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BongRipkenJr's new setup and first time coco grow
- Thread starter BongRipkenJR.
- Start date
FreedomFightr
Member
Yeah I always mix in perlite. were u using canna coco or the Botnicare? I really like the Black Gold water holding coco. had great success with it. Right now I'm using the botnicare coco and it seems to hold more water than the black gold. Looking good. FYI...its gonna get HOT
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
I am using botanicare coco right now. 3 plants are in Roots Organic Coco soiless mix and they are doing considerable better than the others. Next time I will use Canna coco because they already have thricodermal fungi in it. I will mix in 30% perlite. I think with no perlite, salts get built up a lot easier.
FreedomFightr
Member
I have heard great things about the canna coco. But when I needed some I could not find it anywhere. Every place was on back order for 2-3 months. I'm not sure what the stock is now? But next best choice is the Black gold coco water holding.
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
Today I finally got some drip clean. I flushed a little with water and drip clean. I found some interesting things out today.
My runoff ppms were at about 600 on one tray and 450 on the tray with 3 plants in roots organic coco. I decided to flush some more. After about 10 gallons of water with some drip clean pumped through the system and plants I started getting lower and lower PPMS. Well, I changed the pH from 6.8(standard) to 6.0 with the next 10 gallons and my runoff went from 300ppm to 800 ppm. I thought this was odd, so I used straight water the next time and my run off ppms were low again. If I wasn't so high right now I would have more faith in this, but it seemed as if changing your pH of your water washes away different salts. Anybody heard of this?
here are some pictures.
My runoff ppms were at about 600 on one tray and 450 on the tray with 3 plants in roots organic coco. I decided to flush some more. After about 10 gallons of water with some drip clean pumped through the system and plants I started getting lower and lower PPMS. Well, I changed the pH from 6.8(standard) to 6.0 with the next 10 gallons and my runoff went from 300ppm to 800 ppm. I thought this was odd, so I used straight water the next time and my run off ppms were low again. If I wasn't so high right now I would have more faith in this, but it seemed as if changing your pH of your water washes away different salts. Anybody heard of this?
here are some pictures.
Bongrip.. I think you're worrying about your runoff ppms etc way too much. And.. drip clean is not a flushing agent.. it's a 'suffrecant(sp)' which is meant to be used mixed in with your nutrients. It causes the nutrients to not build up in the coco (or other substrate). If you're going to 'flush' to try to get built up salts out of your medium, I think you'd be better off with Clearex or another similar product. I used to run H&G full line, but started having trouble with the plants in their late phases. Two things I continue to use out of the H&G line is RootsExcelurator and DripClean. Regarding your pH, you should be somewhere around 5.8 to 6.0 for coco. I've been running coco for a while, but I by no means consider myself an expert, and I've learned a lot on this thread as well as the 'H&G Lets chat' thread. Your plants look great, so you're on the right course.. I just think your over complicating it. BTW.. don't forget to supplement your nutrients with CalMg supplement while running coco. Good luck!
mgk
mgk
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
I know my run off ppms were way too high! I feed at 5.8 and it will float to 6.0. When I was flushing it out I was using just water at 6.8. Not feeding it at that. I just wanted to wash salts out of the medium. I could tell my plants had way to much salts built up. The night I fed with just water they started to swell. I knew the drip clean wasn't a flushing agent, but I heard it creates a bond to salts, so I thought it might be good to run through it. I think I will start cutting out the canna coco A+B next res change.
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
Oh yeah, I have ran Cal/mag the whole time. What I have learned is perlite is essential to coco. My 3 roots organic plants are probably %30 heavier than the others. I have ran a 5.8-6.0 pH the whole time.
How did that drip clean work for you?
How did that drip clean work for you?
I think the Dripclean works just fine. I have never appended my coco with anything and had no problems. I recently switched back to GH nutrients and feel that my plants, especially in the veg and early flower stage are healthier and happier with the GH than they were with the H&G line. You mention that you're going to be 'cutting out the canna coco A+B next res change.'.. just curious what you're planning on switching over to. I've heard a lot of good things about using canna nutes, but never tried them myself. This stuff is pretty fool proof as long as you don't over complicate it.
mgk
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
Next res change I will be in week. I am at day 36 right now. I don't know if I will stop using Canna as I have half my canna nuts' left and a dude I know just recently came up on 10 sets up A+B 5ltr jugs for dirt cheap so I will have an endless supply of that shit.
Canna works good, but it is lacking unless you use their whole very expensive line. I found it needed bloom enhancers, cal mag, and added potash in flowering. The canna seemed very clean at first, but it was slowly building up salts and I didnt notice it at first. Now that I have drip clean and have heard countless people swear by it I will more than likely keep running the canna coco A+B, but just add a potash and bloom enhancer in flowering. With my short time running coco I realized that my plants in amended coco are looking much better and the run off ppms are much much lower. That right there tells me to use perlite in the coco. The quality on these buds is much better than any GH bud I have grown so far. This bud is rock hard yet soft to the touch. Very sticky and stinky. I can't wait to harvest this stuff.
Canna works good, but it is lacking unless you use their whole very expensive line. I found it needed bloom enhancers, cal mag, and added potash in flowering. The canna seemed very clean at first, but it was slowly building up salts and I didnt notice it at first. Now that I have drip clean and have heard countless people swear by it I will more than likely keep running the canna coco A+B, but just add a potash and bloom enhancer in flowering. With my short time running coco I realized that my plants in amended coco are looking much better and the run off ppms are much much lower. That right there tells me to use perlite in the coco. The quality on these buds is much better than any GH bud I have grown so far. This bud is rock hard yet soft to the touch. Very sticky and stinky. I can't wait to harvest this stuff.
FreedomFightr
Member
nah I was jusy refering to their Coco.
C
Chris1
Do you have your trays built up so you can drain the run off...?? Would you recommend using smart pots?
Boutta start my first coco run
Boutta start my first coco run
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
Yup, I have them about a half inch lower on the drain side. I get a pretty quick drain. I don't want any water pooling up.
Yes I would recommend smart pots! They are awesome! If you are going to run coco, i suggest using the smart pots and mixing in roughly %30 perlite. Coco is the shit! My yields may not look like much right now, and those last pics are of day 35, but the strain I am running isn't the biggest yielder, but I think if I dialed it in a little better and shortened the veg time it would pump out some impressive yields.
Coco is where it is at! Either do the lucas formula or use coco specific nuts' though.
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
Okay, took some new photos today. ITS DAY 38!!! I can't wait until harvest
The clones I took a few weeks ago. I tried to root them outside and they did root, it just got cold and the roots didn't blast out of them so now they are under a light and inside.
Clones are chillin in the tent
The clones I took a few weeks ago. I tried to root them outside and they did root, it just got cold and the roots didn't blast out of them so now they are under a light and inside.
Clones are chillin in the tent
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
I also got a package from House & Garden today. I got a sample of the White Widow Fungus as well.
My buddy uses the "House and Garden" on his industrial grow with amazing results. Huge nuggets with tons of resin. Great products like aqua flakes A and B, and "Roots Excelurator". Good luck bro, everythings looking amazing in your dept! Peace, Stagger
Man.. H&G sure has changed their sample pack since I got mine last year! When I got mine, it had full quarts of all the components except roots excel and dripclean.. everything else was full quarts! Just be a little careful with it.. it's pretty easy to get late leaf burn. I gave up on the shooting powder as it made things go just crazy bad a couple times. It varied from strain to strain.
mgk
BongRipkenJR.
Active member
Man.. H&G sure has changed their sample pack since I got mine last year! When I got mine, it had full quarts of all the components except roots excel and dripclean.. everything else was full quarts! Just be a little careful with it.. it's pretty easy to get late leaf burn. I gave up on the shooting powder as it made things go just crazy bad a couple times. It varied from strain to strain.
mgk
Yeah, I was expecting quarts, but I am happy with what I got. Shooting powder seems like Gravity, you really have to go easy with it. They said to use a full satchel for 25 gallons, well I am going to use less than half and drop my base nuts' down by half. To me it seems like the only shit worth a damn in the H&G lineup is Drip Clean, BudXL, maybe shooting powder, and the base nutes.
I have tried to get an H&G sample pack twice and never got anything. I emailed them and had them send it to my girl who has a dutch last name and they had a pack to me within a week. I am going to tell all nute' companies I am a girl, because I think girls might get special treatment, but that shouldn't be news to anybody.
Looks very pretty...nice work. 
