this setup with others who have been thinking about it... I need to make a trip to the local hydro store this afternoon but will keep everyone posted on the grow / room / progression. :woohoo:
 
G

Guest

I guess since ya beat me to it, I guess I will be following in your footsteps from now on :joint: Awesome setup homeboy... cannot wait to see those babies bloomin' :woohoo:

Quick question.. whats your feeding regime with the 3 part?
 
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-VT-

Voluptuous Trichomes
Veteran
Awesome....been wanting to try coco pots in flood/drain....gonna tag, lurk, and learn....
How far up the pot does the flood rise?
Thanks for the show....and good luck with the grow.
:lurk:
peace
 
Thanks All,


IS - I just follow the bottles directions, maybe a lil less than what they recomend & so far so good for me. So in the V I run 3-Gro/2-Mic/1-Blm per gallon of water, maybe a tad less.

VT - For most of the first 2 weeks, I had the light stationary & watered them by hand, also hitting them about 2x a day. Once the roots started bustin through I then spread em out on the mat. The water comes up about 2/3"'s on the pot & seems to be working great. My mentor is in his 5th week of flower right now ( w/ simillar setup ) & the roots are plentifull under the mat. He has had no problems with mold, mildew, rot, etc.

WT - Much appreciated.


* I also keep a heater in the room as of late - been a lil chilly stretch in Cali, the room stays at a minimum 60 & warms up to 70 + with the light on.
* I also use Diamond Nectar same qty as Micro; forgot bout that one, ST memory loss ;)


??? I haven't had much if any experiance with trimming other than yellow leaves & underbrush. I am hoping for a better yield in Coco so I am willing to risk experimenting a lil more on some plants ( another benifit of Coco ). I was always to nervous about damaging my crop / yield but with Coco it appears everyone is increasing yield & therofore I feel more willing to experiment a lil.


:dueling:
So from a Joe to you Pro's, any advice on trimming , I am thinking about slicing & dicing some of the 6" pots I have circled below. The ones w/ X's started a week later & are being moved out to another cabinet for mothers.
:dueling:





Thx N Adv.
 

UNREGISTRD

Active member
fucking awesome setup!!! this is exactly what i need to influence me to do the swap as well!!! Im in the same boat as you calikid been rocking the wool for a bit know but I want to do the swap to coco/organic etc..
I still cant figure out how to use coco with ebb/flow cuasae ive seen it make the res really muckky and clog the pumps!! do your res get dirty as soon as u water??
how do u prevent it?? can u give us a breakdown on how u put your pots together?
i see u got a lonely rockwool cube on the tray as well! lol.. i like to see u can intermix still..and how soon do the roots explode into the lower mat? can u take them from tray to tray?? like veg in one tray and pick it up and put in the flower tray?? or will there be roots coming out the coco pot??
 
D

DJ_highst_

lookin pretty sweet bro

I have never seen those coco matts. I like it.

Those GDP's are looking good. I love the big ass fan leaves they seem to produce, it makes them look so healthy and happy.I got one lone GDP left, that I am making a mom. I was wondering how you keep the res clean too. Does the matts just garb all the loose particulate before entering the drain or do have an inline filter in your tubing.

you could make those 6" mothers, but I think you would actually be better off using one of the 8" pots and just leaving the 6" to catch up (trim the lower nodes and keep it less bushy and it will shoot up to ther others) bc it has more room for roots and are more established so that means you can take that many more clones and sooner.

good luck bro. peace-highst
 

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
Hi ColaforniaKid

cool thread, i look forward to following this grow. they are looking real happy in there. where are the slabs you were talking about, or is that another setup? please keep us posted on things like watering schedule, ph and ec. also how high up those pots are you flooding them?
 
D

DJ_highst_

gaiusmarius said:
Hi ColaforniaKid

cool thread, i look forward to following this grow. they are looking real happy in there. where are the slabs you were talking about, or is that another setup? please keep us posted on things like watering schedule, ph and ec. also how high up those pots are you flooding them?


the slabs are under the pots look at near the drain holes, you can see where he cut the matts to make it fit.
 
Morning All,


First off thanks for all the kind words again, I have learned tons from others on here & hopefully we can all continue to share the info.

UnReg - When I first transplanted these from the dome to the tray I was pilling in the coco & setting the plants up & making a lil mess. I was used to rockwoll & made a lil bit more of a mess. After about the 5th pot there was some leftover in the tray / spillage & I began using the floor to pile up the pots. I thought I could "get by" and left it as is. About a week later I noticed the build up in my resovoir & had to pull my kids & tray out as I didn't want to chance it. It has been about a week since I cleaned my tray & layed down my mat & I haven't seen any buildup as of late. I typically flush my resivoir & run fresh water PH'd to 6.0 every couple weeks so I don't see it being an issue. My mentor hasn't had any problems either so I think we should be good to go.

DJ - Thanks for the heads up, I plan on moving those 6" to full 12 " regualr pots for the moms, I think I can just submerge em in the bigger pots & be OK. At least thats my plan, if they fail I have a buddy whos got some major mothers going right now but I agree bigger pots needed for sure. ALSO about :dueling: > just trim the lower shoots & focus on one main stem? Do you trim the smaller fan leaves on the shoots or the bigger main ones ( forgive my ignorance as I am new to the sceene & trimming esp. )

GM- I am not using the slabs anymore, that was the previous setup prior to moving to coco, I should have been more clear - my bad. I have been amazed at the results so far w/ Coco. I PH my water before I flood, usually around 6.0, it usually rises to about 6.6 - 6.8 in a day after a flooding or 2. I have a timer ready to go / setup for the pumps but have it set to OFF at this time & just flooding the tray while watching as of late. I try to flood them 2x a day, for about 15 minutes. The water gets to about 2" on the deeper side & about 1.5" inches on the shallow side. I was nervous about the top roots not getting enough water but the coco on top is very moist to the touch still.


I will take some more pics later in the week, gonna move them to 12/12 & start the flowering / stretch. Untill next time.
 
G

Guest

Nice grow!!! I'll be watching this one. I have not seen the mats before. It there major root growth onder them? What is there purpose? To keep light off them? Thanks.
 
Afternoon,

Mine are poking thorugh the mats now.... I am gonna flip them to 12/12 today & will post more pics later this week & show you the roots & how far the tray fills up with water. On my bro's setup ( very simillar ) he is in week 5 and the roots are just massive through the bottom of the mat. So far So Good.
 

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
cool, now i get it. as i said this is cool, i am deffinetly following along with this grow. most interesting and useful.

peace
 

Playaction

Member
IN AWE!!!

IN AWE!!!

I think I can just submerge em in the bigger pots & be OK. At least thats my plan, if they fail I have a buddy whos got some major mothers going right now but I agree bigger pots needed for sure.

Kid, you will not fail. You have to much love, research, and hard work involved. Keep positive vibes and your plants will show you love as well.

Coco is great. The growth rates are UNREAL. Almost to fast if space is an issue.

I'm really not on a level to give you advice. But I'll share an IDEA on pruning. Not sure how the GDP grows, but you might be able to prune/trim for 1 cola, no side/lower branches. All plants energy will go into the cola. You are about to have a JUNGLE in there Kid. I'll be watching!!
 

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
if you want my opinion, i say don't prune anything, just flower them in time so the buds are all a good size. don't let them get too tall and pruning is not needed, will actually cut your yield, unless you have the plants packed in so they only have space for 1 top.

that's my opinion on pruning. but i know this is a subject that people have many different opinions about, so you can pick the method you want to follow, lol.
 
Hello My Friends,


Sorry for the delay & thanks again for all the warm wishes. Things are looking really good. I continue to be impressed with Coco & appreciate everyones advice - I ended up doing a lil bit of both. Just a lil trim several days back to free up some of the deep underbrush & any yellowing leaves on all of the GDP's. I then worked on select few of the crowded 6" pots that I was talking about prev. & tried to limit them to the main branch & a maybe a couple others - we will see how these couple work out....

I flipped them just the other day & they are starting to stretch & fill out even more of the tray! My first instinct was to run 3-2-3-2-3 across the tray but instead I went with 3-3-3 stagered across the tray. These things are already so bushy & taking off so well I am going to either reduce the # of plants per try next time or pick up some trimming / pruning techniques.

Don't let the pics fool ya, there not as tall as they may look - Id say about 12-16" tall roughly. All Smiles Here, lets get to the goods: :woohoo:



Nutes:



Mother / Clone Cab & inline


Stalk up:


Frontal View:


Side/Top View:




:joint:
 
G

Guest

Thought I may aswell let you know I'm watching this intently. I was too chicken on my last russian grow to run the recirc system. I just drained to waste. It is good to see someone doing it. I may have to get on it next time. Bit more work monitoring things though, hehe I'm slack.
 

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
keep up the good work CaliforniaKid, it's looking real good :yes:

this will be the first ebb and flow setuo documented to the end on this coco forum, so i'm keeping a close watch on your method.

peace out
 
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