Justiceman's Root Health Tutorial

[justiceman]

One question come to my mind after reading some discussions elsewhere what is your veg light regime. I do know that plants under extended light hours grow quicker but by the nature of things some of the vital processes in plants take part during dark periods which could affect the roots one way or another. I don't feel like writing an essay on phone apologies. So what is your light schedule during veg?

Thanks Lethal

I see what you are getting at buddy. I don't know weather 24/0 or 18/6 affects the roots nor have I done any kind of side by sides to try and test it, but I like to veg and clone at 18/6.

That being said I have a successful clone nursery close to me that does 24/0 without any issues and they have some of the healthiest cuts around. It's the only place I'll get cuts from if I don't do my own. I've run into too many that have had PM, but never from them. I'd imagine if they are doing 24/0 it's definitely not wrong.

I've always heard that plants have vital processes take place during the dark period(obviously this is proved by flower), But I too wonder if 18/6 or 24/0 is "better" for veg. Seems more like a personal preference at this point.

 

[spaceboy]

Took your advice and transplanted some solo cups up to 3 gallons 4 days ago and now have roots shooting out of the bottom. They look noticeably thicker than usual also. Thanks for sharing.

 

[justiceman]

Took your advice and transplanted some solo cups up to 3 gallons 4 days ago and now have roots shooting out of the bottom. They look noticeably thicker than usual also. Thanks for sharing.

Glad to have helped May your roots be fuzzy and white for all of eternity.

 

[MikeGreat]

Great thread with tons of valuable information....
I grow in 10 gallon Smart pots and I find my self watering every 48 hours (two Days).
I felt that if I water everyday that it will be unnecessary because the medium still wet and in drying process the next day but Now with your watering advice I will water every day and see how the plants react..
Thanks for the advice.

 

[Loc Dog]

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[siftedunity]

^how are your roots looking now?
you mention about not using solo cups but im not sure how you can ague with good results.. his methods are clearly working very well. lots of ways to skin the cat and all that.

 

[Stay Gel^N 247]

Coco is such an incredible media for accelerated plant growth and the ability to use smaller containers for longer flowering plants is also a real benefit.
The handwatering is key to watering everyday. You can feel the container and add only what is needed, I used to use a measuring cup for that.
I think the debate about whether to water everyday is wrong or not depends on the conditions of the room. It's colder and more humid vs warmer and dryer, grow room that makes the difference.
How hot the lights are and how about how cold the floor is. It all factors in. Coco rocks if you use it the right way, I believe that without any doubts at all.
Justiceman's simplistic nutrient regime is also perfect for Coco.
For me, I started using Coco when canna came out with their Cannacoco. I would only use Coco a and b along with some rhizotonic off and on as needed when transplanting and after adding bloom boosters pk12/13, I think it's called. But the PK at recommended levels, would slow down water uptake and in my belief also the plant growth. I started just using more of the a and b then only 1/4 of the PK as a one shot.
I had disco balls of og shining under the hps.
Very nice roots justiceman! I used to use grow bags and the roots would grow all along the bottom looking like that, so clean and white. Coco!!!

 

[justiceman]

Great thread with tons of valuable information....
I grow in 10 gallon Smart pots and I find my self watering every 48 hours (two Days).
I felt that if I water everyday that it will be unnecessary because the medium still wet and in drying process the next day but Now with your watering advice I will water every day and see how the plants react..
Thanks for the advice.

10gal of coco man those must be monsters! Thats awesome. Yes the medium will still be wet, but your EC will be more consistent within the medium. See the drying process does bring more oxygen into the coco, but that also spikes EC and fluctuates PH in worst case scenarios. I'm eager to hear how they respond. The frequent watering will give you the increased oxygen benefits along side EC and Ph stability. Best of luck!

I have suffered with coco for two years, and now doing RDWC for bud, but going back to coco for growing seeds out, and making seeds for backup. One of the first problems I ran into was keeping the young clones too wet, the root system did not develop. With plants going into flower, they were drying out too quick, and needed multiple times a day. I was told by DansBuds, that letting it get dry is what causes the salt buildup problems, and wildly acid PH problems.

DJM's coco tree's thread says to let the coco dry out, till surface shows just the slightest dryness for growing plants. Here is his thread -

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=300255

I am not here to argue. If that works for you, great!!!

Like I said, I am just using for mothers and selecting genetics, because easier to move plants around, than hydro.

The seedlings I let dry out too much, and have major salt buildup. Feeding 600 PPM, and runoff 1300 PPM.

I am going to try letting get almost dry when young and growing, but flushing at least once a week (florakleen and 300 PPM of feed). Then multiple feeds a day for flowering plants.

One last point. You do not want to cheap out and use solo cups. Buy the smallest airpots, think they are called .75 gallon. From pictures in article there was massive root circling. Airpots and smartpots stop that with air pruning, causing more lateral root growth. When I throw out rootballs in 3 gallon (really like 2.2 gallon) airpots, you can not get one flake of coco to fall off, there is so much root system.

I do not have time, but it would be a great experiment to try both ways, and report results.

For me, I would like to find the weight of a saturated pot, and one ready for watering, and use that for watering/up-potting schedule.

I use about 20 to 25 percent perlite. DJM's thread says you want plants to need feeding as often as possible.

Last thought on this post. I am not being a bitch to the thread starter, but this is biggest problem on internet. Accuracy of information. You have to check 10 or more sources, to even get a 90% answer. There are tons of factors to most problems or ways of doing things. Also when many narrow down things, to accomplish goal, they think everything else was wrong, if they see a gain. There are just too many factors.

You have been having coco problems for 2 years. I just wanted to state that again. I highlighted the key points I wanted to address with you sir.

Did you figure out the exact cause of why your roots did not develop? i would wager is was not because of the presence of water as if that were so no DWC type of grow would ever succeed. They didn't develop well because they didn't get enough OXYGEN.

There are 2 ways to get oxygen with coco:

1. let it dry out which causes oxygen to take up the free space as well as cause huge fluctuations in mediums EC and PH the more it drys or

2. feed it and allow the feed to pull fresh oxygen in while maintaining a consistent EC and PH.

Notice how Dansbuds(great guy) advice happens to coincide with the above logic? I understand you are not hear to argue, but I actually don't understand what the intent of your post is.

I would be scared to give my seedlings 600ppm(1.2EC is close to what I feed during flower) and let them dry out, but if it works for you that's awesome. I never flush because I don't run into salt build up since my nutrients stay in solution instead of concentrating in the coco while it drys.

I'm not really sure how to respond to what you said about solo cups. I'm at a loss of words on that but I thought I would highlight it anyway......

Based on the last section I highlighted I get the feeling that you are trying to imply that my information is not accurate. Fair enough we are all entitled to our opinion, but I merely posted this tutorial to show people what I do since I get asked so often. If you are implying that I think letting coco dry out does not work you are wrong. It does work, but in my experience it provides more problems than success. All my coco coir issues went away when i dropped my notions of soil and accepted that it is hydroponics.

I hope your coco growing goes well!

^how are your roots looking now?
you mention about not using solo cups but im not sure how you can ague with good results.. his methods are clearly working very well. lots of ways to skin the cat and all that.

Indeed I would also like to see what those roots look like.

Coco is such an incredible media for accelerated plant growth and the ability to use smaller containers for longer flowering plants is also a real benefit.
The handwatering is key to watering everyday. You can feel the container and add only what is needed, I used to use a measuring cup for that.
I think the debate about whether to water everyday is wrong or not depends on the conditions of the room. It's colder and more humid vs warmer and dryer, grow room that makes the difference.
How hot the lights are and how about how cold the floor is. It all factors in. Coco rocks if you use it the right way, I believe that without any doubts at all.
Justiceman's simplistic nutrient regime is also perfect for Coco.
For me, I started using Coco when canna came out with their Cannacoco. I would only use Coco a and b along with some rhizotonic off and on as needed when transplanting and after adding bloom boosters pk12/13, I think it's called. But the PK at recommended levels, would slow down water uptake and in my belief also the plant growth. I started just using more of the a and b then only 1/4 of the PK as a one shot.
I had disco balls of og shining under the hps.
Very nice roots justiceman! I used to use grow bags and the roots would grow all along the bottom looking like that, so clean and white. Coco!!!

Well said! Thanks for the root love too. Watering practices don't fix environmental issues like a magic wand. Nothing does. If our room is too cold it needs to be heated. If it's too warm it needs to be cooled. Humidity has to be kept in check. These are things that we as a grower are responsible for and if they are not in check it doesn't matter what technique or fancy bottled nutrient we use. Nothing will ever work well unless those things are dialed in first.

 

[Loc Dog]

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[Loc Dog]

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[justiceman]

Any reliable studies, that support that??? Last post.

Nope no studies here. Just empirical evidence good sir.

As long as the coco quality itself is good and isn't high in ocean salt I can confidently say I don't see issues in coco at all.

My plants never see a dry day their whole lives. Feel free to drop by my journal(below in my signature) and check things out whenever you like. All are welcome.

 

[siftedunity]

Thank you for posting this thread, sadly when people come and post successes, there's always naysayers. I think this may be because they have been unable to make it work for them. Locdog, the pictures and advice speak for themselves. If you can't make it work for you, why not post some pictures and ask for some advice? that will be more beneficial to you and this thread. Bashing the method is gonna be pretty fruitless since it's proven to work.

 

[GrnEyes]

@justiceman- Thank you so much for posting this thread! Its very helpful to newbies like me. I JUST popped some seeds and started my very first coco grow. Seedlings are looking decent so far. Fingers crossed that they continue that way!

 

[Benvanboro]

Awesome thread! I've been growing in pure coco since I started growing! I just switched to Veg+Bloom Ro/Soft after a lot of research.
You said after the seedlings break the surface you start feeding every day right? I just wanted to make sure.
That's what I've been doing at 0.7 EC, VB + 150ppm CalMag
Everything is looking good so far except 2 of them are growing kind of funky, but it's a tester strain so who knows.
Thanks for all the shared knowledge! Much appreciated!

 

[Benvanboro]

P.S.- The 0.7 EC includes bringing my RO water up to 150ppm w/ Cal Mag
Cheers!

 

[Borner]

Dear sir,

I've been reading about coco feeding techniques and your thread just goes like a cherry on a top of threads like DJMs, HGOs and so on..
I might've missed it, do you watch your VPD? what ranges do you follow, how about humidity in general?

Thank you! and keep on rocking!

 

[Dr. J]

Nice thread bud! Hey where do you keep your p.h at? Do you airstones in the res?

 

[Sativan]

I'm going to keep doing water and nutes the way I have been because the results of my methods is a plant that's extremely vibrant and healthy.

I look at my plant/s and make judgments based on that. So far it works very well.

 

[Bobbo4200]

Great thread that I've read before but read again and it reminded of my watering practices. When the container is small just feed a small amount, don't over saturate the coco.

Thanks again Justice.

 

[shishkaboy]

Wow. This really should be a sticky.

Thank you for taking the time.