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the Hand Watering coco thread

stoned40yrs

Ripped since 1965
Veteran
Its all the same feeding amounts apparently ...im just wondering since coco is an organic medium that it may affect the ph when the nutes are absorbed.whatever ill check around.thanks

You either buy precharged loose coco or charge block coco yourself with phed nutes. Put the seed or clone in and give it phed nutes. Good to go and no the coco isn't going vary ph much unless you do it.:tiphat:
 
Wow - I've been reading this thread like a book, few pages at a time, and all the questions bonecarver_OG answers is so helpful.

I am hand watering-first run with coco-going decent.

This thread rocks :headbange , thank you for your massive contribution (over 100 pages of gold)

One of the most important lessons I've learned so far is make sure your coco is washed and buffered properly for your seedlings!
 

elusified

Member
Right on Stoned 40.I didn't think so,but im tired of the cubes and want something super organic and I like karma that goes with it.The ladies are so aware of their home.Dirt was just to messy and created bug heaven especially for thrips and fungus gnats.Does coco have bug issues that you've dealt with?
 

RetroGrow

Active member
Veteran
Wow - I've been reading this thread like a book, few pages at a time, and all the questions bonecarver_OG answers is so helpful.

I am hand watering-first run with coco-going decent.

This thread rocks :headbange , thank you for your massive contribution (over 100 pages of gold)

One of the most important lessons I've learned so far is make sure your coco is washed and buffered properly for your seedlings!

First thing every coco grower should learn, IMO, is which type/brand of coco to use. Bagged Canna, and other premium bagged coco are ready to go tight out of the bag. No need to wash or buffer. Let them (the manufacturers) do that. The VAST % of "problems" people have with coco is not buying premium coco. That is one thing I would not skimp on, and I am a s frugal as possible.

Best brands of coco:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=175245
 
I just started to use house & Garden coco .. in the bag... any reviews on that??? i have also run coco blocks in the past but you have to flush them really well to lower the salt content
 

bmaster

Member
I just started to use house & Garden coco .. in the bag... any reviews on that??? i have also run coco blocks in the past but you have to flush them really well to lower the salt content

I use H&G quite often. Usually going between that and Canna coco, depending on which grow shop I happen to be at when I need more. They are both top shelf.

They both work well with my organic mix also.
 
I use H&G quite often. Usually going between that and Canna coco, depending on which grow shop I happen to be at when I need more. They are both top shelf.

They both work well with my organic mix also.


what organic mix do you use ?? always have beeninterested in organics ..i feel that itll all go that way eventually, health reasons ect.. but i have only used synthetic chems such as gh , canna, and botanicare... i know nothing about organics ... i have heard you cant read the ec with organics and some other stuff that i am not sure of
 

gobyebye

Member
I'm using house and garden right now for the first time growing in botanicare moisture (Coco and perlite). I'm using 20 gallon pots and I'm in need of some. Answers for someone who's Ran with it before. My plants were showing a deficiency it looked like Cal mag and come to find out was from underwatering, I think.ive been watering every other day now till there's runoff.I was letting the pots to dry out in between waterings and not feeding till runoff.my question is everybody says to either let the pots dry out between watering or never let Coco dry out there seems to be a whole big mess about this topic. Can anybody was some knowledge shed some light on whether I should keep Coco moist all the time or let it dry out in between waterings.and is watering my 20 gallon pots about every other day to let it run off sound about right. I'm going to be flipping in the flower soon and don't want to be dealing with this mess trying to figure it out while I'm in flower since they're gonna be drinking even more water.
 

gobyebye

Member
I'm usually feeding anywhere between 5.8 pH and 6.2. My parts for million is anywhere between 600 to 800 and I check my run off and it was 200 so obviously the plants are eating what they need. Now that my plans are starting to recover from under watering .I'm just worried,that I'm going to run into problems once I Flip into flower because I'm gonna be raising the PPM up to about anywhere between 1000 to 1200
 

Unclecrash

Member
I'm usually feeding anywhere between 5.8 pH and 6.2. My parts for million is anywhere between 600 to 800 and I check my run off and it was 200 so obviously the plants are eating what they need. Now that my plans are starting to recover from under watering .I'm just worried,that I'm going to run into problems once I Flip into flower because I'm gonna be raising the PPM up to about anywhere between 1000 to 1200

Wondering why you are using such huge pot's. Either you are grow huge plant's, most i have seen grow in two or three gallon pots and in three gallon they get pretty big. It seems like a waste of Nutes unless youare growing Jolly Green Giant Plants.:biggrin: Im new to growing and here has been my experience so far. I Started a cutting after rooting in a Three gal pot and it was just wasting nutes and not wanting to dry out so the root's can breathe. I did my next one's in Solo cups and they took off. I could water one or twice a day and
they would dry out a bit, just don't let them get too dry. You have to experiment with your temps and fans and stuff if they don't dry out a bit all you will do is rot your roots and the plants will die. I went from Solo Cup to 3/4gal and it works well don't let them dry out all the way go by weight and feel if it dont get dry a bit in a day give it two and so forth. You need to get the root's going good then you can water two three times a day and they will drink it. Hope this helps a bit.
 
I'm using house and garden right now for the first time growing in botanicare moisture (Coco and perlite). I'm using 20 gallon pots and I'm in need of some. Answers for someone who's Ran with it before. My plants were showing a deficiency it looked like Cal mag and come to find out was from underwatering, I think.ive been watering every other day now till there's runoff.I was letting the pots to dry out in between waterings and not feeding till runoff.my question is everybody says to either let the pots dry out between watering or never let Coco dry out there seems to be a whole big mess about this topic. Can anybody was some knowledge shed some light on whether I should keep Coco moist all the time or let it dry out in between waterings.and is watering my 20 gallon pots about every other day to let it run off sound about right. I'm going to be flipping in the flower soon and don't want to be dealing with this mess trying to figure it out while I'm in flower since they're gonna be drinking even more water.

We rewater once the coco gets about 70% dry. Never all the way dried out.

We basically use 5cf of coco per 72 plants and let them all share a root system.
 
Exactly !!! which is why there are coco specific nutrients . lucas will not work for coco unless you tailor it to what coco needs .... such as heads formula . HR's veg & bloom is working very well for coco even though its a hydroponic formula .... but he has a coco formula also .



I like a 1 inch layer in the bottom of my coco pots so that if they have to sit in the runoff longer than expected .... the perilite won't wick up the runoff water . & it does help with drainage so the coco doesn't stay saturated .

The one main thing i love about coco is the root system that builds in coco . i've never seen anything like this in soils or promix . Never !!!
View Image

Hey dan, When you transplanted into this pot, did you initially water it until run off? And then did you water it every time it felt a little lighter?
 

griffonRus

Member
Hello. Tell me how to use the formula of Lucas on flowering? Coco substrate and perlite. Hand watering. Use fertilizers Jungle Juice, now at Vega Lew ratio micro and bloom 2/4 to one liter of water from the tap. translate into bloom, and the ratio of what? There PH meter and salimeter
Now PPM solution 1000 PH 6.3.
 

Weeded1s

Member
I think you may be aa little confused as the 2/4 4/8 6/12 8/16 is all the lucas ratio just broken down into lower concentrations. The lucas fornula is 5/10 in veg or 8/16 in flower..but these arent the best ratios for coco. H3ads formula is what a lot of people use / have used and I reccomend u chk that thread out. Everyone goes by ec here as its universal measurment for ppm and actually what the meter uses before it translates it into ppms on a .5 or .7 scale. If you go by ec 1.0 to 1.2 (1.2 = 4.5/6.75) in veg and max 1.4ec=6/9 in flower. Thats whats up.
Gluck
 
I believe I'm experiencing a mag def. Running coco with GH flora series notes ph'd to 5.8. Feeding everyday. I use 100 ppm of calmag put they are still showing signs of mag def. I'd prefer not to keep using epsom to fix them, any suggestions?
 
I believe I'm experiencing a mag def. Running coco with GH flora series notes ph'd to 5.8. Feeding everyday. I use 100 ppm of calmag put they are still showing signs of mag def. I'd prefer not to keep using epsom to fix them, any suggestions?

Try using a calmag product as a foliar. I was seeing some deficiencies and sprayed them. Next day they were vibrant green and healthy as ever.
 

stoned40yrs

Ripped since 1965
Veteran
I believe I'm experiencing a mag def. Running coco with GH flora series notes ph'd to 5.8. Feeding everyday. I use 100 ppm of calmag put they are still showing signs of mag def. I'd prefer not to keep using epsom to fix them, any suggestions?

You are going to make it worse if you add more calmag on top of the 100 ppm you are already whacking them with. You shouldn't need any cal mag with flora series nutes. Are you using RO? What's the temps with lights out? Do a slurry test. Way more likely the ph or ec inside the media is unbalanced than that you need more calmag.
 

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