First time in Coco - a DISASTER so far

[gonzo`]

So I'm not in the US or Europe and this country has like two hydro shops which are totally crap because they have such a narrow range of products that I've never used before. I'm used to growing with canna products, their nutes and soil etc... So this has been a challange.

What i've done is create 4 "beds" if you will that measure 3x2 feet and filled them up with the only medium they have at this hydro shop: 50/50 mix of coco and perlite. Now this stuff you buy gets mixed at the shop and the coco they use comes in these bricks which they rehydrate etc... Now I got home and put a handful of this mix into a bit of water and let it sit for 10 minutes. I came back and took a pH and EC reading. I found that it was the pH and EC of my tap water so I figured okay, cool, I don't need to flush this because they obviously did for me and they guy at the shop didnt say anything about it...

So I plant like 550 USD worth of seeds directly in these beds and wait... They all come up and things seem to be going fine until I notice discolouration on the leaves... So I figure something is wrong and I know that I didn't measure I measure my run off so on the second watering I measure and its 2.9EC!!!! So fuck, that mix obviously wasn't flushed properly. So i take out all my baby seedlings and put them into cups. I then flush this whole mix and end up with run off that measures my tap water 0.2 and then I transplant these guys back in...

So these are my new problems:

1. What pH should my run off be?

2. How wet do I keep this mix? I've noticed that the next day after watering the mix doesn't really have much moisture in it, I've taken a handful from the bottom of the beds and when i squeeze it, a bit of water comes out, is this too dry?

3. Adding to the point above, when I water the mix doesn't seem to hold very much of the water, it pretty much drains a lot out.. What the hell is going on? Has my mix lost its ability to hold moisure? Is there anything I can do now?

Thanks!

 

[Riboflavin]

You want the PH of the runoff to be similar to the ph going in, around 5.8 - 6.1

You want the pot to be fully saturated with each watering, so the roots can reach out for more water. Don't overwater, just enough to saturate the pot or to get some runoff for testing. Also, if they are still seedlings you may want to water a little less to promote root growth.

 

[shaunmulok]

I have found if i dont water with at least 10% runoff my e.c will build up and up, so i make sure the runoff is at least 10% i also water at 5.8ph and my runoff comes out at 6.2 which i think is acceptable
I'm currently feeding 1.0ec in a 12liter pot which takes 2 days for the coco to start to change color and the pot starts to become light(time to feed) and my runoff ec comes out at about 0.6ec

It could be too much perlite which has given it too much aeration and too much drainage
most people i know will only mix a third perlite into a fine grade coco
good luck

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

pictures would help.... do you know if you had the prerinsed coco or the shit that you have to clean.... My bet if you dont have good hydro shops its the cheap coco that needs to be washed... Did you wash you coco or know the brands name...?


maybe i should read your whole post... lol

1) Runoff should be around what you set it in at... i let mine drift from 5.6-6.2ish... if you water with run off everytime and flush your coco you should have no probs...

2) i know beds may be different but in a 1 gal pot i would only water my coco clones once every 2-3 days i have the ability to lift my pots though to see if they are to dry individually... Coco will turn a lighter color when drying out youll notice the tops to do it first obviously... I like to let mine get a little lite so the roots stretch to find water making more roots... if you can squeeze water out you should be fine...

3)i use chunky perlite along with coarse and fine coco... you can never have too much aeration in your mix just might mean you have to water more.... I think youll be fine you main fuckup was not ashing your coco now everything should be back to normal....


good luck...

 

[magiccannabus]

You really should think hard about doing an organic coco run. Chemical nutes force you to need to adjust things like pH, flush out salts, and fight off pests and disease more regularly. In my organic grow, which is mostly coco these days, my nematodes murder a lot of pests in their infancy since so many lay eggs in the soil. The plants are more resistant to disease. I NEVER CHECK PH. I can't overemphasize that one. A proper organic grow with dechlorinated water will buffer you against a lot of problems. Mushroom compost, worm castings, humus, manure, all are good things to add. You'll probably do better with the organic route. It will also retain water better.

 

[dontae1000]

floranova bloom, botanicare coco, brita water filter..


feed the plants not the medium. its pretty simple untill u complicate the shit out of growing a weed-

 

[buddin_904]

poopyteabags had a nice post.....

also, i think that u shud start seeds in rockwool though....let the roots start coming out
then transplant into coco ALWAYs with a myco right under the plug is my method. even in unflushed coco at the ECs u speak of, the plugs can handle it and once watered twice? they get flushed out and start VERY vigorous growth haha

 

[simple green]

IMO I'd get the seedlings out of big 3 x 2 ft beds because it's waaaay to easy to get that"overwatering" syndrome...If the mix is wet, it's gonna take a while to dry out...

so the original poster says when he/she waters it, it doesn't hold water it runs right out...very likely the mix is totally wet and hasn't dried out one bit....


Are the seedlings in a state where somehow you can get them outta there without damaging them??

....I'd get the seedlings in beer cups or similar with lots of holes round the bottom...flush the water, maybe let it dry out a little (for small amounts of coco, putting it in thin layers on top of a window screen and either letting it airdry or break out the blowdryer/heat gun) then get em in the small cups with the coco just moist not wet... and let the roots find water as the medium dries out.then lightly water again....more and more until roots fill cup well, then you can water them every day.....treat it like a soil transplant when it's a fresh cutting or especially a seedling...


or if it seems simpler go with some other seedling method like rockwool as buddin said.......there was a post somewhere of somebody that used his DIY aerocloner to establish seedlings once they cracked and that makes good sense to me...


Good luck

 

[southpaw]

I ran 60/40 coco to perlite and had very nice results watering every day with Head's formula to maybe 10% runoff, flushing with Ph'd water maybe two or three times during the flowering cycle to be safe. Couldn't have been simpler. Your seedlings will definitely benefit from a wet/ dry cycle early on, maybe not as dry as soil to avoid nutrient lockups, but dry enough that they are encouraged to send out deep roots.

However, this was after my own initial coco disasters. It's an amazing medium, but there is a learning curve. You'll figure it out in no time.