flavor?

[draco]

hey all

this is my second round of coco and i'm noticing that the flavor isn't as good as it was with organic soil. i've heard this from others so i am not surprised, but how do you old hands retain flavor?

i am using the canna line, flushed for 12 days, and i guess i sort of expected the boost to give some flavor...

i know you can't beat organic soil for flavor and i don't want to go back to it, but unless i find some way to make it taste 'right', that might be the way i go cause i'm just growing for my own self and don't need 2g/watt to be happy.

any thoughts?

 

[pinecone]

organic coco?

Pine

 

[draco]

organic coco?

Pine

yeah maybe. i been working so much since i started the coco i haven't had time do proper research...

i need to use blumats and wonder about clogging with organics, among other things... but damn! i miss the rich flavor!

 

[pinecone]

i need to use blumats and wonder about clogging with organics, among other things... but damn! i miss the rich flavor!

With blumats you can top dress with dry stuff (guano, kelp, blood, bone, alfalfa.....whatever you decide to use). Top dressing is the easiest way to feed anyway.

Pine

 

[homebrew420]

I had figured the same thing with the blumat. Which is a bummer. prob just going to use a highly oxygenated tea fed automatically with pump and res. Nutes in coco let cook for a week or so. What I noticed already it "precharging" the Brick with calmag and sub-culture B. The smell is so much more earthy and natural smelling. Definately did something there. These are my first real go with coco. So I will be on here in these coco forums trying to learn.

Thanks
Peace

 

[Sam87]

Look through the Head goes coco thread, and look at his flushing method. Don't know how it would apply to Canna products, but the flush period is not just something you do at the end, at least if you want to rival soil in terms of flavour. You should be planning to chop them halfway thru the cycle, and adjust accordingly.

Good bud can be grown with mineral fertilizers. It's just that there aren't that many people who manage to do it. It's a bitch when you get spoiled on soil, eh?

 

[draco]

hey

thanks all... i guess i'll do me some reading. i miss the flavor!

 

[Justin_Credible]

Just curious, what was your ph when you flushed?
A friend of mine that is in coco for much longer then I says that flushing in coco at a proper ph is one the factors in the end that will give you the flavor and the white ash we all want. I have been told if you flush too high or too low a ph you are not getting what flavor or burn you want from the plant. He told me to flush for two weeks, first week at 5.8-5.9 ph to have the plant uptake remaining ca/mg. Then for the 2nd week raise ph to 6.0.-6.1 for it to uptake the p&k and more mg. So I was also told that getting rid of ca/mg will help with the burn, so if you flush constant two weeks at 5.8 ph (and you do a proper cure) you should have a nice burn, but less flavor. Honestly, since switch to coco some of my friends are shocked at how great the weed taste and burn. I honestly could never get rid of the earthy flavor when in soil.... unless that is what you are talking about here?

 

[Green&Gold]

With blumats you can top dress with dry stuff (guano, kelp, blood, bone, alfalfa.....whatever you decide to use). Top dressing is the easiest way to feed anyway.

Pine

Topdressing works well when you have a handful of plants anymore than that it's painful.

 

[pinecone]

Topdressing works well when you have a handful of plants anymore than that it's painful.

Organic amendments such as those I listed are not available all at once; they take time to break down to plant soluble forms. Thus, you are not going to be topdressing every day - or even every week with organic amendments. A couple of times per cycle is sufficient.

Pine

Edit: I should also add the the plants do have a role in regulating the breakdown of top-dressed amendments. Thus, if they are in need, and the medium is alive and health, it stuff that gets top dressed will be broken down into a plant soluble form sooner.

 

[draco]

i like the idea of top dressing - but i have ph concerns cause i'm new to coco. sure got some reading to do about this... i have read of some ph problems...

now this ph of the flush is interesting. easy to do for sure, and not risky... they got a couple months left to flower, but i will do this for sure.


for now i will just stretch out the cure, hoping for the best. it's still better than anything i have paid for - waaay better, and most wouldn't even notice the difference. seems i'm turning pickier as the days pass... if i would have started growing 40 years ago, i suspect i would be totally insufferable by now...

 

[gaiusmarius]

i generally find that i can reduce nutrient content of the coco with one massive flush after which i leave it run another 3 to 5 days on plain ph'ed water. the canna coco nutrients are based on water soluble ingredients hence you don't need 10 or 14 days of flush, too long a flush will end up causing top buds to get bud rot. once the plants are ripe you don't want to flush 14 more days and you also dont want to start flushing 14 days before your plant is finished, because that will cut it off from reaching its full potential. so the only way to have the best of all worlds, ie. properly finished, ripe and clean bud, is by flush once the plants are ripe. that is not to say you blast the full strength till flushing time, they use a lot less nutrients after all once the colas are just swelling and ripening.

 

[pinecone]

i like the idea of top dressing - but i have ph concerns cause i'm new to coco.

My understanding is that some of the organic bottled lines cheat and use salt based fertilizers. If you are using these products you may need to be concerned about pH. If you are top dressing with the types of things I mentioned, have castings in your mix, and have healthy, alive medium pH shouldn't really be an issue.

In a true organic grow the plant and the microbes regulate pH in the root zone. Basically when the plant needs to feed it secretes stuff from the roots (exudates) that are in the form of carbohydrates. These root secretions provide food for bacteria which intern provide food for nematodes and protozoa. The plants then feed on the excrement of the nematodes and protozoa.

My home water is softened so I can't use it. Historically I've watered with the same artesian well water that we purchase for drinking. This water has a pH of 7.8 which hasn't been a problem in FFOF or the coco-based mix I'm using now. To save some money I started buying RO water from the store which is neutral. Again, no issues with this pH.

The reason I grow organically is that it is simply the easiest way for me to grow as it involves minimal rough measuring, no mixing, and no metering. I'm sure I could go good buds with salts, perhaps comparable to what I'm growing now, but it would take more work.

Pine

 

[bad gas]

in the passive plant killer thread, delta9nxs uses a modified wick system. he feeds at 600ppm or 1.2ec throughout the grow cycle. he does not flush at all. he say patients will wait for his bud at times when other bud is available. he uses jacks professional hydro and jacks calnit only. no additives.

 

[draco]

gaiusmarius -

that explains the bud rot on the top cola.

"dont want to start flushing 14 days before your plant is finished, because that will cut it off from reaching its full potential. so the only way to have the best of all worlds, ie. properly finished, ripe and clean bud, is by flush once the plants are ripe"

thank you for this.

pinecone -

i liked growing in soil too. only my second run in coco but it's easier so far. i can fill the rez and leave for a long weekend. the plants grow faster and bigger too.

bad gas -

i too have heard of this, but have never tried it. i'm afraid to gamble with the taste i guess...

 

[Duckmang]

I'll feed much harder than 600ppm and not flush and still get some of the best tasting buds around. Thats with a recirc drip feed, though. Needless to say, Drip CLean is a great product.

 

[40AmpstoFreedom]

I'll feed much harder than 600ppm and not flush and still get some of the best tasting buds around. Thats with a recirc drip feed, though. Needless to say, Drip CLean is a great product.

Keep hearing drip clean...how do use yours? From what I have read every feeding you should use it at .5-1ml a gallon?

 

[down2grow]

Drip clean is actually .4ml a gallon from start to finish. For taste I just added diamond nectar(humics) to my res since lazyman and toohigh always talk about humics for flavor. I'm on my 2nd run with blumats.

D2G

 

[cyat]

gauno and organics, bloom boosters, using up the N, not overfeedin