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the Hand Watering coco thread

Synthettek

Active member
Thanks these posts are really helpful. I've never lost any seeds I've started directly in coco final containers, but what the problem was I experienced really dramatically slow growth and all had signs of overwatering. I'll give some of these new methods a shot for sure with some low risk bagseeds. For what it's worth, I've had no issues starting in soil in solo cups and transplanting to coco. They never really seem to mind and it's been working.
 

aliceklar

Well-known member
Hi all - this is a great thread! I was reading it again yesterday and saw the advice never to go above EC 1.0. Panicked me as I've recently upped the feed in my coco grow to EC 2.0, after a few weeks at 1.6-1.8. Am I overfeeding??

Currently on day 31 of flower cycle. 3 litre pots of coco/perlite, mixed grow from seed, under LED spider farmer lights - various hybrids and a few landraces, fems and regs. Feeding daily with a base water mix that is about 30% (high calcium carbonate) tap water with nitric acid as pH-, and a little epsom salts, + 70% dehumidifier water, to which I'm adding Canna A+B, Biobizz Bloom, and a little maxicrop seaweed extract. Nute ratio 3 parts of Canna, 2 parts Biobizz, 1 part seaweed extract. pH is 5.6 going in. Temp between 20 and 25C. RH between 50 and 60%.

Most of the plants seem healthy, but some are showing marginal browning and yellowing, and some interveinal yellowing, on the higher and middle leaves (theres the odd yellowing leaf here and there near the base, but nothing severe).
20231115_074214_4.jpg

20231115_074226_5.jpg

20231115_074245_8.jpg

Those are the worrying bits - mostly they look much better...
20231115_074254_2.jpg

20231115_074300_4.jpg
 
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Ca++

Well-known member
Hi all - this is a great thread! I was reading it again yesterday and saw the advice never to go above EC 1.0. Panicked me as I've recently upped the feed in my coco grow to EC 2.0, after a few weeks at 1.6-1.8. Am I overfeeding??

Currently on day 31 of flower cycle. 3 litre pots of coco/perlite, mixed grow from seed, under LED spider farmer lights - various hybrids and a few landraces, fems and regs. Feeding daily with a base water mix that is about 30% (high calcium carbonate) tap water with nitric acid as pH-, and a little epsom salts, + 70% dehumidifier water, to which I'm adding Canna A+B, Biobizz Bloom, and a little maxicrop seaweed extract. Nute ratio 3 parts of Canna, 2 parts Biobizz, 1 part seaweed extract. pH is 5.6 going in. Temp between 20 and 25C. RH between 50 and 60%.

Most of the plants seem healthy, but some are showing marginal browning and yellowing, and some interveinal yellowing, on the higher and middle leaves (theres the odd yellowing leaf here and there near the base, but nothing severe).
View attachment 18918727
View attachment 18918728
View attachment 18918729
Those are the worrying bits - mostly they look much better...
View attachment 18918730
View attachment 18918731
Some feeds won't mix, and while I can say which, the use a chem and bio together, doesn't seem a great idea.
I recall your tap is about right for canna? So using 70% pure(ish) water without adding some Ca back, is also suspect. It's hard to judge how long some of these signs have been present, but I'm back n forth between Ca and K, as both cause leaf margin problems, with rolling and leaf distortion being more Ca related. Which should be on newer growth, not at the bottom.


On topic, I was just hand watering mine, being careful around the drippers. It was playing on my mind, I could just use the drippers. It's so fast to jug them though.
 

aliceklar

Well-known member
Thanks @Ca++

My tap water contains a lot of calcium carbonate, too hard to use straight. I use nitric acid to bring it down, and then cut it with dehum water. Maybe could tweak the formula to include more tap and less dehum. Or maybe calmag?

Also decided to check runoff just before lights out on the plants in the first two pics. Came out at EC 3.5. That might be something to do with it. Flushed both with pH'd water and then topped up with pH'd water + Canna only at EC 1.3. Will reduce feed strength and flush more frequently. I havent flushed most of the plants for ages, since they flipped and stretched and started drinking much more heavily. Will see if keeping it simple fixes things before adding anything else. And thanks for the caution about salts + organics. Had not considered that.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
I wouldn't use calmag, if you can just use more tap, and perhaps Mg-so.
280ppm CaO wasn't it? mildly hard, and what Canna is formulated around. If it's measuring over 0.4ec you could water it down, but not below 0.3

When you flush coco, do so with at least half strength feed. You can really upset it. There is a good chance your leaves will sag for a day or two.

Good luck with it. If I see you in my notifications, you can be sure I always check in
 

Maria Sanchez

Well-known member
it is f2 of Amnesia Haze x Chocolate rain from E$kobar Tribute, very nice plant but you could do the same with many plants, just a bit of vegging and training.

Oh, cool. I think I remember seeing a lot of the Chocolate Rain grows over at Open Grow, back when it was still alive...
 

Maria Sanchez

Well-known member
Most likely, eskobars seeds were sold at sannies and he produced some superb stuff. I dont think he breeds anymore, but there is kind of tribute thing going on with stuff based on his lines.
Haven't been over there for a while.
Just checked a month or two ago, and saw that the whole site is dead, hacked apparently.
Last few years almost like more people growing eskobars than sannies maybe.
Anyway, nice plant, looks phat!
 

DropDropDrop

Active member
How often do you water those?
once a day in flower, the buckets are 10 litres. It is impossible really to say how often to water certain size of pot, depends on the size of the plant and environment etc. Best practise is to start with small pots and repot them when needed, i wouldnt go over 3 gallon / 10 litre pots ever for handwatering if not trying to grow like 2lb plants or something crazy (at least indoors).
 

OldManGrower

New member
i just thought it could be nice to start a thread with tips for growing in coco - but using handwatering and pots..

since im kind of busy i thought this could run on a question and answer basis - also if other growers feel like chipping in with their bit it would be cool. :D

first of with the do's and dont's:

do check ur PH! - range from 5.8 to 6.1 works really well
do make sure you use nutes specific for coco! - this will give the best results and easy of use.
do make sure you use pots big enough for the watering intervals you want to have. bigger pots means less watering. but more water is needed to flush out properly.
do make sure you have run off when watering. about 20-40% is enough.
do make sure the coco never gets dry - this is a hydro medium. watering often gives better results.

DONT treat coco like a soil grow.



growing in coco gives great results outdoors also. it slightly more expensive than soil growing - but the end results will speak for them selves. huge yields and lots of flavour! :D
I am currently doing my first coco grow after about 15 soil grows. I am quite impressed with my results so far as compared to soil. I am finding coco to be advantageous in almost every category and can barely wait until weigh in to see the results.

One interesting thing. I cannot seem to get my runoff below 6.6, When I water with anything below 6.1 my plants, autos, begin to show PH issues. I really don't understand this but I just do what the girls ask.
 

Jaken

Member
I am currently doing my first coco grow after about 15 soil grows. I am quite impressed with my results so far as compared to soil. I am finding coco to be advantageous in almost every category and can barely wait until weigh in to see the results.

One interesting thing. I cannot seem to get my runoff below 6.6, When I water with anything below 6.1 my plants, autos, begin to show PH issues. I really don't understand this but I just do what the girls ask.
Do you use calmag? Also is run off necessary if their fed 2x a day to a 1/4 cup run off? Also what's your npk?
 

StickyBandit

Well-known member
Ghost Train Haze #1, pic from 2 days ago. No run-off to speak of, no testing, No additives, Mills Basis nutes 1.5EC pH 6.2 from start to finish (so far) with rainwater. 20L hempy bucket with straight coco (and a small layer of hydroton at the bottom this round). Top up daily or every second day. No thinking involved, just how I like it :p
Check out the stalk!
You can auto water through the bottom feed pipe on a daily or 2 daily timer if desired, my next project
Very strong sweet lemon aroma on this one, and very sticky
The reason there's no testing is because I know the mix, 15ml A, 15ml B, 1 drop pH up per 5ml (so 3 drops) in a 5L watering can. I er on the high side of pH to maximize p-k absorption for trichome development, maybe it works, who knows? :)


GTH.JPG
 
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Jaken

Member
Ghost Train Haze #1, pic from 2 days ago. No run-off to speak of, no testing, No additives, Mills Basis nutes 1.5EC pH 6.2 from start to finish (so far) with rainwater. 20L hempy bucket with straight coco (and a small layer of hydroton at the bottom this round). Top up daily or every second day. No thinking involved, just how I like it :p
Check out the stalk!
You can auto water through the bottom feed pipe on a daily or 2 daily timer if desired, my next project
Very strong sweet lemon aroma on this one, and very sticky


View attachment 18930152
Nice stalking pun intended lol if u want I'll elaborate
 

Jaken

Member
Ghost Train Haze #1, pic from 2 days ago. No run-off to speak of, no testing, No additives, Mills Basis nutes 1.5EC pH 6.2 from start to finish (so far) with rainwater. 20L hempy bucket with straight coco (and a small layer of hydroton at the bottom this round). Top up daily or every second day. No thinking involved, just how I like it :p
Check out the stalk!
You can auto water through the bottom feed pipe on a daily or 2 daily timer if desired, my next project
Very strong sweet lemon aroma on this one, and very sticky


View attachment 18930152
Toping up from a drain hose you mean? If you have drain holes tap em all into a res no toping nescary and you can even put you oat on an injector and visit it once a week so simple No thinking involved, just how I like it :p
 

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