Stikkys NEW coco prepping method - PLEASE TRY THIS!

Hi guy's n gals.

Ya know, for the past few months i've started over 50 seeds in coco just to see them start off ok for the first few days then see them go to shit. It was like the coco was sucking all the goodness straight out the plant. The stem would shrink in size to a pathetic spindly thing and turn a reddish/purply colour, the cotlydons were turning yellow, and the first set of true leaves (single blades) were "iffy" to say the least. Growth would stop and i'd be left thinking "wtf!"...again
I'd even had clones which were rooted in RW and doing great developing roots and growing in a d,w,c,,, only to see it stop as soon i placed the RW in coco. I'd give them nutes straight away (1/2 strength Canna a+b) but it would take a good week or two to see any development. Even with the seeds i was putting them on nutes 2 to 3 days into veg but i wouldn't really see growth start until week 3 of veg ~ and by then it was too late for some of the plants.
If it wasn't for my first coco grows going so well i would have given up altogether and gone back to N.F.T. ~ the only thing stopping me at the moment is high temperatures and the risk of root rot etc.
Why all these plants were turning to shit for a while was, to be blunt, doing my fuckin head in and niggling the hell out of me. However, i was determined to get to the bottom of it. It was obvious to me its a nute type problem,,,but why? how? what? ~ i'm following all the "rules",,,,this shouldn't be happening.

So i thought, fuck this, lets try pre-ferting the coco! Lets take the coco prepping flush one step further and add nutes before a seed gets anywhere near it.

I had a litre of water, added 1 ml rhizo, 1ml cannazym, and canna a+b to a ppm of approx 500. The coco i was going to use i left to soak over night in this solution. The following day (when the seeds were ready to go in) i squeezed all the excess water from the coco and planted the seeds as normal,,,,,, then watered with a mix using the same quantities of cannazym, rhizo and nutes as above. (note : seeds germed but still not out of shell at this point )
Two day later (seeds out of shells - day 1 of veg) i watered again (same ratios as above)
Two days after that,,,, watered again,,,,same ratios.
A further two days later (yesterday as it happens) i upped the nutes to 840ppm.

All i can say is the results have been amazing.
These plants are on day 6 of veg today.(i count day 1 from whem the first true leaves are approx 7mm long - very small)
11 days ago they were still in their packet in the fridge.
I've convinced myself this IS the way to start seeds off in coco,,,,,it would be great if some others of you would try this and report back

stikky I had some problems when I first started with coco like you are describing. I think that adding some nutes to the coco is a good idea...but I would probably not use as high of number as you...feeding plants that are not even 10 days old over 800 ppms would scare the shit out of me.

If you reuse the coco this is probably a great idea too. Get the levels back to where they need to be.

im a reuser, first few times worked well. i got lazy and started flushing tll the water ran clear, THATS NOT HOW TO DO IT. lol check the ppms goin in and the ppms comin out when flushing to get the numbers right. now i always flush the coco really well and then fully submerge into a soupy mixture the coco and 1/2 strength nutes with pH'ed water for a while. after checkin the ppms again to see that everything is straight, i drain the coco and pot my clones or seeds into the nuted coco and they literally take off!

SOY.ALTO: I know what you're saying about the nute levels with seedlings ,,,( there's no way i'd be doing that in soil or hydro ) but with coco it definately seems to work

The Dopest : 1/2 strength nutes? So thats probably about the same ppm levels as im using,,,yeah?
I know if i mix my Canna a+b at 1/2 strength its comes out @ EC 1.2 ,,,or 840ppm ~ give or take a little depending on my tap water ( which is usually ph 6.8 and 0 - 70ppm)

It makes sense. If I remember correctly...coco absorbs the nutes, and releases as needed(unless of course you way overfeed, and the coco can't hold anymore). Which goes back to the theory...feed the medium...not the plant.

Cheers,
SH

Yep. Seems like coco's not a good starter unless prepped with some goodies for the seedlings.
British Hempire snuffed his seedlings in the same way as he went coco.

I saturate the coco with a lower than recommened dose of Plagron's Roots (my preferred root booster, esentially humus) and organic nutrients (Biobizz Fish Mix), and I never had any whatoever problem. The seedlings grow and develop as quickly as in quality soil (light-mix or all-mix).
I prefer organic as a starter, and then swich to salt-based nutrients when the plant is a bit bigger.

Stikky, giving up NFT is sacrilege. Repent (lol)!

"Stikky, giving up NFT is sacrilege. Repent (lol)!"

Dont i know it
Its only a matter of time. I need to invest in some new seeds and get a good mother plant going,,,,,,,and then somewhere down the line an A/C unit

I belive that fluffing coir needs nutes too. Next time I fluff Ill use more cal mag and higher amount of FNb. Though I havnt started seeds in the stuff as this make me paranoid.

I had the same experience!

I had the same experience!

I had 8 Sugar Blossom F2's from Joey Weed that slowly fell 1 at a time. Now I am watering with a mild nutrient solution with a root stimulator and hygrozyme and they are coming back (well 3 are going to make it). I wish I had seen this post a week earlier! Anyway, now it is here for others.
Vik