the Hand Watering coco thread

[MacGyver420]

61-50-7:

I have good results using FloraKleen by General Hydroponics. It's a final flushing agent that you mix with water, but I use it approx. every 1.5-2 weeks throughout my whole grow.

When I flush them, the next day I give them nutes, to make sure they aren't without food for too long.

It gives me results like this:



OPT

in coco i use that same product and i think it definatly helps flush the plants out and get some serious colors

props thats a great looking bud right there what is that??

 

[maxmurder]

damn bone, 74 pages finally caught up. tons of great info, thanks for this thread.
ha- now it's time to start the coco coop, that looks short...

 

[gaiusmarius]

hand watered every day

hand watered every day

my current head stash grow at day 30 of 12/12. hand watered, with very little run off, mostly no run off. feeding canna coco a and b, bioboost. no matter how well it works, i hate having to water every day. every few days i let them dry out for 1 day, keeps those pesky gnats from developing and the plants seem to like it too once in a while. but i can't wait to finish these and put a table and drippers in there for next time.

happy Holidays everyone

 

[OPT]

Mac,

That is a female from a pack of Adventure Mix seeds from Spice Of Life. I'm not 100% sure but i'm fairly confident it's Blue Satellite 2.2. Wasn't the biggest yielder of the bunch but turned completely purple, and tastes like blueberries mixed with some type of incencse kind of.

On an additional note, re-using my canna coco has slowed my new crop down a bit. I'm running a few clones, 1 blue satellite, 1 random adventure pack cutting from last crop, and a Power kush cutting I got from a friend.

I use Cannazym with my re-used coco, and at first I was getting the classic magnesium def. for the past few weeks, after foilar feeding with a light epsom salt mixture, as well as adding 1/2-1 teaspoon of epsom salts per gallon of water has worked well, and the two are back to thriving.

But just a day ago, the new cutting I got that was completely perfect in every way, is now showing some sort of problem I've never seen before. The new growth tips are yellowish/brown, and even though the plant seems to be growing fast as shit, it's worrying me while this sudden problem has even showed up.

After looking in the infirmiry forum, the only thing that sounded or looked like it was Zinc def I believe, but I just don't see why.

This power kush cutting came from Canna Coco using the same exact recipe as me, so the only differences I can see is maybe the PH of the water, and how much calcium is in it. Then again, my other plants are fine now so wtf.

I use 6/9 GH micro and bloom, cannazym, epsom salt, and some liquid karma now and then. My tap water has a ppm reading of 470, so it obviously has a lot of calcium in it.

Again, my last crop i had zero problems using the same things, only difference is the re-using of the coco.

Any ideas?

OPT

 

[lokes]

gaiusmarius, very nice results. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that hand watering coco, is not for me. Very time consuming, and I find if the medium drys a bit I have lock up and browning of the leaves.
My water is NOT RO, so I think that contributes to the problems as my water sucks.
My containers are kinda small, and it seems very labor intensive. I've been trying to use it for my mothers, but I'm done with it.
I think in an ebb and flow, or some other auto water configuration would be great, as you can really apply the nutes heavy, but for mothers, its a pain in the ars.

 

[jedimike]

I started coco with the hand watering method because of this thread, resulting in this.



Many thanks! I'll never go back to soil or hydro.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

wow jedimike, that stuff looks really nice

what strain is it?

 

[jedimike]

It's a hybrid I made.

Killing Fields x a Jamaican seed a friend brought back from a recent trip there. Smells like pungent sour blackberries. Still drying at the moment can't wait to giv'er a taste.

One thing I can say for sure is that everything looks better in coco. All my girls simply love it.

 

[stonedar]

Jedi Night-Elf Mohawk?

 

[jedimike]

That's Mr T to you sucka!

:)

 

[MacGyver420]

Mac,

That is a female from a pack of Adventure Mix seeds from Spice Of Life. I'm not 100% sure but i'm fairly confident it's Blue Satellite 2.2. Wasn't the biggest yielder of the bunch but turned completely purple, and tastes like blueberries mixed with some type of incencse kind of.


But just a day ago, the new cutting I got that was completely perfect in every way, is now showing some sort of problem I've never seen before. The new growth tips are yellowish/brown, and even though the plant seems to be growing fast as shit, it's worrying me while this sudden problem has even showed up.

After looking in the infirmiry forum, the only thing that sounded or looked like it was Zinc def I believe, but I just don't see why.

This power kush cutting came from Canna Coco using the same exact recipe as me, so the only differences I can see is maybe the PH of the water, and how much calcium is in it. Then again, my other plants are fine now so wtf.

I use 6/9 GH micro and bloom, cannazym, epsom salt, and some liquid karma now and then. My tap water has a ppm reading of 470, so it obviously has a lot of calcium in it.

Again, my last crop i had zero problems using the same things, only difference is the re-using of the coco.

Any ideas?

OPT

i think you said it yourself the reuse of the coco has offset your nutrients somehow; i would just try to flush that one plant with the burnt leaves and see if it recovers a bit!


o and jedi-- thats one cool plant you got there i like the lineage with the random jamican seed -- NICE!!!

 

[mriko]

Nice thread, i'm starting my first coco grow, so i'm gonna read it all !

all other cocobrands i have tried have given me really good results.

Bonecarver, have you tried u-gro coco coir ? Manufacturer, from Spain (inland Indian material), says it is rinced, buffered and with trichodermas (EC : 0,42 - PH : 6,3). http://www.u-gro.info/index.php

Is it worth adding bits of charcoal and terra cotta ?

Irie !

 

[CPH420]

Hi Bone. And anyone riding along. Thanks for the great thread. I hand water my mothers in a 100% coco. bucket of 9 Liters. Im really new to coco started the mother project for about a month ago..

What I wanna know is how often should I water in these 9 liter buckets.. And is one liter of solution pr bucket enough?.

Thanks again..

 

[Highlighter]

Hi CPH420, welcome!
I'm new to coco too, but I'll take a shot at an answer.
1st off, we need to know how big/ old are the plants?
I have 7 plants in sq. 6.5L pots about 2 mo. old from seed. I feed them a cup a day w/ no run-off, 1 1/2-2c for runoff. I have 3 plants in 7.5l smart pots and they need 3C a day to see runoff.
The rule of thumb is to be seeing 5% run-off and adjust to the plants needs.
So, the answer from me, starting out, measure and see just what they take, and feed accordingly. When feeding nutes, feed a little less than runoff, and every 3rd feeding use plain, ph adjusted water til run off. That's how I'm approaching it.

 

[CPH420]

Hi Highlighter, and thank for your reply. I get it now. I water so I have around 10% run off. And flush about every third day..

Been having some problems with one of my plants. Shes about 7 weeks. See this thread:

What's wrong with my girl pt 2.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=200337

 

[efeldmaz]

Should I use calmag in my coco even if I have fairly hard water up in the colorado mountains?
tnX

 

[bonecarver_OG]

for maximum root growth i avoid to water very often when the plants are young. but allways when watering i water a bit in excess

 

[Xerhoss]

Great thread...first coco grow - can use all the reading i can get on this specific topic.

for maximum root growth i avoid to water very often when the plants are young. but allways when watering i water a bit in excess

This is the question i've been having the last week or so. And it is now answered - although i was already doing it automatically based on feedback from the girls. Was just concerned about ph rising due to evaporation, etc.

Currently have 8 girls, representing 3 strains (White Widow, Purple Frost and Hash Plant all present) and all are in 100% HydroFarm Organic Coco. Just transplanted from cups to 1 gallon pots a few days ago and have already noticed veg growth.

Quick question...do you have a recommendation for pot size for flowering in a 4X8 room running 2 1000 watt Cool Sun XL 8" vented hoods? My ceiling height it only 7', so after considering the hoods, the hanging clips, the height of the containers, etc i'm needing to keep my plant height to about 3.5' or so in order to give them some distance from the bulbs.

Currently i'm thinking 3 gallon smart pots. But do you think i could get away with maximizing the use of a 5 gal? Any advise would be most appreciated.

I'm already noticing that the widows are a bit stretchier than the other 2 strains and may end up topping them. The others are showing signs of wanting to bush out already, so that's promising!

 

[Cannaseur Kid]

I typically don't worry about the amount of runoff as long as there is a descent amount. I drain to return and typically run my pump as long as I feel like. I'm not ok with no runoff. Doesn't seem that it would be beneficial to continue dumping salts into your medium with no exchange or leaching of old material. I cannot over water my plants with coco and perlite and it seems the only concern for me and overwatering would come from the possibility of patronizing any insect infestation.

 

[sm0k4]

Hey guys. Thought I would weigh in with my coco experience so far. This is my first grow from a few years away and I decided coco seems to be good to try.

After some reading I thought it would make life easier, so I ordered a TDS and pH meter. For the time being I have test strips to give me approx. pH and nitrate/alkalinity levels.

Anyway, here is the gear so far:

I am using Botanicare Coco that is already rinsed and ready to grow with.
I also picked up Botanicare PBP Grow along with CalMag Plus. I got them at the time because it was an organic coco nute (or so the bottle says).
I was thinking of going with the PBP Bloom and Liquid Karma for flower. Anyone have experience with these? The shop I go to has these, not sure about the canna. What would you recommend for flower from Canna if I can get it locally?

I flushed the coco with 1/8 tsp calmag in 2L of water. I only needed enough to flush four 1/4L pots for seeds.

Since I sprouted the seeds:
two plain waterings the next two days(pH 6),
the next day was 1/8th tsp. both PBP Grow and CalMag Plus per liter of water
followed by pH 6 water 1.5 days later.
The next day was 1/8th tsp of both again with little drainage.
That brings us to today.
I saw a tiny burn mark on the tip of the largest plant so tonight I flushed with the same 1/8th mix diluted by 2x water. I watered around edges then let the pot fill up and drain all the way out. pH out was under 6, but nitrates were pretty high. Higher than the paper test went. I did notice the alkalinity was lower on the runoff than the nute solution I gave them. What is the reasoning behind that? I could tell by the test strips I probably over fed a bit with such young'uns.

Gonna keep the same mix, but dilute it with more water. till they seem to need more.

I do have a question on watering also. I seem like I am trying to walk this fine line and I want some reassurance before I water log them. Can I let the top of the soil get kind of brittle dry or just spongy dry before watering? I usually water every day as drain to waste and collect runoff in a bin to dump out. The small pots pretty much dry out every day, or so I think they do. They are damp but not saturated. Should I stick my pinky in and if no soggyness its good to water? I'm worried about such young plants because they are most fragile now. Here is a pic from the 18th. The lights are off now but I can get a pic tomorrow morning. This is before the burn.

The back middle custom bagseed cross plant is 2 days older than the front middle Blackberry plant. Smallest two sprouted last. Blackberry on far right and AK 48 far left. They are bigger today and don't really show any signs of stress other than that slight burn which I think I corrected by properly flushing with very diluted nutes. Is watering when soil is still kind of damp ok while this young or should I dry out more? I'd like to water every day when light has been on for 8 hours.