help with transplanting from cloner to coco cup?

[spaceboy]

Hi everyone,

1st grow and i am using the hempy bucket method with coco. my buddy is bringing me rooted clones in water from a cloner and i plan on just treating coco with 1/4 strenth nutrient solution and putting the clones so they are buried up close the the 1st leaf set.

Is this going to be ok?


any tips or help would be appreciated!

 

[spaceboy]

i am a little nervous since this is my first grow, I'm wondering if i should just put them in soil and transplant the soil to hemp buckets.

 

[spaceboy]

i have rooted clones just sitting in a cup of water so any advice would be nice.

 

[Ember1]

I would just throw them in the coco, but make sure to keep it moist since they were in water. 1/4 strength should be good to start with. I would feed the coco some nutes before hand so it has time to soak them up.

 

[spaceboy]

So just feed the coco with 1:4 nutes before planting and just plant? I'm just concerned because the roots are like 15", but the plants are only like 7".

Also since i am going hempy buckets do i need to by a ph meter and and ec meter?

Thanks again, my buddies are trying to talk me out of coco, but I really want to get through this.

 

[Lone Wolf]

you will be fine... if the cuts have roots then just bury the roots into the coco.... be VERY gentle with the roots because you DO NOT want them ripping off of the clone... when I say gentile, i mean be gentle at ALL stages of handling this clone.... even when you put it into the coco, and you press down the coco, be VERY careful because when packing it, you could damage it... your best bet also i to make sure you spread the roots over a nice area in the pot so that they can catch water easier... it is NOT necessary to spread the roots, as they will eventually grow, but it can help... just be gentle with the roots is my main point... what i usually do is I put the coco in the pot, then take my fingers and finger the coco so there is a empty spot for the new clone and roots to easily slide into... then I put the clone in the pot, backfill the coco, and GENTLY pack the coco into the void.... you can always pre-moisten your coco, but if not, be sure to take note of how the coco packs in - you MAY need to put more coco into the pot... just be gentle and aware of the roots cuz you DO NOT want them ripping off of the plant...

and as far as watering the clones, you can give them any strength... no need to waste nutrients and feed it 1400+ ppm's worth, so you would be just fine giving it 1/2 to 3/4 strength....


stick the girly in coco, stick it under a nice high intense density light, and your baby clone should be a teenager in a few weeks....


make sure to post some pix up here space boy!

 

[spaceboy]

Thanks for the encouragement Wolf, will do!

 

[Lone Wolf]

oh yeah, and your buddies are WACK if they are trying to talk you out of COCO...

COCO is the BEST medium for newbs if you ask me... unlike soil, you can just read directions on nutrient bottle and mix into the jug/bucket of water and BAM! there you have your feed for your plant...

with soil, you have to make sure you mix in all of the correct items, and at the right ratio.... its also harder to judge the pH of soil then it is with coco... with coco you just test the water you mix up and BAM, there is your PH.. coco in its natural state is ph neutral, so it has little to zero affect on the overall pH in the rootzone of your plants....


others think mediums as a whole are pointless, and like to use straight waters and bubbles... i.e; a 5 gal bucket with a fish tank oxygen pump hooked up to an air stone... and a net basket style lid to contain the plant... anyways, people like to just make sure their 5 gal bucket is full of aerated water and nutrients.... this method is called DWC (deep water culture) and is a very tried and proven method to some amazing growth... a good combo pH/EC/TDS/ppm/temp meter and the DWC method could open your eyes to how amazing it is to grow, and I even believe DWC growing, or any sort of h2o/o2 grow really makes plants grow at a much faster rate... not that they will mature quicker, but they just grow larger in the same amount of time versus say soil or coco... the thing with any sort of hydroponic setup tho is that it is very unforgiving... and as a NOOB, you are bound to make mistakes, so having something unforgiving could very well ruin your crop in no time at all... for example, mix up too strong of nutrients, and you will fry your plants.... or forget to top off your water and your plant will die from no water.... forgot to turn your air pump on - bad news.... now aeroponic is the overall most unforgiving...


ALL IN ALL, you best option as an amateur is COCO... it is very forgiving, and its basically foolproof if you know how to read and follow directions on the nutrient bottle... keep your PH at 5.5-5.8, and just be sure to keep your coco moist at all times and you will be a happy camper...oh yeah, another bit of advice with coco is to be sure to water you plants with plain pH'd water atleast once a week to help wash out the salts left behind by the nutrients (this step is often overlooked by rookies, and often they have to learn the hard way when their plants turn all yellow and no longer uptake nutrients because the rootzone has been poisoned with salt buildup. Too much salt basically stuns the plant and puts it in super shock mode where it uptakes no nutrients - leafs turn yellow, and then the plant eventually doesnt uptake plain water because the leafs halt photosyntesis..when the plant doesnt take up nutrients anymore then you get root rot (mold) caused from stagnant water...)....

sorry for that rant....

anways shit CAN go wrong with coco as it can with any other medium, but just do the basics and you will be smoking on some danks in NO TIME... i am very thankful that I was instructed by my master sensei to grow in coco when i first started growing indoors... today i am proud to say that I have grown in most every medium, and I still cannot seem to get away from the coco.... If I had more space tho, I would without a doubt go with the undercurrent setup as I have seen some VERY amazing plants grown with that system/technique..


dank you very much...

LONE WOLF

 

[Rushoe]

Homie if you are gonna run the coco with out a ph meter I would take a look at the heads formula the formula if mixed right should leave u with a ph of 5.8 even when u go half strength for clones and seedling's the ph is left a 6.0 good luck bro

 

[ThePizzaMan]

yeah, half strength nutes in either RO or tap water.
No need to pre-charge the coco with nutrients....

Slam the new clone in to the coco, make it nice with your hands. Feed the little guy...and the rest is history.

Dont forget, don't go crazy on the first feeding. The new clone is going to take at least a week to seat itself in to the new pot. Wait until the pot is completely dry to do your second feed. You want the little clone to get really thirsty, so it makes a nice root base in your pot.

If you overwater...you will stagnate growth...and have a tiny little nothing plant.

 

[Ember1]

I say yes, you need a pH meter. Also a TDS meter is also very nice to have. Both can be found for under $30, usually about $20-$25 dollars a piece. Hanna and Milwaukee are both good brands.
I do hempy as well, and I will warn you, you need to do some pest preventative. Root aphids are going crazy this year, and also fungus gnats/mites. They all love moist conditions. They love coco.
I use Bayer and Spectracide in my coco. You can read about it all here:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=159960

 

[Lone Wolf]

yeah, half strength nutes in either RO or tap water.
No need to pre-charge the coco with nutrients....

Slam the new clone in to the coco, make it nice with your hands. Feed the little guy...and the rest is history.

Dont forget, don't go crazy on the first feeding. The new clone is going to take at least a week to seat itself in to the new pot. Wait until the pot is completely dry to do your second feed. You want the little clone to get really thirsty, so it makes a nice root base in your pot.

If you overwater...you will stagnate growth...and have a tiny little nothing plant.

as long as there are roots, go as crazy as you want... the more water available in the pot, the more likely the roots will stretch to the water... keep that shit wet! also, make sure you have good drainage in your pot also because you do not want your roots to drown...

DO NOT let your coco completely dry out... the only time you should ever let your coco dry out is when you have fungus gnats and you want them to leave...


The plant is going to be "real thirsty" whether it has water in its zone or not, so do yourself a favor and DO NOT let your coco dry out...when you let your coco dry out, you gradually damage the roots... if you get into the habit of letting your coco dry out, then you are getting into the habit of damaging your roots... final numbers vary greatly with a plant in coco that has dried out many times versus one that has not... I know this all first hand...

 

[slowandeasy]

as long as there are roots, go as crazy as you want... the more water available in the pot, the more likely the roots will stretch to the water... keep that shit wet! also, make sure you have good drainage in your pot also because you do not want your roots to drown...

DO NOT let your coco completely dry out... the only time you should ever let your coco dry out is when you have fungus gnats and you want them to leave...


The plant is going to be "real thirsty" whether it has water in its zone or not, so do yourself a favor and DO NOT let your coco dry out...when you let your coco dry out, you gradually damage the roots... if you get into the habit of letting your coco dry out, then you are getting into the habit of damaging your roots... final numbers vary greatly with a plant in coco that has dried out many times versus one that has not... I know this all first hand...

I disagree. Do not soak your Coco, your roots will not "seek" water. Until the roots start to fill the cup, do not saturate your Coco. I know first hand how roots grow in Coco, I have done many experiments. I agree, do not let it dry out...but if you keep it moist the roots will explode much faster than if WET.

Let me give you some advice. Transplant into a Clear Beer Cup and use a DARK beer cup as a cover cup. You can see how the roots respond to different moisture levels. I know 100% what happens if you have more Coco than roots, keep it too wet and your roots will be thin and sparse. Get the right moisture and they are thick and white. Correct moisture is the key to fast growth when transplanting and cloning.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

I know first hand that if you keep the clone saturated..it will literally just sit there and stagnate. The first couple of feeds should be sparse and just enough to keep it barely moist. After the plant establishes itself in the pot...you can feed until your heart is content. But only after the roots work their way through the container.

 

[Lone Wolf]