Closet Micro Grow

[Jonnysact]

Hey all,

I've been getting some help from the members here as I've been struggling with my most recent pro mix grow. I decided to start some new babies and give coco a shot for the first time. I wanted to start a little journal here for them for anyone interested.

Strain:
2 x White Widdow
1 x BC Big Bud

Medium:
Botanicare Coco
20% Perlite

Watering:
PH 6.5
Tap water @ 150 ppm (left out for a few hours)

Nutrients:
GH Glora Nova Grow
Botanicare Cal Mag

Lights:
2 x Kessil 150w LED - purple
1 x 270w UFO LED

Canopy Temp: 76-79
Night Temps: 69-73
RH: 35-50 (depending on when they were watered)

Here is where they live:

Any suggestions for a new coco grower? Ph, when to start feeding, cal mag issues, salt buildup, whatever you feel like sharing.

 

[shawkmon]

just give them water when they dry out , and leave under the light , and leave them alone , less is more , ya got the hard part over with getting them up and growing

 

[Jellyfish]

Don't feed (or feed very weak solution) until those first little starter leaves start to turn yellow.

Keep the light on them as close as possible (without burning them up) to prevent stretch.

 

[Jonnysact]

Here they are! So far I'm really enjoying the coco. It always stays slightly moist, is very light and airy, dries quickly and I haven't seen any seedlings grow so quickly before.

I'm just giving it plain water with a big of Cal Mag and PH'ing at 6.5 until runoff, which happens so quickly with this coco stuff.

They are roughly 9 inches from their Kessil LED light and I haven't seen any stretch yet. They are approximately an inch in height and are basically just fattening up at the leaf and stem for now.

Do the leaves look a little twisted or can that be normal? I've experienced twisted leaves when my PH has been out of wack.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

So far so good

For myself i found using dolomite lime in the coco mix, helps keeping a stable ph and then you don't have to worry about a calmag addition to your nutes

 

[Jonnysact]

A little update.

The largest one is getting more twised and if I look close on the leaf I am seeing a bit of brown spots beginning to emerge.

What little knowledge I have tells me that it's a mag deficiency (rust spots). But since their inception, I've watered either every day or 2nd day with plain water but always added between 100 and 150 ppm of 2-0-0 Botanicair Cal Mag.

They have all been treated the same, and the new growth on the twisted one looks... interesting and squished.

Ideas? Will probably post in the infirmary too.

 

[Jonnysact]

So far so good

For myself i found using dolomite lime in the coco mix, helps keeping a stable ph and then you don't have to worry about a calmag addition to your nutes

Hey Mr.Sparkle. From my understanding, Dol Lime will help bring a medium's PH back up to the 7 range and it seems as though the consensus is that coco likes it between 5.8-6.1. Do you find the lime is swinging your ph too high over time? The coco I'm using seems to have quite a stable ph, giving me almost the same ph in the runoff as the water its given.

 

[Jonnysact]

It's been a little while since my last update so here it is!

Change my watering to PH 5.7-6.1. They seem to love it. No more deficiencies.

1 of my white widow turned out to be male. He's toast.

The other white widow is the same size as my BCBB and i know she's a lady so... Guessing she'll turn out to be a lady too but will wait until she shows me her sex.

Since I knew the sex of the BCBB, i topped her a few days ago and both plants are really starting to bush out. Absolutely loving Coco, just not a fan of their requirement for daily waterings. Might be an issue when traveling happens.

 

[MicroRoy]

Nice grow. The girls look happy.

 

[Jonnysact]

Ooo, that's an interesting setup you have there. Might be a good option when I need to get out of town for a little bit. Will have to do some research.

 

[MicroRoy]

I borrowed that from a garden sight.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Hey Mr.Sparkle. From my understanding, Dol Lime will help bring a medium's PH back up to the 7 range and it seems as though the consensus is that coco likes it between 5.8-6.1. Do you find the lime is swinging your ph too high over time? The coco I'm using seems to have quite a stable ph, giving me almost the same ph in the runoff as the water its given.

In the past i use to run without it, but i found that unless you had your pH on lock, which we all would like to assume we do, it could quickly cause pH related issues, leaf curl, nutrient lockout and ect, but once i started using dolomite lime in the recommended amounts for coco coir, or coir based mixes, i never had an issue in those regards, and the upside was i now don't even bother pH balancing my feed water/plain water, for me simplicity beats out the disadvantages which are very few.

There is quite a bit of info on this site about the subject, and people who know alot more than myself, but its worth looking into.