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H3ad goes Coco

Thundurkel

Just Call me Urkle!!
Veteran
I'm just about to finish my second run in coco, this time I ran coco mixed with coco crutons, and the plants actually turned out not as well as they had on my first round that was straight botanicare coco... overall ended up a few inches shorter and just not as robust for some reason. (did have some k lockout issues at some point, dont think they had a huge impact though). Would like to note that I didn't reuse any coco and started with a fresh batch just to learn the media and make sure to isolate any variables.

I think I'm running to BIG of pots.. 2.5 gal square (I believe botanicare) pots, with about 1-2 weeks veg, 12 plants in a 4 x 6 area. The plants never seem to drink up the media and it is always wet being watered daily, the roots dont really fill out the pot completely at harvest time.

Planning to switch to smart pots this time and running a 40% perlite mix.. think I should drop the pot size down to 2 gallon or bump it to 3? since those are the smart pot options avail...

thanks!


Crutons suck IMO stick with coco/perlite mix I really like Ready Gro Moisture Formula
 
C

chytil151

Planning to switch to smart pots this time and running a 40% perlite mix.. think I should drop the pot size down to 2 gallon or bump it to 3? since those are the smart pot options avail...

thanks![/quote]


not sure if this is true or not but I heard in coco you can grow a plant 3x the size of the pot I have had no problems so far w/ 2 1/2 ft. plants budded out in 1 gallon grow bags. I run about 40% perlite and about 10% EWC and 50% fine coco sunleaves brand and have great outcome thus far. I put the EWC in for My clones. when they first get transplanted there is some food for them before I start hitting them w/ ferts seems to help In my situation
 
H

highvolt

hi H3ad
please could you tell me if you ever check your runoff and make adjustments so the runoff is in the right ph range, or do you just feed at the correct ph and not worry about the runoff,
thanks.
 

Thundurkel

Just Call me Urkle!!
Veteran
Please substantiate/elaborate

Well I've never used them but it was the worst yield my buddy had got when he tried them out with coco mats underneath.. Like the guy said he had smaller plants than he did with just plain Botanicare Coco so if he switched back and added perlite instead of the crutons he would do much better.. There's a thread around here that has the test between all three, plain, perlite mix, and cruton mix and it was said the perlite mixed coco had a bigger yield by 10-15% :tiphat:
 

slowandeasy

Active member
Veteran
Hey H3ad,
At what point do you start feeding your seedlings Full Strength? I have 3 that look awesome, and are just being fed half strength. They are about 2 weeks old, and growing fast....but one of them has a couple leaves that are a tad pale. Not sure if it is hungry? They are under a 250 HPS in Beer cups, and have 3 sets of leaves. Thanks!!
 

slowandeasy

Active member
Veteran
Head feeds full strength as soon as they have roots..

I will bump up next feed. They look great, but one might be getting hungry, a little pale color on a couple leaves. About how big should they be when I can water to run off? These are seedlings, in Beer Cups...dont wanna soak them to early.
 

Thundurkel

Just Call me Urkle!!
Veteran
Honestly you should be fine I don't know if you know but I popped my Reservation Labs beans around the same time you did maybe a bit earlier but I've been watering till run off each time I watered which was every other day till they got 3 sets of leaves then it was full strength nutes and watering once a day.. I post a pic so you can see how they look
 

slowandeasy

Active member
Veteran
Honestly you should be fine I don't know if you know but I popped my Reservation Labs beans around the same time you did maybe a bit earlier but I've been watering till run off each time I watered which was every other day till they got 3 sets of leaves then it was full strength nutes and watering once a day.. I post a pic so you can see how they look


What size pots are they in? Are they under your 400 HPS? Just switched the 3 good ones over to the 400 HPS. Will feed full strength, to run off and see how it goes. I know they will dry up faster in the new tent, so they should be able to take more water. They look great, but I think they are ready for full strength.
 

bodhiseeds

Well-known member
Veteran
just so i dont go blind reading all 72 pages:tiphat:

has anybody done the head modified coco lucas formula with gh hard water micro and hard water? i would love to give my ro unit a break, and use my 250 ppm well water, but dont want to take the chance of creating a disturbance in the green force.....

thanks in advance:wave:
 

TUFFGONG

New member
Hey H3ad,and everyone else. This is the best coco thread I have ever found and I have been searching for months now! I use the 60Litre compressed blocks which I buffer with 175g calcium nitrate and 20g magnesium sulphate per 60L h2o before use. I source the coco from a commercial hydroponics supplier who recommends this treatment. At the moment I follow the ratios as per GHE recommendations for hydro and have setup a re-circulating drip system which has produced growth like I have never seen before! After 13 years of soil growing I am amazed!
So after that long story I just want to ask if the 3ml micro and 10ml bloom has worked for anyone using GH European nutrients?
I realise hand feeding is different to drip feeding but as my ladies get larger I intend to transplant them to bigger pots and will be hand feeding or doing a run to waste drip system.
Just for interest sake there is a organic nutrient (fish emulsion) available here that is 26/25/57/1/2.5 N/P/K/Mg/Ca in grams per kilogram. The lab analysis I got on my tap water says there is max 9ppm Ca and no Mg, tds is 76ppm with ph of 7.4
I have used it before with another fish emulsion formula containing more N in soil with decent results. Any thoughts on how this would do on straight coco and any recommendations on feeding schedule and increasing the Mg would be appreciated.
Lastly, Trichoderma Harzianum spores, do you add this beneficial fungus to you root system? I think it would help out if using the organic nutes as they help the plant absorb nutrients as well as protecting them.
Newbie to the forum,rookie on coco,local legend on soil,hope you guys can find it in your hearts to help a brother out!
Peace,love,respect
 

Thundurkel

Just Call me Urkle!!
Veteran
Ok guys I'll probably ask this in a few different threads but I keep having a mag problem on some strains in veg and flower and I never had it before with 1part nutrients like Flora Nova and PBP and was having great results with my Head Modified mix and I was thinking maybe my tap water has plenty of calcium in it and the addition of extra cal is causing mag issues?
 
L

lysol

Ok guys I'll probably ask this in a few different threads but I keep having a mag problem on some strains in veg and flower and I never had it before with 1part nutrients like Flora Nova and PBP and was having great results with my Head Modified mix and I was thinking maybe my tap water has plenty of calcium in it and the addition of extra cal is causing mag issues?

Yes, excess Ca aggravates Mg take up. What is your "modified" mix, and what is the PPM of your tap water (and what conversion does your PPM meter use?). Are you using flora series grow and bloom? Is it the hard water version? Are you sure? What is the % of Ca it says on the micro bottle's guaranteed analysis. Also as I'm sure you know PH can play a role. I solved my Mg issues by using tap water, and h3ad's original mix (with the gram of epsom)
 

Thundurkel

Just Call me Urkle!!
Veteran
Yea no pen here... I was told by a friend who said before he moved out of my area where we shared the same water it was 160-180 ppm and I'm using Cutting Edge Solutions Micro and Bloom at 6/10 which Head came up with for me and then I learned to play with the calculator and matched his profile as close as I could with the following
6ml Micro
10ml Bloom
5ml Plant Amp
5ml Mag Amp

and I am now thinking that the Plant Amp which is my Cal supplement is causing me problems with some strains and it's only on some that this is happening to and they are all purple strains that this is happening too!
 
M

MacGyver420

I solved my Mg issues by using tap water, and h3ad's original mix (with the gram of epsom)

i read your other thread about this and wish i had some good pictures to show but my plants are doing the EXACT same thing

i had been feeding the 6/9 + g epsom salt mix for a long time and it seems to work very well during VEG and EARLY FLOWER but about 1/2way into flower leaves start to go from green to bone white its happened on 2 strains with the head mix so far i cant figure out what is going on
 

slowandeasy

Active member
Veteran
i read your other thread about this and wish i had some good pictures to show but my plants are doing the EXACT same thing

i had been feeding the 6/9 + g epsom salt mix for a long time and it seems to work very well during VEG and EARLY FLOWER but about 1/2way into flower leaves start to go from green to bone white its happened on 2 strains with the head mix so far i cant figure out what is going on


Dont use the epsoms after 2 weeks of flowering, after that the need for mag goes down. What do your plants look like now?
 
M

MacGyver420

i apologize that the hps light is on but you should still be able to see somewhat what im talking about -

she was in a 3 gallon bag transplanted only recently to a 5 gallon bag that very well may help with something....



Dont use the epsoms after 2 weeks of flowering, after that the need for mag goes down. What do your plants look like now?
hadn't heard this!

i had assumed lockout of some kind; but i could be and have been wrong before
 

slowandeasy

Active member
Veteran
In Hydro, sometimes I have to bump the pH up to 6.0-6.1 for a couple weeks in flower. Then bring it down. Rez/H3ad suggest doing the same with Coco, instead of adding Mag. Try bumping your pH up to 5.9 or so next time you see a Mag def. I am just starting out in Coco myself, so I am just repeating what I have read. Good luck.
 
Hey guys, what is the ppm of your water before adding nutes? My tap water is very inconsistent and tested at 450ppm last night. I added RO water to get it down to 150ppm before adding nutes. Should I go lower or is that adequate?


MVTF Rooted Clone
 
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