Ok, time to transplant to coco... Help me not screw it up!

[Ono Nadagin]

Aloha all!

Forgive me for being a nervous one...

In the past I have been a hydrotron man...I have LOTS of it... and I love it, it will still be used in my grows, but I will no longer be using it for a a growing substrate... I as many of you know from my posting here in the coco forum have decided to go 100% coco.

The main reason I am switching 100% is that the maintenance of mothers and other vegging plants in DWC is a constant battle and you cant really leave em for long. Nothing sucks worse than losing a good mother.. I lost a Cherry pheno AK47 mom a few years ago .. I can deal with losing some clones in flower or veg, but I never want to lose nother mother..

So I decided today that rather than continue to veg my yet to be sexed plants out in DWC I would switch them to coco today rather than keeping them in DWC buckets as I have in the past

Here are a few pics of the 1st plant I am transplanting today... The Unknown Chronic... aka TUC






She(positive thinking) is really loking healthy imo, and is starting to put out her(more positive thinking ) 2nd set of 5 finger leaves as well as a good amount of roots so I figured this would be a good time to transplant





Here is what they are getting transplanted into, these are 6"x6" pots and are 7.5" tall. I am going to use about 1.5"(just enough to cover the bottom) of hydrotron on the bottom for drainage and to help keep the coco in the pots




The coco itself is a mix of Botanicare brick and a B'Cuzz Bounce block... the combination makes a great feeling mix much better than either of the two by themselves...



So here is my plan of attack please let me know if you think I am doing or not doing something I should or shouldnt be doing

I have flushed the coco until its runoff was clear and the ppms are in the 100ish range.

I then ran a couple of gallons of R/O'd water with a corrected ph of 5.8 and a few drops of superthrive through the coco. (I am thinking I should have also added a mild dose of ferts to the mix

When I do fert I am going to use the last little bit of PBP grow I have before I make the total switch to CNS17 grow I have(for less than $50 I got a gallon each of CNS17 grow and bloom, I am loking forward to giving this new Botanicare line a shot.

If I could find it atm I would also be adding GH's Subculture, has anyone else tried this, it is said to be a replacement for Advanced Nutrients Voodoo Juice, Piranha, and Tarantula all rolled up into one
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/subculture.html


Anyway as always I am worried I am forgetting something, esp after being away from growing for 3yrs... So pls guys and gals let me know what I am screwing up or forgetting all together

tyia

Ono

 

[Caligrown]

The Subculture is new to me but the pouches seem convienient. Hope it catches on within the industry. Just toss in your resi...nice.

Only thing I would say to you is the coco holds more water than it seems. Just be sure during rooting that you let the medium mostly dry out between waterings.

Best of luck friend -Cali

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Ty for stopping by CG...

Yeah the guys at my hydro shop didnt knock Subculture but they sure didnt push it either... they carry it but the keep it behind the counter and dont display it... I figured it was because they make bank on selling all the stuff it replaces... I will be using it ata lower dose than they recomend at 1st then ramp it up if needed.

And thanks for the the tips... I will be transplanting them in the morning as I just got back from a party(to watch NBA allstar game) and I shouldnt fiddle with the plants when I have been drinking... the laddies never like a drunkard.

 

[-VT-]

If using Botanicare, I think it's a good idea to flush (fortify...innoculate) the medium with a mild dose of nutrient, Cal/Mag+ (important IMO if running low TDS source water), and any other additives for that matter.....just don't get the medium hot....I've experienced reverse osmosis (my belief) from hot mixes (and overferting)....for added context regarding my post and bias .....lemme say I've only had experience with Botanicare coco and nutrient combinations for the most part....I just follow the Botanicare cocogro instructions....which is to just water with Botanicare nutrient

One thing I am doing now is starting babies with regular feedings of SM-90 (could use beneficials as you're contemplating.......one could use H2O2 from what I have read....that SM-90 (combined with Raid's No Pest Strip) wiped out fungus gnats from my growroom...normally I start with enzymes right away (I recycle by the way)....can't use enzymes (Hygrozyme being an exception) or beneficials in conjunction with H2O2 or SM-90 (for those who don't know)

peace

 

[gaiusmarius]

are you planning to plant the net pot into the coco? or are you gonna take the plants out of those net pots and the hydroton? maybe leave the balls that hold to the roots, they will do no harm in the coco. good luck man, after the transplant i'd be giving a good watering with a light dose of ferts and some root stimulator of some kind.

 

[Ono Nadagin]

ty for the responses

Gaius ... I will be removing the net cup and the hydrotron.. I have transplanted a net cup with hydrotrom into soil before and the roots in the cup went green and woody... I assume it was because they dried out so much faster than the roots in the dirt, I think this had to have been a little bit of a stress on the plant.

VT, I have been wondering about the use of calmag and cns17.... doesnt cns17 have a bunch of calcium in it to begin with?... can I give them to much cal?...

 

[-VT-]

Yea CNS17 does have a lot of Calcium in it....I currently use Cal/Mag+ @ 1 tsp/gal with low TDS wource water....I also use Sweet (which has Mg).....Ca is a bit more important than Mg seems like....if you overdo Mg you can wash out Ca from the mix and cause problems (especially with esalts)

You'll know if you give em too much Ca if the tips are burnt white.....there is a thread in this forum on Calcium (and how much is too much)...haven't gotten around to reading that one yet

Oh...I've transplanted from DWC to coco mixes before...took a bit for the water roots to adapt...and there was some shock...but nothing major....my GN c99 mom I had went from MDWC to coco/vermiculite mix (my best run to date)...miss that Cindy....

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Well I finally transplanted them, I was going to do it a few days ago but I dropped the plant and I wanted to give it a bit to recover... it actually never even slowed down in the last couple of days it has grow like a weed







The coco was innoculated with

.3mg per gallon of Subculture
1 drop of Superthrive
5ml per gal of cal mag+,LK
10ml per gal of CNS17 grow
then ph'd the mix to 5.75
ppm of 685... thats what ec 1.3?... my meter does ec .. I am guessin its the funky symbol betweem my ppms and temp on the meter and it reads off in a 4 digit format... ie 1300... and is always about dbl the ppm

then I put the plant in and hit it again with the above mix till it ran off a little, then put a layer of hydrotrom on the top to stop the coco from drying out to fast

lets see how it does under a 175w HPS till tomorrow when I can go buy a new MH bulb...

 

[-VT-]

10ml/4L (2 tsp/gal) is quite a bit of CNS 17 ....keep your eyes peeled for overfert....especially under 175W

 

[Ono Nadagin]

kk will do... I thought I was giving it a lite feed, what strength do you use it at.... i have been stoned since the last time I read your cns17 post

 

[-VT-]

I start babies at 1/2 tsp/gal....I burned some babies at 1 tsp/gal & 2 tsp/gal .... a couple were locked out so bad I chopped 'em...well rooted clones can handle 1tsp/gal....but not 2 tsp/gal, unless they are nute hogs...like Purple Urkle, Casey Jones, or AG13....Mental Floss is a nibbler...I found out the hard way

Remember...Cal/Mag+ has N....even LK has a lil' N....

 

[Ono Nadagin]

I think this plant can handle it, we will know by in the morning I am guessing.... just ran the ppms again on the batch of nutes I used... 635ppms sorry for the error above.. either way ot still seems like a very lite feeding ... nutes made in RO water 7.0/15ppm

I am still blown away by the texture of the coco it is soo porous... the plant should really love it

 

[Guest]

10ml/4L (2 tsp/gal) is quite a bit of CNS 17 ....keep your eyes peeled for overfert....especially under 175W

I'm using CNS17 also and I have to agree. That'd claw mine right up, had a lot of problems dialing in the right dose. Also, did I see you also added 1 tsp ( 5 ml ) of calmag and Liquid Karma? I don't think you needed the calmag since the CNS17 already has it in there, and I really do think the LK in addition to the CNS17 is going to be too hot

Oh, before I forget, I suggest hygrozyme. Like steroids for the roots and I've noticed the plants are a LOT perkier since I started using it.

 

[Ono Nadagin]

thanks for stopping by VT & OP

OP I am using Subculture for the roots, have we already discussed this, If we did I hate to admit I dont remember it... musta been

We will see how she looks in the morn I think I should see signs of over fert by then. I just went and checked in on her(wishful thinking) and she doesnt show any sign of shock, she actually looks like she has perked up a little...pics from a couple of min ago







She is a beast so far here are pics of her 2-3 days ago

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Well all is well so far, she is showing no noticable signs of over fert, it has only been about 12hrs... in DWC I would normally see signs by now, but as I am not familiar with growing in coco yet I dont know if I should expect signs to show in the same amount of time.

 

[-VT-]

Nice...you're off to a good start....wish I could get a grasp on this stuff as quickly as others lol....I'll follow the progress in your show....

We'll be blooming with CNS17 'bout the same time....so let's stay in touch and compare notes etc....

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Why ty VT

I just got done feeding her again with the same mix... it seems to be loving the coco and the nutes, it never skipped a beat after the transplant.. it also took being dropped like a champ, the only signs are a few bent/creased leaves and a few spots

Here are a few pics of the plant right after its feeding tonight





And here it is a couple days ago after I transplanted it



I moved my 175 up about a foot in an attempt to get it to stretch a bit... I needs me some clones

I have also thought about topping it, btu I am always neverous when topping a plant before I get it sexed...

I will grow a side by side with you if this one is female if she isnt a she I will be counting onat least one of the 12 of JLP's Ultimate Moonshine I started germing better be lol

 

[Caligrown]

She(it) is lookin healthy Ono. I'll grab a chair for this one..

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Heya thanx for stoppin by Cali..

here it is a few days later... it seems to really like the coco and cns17... no idea if the subculture is working, I will find out on a repot. The curled leaf edges seem to go away a day or to after the leafs emerge... I thought it might be some sort of deficiency tho, but it does seem to go away.



Here she is about a week ago I guess when I transplanted he... easy to see it has come a long way fast and is enjoying its new digs



I figure another week or so and I will have 3-5 cuttings/clones from her. I will sex one and veg the rest

 

[Caligrown]

Looking goodly ono...Where is your EC at now? I got some salts building up in my coco I think so I flushed yesterday and we'll see if they respond. Keep an eye on your runoff. It will give you and indication of buildup before the plants will.

-Cali