The amount of fertilized water?

[Resonance]

Hello guyz! I would like to ask you quite basic question, but for me it was hard to find an answer for it.

I read some FAQs, searched google, but I did not find any relevant answer...

First of all, some info about my oncoming grow:
- Feminized Euforia
- Im going to use 25l autopot with coco
- AH fertilizers -> EC from 0.6 to 1.5max; pH about 5.8
- Im planning to fertilize manually every 7-8 days (water inside the Autopot tank will not contain any fertilizers, only modified pH)

The question is:
For example, according to my fertilizing plan, I will be fertilizing with EC 1.0...
Generally, the EC of 1.0, means 1l of water with 1.0 EC, but with how much fertilized water should I water my plants (according to the plan - fertilize once a week).
Does that mean, that I should always fertilize the plant with precisely 1l of fertilized water no matter if the plant requires more/less one-time watering according to its size?
Or should I just mix appropriate amount of water with fertilizers to get specific EC 1.0 and water the plant according to its size?

For example:
When I was growing in soil (watering manually -> not an Autopot) and the plant was quite large, I was watering it twice a week with about 2l of water, which means I was fertilizing every 2nd or 3rd watering...

I fertilized with 2 liters of fertilized water (both liters contained fertilizers with the same EC according to the plan - for example 1.0) - was that correct, or should I put fertilizers just into one liter to get EC 1.0 and the next liter of water leave w/o fertilizers?

And its the same matter, when the plant is small - should I fertilize it with precisely 1l of fertilized water with specific EC, or more likely according to its size (small=less/large=more)?

 

[Resonance]

Alright, I found this:
Fertilizing wisely

" Watering amount:

Not only the EC but also the amount of nutrient solution determines salt levels in the soil. The amount you water should not exceed the normal requirements of the plant. If a grown cannabis plant in your garden uses 500ml water daily then you should water that same amount with the nutrient solution. Never fertilize on dry soil! "

To be honest, I am quite confused...

I am begginer, so I am sorry for such questions, but I dont want to do any mistakes again.... My first and second grow did not end very well, probably because of overfertilization.

If I get it right, according to this guide I should keep the same EC (0.8) whole the time except the very begginigs, when plants are small (EC even lower) and the only thing that changes as plants grow is the amount of fertilized water with the same EC.

Like this, it totaly makes sense to me, because the EC/1l remains more or less the same, but you water a plant with different ammounts of fertilized water...
-> Small plant = less water, for example 0.5L (with fertilizers EC 0.8/1L) = less fertilized -> Large plant = more water, for example 1.5L (with fertilizers EC 0.8/1L) = more fertilized

So whats the point of guides telling you to increase EC/1L as plant grows, if the only thing you have to do is just to give a plant more fertilized water?

For example, if a plant requires 0.5L of water for its one-time watering and EC schelude tells you to fertilize this time with an EC of 0.8/L, in fact, plant gets only a half of nuts, because you use only 0.5L out of 1L of 0.8 fertilized water...

OR ... should it be like EC 0.8/0.5L (according to the required amount of water)?

 

[Levitationofme]

You might want to email the nutrient company for specific usage.
I have not tried a system like yours. When I used Coco it was in a Hand watered to 10 or 20% runoff in Fabric pots

In anycase use enough fertilized water at the EC and PH you want to fully saturate your medium. A little runoff is good. If there are some left over nutrients, use it on plant outside. You will learn quick how much they need.

Are you growing in pure coco coir?

 

[Resonance]

100% non-fertilised coco. Right now, I am planning things... Not started yet.

 

[Resonance]

I guess you are right...

Fully saturated 25L pot is by my guess about 3L of water, maybe more... So than it would be 3L of fertilized water with EC according to some guide/schelude...

But if a plant is small and its roots are about 10cm long, isnt it pointless to fully saturate whole pot?

 

[Levitationofme]

Before doing a first Coco grow definitely read the sticky notes.
There is a thread for that for sure.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/forumdisplay.php?f=65577
Lots of really knowledgeable guys in that forum who know how to help you get started.

Lots of good info growing seedlings on the forums too, but in beginning for its first few feedings I use a dropper. Again coco can be quirky with starting seeds so I start seeds in a handy starter plug of your choice then move to a typical plastic cup of prepped coco.

Those roots grow fast in proper conditions.

 

[Levitationofme]

If you were to hand water the plants in coco you would want to figure the best PPM/EC to run with for every watering. You will see numbers all over the place on the forums.
The pot of coco is the same as a reservoir on a full hydro grow. Ultimately you have to do some figuring on your own. Start low and slowly add more untill you see signs of overfeeding.
I wouldnt worry about wasting nutrients, It will not take very long to find out how much you will need daily.

 

[Resonance]

My idea is to hand-water the plants once a 7-10 days just with fertilised water and in the meantime, the rest watering should do the AutoPot tank, which should constantly keep the lower bowl full of water -> the pot is going to be submerged in 6cm of water constantly... So the lower part of the pot should be non-stop hydrated, but I am not sure if the upper parts of the pot will be able to suck out from it as well and remain hydrated for those 7-10 days until I hand water it with fertilisers again....

I read, that for coco it is essential to remain hydrated and to dry out too much, because than it is going to shrink, which may damage roots...

About the EC in coco, I already read some tips...

Anyway, thanks alot for you advise! I will checks thoso CoCo threads and hopefully find some answers

 

[Resonance]

for coco it is essential to remain hydrated and not to dry out too much *

 

[Levitationofme]

Sounds like its worth a try.

Coco holds like a ton of water/ Nutrient solution. When you pour in the nutrient solution you are pushing out the used solution which has had much of its Oxygen used up, has waste from plant metabolization. You would be pushing those wastes into your lower water source. The PH and EC will change fast.
If you keep draining it and replacing it with fresh water with a good dose of Ca/Mag it could work.

If you hand water in a more traditional method the coco never dries out unless you go a few days without watering or noticing depending on your setup.

The salts in the nutrients
build up and crystalize on the roots. Very bad. PH goes crazy and you have all the problems associated with coco. Lock out of nutrients, or even reversal of the flow of fluids into the plant and you can really hurt those gals.

On the Plus side by watering multiple times a day you always have fresh oxygen charged,
nutrient balanced solution surrounding your plants at all times at the proper PH. ( Sounds like full Hydro)

I started out hand watering and my grow was just a few plants, so it didn't make sense to make a drip system.

Coco grows plants at the accelerated rate of Hydro and is fun to mess with.

 

[Levitationofme]

Lots of info on the problems in coco and the solutions for them in the forum.

It's really a great

You can read and let other people make the mistakes on their plants...........

 

[Resonance]

The thing is, I wont be present every day.. Thats the main reason why I want to use the AutoPot. So I will not be able to hand-water those plants every day.

The plan was to let those plants drain water (modified pH, non-fertilised) from the AutoPot (lower bowl) and visit them once a week and hand-water them from above with fertilised water (I need to fertilise them once a week according to my grom plan)

Before every hand-watering from above with fertilised water I would close the autopot tank and empty the lower bowl to get some space for redundant fertilised water. I would get rid of redundant fertilised water from the bowl and open the AutoPot tank again to fill the bowl again with clear water.... What do you think?

Do you thing it could work, or the coco wont hold on hydrated? Of course, I should probably ask this someone whos actually using coco in autopot to get relevant answer...

 

[Levitationofme]

This is easy. It wont work.

If I were you I would use simple Bubble Buckets. 5 gal bucket sized. Refill and tweak the
bucket each week.
That can be done. Especially with quality nutrients. Not good if they precipitate down to the bottom of the bucket

No worries there, you could use Coco if you like, but I used Hydroton . Roots grow down into the nutrients and hang in the air as well. Kind of a Ghetto Hydro but plants grow great.

Lots of info on youtube and forums on Bubble buckets

 

[Resonance]

Thank you for your time and advice, I really appreciate it! But I dont want to invest into whole new watering system... I would rather find some way how optimize it...

Do you thing there is some sort of way how to compensate the accumulation of nuts inside the lower part of the pot?

For example - what if I keep the autopot tank closed after hand-fertilizing for a few days and let the plant consume the water with fertilizers inside the pot and dry out a little (the autopot bowl would remain empty), but not too much, because the coco must not dry out completely. And then, after like 2-3 days open the tank again? Or something like that.... ?

 

[Resonance]

Or maybe even hand-water the pot again after 2-3 days with clean water after hand-fertilizing to flush it out... and than open the tank... ?