Am I too noob for coco?

[blackone]

Well as the title says hehe..
I'm on my 4th indoor grow now - all soil.
My first grow was a couple of plants of a good but unknown outdoor strain in my window. It went ok although the buds were small and not super potent because the light was a little lacking.
Second grow was the same outdoor strain under cfl in a cardboard box. Yield was pretty shitty but I got more than enough bud for myself and quality was ok.
Third grow was AK48 in a closet under cfl. This gave some really nice and potent buds although the yield probably wasn't anywhere near 1g/W - I never did weigh it though.
My fourth and current grow is the one in my signature - Swt#3 under a 600W hps in BioBizz light mix using BioBizz nutes.
My fifth grow will also be soil but after that I'll try either hydro or coco. I've heard some people saying that it's better to gain some hydro experience first before going coco but I'm really attracted to coco since I'm seeing some really great results. I'll probably be going with an automatic drip system since my main objective besides acheiving increased yield an shorter veg time is avoiding handwatering of all of my pots. And since coco needs handwatering every day instead of every second or third day it would only make the problem worse;p

What do you think? Just go for it or try hydro first?

 

[Mr. Nevermind]

I dont think you need to have hydro experience in order to grow with coco but im sure it could help. I never tried hydro before i made the coco switch and it wasnt that bad. I have been growing for close to a decade though all soil.

If you want to make the coco switch i say go for it, But do some reading first . Read the hand watering coco thread, the heads coco thread and maybe a few others, they will help you leaps and bounds. One thing you need to know when you do the switch, dont treat your plants like they are in soil, they aint!. You have to treat them lke they arein hydro. You need to water daily, you also need to lower the amount of food you give em. Since coco sucks up food fast it is easy to burn them using fi=ull strength doses. Best to use half strength of what you did in soil and see how the plants respond.

All peoples problems with coco come down to 2 common mistakes. Not watering daily ( watering every 3 days like its soil) and over feeding ( feeding it like its in soil) . So keep the water coming daily and go light on the food and you should be fine.

I been using coco for about 4 months now and dont even check ec or ppm, its that easy,








nevermind

 

[Guest]

You're never too noob to go coco, lol. I think it's best to start working with coco as a newbie. That way you don't have to try to overcome the urge to treat the coco like soil. No need to practice with hydro before going to coco. It might help but it's not necessary.

Coco isn't something to get anxious about. It's very user friendly and forgiving as long as you keep it simple, in my opinion.

Peace and luck to you.

 

[Guest]

No way your more noob then me homie coco is for everyone!!

 

[Guest]

I just read Mr. Nevermind's post. Lots of folks here have posted information about getting started in coco. Here's a link to my feeble attempt. It's on this site, so no harm.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=74575

Peace

 

[surfingrob]

Don't be afraid of coco, if anyone has had problems with it...- that person is me. I lost a huge harvest on it one time but I still went back to it with very good results. It's a great medium.

 

[blackone]

A lot of replies very fast Must mean that there are a lot of coco growers out there.
The daily watering will not be a problem at all since I'll be using drippers. I've also been reading several coco threads including the ones you mentioned - I probably won't be gaining all of the knowledge in those threads before I get my hands dirty but I'll definitely be reading them again.

Look out for a diary with Mandala's Satori in either slabs or pots with drippers in a month or 2. I'll be building a second closet for those with a 400W lamp, but first I gotta create some mother plants and sex them. The seeds will be sprouted as soon as my order arrives from the doc.

I'll probably be asking a lot of questions when I do get started and the answers might very well be in one of those lengthy threads so please forgive me in advance haha

 

[guest5703]

i started on hydro....went to soil, then went to coco. Coco is where I am staying unless I have multiple rooms then I will have all mediums of course!!!

 

[Ganja Guerilla]

I was always under the impression that coco was for advanced growers also, and that this forum was a place for all of the big brained kids to hang out. But after reading a few grow diaries done in coco and the stickies on it, I've changed that assumption. Well maybe not the big brain part... but the part about noobs and coco... forget that.

GG

 

[Guest]

A lot of replies very fast Must mean that there are a lot of coco growers out there.
The daily watering will not be a problem at all since I'll be using drippers. I've also been reading several coco threads including the ones you mentioned - I probably won't be gaining all of the knowledge in those threads before I get my hands dirty but I'll definitely be reading them again.

Look out for a diary with Mandala's Satori in either slabs or pots with drippers in a month or 2. I'll be building a second closet for those with a 400W lamp, but first I gotta create some mother plants and sex them. The seeds will be sprouted as soon as my order arrives from the doc.

I'll probably be asking a lot of questions when I do get started and the answers might very well be in one of those lengthy threads so please forgive me in advance haha

Nice move on the Satori. I've got those beans and will be tagging along in the thread, if you've got room somewhere down close to the front row, lol.

Go ahead and start the grow when you get your gear together. It's ok to do a "paint by numbers" grow. Get your materials ready to pop the seeds and go ahead and do it. The 2-3 weeks your babies are in the nursery, you can make sure your drip system is in working order. You've popped seeds before and you know that the nursery time is pretty boring. Light close but not too close, just plain water and no nutes... that sort of stuff. Get acquainted with each part of the grow as you're doing it. Like I said in another post, this is a sail boat and not a jet. In other words, ain't nothin gonna happen fast, dude.

Growing should be exciting shit, just in a "swingin in a hammock" sort of way!!!

Peace

 

[blackone]

Well I won't be going coco from seed. I need to grow some mothers and sex them first so it'll probably be a couple of months before I can get enough female clones. I hope to receive the seeds tomorrow.

 

[zoolander]

wow i thought coco was just another way to growi went from organic soil to coco no reading just did it canna coco and nutes went 50% on nutes all is fine harvest in two weeks thank god for luck and about 30 soil grows oh and nice thread and mojo that was a great read ZOO

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

If you want to make the coco switch i say go for it, But do some reading first . Read the hand watering coco thread, the heads coco thread and maybe a few others, they will help you leaps and bounds. One thing you need to know when you do the switch, dont treat your plants like they are in soil, they aint!. You have to treat them lke they arein hydro. You need to water daily, you also need to lower the amount of food you give em. Since coco sucks up food fast it is easy to burn them using fiull strength doses. Best to use half strength of what you did in soil and see how the plants respond.

All peoples problems with coco come down to 2 common mistakes. Not watering daily ( watering every 3 days like its soil) and over feeding ( feeding it like its in soil) . So keep the water coming daily and go light on the food and you should be fine.

COCO needs feeding, soil does not. How, therefore, can you "overfeed like it is in soil" ?


COCO is an ideal numpties way to go Hydro, it is somehow more forgiving than any other Hydroponic method. NFT Yields more, quicker, but is a knife edge, here in Spain, with very high pH water available, it is the only way to go.

[COCO is low Ph, it works very well with Ph 8/9 water]

I have yet to use FERRO's tailored nutrients for my water, but will in 08

 

[texasluv]

COCO needs feeding, soil does not. How, therefore, can you "overfeed like it is in soil" ?

I think you misunderstood what was being said. I believe the point he was trying to make is when you feed soil/soiless mixes its usually 1 or 2 nute applications a week, so the EC tends to be a bit higher. Since hydro mediums are usually watered at least once a day, the EC of the nute mix is lower since the plants are always getting fed, as opposed to feeding 1 or 2 times a week.

 

[HYDROJUNKIE]

Of all the systems ive used,.. growing in coco is boring as hell!
it just doesnt get any easier...
just remember to never let it dry up and flush with ph'd water every week or two and you should be good.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

I think you misunderstood what was being said. I believe the point he was trying to make is when you feed soil/soiless mixes its usually 1 or 2 nute applications a week, so the EC tends to be a bit higher. Since hydro mediums are usually watered at least once a day, the EC of the nute mix is lower since the plants are always getting fed, as opposed to feeding 1 or 2 times a week.

Interesting, not sure why, but as a virtually 100% Hydro person I had not realised some soil feeds would be as high, or higher, EC than Hydro

Of all the systems ive used,.. growing in coco is boring as hell!
it just doesnt get any easier...
just remember to never let it dry up and flush with ph'd water every week or two and you should be good.

LOL, you are so right about the "Easy"

I have never flushed COCO...........from my NFT experience I always try to keep the EC smooth and as constant as possible....something about "Osmotic pressure" springs to mind too, they do not like yo-yoing EC levels. Real Farmers who struggle to make a living growing Tomatoes/Cucumbers in a market with tight overheads/margins spend a lot of money on big machines that constantly monitor this.

If you are worried about nutrient buildup, you can test your COCO, I have a nice CANNA DVD that shows you just how to take samples and interpret them, maybe someone has put this up on youtube already, or maybe I should pull me finger out and do it ?

 

[gdawg]

i would almost say that noobs should grow in coco first before they try the soil(dirt). but then they would never switch

 

[gdawg]

blackone hows that sweettooth comin?

 

[Berry_Coughin']

blackone

I am a newbie to coco......

It helps to know how to check ph and tds and such so any hydro experience is a plus but not necessary in my opinion....

Like it's been said, water daily, or spread out a little if in bigger containers...just keep a constant flush don't let it dry up.... and feed mildly...that's what me and a buddy have been doing with good results for a first run......

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

i would almost say that noobs should grow in coco first before they try the soil(dirt). but then they would never switch

LOL, I cheated, I started my first crop 16 years ago initially under flourescents, got a 400w hps and a NFT tank from Sunlight Systems and put 5 clones from my seed plants in the NFT tank beside the soil mothers.

The clones outproduced the soil mothers big time, I would never ever grow in soil again.