the Hand Watering coco thread

[seanpferguson]

i just received my seeds and before i started them i had a few questions.
i know to plant the seeds in calmag treated coco, but what should i feed them? 1/4 strength hydro nutes?
and when? as soon as theyre out of the coco? or when theyre starting to look hungry?
any help with this would be great. the beans were expensive and i dont want to waste time or money. thanks

 

[SuperConductor]

I let a batch of seedlings, at the second set of true leaves, go a day too long without watering. They seemed fine still, but I made sure the next watering was a good flush through to clear any salt buildup, and was with plain RO water.

12 hours later, they're now showing symptoms of overwatering. Is this a normal response when I've been an idiot with feeding intervals?

edit: kind of answered my own question, in a way, from re-reading parts of this thread. Should have flushed out the salt buildup with weak nutes rather than plain water, as it helps built up salts dissolve.

Did you feed them after flushing? Even if you use a weak nute solution they'll show deficiencies pretty quick if there's not enough food for them. I know I'm repeating myself but wateing with low ec and lots of run-off means you don't need to flush. [In my opinion flushing is something you want to avoid if possible as any big change like that (going from full feed to low feed or just water) is going to stress the plants same as temp or PH swings.]

Remember though I'm only on my first coco grow but it's the same in compost, any sudden environmental swings will stress plants.

 

[onegreenday]

I'm watering the same with low EC and 10% run-off in Canna COGR and they seem ok.
Not deep dark green yet but I can increase EC or add fish fert, etc, as needed.

I'm feeding Floranova Grow at 1.2 EC (no supplements) and want to see how good the plants do at this EC.

I'm going to run the Canna COGR in the smartpot cloth bag for massive air to the COGR
and see how they do.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

wateing with low ec and lots of run-off means you don't need to flush.

the key to success in coco growing

 

[paranoidalien]

How do you mix your nutes bone? I've got two airstones in my 55 gal res right now and I often take the drip lines off the pump and put on a short piece of hose just to mix it up for a bit. I run my air stones 24/7 although I'm not sure this is beneficial? I'm using GH head formula at the moment, but would like to move to canna next grow. What do you think of the COGR line? I've seen good results, but I',m not sure of the difference between COGR and regular Canna Coco nutes. Mad respect Bone!

 

[onegreenday]

How do you mix your nutes bone? I've got two airstones in my 55 gal res right now and I often take the drip lines off the pump and put on a short piece of hose just to mix it up for a bit. I run my air stones 24/7 although I'm not sure this is beneficial? I'm using GH head formula at the moment, but would like to move to canna next grow. What do you think of the COGR line? I've seen good results, but I',m not sure of the difference between COGR and regular Canna Coco nutes. Mad respect Bone!

my rez with some organics & recycled nutes changes ph by time of day , 6.8 last night, now it's over 7.3 on it's own, next
it might go down to 6.8, maybe it's the moon pull..air stone 24/7

i got the COGR going and it's a nice media, i took the slab and soaked with the CANNA buffer, it puffed up to 4.25 gal (17L) for a $10. slab, then i stirred to mix the media
and you can see the components fines, threads, chunks and it holds a lot of water but drains and waters nice. very impressed.

you could make your own mix of coir with chunks, fines and threads, to get
the mixyou want but this is all packaged and pressed ready to go.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

i mix my nutes about 15 to 20 minutes before im going to use it. i handwater so i just mix what i need. partially because of fluctuating PH. part because of ease.

 

[McSnappler]

Didn't feed them immediately, but have now gone back to weak nutes. In general, I've been feeding my coco plants once every day or so, with anywhere from 1/8 to 1/2 strength Canna A+B depending on how big they are.

The reason I was worried, and decided to flush, was because they went maybe three days without any fluid at all, in tiny pots, and I was concerned about salt buildup. I'd not read up properly about what to do in this event, so defaulted to soil behaviour of flushing with plain water

Fed with light nutes last night, and they seem perkier today, though still a little droopy.

To be completely fair, all of this co-incided with moving them to a different box, under slightly different lighting, slightly warmer temps.. so who can blame them for looking a little bedraggled!

Did you feed them after flushing? Even if you use a weak nute solution they'll show deficiencies pretty quick if there's not enough food for them. I know I'm repeating myself but wateing with low ec and lots of run-off means you don't need to flush. [In my opinion flushing is something you want to avoid if possible as any big change like that (going from full feed to low feed or just water) is going to stress the plants same as temp or PH swings.]

Remember though I'm only on my first coco grow but it's the same in compost, any sudden environmental swings will stress plants.

 

[paranoidalien]

Bone, looking for some advice. I went home this Saturday, and accidentally left my lights on 24/7. I got back today, Monday, and turned my lights off at 8:30 PM. I'm around 3.5 weeks into flowering and I just left my lights on for around 60 hours. This is the second crop I think I've ruined. Am I guaranteed to loose it to hermis? I just don't really know if this is what I should be doing with my life. Two crops, two failures. I need some words of inspiration.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

get a timer mate its cheap

anyway - if you make sure your nights are 12 from now on you might have luck and the plants will continue flowering without much stress. i dont think your crop is ruined mate

no worries in other words.

peace

 

[paranoidalien]

Thanks bone! I had a friend that told me my life was over. Yeah I have a the programable timers, but mine are designed to be annoying. There is an on, auto, and off setting. Some evil little gnome came into my room and flipped me onto "on." I mean come on, if you just wanted them "on" then why not just plug them right into the wall! I found three nanners on the very first night after I discovered it, but I've yet to find any more. Thanks for the hope my friend! You have been an inspiration.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

hermafrodism is usually not related to fluctuacions in DAY time hours.

peace

 

[2tokesnpass]

HEY BONE, im planning on using coco for my next grow. will i be ok just using a grow and bloom nutrient? or do i need any other nutes? i know they have to be specificlly made for coco. just wondering if i need anything other then coco and veg and bloom nutes..

2tokes

 

[eisystem]

great tread so far guys but only advice i give to newbies being a newbie my self is do not under estimate the importance of the 15% run off also once planted in the final bucket make sure you water the whole bucket not just near the cubes and this is for 2 reasons

1) So it gives the coco time to settle and compress a little
2) As soon as roots hit the fresh coco filled bucket they grow and spread so fast so make sure they ain't running into a desert!!!

Also after spending £135 on a Canna feed and got 1 grow out of it i got recommended to use BioBizz (Bloom, Grow and Top-Max) for a cost off £40. (H.snow + Arjans H 2 weeks in looking good

 

[onegreenday]

great tread so far guys but only advice i give to newbies being a newbie my self is do not under estimate the importance of the 15% run off also once planted in the final bucket make sure you water the whole bucket not just near the cubes and this is for 2 reasons

1) So it gives the coco time to settle and compress a little
2) As soon as roots hit the fresh coco filled bucket they grow and spread so fast so make sure they ain't running into a desert!!!

Also after spending £135 on a Canna feed and got 1 grow out of it i got recommended to use BioBizz (Bloom, Grow and Top-Max) for a cost off £40. (H.snow + Arjans H 2 weeks in looking good

yah that Canna boost is steep $$ , i thought British prices were cheaper there..

r u measuring TDS & PH?
what do u run for figures?
what kind of coco.

one school of watering says water more as the roots grow down & fill the bucket; not all at once.

By hitting the dry coir the roots stop & root prune and branch out further up on the root.

but what works for u is what counts.

thanks

thanks

 

[SuperConductor]

Literally everything is more expensive in Britain man, aint called Rip-off Britain for nothing.

The reason I'd water the whole pot and not just around the plant when potting on is if you leave any dry parts in the pot they will wick moisture from the wet parts leaving th whole medium not wet enough.

 

[padster007]

im just starting a canna coco grow with a mixture of clay peebles and a 2 inch layer of clay peebles for drainage in 10 litre pots. im starting from cuttings/clones an they are only a week old about 3 inch tall and i think im having problems already. im using canna a and b and rhizo at a mixture of around 15ml of each a&b and 20ml of rhizo. my tap waters around 7.1 ph and the ec is 0.4 and when i finish adding my nutes the ec is around 1.2 700ppm so i ph down to 5.8 and gave 500ml per plant maybe more some times around the perimetre just to get the 15% run off. the leaves look like nute burn with the tips twisting and browning then slightly curling up, but the new young leaves look very yellow and stems lookin purple colour so im wondering are my babies getting enough nutes. really its my 1st grow and just studied for a few months before starting. i flushed out with ph'd water today and going to feed them mild nutes tomorrow or the day after. i had a bad day with the light 2 days ago as it was red hot and above 30c and the humidity was low sorted that now and have a temp of 26c when lights on and 21c when the lights off with a humidity around 40%/50% RH. anyone got any helpful advice it would be greatly apreciated, plus how do i perform a correct run off test with coco.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

just wondering if i need anything other then coco and veg and bloom nutes..

2tokesandpass - yeah man that will work fine



eisystem - hope those nutes works out well

my tip of the DECADE is to NOT TO BUY CANNA FLOWERING ACCELERATOR or BIO BOOST.
its just too much money for little difference..



one greenday - better water the whole bucket to induce quick root growth this is the secret behing coco.. the root growth.


padster - skip the clay pebbles - its no good in a coco grow.. just occupies rootspace. the rest of the problems could be various things. what coco do you use? also an other thing - do you constantly keep the coco wet/humid? let it get to a state where you definetly can feel the pot/bucket etc a hellalot lighter in weigth. letting the coco have periods of lower levels of humidity ACTUALLY induces root growth - the plants roots start looking for water and the rootmass will later show upstairs - in the nugs

also keep the lights far away from small plants. they dont have enough roots to suply big amounts of water yet. gradually lower lights. also at the same time do the lower watering intervals regim. rhizotonic in big amounts is counter productive, it raises the ph and means more ph down has to be used. when using rhizotonic its better use it alone, or with very low ec of nutes.

as far as i know; run-off test - ph test and ec test the run off water. the ec will normally be high when handwatering... ph should be at 6 or so. is there any other know "test methods" could be fun to hear


peace

 

[padster007]

cheers bone! the lights are i have 1 400w light about 30/35inch away and im using canna coco! with the same brand nutes. i flushed 2 days ago then gave 500ml each of ph 5.9 ec 1 about 2 hr ago just incase they wanted a feed, the coco has always been moist but the last 3 days have been pots have been heavy due to the flush and the feed i gave them a bit ago.

i thought u could get a reading from just checking the run off water but on another forum they said take a sample of coco from each pot and mix it with with de mineralized water or something, but when im mashed ill listen to anything;p. so my ec reading was fairly high and so was the ph i cant remember off hand but i think the run off was over 6.5ph and the ec was over 1.4 that seems a bit high considering im putting it in at 1.2 ec and 5.8ph.

im using 15ml of a+b and 20ml rhizo should i stay 20ml rhizo and knock down to 10ml a+b per 10l that is?? thanks for the advice

 

[bonecarver_OG]

that run of is not that bad ec wise that is. its normal ec is higher coming out than coming in.

Rhizotonic in higher doses is pretty much counter productive also. it really brings up PH. ... meaning that could lead to ph fluctuacions. atleast make it go upwards. the reason for the rising ph of the flush out wayter could be the rhizo..

rhizotonic is not a necesary nutricion that it is a must to give to plants at all times. it IS a root growth aid. it has its use in the rigth moments for best effect. for example after and transplants etc. during first stages of veg etc.

rhizo-tonic is recomended for small plants

give AB only and skip rhizotonic for a few waterings, or use 10 ml rhizo/10l. dont over do it.

but giving lots of RHIZOTONIC for a extended period of time is not good. read the bottle, im sure it says something "most effective at low EC". that fact u can give this product in higher doses doesnt mean it works better - just that its not really going to harm your plants. obviously a manufacturer of nutrients wants us to use big amounts of it and quickly buy more.... but thats not really what our fave baby mj really likes allways.

try to give you small clones a rest for a few days and see how it goes.

peace