the Hand Watering coco thread

[Xtrakritical]

Hey P&P! Looking good bro...

Thanks for the input!
My first try with flowering clones, all was looking good...
Then I messed up going to heavy handed on the nutes!

I think the best thing to do, is to print out the next 3 months from Outlook or any calendar, and keep track... Then I lost my print out! lol

Xtra

 

[gaiusmarius]

Hey Bonecarver mate,

great to see you here with this thread. this is the guy who makes hand watering coco a snap.

i love your do's and don'ts list

don't treat it like earth! that's one i am always telling people too. not unless you are growing in earth.

peace

 

[Guest]

No prob Xtra, I was told by my Hydrostore guy that when Using PBP lines with coco it is of up most importance to feed the plants the same amount every feeding.. NEVER more or less as he says it will throw the plants into a tail spin... I never asked why just bought my shit n obeing his rules, lol

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Hey guys.

Hey guys.

I am growing in 100% coco coir and treating it exactly like soil...

The results so far are good. Into week 5 of flower, nice juicy buds, loads of trichs etc.

But... i am doing the flowering 100% organically so do i still need a runoff ?

Cheers.

 

[gaiusmarius]

interesting...

how exactly are you treating your coco SilverSurfer? what ferts and supplements? what's your watering plan like?

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

I am growing one plant under a 400w hps in a 16litre storage box.

I use monsta bud by Ozigrow. This has been supplemented with epsom salts every third or so watering and i have given doses of molasses, wormcastings, seasol (kelp) and just recently bat guano...

I also have given her a lil bit of superthrive and rhizotonic.

I water her usually every second day.

 

[-VT-]

Gurgling

Gurgling

Gurgling is bad for the roots I was taught by a mentor back at OG a long time ago....I water slowly....and evenly.

I bought one of those sugar shakers from a cheap dollar place ....smaller than a handwatering wand....and works great

 

[bonecarver_OG]

gdawg - since coco is made for hydro nutrition programs - it means u have to give the nutritions wich the medium is not providing - now this means with coco specific nutes there is less work involved with aditives like cal-mag etc

as long as the nutes u are giving have all the goodies ur plant wants - u are OK!

the rainfall should not be counted into the watering schedule - if anything see it as an extra flush. remember rainwater has a lot of nitrogen .. so in flowering this is something u might protect ur flowers from. a roof or just covering the top of the coco with something should do the trick.

in coco u will be better off the more u water - to a certain point

Gaiusmarius - hehe

silversurfer - very nice results u are really using the coco as a medium to suport ur organic nutrients. thats not hydro growing but can give good results i bet when growing in soil the soil it self has part of the nutrition for the plants - since u are adding all of them this is like some kind of hybrid method.

only thing i can say is if u switch to coco specific nutes u can count on less work with the nutes, less problems with defiancies and carencies, and you will have a more dense end-product meaning bigger yields

 

[bonecarver_OG]

VT - slow watering is definetly the way to go. i usually give a small splash first, then when the top part of the medium is humid i water once again to make sure all nooks and crannies are wet. i tend to use a small cup unless its a really big pot.

also i got to ad at this point:

it is possible to do a passive hydro grow watering by hand... :

the trick is to use trays and water on the tray from early on - this will promote hydro roots to grow and it will also make sure u can leave ur plants for a few days - even if u are growing in small pots. the only downside is when u need to empty the trays - if u dont have a tap or similar for draining - u might end up using sphonges etc

this method can be improved using airstones etc in the trays.

i do normally start my seedlings and clones in veg like this.

peace

 

[JackKerouac]

I am hand watering a couple times a day with canna nutes, 10% runoff. I let them go a day and a half without water and boy were the ladies pissed! They must have been really transpiring to be so needy.

I am interested in a passive system so I could leave for a few days. Watering in trays sounds ok, but is a bit unpredictable. How about a wick system? How about those 2 liter bottle "aqua spikes"?

 

[bonecarver_OG]

u would have to try it out and let us know

the tray method is quite reliable - as long as u know how much ur plants use but i wouldnt leave for a longer time without checking up on them. just a weekend etc

peace

 

[Dalton]

Hey guys here's a good story for handwatering coco.

I started this plant from seed a few months ago. It was was in a a 32 gallon rubermaid DWC hydro setup. I was having alot problems with it and I never installed a way for it to drain. It was driving me nuts. I decided to switch to coco and all I did was pull out the net pot and held it over a 2 gallon pot and filled in with the coco around the roots. There was no stall at all!! the plant just Kept humming right along. So if anyones having problems with there hydro setup it seems it's ok to transplant right to coco. I now have handwatering and simplicity with hydro growth rates. Now this was only 2 plants I did this with and they were not in bloom at the time. But this seems to work.



The wierd thing is I transplanted to this 5 gallon dishpan about a month ago
and everyday I water I can see the shape of the of the original container. The roots don't seem to be spreading around in their new home. Have you seen palnts get rootbound in 2 gallon Pots of coco bonecarver?

Great thread man. This place is filling up quickly with alot of good info

 

[bonecarver_OG]

ive used up to 5 gallon pots indoors but i transplant just before flowering to make sure there will be enough space for the roots.

if the plant is in flowering i would not expect too much root growth after the first month.

peace

 

[Guest]

I just transplanted into 3gal pots & was simply BLOWN away by the rooting the COCO promotes... 1gal pots for 3 weeks prior to the transplant

 

[-VT-]

That is nice...looks like an ice cream cake You didn't use any root stimulator type product? Just enzymes huh?

 

[Guest]

I use Plant Success Granulated Mycorrihzal Fungi at transplants and Hygrozyme every watering...

COCO has added the FUN element to growing again!

 

[bonecarver_OG]

very nice P&P!

 

[-VT-]

Feeding Multiple Strains....and different phases...

Feeding Multiple Strains....and different phases...

I handwater several strains and different phase plants each watering...and I don't have enough plant numbers to justify seperate mixes (batches of nutrient)

What I now do is:
1. start with 2 gal of source water
2. add additives
3. adjust PH

>Next I add nutrient to reach desired EC for the smallest plants to be fed....(in my case two mental Floss seedlings currently).....

>After feeding the babies...I add nutrient to reach level for next set of plants to be fed at next higher EC (1.0 currently for me).....then I top off with source water if needed (no need this recent feeding)....adjusting PH....then hitting my 1.6EC target for my more mature ladies....

This system beats mixing 1/2gal just for two seedlings that only need a cup of nutrient for the two of them....rather than mixing seperately...I prefer this method...

For larger gardens (more plants at various stages) this is probably not beneficial...but for me this works well.....

peace

 

[bonecarver_OG]

its a good tip

 

[WAMEN]

thanks for the info OG! really nice thread keep it up peace