The coco products we use are prepared differently. Some have a high salt (na) content. Some have been rinsed for salt by the manufacturers or taken from more inland sites. Some have been pre-loaded with nutrient ions to satisfy the cation exchange capacity, some have not. Some probably have initially higher or lower cec's. Some will have different initial medium ph's. Some folks use tap waters of varying content. Some folks use ro water. These factors and others affect the rate of coco's adsorption of specific ions. Until these factors are balanced and in proportion the cec may not be satisfied.
All over the coco forums there are photos of plants showing what looks like either mg or k deficiencies. Occasionally a nitrogen problem. Some are severe, some are less pronounced. This seems to be occurring in the face of high quality nutrients.
Some, like mine, show up only immediately after transplant into coco, some plague the unfortunate grower for the duration of the grow.
I'm using the atami b'cuzz product. I rinse thoroughly with lots of tap water. Let that drain. Then pre-charge the medium with a solution of 750 ppm flora nova bloom, 100 ppm yara viva brand calcium nitrate, and 50 ppm magnesium sulfate, all at the .5 conversion. So ec 1.8 total. I water with this solution immediately after transplant and throughout veg so far. My reservoirs are filled with the same solution (passive plant killer thread in hydro forum). My oldest plant in 100% coco is still only 5 weeks.
What happens to my plants is that they show what looks like a slight k deficiency within 3 days on the lower leaves only. With mine it's not too bad, just a little but noticeable. By the end of the first week it's not happening anymore. The damaged leaves are still showing, of course, but all new growth is fine. And then the plants grow aggressively with no further displays. Very nice, healthy looking plants.
I am running multiple media experiments and have plants in 100% turface, turface/coco mixes with light amounts of coco, perlite/coco at 70/30, perlite/turface/coco at 40/40/20, and now the last 5 plants in 100% coco only. Only the 100% coco plants do this, so I feel it is a coco specific problem.
Coco has a lot of k inherent in the tissue fiber itself. This is bound in the fiber and is released slowly over the course of the grow. Coco also has an affinity for adsorbing k, ca, and mg, especially.
I have noticed most folks using a calmag supplement of some kind. When we add calmag we are usually adding quite a bit of n as well.
Recently I broke out an old chart I have showing nutrient antagonism and stimulation reactions. From studying this chart I think that we are a little short on potassium initially but with repeated watering with a stronger solution this corrects as the medium adsorbs nutrients.
So perhaps the severity of these displays is dependent upon all the variables listed above. Type of coco, base nutrients, supplements, etc. all play a role.
What I think we need is an initial k boost. The atami product may already have it and I could be washing it out with heavy rinsing. When I loaded the first coco plant I watered all of my solution through the medium to fill the reservoir below. My input solution was 950 ppm, when I had run approximately 4.5 gallons into the reservoir I checked the res ppm. It was around 1550 at .5. so it obviously picked something up passing through the medium.
I have also read a maximum yield article recently about how potassium may be the most critical element and that most nutes are lacking the proper ratio.
This is all theoretical of course and i'm sure I have missed some important aspects, but there are a lot of very good gardeners here and I think between us all we can solve this little puzzle.
The first link is to the chart I mentioned, please take a long hard look at that, especially the relationships between n,p,k, ca, and mg.
The second is the max yield article.
http://www.apal.com.au/site/Default.../APAL PLANT NUTRIENT INTERACTIONS July 08.pdf
http://www.maximumyield.com/article_sh_db.php?articleID=464&yearVar=2009&issueVar=August
All over the coco forums there are photos of plants showing what looks like either mg or k deficiencies. Occasionally a nitrogen problem. Some are severe, some are less pronounced. This seems to be occurring in the face of high quality nutrients.
Some, like mine, show up only immediately after transplant into coco, some plague the unfortunate grower for the duration of the grow.
I'm using the atami b'cuzz product. I rinse thoroughly with lots of tap water. Let that drain. Then pre-charge the medium with a solution of 750 ppm flora nova bloom, 100 ppm yara viva brand calcium nitrate, and 50 ppm magnesium sulfate, all at the .5 conversion. So ec 1.8 total. I water with this solution immediately after transplant and throughout veg so far. My reservoirs are filled with the same solution (passive plant killer thread in hydro forum). My oldest plant in 100% coco is still only 5 weeks.
What happens to my plants is that they show what looks like a slight k deficiency within 3 days on the lower leaves only. With mine it's not too bad, just a little but noticeable. By the end of the first week it's not happening anymore. The damaged leaves are still showing, of course, but all new growth is fine. And then the plants grow aggressively with no further displays. Very nice, healthy looking plants.
I am running multiple media experiments and have plants in 100% turface, turface/coco mixes with light amounts of coco, perlite/coco at 70/30, perlite/turface/coco at 40/40/20, and now the last 5 plants in 100% coco only. Only the 100% coco plants do this, so I feel it is a coco specific problem.
Coco has a lot of k inherent in the tissue fiber itself. This is bound in the fiber and is released slowly over the course of the grow. Coco also has an affinity for adsorbing k, ca, and mg, especially.
I have noticed most folks using a calmag supplement of some kind. When we add calmag we are usually adding quite a bit of n as well.
Recently I broke out an old chart I have showing nutrient antagonism and stimulation reactions. From studying this chart I think that we are a little short on potassium initially but with repeated watering with a stronger solution this corrects as the medium adsorbs nutrients.
So perhaps the severity of these displays is dependent upon all the variables listed above. Type of coco, base nutrients, supplements, etc. all play a role.
What I think we need is an initial k boost. The atami product may already have it and I could be washing it out with heavy rinsing. When I loaded the first coco plant I watered all of my solution through the medium to fill the reservoir below. My input solution was 950 ppm, when I had run approximately 4.5 gallons into the reservoir I checked the res ppm. It was around 1550 at .5. so it obviously picked something up passing through the medium.
I have also read a maximum yield article recently about how potassium may be the most critical element and that most nutes are lacking the proper ratio.
This is all theoretical of course and i'm sure I have missed some important aspects, but there are a lot of very good gardeners here and I think between us all we can solve this little puzzle.
The first link is to the chart I mentioned, please take a long hard look at that, especially the relationships between n,p,k, ca, and mg.
The second is the max yield article.
http://www.apal.com.au/site/Default.../APAL PLANT NUTRIENT INTERACTIONS July 08.pdf
http://www.maximumyield.com/article_sh_db.php?articleID=464&yearVar=2009&issueVar=August
