Coco, Flood and drain questions

[zone 8]

First soil grow is over, and now I am going coco!

I keep reading about top feeding with coco, and I was wondering what the drawbacks (since most people do not seem to use this method) of doing a flood and drain with coco.

What problems could i expect with this set up?

2x4 flood and drain botanicare flood tray. 8, 2gal pots and an undecided res size.

I will be running clones ONLY of white russian in this set up.

I have scoured the net looking for GOOD flood and drain set ups with coco but I just cant find the "useful" information

ANY advise, or links are much appreciated.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

Zone, I know there are some members on here who are doing it..or have done it in the past.

I don't believe it is that popular, because the coco is messy and has a tendency to plug up pumps, clog drains and the like.

You would be much better served to either run the flood and drain as it is intended with water and hydro nutes..or keep the coco and go with a top feed, low pressure drip system.

I decided on the drip, even though I knew nothing about them..they actually scared me quite a bit..until I did some research and found out that they are simple in design and have some benefits.

Biggest benefit of top feed is the fact that you can keep a much smaller reservoir, and have less water hangin around the place...which is a security risk for me. You can use coco specific nutes, and you don't have to deal with hydroton...lol

You can run coco in flood and drain, so please do not let me dissuade you. Maybe someome else will chime in here.

Good luck either way.

 

[prowler]

2X4 Tent & Tray, Digi 600, Ebb & Flo, 7 strains
Continues @
Don't let me down...

There was a great coco ebb & flo grow diary from dongle69 but he got banned for some reason and haven't found that topic since. Help anyone? Anyone who is considering on coco and Ebb & Flo should really check that one out.

Cheers and happy growing.

 

[zone 8]

Thanks so much!!!! I tried finding dongle69's posts but since he is banned their not available. This is a great start to the research i need to do, Thank you all very much!!!!!!

 

[petemoss]

I believe Dongle69 unregistered and is now on another forum. Don't think she was banned. See this recent thread: http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=177443

 

[Graham Purwatt]

i've never flowered in coco in an e&f but i have kept my mothers that way for over a year now.its only a little 18"x 2' deal but they stay healthy and happy and i end up more cuttings than i can use.i cover the bottom of my pots with standard window screen so no larger particles can runoff into the pump and when i first plant in them i flush the pots thoroughly before throwing them in the table so most of whatever is running out can do so.i do end up with a small amount of super fine particles in the rez but not enough to hurt the pump.its workeds great with h3ad's 6/9 gh formula

 

[mk6]

I do both, drip in two 3x3 trays, and flood a 2x4 on this run only b/c one of my bigger pumps went out, so I setup a smaller/slower one - they all have a 20 gal res, and feed for 5 mins, b/c thats how long it takes to fill the 2x4, I too am useing 2 gal pots... I can tell you this' the drip plants are twice the size of the flood n drain... its f___king ridiculous... I thought id try it cuz my buddy floods his, but the drip method is out producing for me. Ill set the 2x4 back to drip after this run is over, I will try to post up a pic later.

 

[mk6]

here ya go... day 30 flowering, sour grapes; all from clone, all get the same shit... feed 3 time day for 5 mins.

how they look at day 50

 

[zone 8]

So what your saying is that I should not use the table to flood and drain, and instead use it with a drip hose per plant?

Also, what gallon per hour drip things would i need?

If it matters i have a insane air ring thing that would be in the res....

It sucks because I just spent what little money I had on the flood and drain table, and it fits so perfectly in my space.

 

[guest5703]

if you dont have any more money to throw around then just give the ebb and flo thing a try...I'm doing it, and it seems to work. Have used the method for over a year now. Peace

 

[mk6]

So what your saying is that I should not use the table to flood and drain, and instead use it with a drip hose per plant?

Also, what gallon per hour drip things would i need?

If it matters i have a insane air ring thing that would be in the res....

It sucks because I just spent what little money I had on the flood and drain table, and it fits so perfectly in my space.

I love the tables and the drippers on timers. very low touch...

I have 2 (had 3 one for each res) 395 gph runing the 3x3 at 5 mins but it only takes 3 mins for-m to start flowing back into the res,\
the 2x4 has a little 125 gph pump and fills the tray in just over 4 mins.

line a is cheap - drippers maybe not so... start with what you got, and go from there - you can always get-m latter.

 

[Nigel]

>>>

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I've done it.....Worked great. You don't have to flood as often. (compared to hydroton). also you don't have to flood the table to the top....I mean the CoCo "wicks up" the nute solution so you only have to flood a few inches up the pots. If your worried about CoCo debri in your pumps and stuff just put some vinyl screen in the bottom of your pots. If your pumps are strong enough they will not clog from minimal coco debri.

Also with a table that size I would get a 30-40 gallon res.

 

[freeride high]

just started using a flood a drain over drippers, have to say i will never top feed again. the hassle of running drippers to each pot and cleaning the tiny peices of coco that clog the drippers is not worth it. i flood twice a day though i may drop that to once a day.
use a layer of hydroton in the bottom of the pots.

 

[Green&Gold]

I'm considering this question hard right now. I crop soon and have to buy new gear and go again within a week. I love coco, an won't do anything else. How about coco-perlite medium in cocopots in flood table? Are those pots tight enough weave to keep the coco particles in the pots and not have clogging issues?

 

[resinryder]

I love the 2 gallon Smart Pots. But I don't reuse them as they are a pain in the ass to reclean. No coco bits floating around in your res using them. Other than that, using mesh screen as noted on one of the above post will work also. i use coco chips instead of perlite to provide a much greater air/root space in my coir but looks like I'm gonna have to start using the chunky perlite now as Empire Organics coco is out of business damn it. They had the best coir and chips on the market.

 

[MadR1]

Cloth grow bags inside containers?

 

[FunkBomb]

I used to use fabric pots but have switched over to Rediroot containers. They're the same as regular plastic nursery pots but they have long open slats on the side and the bottom is mesh. They are elevated about half an inch too so runoff can move away from the container. I flower everything in the 2.9 gallon size no matter the veg time and get wonderful results. Coco DTW with salts and some organic additives.

-Funk