Coco watering frequency when transplanting clones

[Oblivi0us]

I know this question gets thrown around how to water coco, but I haven't seen much clone watering specific information. And the little I found was split between you can't over water coco and need fresh water daily, pouring to run off to wash any salt build up and bring more oxygen to the roots.

The other side say you can overwater coco while transplanting and should allow wet dry cycles so the roots can go searching for water. Especially if the plant is going from Dixie cup to 5 gal for example, they say you have to be super careful watering it.. then seen others say hammer it with water around the root zone until 20% runoff 1x per day.

Can anyone chime in on what the better method is?

I've done a successful coco run 6 years ago but I can't quite remember what I did during the cloning stage. I do remember watering them 1x per day but this was later on when they were bushes and not small.

 

[StickyBandit]

I don't know what the correct answer is but I can tell you what I do...
I use the hempy bucket method with daily watering and I don't water to runoff often
After transplanting from 1L pot to 10L pot of pre-watered coco I keep it fairly average to low on the moisture so the roots have a chance to grow. Too much water at this point seems to stop root growth and from there it's down hill but if the roots flourish and the plant grows well it can drink large amounts of water and clear the back log if a watering is too generous
I also drill my hempy holes about 1" up as opposed to the accepted 2" from the bottom and I have a bottom watering tube inserted with drainage substrate to about 2"

 

[stiff]

I take it easy at the beginning and whenever the pot is filled with roots I start watering with runoff, till the end...every day one big watering per day in 15l pots with about 1L runoff. If they get more thirsty I adjust to that

 

[Rockchild]

Exactly how I do it

 

[LJ farming]

Yup I dang near dry coco out growing clones. However once my one gallon pots are root bound I damn near force feed them as many times per day as they will tolerate.

I run low EC 1.5 ish. I think the magic is in pushing old salts out as well as oxygenating the root ball?

 

[LJ farming]

I know this question gets thrown around how to water coco, but I haven't seen much clone watering specific information. And the little I found was split between you can't over water coco and need fresh water daily, pouring to run off to wash any salt build up and bring more oxygen to the roots.

The other side say you can overwater coco while transplanting and should allow wet dry cycles so the roots can go searching for water. Especially if the plant is going from Dixie cup to 5 gal for example, they say you have to be super careful watering it.. then seen others say hammer it with water around the root zone until 20% runoff 1x per day.

Can anyone chime in on what the better method is?

I've done a successful coco run 6 years ago but I can't quite remember what I did during the cloning stage. I do remember watering them 1x per day but this was later on when they were bushes and not small.

You can definitely drown clones in COCO

However once the pot is root bound you can’t overwater and you are just wasting nutrients/money by overwatering!

 

[Dropped Cat]

I up pot rooted cuttings to 16 oz cups and keep the coco moist, plants up close to lights.

Avoid wet/dry cycles with coco, natch.

Feed to slight run off every couple days until growth deems daily feeding.

Good thread!

 

[LJ farming]

In my world. rooted clones go into RED SOLO cups until they are root bound. Smack the baby on the ass and put them in 1 gallon pots. Transplant shock has never happened to me. I also strip the ladies of every fan leaf over a few days after stretch and take away 20% of their Nitrogen weeks 5-9.

Botany super master growers say I’m an idiot and I say hold my beer watch this!

 

[LJ farming]

I up pot rooted cuttings to 16 oz cups and keep the coco moist, plants up close to lights.

Avoid wet/dry cycles with coco, natch.

Feed to slight run off every couple days until growth deems daily feeding.

Good thread!

100% Cat! If only people took notes these Days?

The first thing anyone needs to know about COCO is when in doubt flush it out!

It may take 3-6 runs to dial it in however THE GROWER IS FUCKING UP if the plants need to be flushed!

if you understand how to flush with 25-50% nutrients with a lil extra CalMag it is BABYSHIT easy to correct mistakes overnight in COCO DTW

Never have faith in nutrient calculators! Only runs under your belt in the same ENVIRONMENT matters at the end of the day!

 

[LJ farming]

I up pot rooted cuttings to 16 oz cups and keep the coco moist, plants up close to lights.

Avoid wet/dry cycles with coco, natch.

Feed to slight run off every couple days until growth deems daily feeding.

Good thread!

I am not a fan of the word moist however COCO needs to stay moist

 

[Ca++]

Not all coco is the same. So blanket advice is difficult.
I wouldn't skip pot sizes. The grow can stall if it gets too wet. Leaving you waiting for stalled plants to drink. I wouldn't want to be in that position.

The old weighing things still stands. Fill a pot and weigh it. That is called dry. Then wet to runoff and weigh it after draining a while. That is wet weight. Maintain somewhere in the middle. I use 5" pots, and have a dry weight of 200 and a wet of 500. I stick rooted cuts in, and water to about 350. That might take a few days to drop to 250 again, when I will take them back to 350. Soon enough, that 100g (100ml) of water will only last a day. So I can take them to 400 instead. Then, at perhaps 7-10 days, that 150ml of water isn't lasting. So I can water to runoff. Any longer than 10 days and you will have to runoff anyway, as it will be getting toxic. If you find that happening sooner (perhaps over feeding) then h2o2 will allow an earlier flush though, to get back on track.

 

[stiff]

Couple of good things got mentioned here about coco.
Pot size and how often we water are probably the biggest differences in our gardens, the rest is very basic procedure and probably won't differ too much.

Nice plants you've got there @LJ farming
What's that strain in the first pic?

 

[LJ farming]

Couple of good things got mentioned here about coco.
Pot size and how often we water are probably the biggest differences in our gardens, the rest is very basic procedure and probably won't differ too much.

Nice plants you've got there @LJ farming
What's that strain in the first pic?

Tropicana Cherry!

To me it’s like a beautiful lady!

Typically:

Looks Great
Smells amazing
BUT
Don’t work half as much as it should!

The high is a 5 or 6/10 max on the Stoney scale! I’m a true light weight and only smoke 2-3 bong rips before bed! Mexican brick weed from 30+ years ago might be better? It is very LOW on the HIGH scale IMO!

Super easy to grow and beautiful bag appeal but for the most part no one wants it a second time. It was kicked out of the stable 3 or 4 grows ago.

 

[LJ farming]

Not all coco is the same. So blanket advice is difficult.
I wouldn't skip pot sizes. The grow can stall if it gets too wet. Leaving you waiting for stalled plants to drink. I wouldn't want to be in that position.

The old weighing things still stands. Fill a pot and weigh it. That is called dry. Then wet to runoff and weigh it after draining a while. That is wet weight. Maintain somewhere in the middle. I use 5" pots, and have a dry weight of 200 and a wet of 500. I stick rooted cuts in, and water to about 350. That might take a few days to drop to 250 again, when I will take them back to 350. Soon enough, that 100g (100ml) of water will only last a day. So I can take them to 400 instead. Then, at perhaps 7-10 days, that 150ml of water isn't lasting. So I can water to runoff. Any longer than 10 days and you will have to runoff anyway, as it will be getting toxic. If you find that happening sooner (perhaps over feeding) then h2o2 will allow an earlier flush though, to get back on track.

I definitely did my fair share of over watering COCO in the beginning because people say you can’t over water COCO!

BULLSHIT! You can overwater or drown any plant in COCO that isn’t root bound! But once the plant is root bound in whatever size final container it is all but impossible to overwater! Once COCO is root bound it should never dry back more than moist! Dry high EC coco is what ruins 70+% of first time coco growers experience. Watering with anything higher than 2.0 EC & letting coco dry back like soil is a recipe for disaster!

As for pot size COCO FOR CANNABIS explains it very well!

Perlite/coco ratio

20% for 1 gallon pots
30% for 2
40% for 3
50% for 4

Or something like that???

If you are not worried about plant count?

One gallon pots and 16/light or 1/sqft. You need 40-50 watts per sqft of LEDs to make the ladies perform IMO?

 

[Dr.Dutch]

@LJ farming Your plants have huge nutrition problems.. Don't think you should give advice to anyone, better to first take care of your problems and than help others, when you're able to

Healty plants on coco:

 

[LJ farming]

@LJ farming Your plants have huge nutrition problems.. Don't think you should give advice to anyone, better to first take care of your problems and than help others, when you're able to

Healty plants on coco:

Wow please tell me what problems you know so much more than me about!

IMO my current biggest problem is being lazy while Santa was fucking around!

Lots of pruning, topping, and I guess nutrient issues to deal with ASAP!

Please elaborate on on my problems!

 

[LJ farming]

Not all coco is the same. So blanket advice is difficult.
I wouldn't skip pot sizes. The grow can stall if it gets too wet. Leaving you waiting for stalled plants to drink. I wouldn't want to be in that position.

The old weighing things still stands. Fill a pot and weigh it. That is called dry. Then wet to runoff and weigh it after draining a while. That is wet weight. Maintain somewhere in the middle. I use 5" pots, and have a dry weight of 200 and a wet of 500. I stick rooted cuts in, and water to about 350. That might take a few days to drop to 250 again, when I will take them back to 350. Soon enough, that 100g (100ml) of water will only last a day. So I can take them to 400 instead. Then, at perhaps 7-10 days, that 150ml of water isn't lasting. So I can water to runoff. Any longer than 10 days and you will have to runoff anyway, as it will be getting toxic. If you find that happening sooner (perhaps over feeding) then h2o2 will allow an earlier flush though, to get back on track.

100%

 

[LJ farming]

@LJ farming Your plants have huge nutrition problems.. Don't think you should give advice to anyone, better to first take care of your problems and than help others, when you're able to

Healty plants on coco:

Damn that’s a pretty tent Dr Dutch! A+

 

[Dr.Dutch]

Yes, they still look okay. Veg fertilizer and early flower are also straightforward if you follow the Hydro-Store-Stuff schedule.

However, your flowering shows imbalances everywhere - very severe here, but visible in all the other pictures as well.

I already noticed the pics in the megacrop thread. I wanted to point out here that something is off.

take away 20% of their Nitrogen weeks 5-9.

This could be already one problem: Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrient. It's essential for countless processes in the plant, like the formation of amino acids, for example.
Is there anywhere we can see exactly what you're giving them (a diary or something similar)?

Basically, you must treat coco no differently than other hydro media. There’s a lot of misinformation from manufacturers about this, plus a lot of bro-science regarding proper fertilization in general in the grower scene.

Anyway, I think this is getting off-topic. As I said, if you have a report, let me know where it is, or I’ll take a look at the fertilizer thread and see if I can add more on coco. (I’ve been mixing my own nutrients for years with Hakaphos, Haifa, etc., and have dealt extensively with coco and the scientific standards for agriculture).

Very nice paper showing that fertilization on rock wool and coco should be identical (the supposed higher need for calcium and magnesium is clearly disproven here).
Comparison of Coconut Coir, Rockwool, and Peat Cultivations for Tomato Production: Nutrient Balance, Plant Growth and Fruit Quality

Detailed paper on cannabis.
Nutrient Management of Cannabis in Controlled Environments

 

[Ca++]

Very nice paper showing that fertilization on rock wool and coco should be identical (the supposed higher need for calcium and magnesium is clearly disproven here).
Comparison of Coconut Coir, Rockwool, and Peat Cultivations for Tomato Production: Nutrient Balance, Plant Growth and Fruit Quality

We are reading the same thing, but drawing a different conclusion. My first issue is we don't know if it's inland or seaside coco. We often think of coconuts by the beach, as they dominate there. Due to their ability to accumulate sodium without dying. This single issue, renders the whole study very specific to a coco we don't know. It is, in fact, a bit useless to us.

They do note the K is very high, and there is a high K:Ca ratio, leading to more K in their tomato's. Toms actually like a lot of K, and cannabis has a need for Ca that deserves some thought. It will take Na and K in the place of Ca, if the Ca is depressed like this. Leading to plants prone to attack. The coco feed has higher Ca to displace the K and Na coming from the coco.

I'm actually looking at this guys plants, and have this salts issue revolving around my head.