bobblehead overtakes

[TheArchitect]

I had a love affair with coco, but it was all infatuation.

Hot and heavy, then a quick fizzle.

It's so picky, and for the trouble I'd rather just run e&f tables.

My two favorite grow medias are water, then dirt/peat. Yea I know peat is soilless, but I use it as a soil with ewc, greensand, alfalfa and cottonseed meal.

Honestly though, for simplicity, reliability, and cleanliness, e&f trays or buckets is where it's at.

If I was running locations with minimal visits, I'd have flood trays of hydroton with two or three pumps for redundancy, and a huge res for stability.

 

[Mister_D]

Here's some literature that should help explain why I'm giving peat moss a try.

http://www.usu.edu/cpl/PDF/CoconutCoirPaper.pdf

SUMMARY
These studies show that coconut coir should be used with great caution. Although the Sri Lanka brands performed better than the Mexican brands, no brand performed consistently better than sphagnum peat. Some species tolerate coir better than others. The addition of calcium sulfate to the media did not have a consistently beneficial effect on growth and in some cases it reduced grow th. The best growth in coir media
occurred in the Grow Coir ® brand. We are continuing these studies to determine the underlying causes of poor plant growth in coir.

Two things wrong with that study.
1. They didn't flush the coco (Mexican coco was 1-1.5+ EC). It's no wonder the coco plants look like shit.
2. They are using a nute recipe developed for peat in coco. Again no surprise the peat plants won.

Not trying to discourage you, just pointing out some flaws in the study.

 

[bobblehead]

Two things wrong with that study.
1. They didn't flush the coco (Mexican coco was 1-1.5+ EC). It's no wonder the coco plants look like shit.
2. They are using a nute recipe developed for peat in coco. Again no surprise the peat plants won.

Not trying to discourage you, just pointing out some flaws in the study.

In regards to a remote grow... Wouldn't it be easier to not have to flush the medium? I would rather use that time doing something else. Honestly I don't flush my coco anyway. I use botanicare cocogro, and the runoff is normally .3-.4 EC at the highest. At least that's been my experience. Other people have reported a much higher initial runoff EC.

A nute recipe that compensates for coco's high CEC can make coco equally as good as peat, according to the studies I've read.

I'm not discounting your opinion... and I'll be the first to say you told me so, I promise. IMO, it's worth trying.

 

[bobblehead]

Looks interesting. Just skimmed it since company is on the way ;-)
Maybe a side by side? You have a couple of set ups that are similar enough for a valid test right?
If not, I could, once all 5 rooms are up and running...

I'm not doing side by sides.. I have enough projects going on... Like that float valve thing I never got around to. I'm just growing some pot till I shut that house down, and then I'm scaling down my operation.

I will give my opinions on peat vs coco however... I'm using plain old sphagnum peat moss from Home Depot... Veg told me I should be using promix, so I'm gonna pick up some of that.

I had a love affair with coco, but it was all infatuation.

Hot and heavy, then a quick fizzle.

It's so picky, and for the trouble I'd rather just run e&f tables.

My two favorite grow medias are water, then dirt/peat. Yea I know peat is soilless, but I use it as a soil with ewc, greensand, alfalfa and cottonseed meal.

Honestly though, for simplicity, reliability, and cleanliness, e&f trays or buckets is where it's at.

If I was running locations with minimal visits, I'd have flood trays of hydroton with two or three pumps for redundancy, and a huge res for stability.

Yeah man except at the lake house power outages happen regularly, I would be more comfortable in a medium that holds more moisture than hydroton... which is why I've been in coco... but I'm seeing great things more consistently from the organic grows my friends are doing.

I'm on board with the huge res. It makes all the difference.

 

[TheArchitect]

Yeah man except at the lake house power outages happen regularly, I would be more comfortable in a medium that holds more moisture than hydroton... which is why I've been in coco... but I'm seeing great things more consistently from the organic grows my friends are doing.

I'm on board with the huge res. It makes all the difference.

I feel ya on power problems. I wonder if one of those watchdog sump pump backup batteries would be a good solution. The ones they sell at home depot. Plugs in and stays chrarged when powers on, and would run pumps while the powers out.

And I definitely like the results I'm seeing in my quasi organic grow, but it's sooooo slow, lol.

 

[Anti]

I grew in pro mix for a year before I switched to coco. (I also added about 25-30% perlite to my pro mix) Thus far, I prefer coco.

 

[Mister_D]

In regards to a remote grow... Wouldn't it be easier to not have to flush the medium? I would rather use that time doing something else. Honestly I don't flush my coco anyway. I use botanicare cocogro, and the runoff is normally .3-.4 EC at the highest. At least that's been my experience. Other people have reported a much higher initial runoff EC.

A nute recipe that compensates for coco's high CEC can make coco equally as good as peat, according to the studies I've read.

I'm not discounting your opinion... and I'll be the first to say you told me so, I promise. IMO, it's worth trying.

Using higher quality coco negates the need to flush it, as you've noticed. I still flush all of my coco just to be absolutely sure of what's in it. Besides that my mix is designed to be reused many times without any special treatment between runs. So it's just the initial flushing that takes time, and it's not required. Coco's CEC can make it a bit tricky to design a proper feed program, but if you do it correctly it spanks peat all day long in yield and growth rates. All that said give peat a go, all knowledge and experience gained is valuable .

Side note. if you are going to use peat from home depot (big bales of straight peat) you will REQUIRE some form of wetting agent. That shit is so hydrophobic it's not even funny. It does work better than promix with added wetting agent and perlite/floordry however. Also if heading down that road invest in worm castings and compost, makes for a much better media.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Side note. if you are going to use peat from home depot (big bales of straight peat) you will REQUIRE some form of wetting agent. That shit is so hydrophobic it's not even funny.

 

[megayields]

give it some guano too, I love bat shit....cuz everyone I know is "bat shit" crazy!

 

[bobblehead]

Oh hey, here's a tensiometer made by blumat! I wish I had known about this sooner...

http://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56

$48

(Ideal settings for cannabis growing = 120-150 mb in veg, 150-180 in bloom)




I'm gonna mod some trop-f blumats into maxis too... They just need the water column extended. I have a successful trop-f blumat grow going on right now. It could be better.. but I haven't had any plants dry out or any floods...

 

[silver hawaiian]

give it some guano too, I love bat shit....cuz everyone I know is "bat shit" crazy!

Just for clarity's sake, it should be noted that not all guanos are created equally. Not even close..

Content of poo in Indonesia is quite different than the poo in Mexico, etc..

 

[bobblehead]

Just for clarity's sake, it should be noted that not all guanos are created equally. Not even close..

Content of poo in Indonesia is quite different than the poo in Mexico, etc..

Mega gets shit from all over the place... errr... I mean Mega takes shit from all over the place... errr... I miean... Mega shits all over the place...

 

[silver hawaiian]

Mega gets shit from all over the place... errr... I mean Mega takes shit from all over the place... errr... I miean... Mega shits all over the place...

I'm not sure either, but I was leaning towards the last of your statements as the most accurate also.

 

[greenmatter]

Oh hey, here's a tensiometer made by blumat! I wish I had known about this sooner...

http://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56
View Image

$48

(Ideal settings for cannabis growing = 120-150 mb in veg, 150-180 in bloom)




I'm gonna mod some trop-f blumats into maxis too... They just need the water column extended. I have a successful trop-f blumat grow going on right now. It could be better.. but I haven't had any plants dry out or any floods...

do you own one of these yet bobble? what do you think, is it worth it? or just another cool little toy that you could do without?

 

[megayields]

At least my shit don't stink!

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

I'm gonna mod some trop-f blumats into maxis too... They just need the water column extended. I have a successful trop-f blumat grow going on right now. It could be better.. but I haven't had any plants dry out or any floods...

i just got 4 maxis to try out my next run with.
i would love to see your how to in modding blumats to maxis
i wondered about buying a blumat tensonmeter thingy too

 

[silver hawaiian]

i would love to see your how to in modding blumats to maxis

Ditto. Watcha gonna use to extend the column? Just a length of 3/4" (1"? 220, 221, whatever it takes?) PVC?

 

[bobblehead]

do you own one of these yet bobble? what do you think, is it worth it? or just another cool little toy that you could do without?

i just got 4 maxis to try out my next run with.
i would love to see your how to in modding blumats to maxis
i wondered about buying a blumat tensonmeter thingy too

Ditto. Watcha gonna use to extend the column? Just a length of 3/4" (1"? 220, 221, whatever it takes?) PVC?

I haven't purchased a tensiometer yet... But the blumat model appeal to me. It appears to carry a mid-level price. I'll probably get a cheaper tensiometer as well to see how they compare. I think it will be a very useful tool in determining how much moisture is enough when using blumats or a dt(no)w system. Eventually I will be able to determine water tension by feel, but having a meter to tell me where I need to be will be invaluable and prevent error. I think anyone starting with blumats should probably get one.

I like the blumat model also b/c it uses the same ceramic cone... So I can pull a sensor, insert the tensiometer, get a reading, replace the cone and make adjustments... Of course I would like to buy a few of these and just leave them in place in large beds.

I really like how sustainablevillage.com listed the preferred water tension levels for cannabis. They know who their market is.


As for modding a trop-f into a maxi... I intend to cut one in half in the middle of the green res, and inserting a length of tubing to connect them.... I'm gonna do this when I get back from my weekly trip, to decide if I should order some maxis with the tensiometer or if I can successfully mod the trop-f's. I haven't heard of anyone trying.

 

[whatthe215]

i'm curious what '120-150 mb in veg' and '150-180 mb in bloom' feels like.. weight wise i guess.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

I really like how sustainablevillage.com listed the preferred water tension levels for cannabis. They know who their market is.

yeah i laughed when i saw this too

As for modding a trop-f into a maxi... I intend to cut one in half in the middle of the green res, and inserting a length of tubing to connect them

seems simple enough if you can find some tube with an ID equal to the OD of the green bit. A bit of PVC glue and your away.

i'm curious what '120-150 mb in veg' and '150-180 mb in bloom' feels like.. weight wise i guess.

buy one and find out, its not like they are that expensive