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the Hand Watering coco thread

D

dramamine

You don't have to use it more than once. For me, though, it would be like throwing a t-shirt away when it got dirty.
 

ACAB

Member
Hi guys just my findings from watering with coco!

Pot Size: I have found that 5 litre pots are the best for the average sized plant and do not dry out or stay wet for long periods over 24hrs..... ( this is in 12/12 and not in veg state) Clay pebbles in the bottom of pots around 2in is ok helps the drainage and I believe helps prevent nute lockout ect......

Watering: done the whole watering can and jug thing and the best method by far is the home made watering lance! length of hose from your res gravity fed and on the end of the hose a length of 15mm plastic water pipe around 3ft long with a stop tap cut in halfway along no bending down and you can control the flow and amount of water each pot gets! No spillages and it makes the process 10 times faster......

Nutes: House and garden coco A,B used everything else and this is IMO the best not to heavy like some coco specific nutes
 
I found H and G heavy in nitrogen, i backed it all off and that was too little.
I ended up using different amounts of A and B per batch, which was a pain.
How did you apply it ?

watering lance is great
 

Raedwulf

Member
pH Adjustment of Hard Water Question

pH Adjustment of Hard Water Question

Hi all, my question relates to pH adjustment when you have a Hard water supply.

Following advice here, I aerate my nutes solution (to drive off Chlorine gas and Oxygenate the mix) before use.

Now, most people are saying you should only pH adjust the mix after adding in the nutes (Canna Coco series in my case). But I have a quite hard tap water supply - according to my supplier: 110 mg/litre of Calcium (and 274 of Calcium Carbonate), and if I do this the res quickly goes milky and I get a layer of sediment forming at the base of the res (flocculation?).

On checking the Canna website I found the following advice:
"What to do about ‘hard’ water with a high pH
Hard water is best treated with acid to lower the pH to 6.5 before adding any nutrients to make up the nutrient solution or before using the water to top up a nutrient reservoir".

I've tried this, and the nutrient mix stays crystal clear. I'm assuming that Canna know their products well enough, and so this is what I've been doing - but it has caused some consternation amongst fellow growers.

What I need to know is am I doing the right thing here? I am very keen, like all of us, to do the right thing by my plants.

What do you guys think?
All opinions will be respected and appreciated.
 

jorgeblen

Member
Very curious about that too Raedwulf.
Whats the pH of your solution if you first acidify your water then add nutrients? I believe if it stays somewhere between 5.5 to 6 it should be ok. Adding nutes normally drops the pH down.hmmm I do trust canna too.
Another tip i read somewhere is to acidify very hard water with nitric acid instead of phosphoric acid.
 
D

dramamine

That's the recommended way to mix them up...certain minerals drop out of solution at higher ph. So if your starting water ph is over 6.5-6.6, the best thing is to bring it down before adding your main ferts to insure they mix well.

A lot of tap water is close to neutral and pure RO water presents no issue, but hard water may be much higher. That's when it becomes important to adjust it before trying to mix in your main minerals.

Also, many growers add cal-mag to their water source, effectively dropping the ph, prior to main ferts....most without realizing the ph correction they're making. Maybe it explains why your fellow growers haven't had flocculation issues....or have they?

Anyway, you got it right.
 

ACAB

Member
I found H and G heavy in nitrogen, i backed it all off and that was too little.
I ended up using different amounts of A and B per batch, which was a pain.
How did you apply it ?

watering lance is great

Hi MM ..... I use 60% (B) 40% (A) As A is slighty Heavier I Have found ...... As long as you have regular mix up in your res its good and plants respond very well on my grows its just finding something your confident with and that works well for you strain/enviroment ect..... :)
 

Raedwulf

Member
That's the recommended way to mix them up...certain minerals drop out of solution at higher ph. So if your starting water ph is over 6.5-6.6, the best thing is to bring it down before adding your main ferts to insure they mix well.

A lot of tap water is close to neutral and pure RO water presents no issue, but hard water may be much higher. That's when it becomes important to adjust it before trying to mix in your main minerals.

Yes, sorry, I should have mentioned that my tap water (which comes from river and underground sources in what is geologically a chalk basin) regularly tests out at pH 8.0 > 8.5 despite my water company's assertion that it should be pH 7.5 :jawdrop:

Hi jorgeblen, yes I've heard that too. Currently I'm using Phosphoric acid but I think I'm going to switch to Nitric.
To be 'clear' :) about what I do, I take my tap water down to pH 6.5, add the nutes (A+B etc), aerate overnight, and test again before use - usually resulting in a pH that is still about 6.5 - and then fine adjust down to between pH 5.5 > 6.0.
 
ok I have 45 plants that were a little hungry, pretty yellow actually, and I just transplanted to coco, this being my first try at coco after being a sunshine #4 user for years. Im using Canna coco, 15ml of each, (Canna A & B) Ph of 5.8. The plants are juveniles, probably about 10". I just transpanted the day before yesterday, and they have shown slight improvement, but it looks like they could use more food. Should I give them more this time? Ive always used like 0-8-16 Gen Hydro with 25 ml of Diamond Nectar when they were like this in the past, and they took right off. Im wondering if I should wait to water, and up the Canna A and B? Or just use 0-6-9 and the Diamond Nectar PH of 5.8. Any ideas? Im kind of going with the 0-6-9 Gen Hydro but this is my first time, so Im a little hesitant. Kind of wondering when to water too.

Thanks in advance.
 

Gushi

New member
Planning to start a new grow with coco

Planning to start a new grow with coco

Hi guys! I must say, I really like this thread, since coco coir has been on my mind for a while... :)
I'm from Finland and the Finnish growing community does not have a proper coco coir thread at their regular hemp forums.

So here goes, I'm currently living in Thailand and will be back home in a couple of months so I have had a lot of spare time thinking this through. Just in case any of you notice something that I should, or should not do please let me know.
I have about three years of experience growing in soil and hydroponic, but I really appreciate the moving ability of plants during a grow and the power of a hydro so that's why coco coir has crossed my mind as the obvious choice.

The setup:
I have a Homebox S, a growtent (80x80x160cm). I have teamed this up with a Lumatek electronic ballast that is adjustible between 250 and 400 watts HPS and metal-halide lamps. A cooltube, an obvious choice for a small tent and an active carbon filter which sucks air out through an inline fan.

The growing medium:
I will grow a total of 6 10-11 liter buckets filled with a mixture of coco coir, perlite and clay pebbles. The coco bricks will be purchased at the local growshop, which are made by bio-nova. I will soak these bricks with PH balanced water at around 5.8-6.2, since the tap water is around 8.0 in Finland and rinse the coir with PH balanced water two times. After this I will make the mixture of 10% perlite, 30% clay pebbles and the rest coco.

The seeds:
Since I like to test out as many strains as possible, I will grow all six plants from 2 new and one familiar strain. I mail ordered a bunch of seeds from greenhouse seed company, since they have turned out as very reliable and good seeds considering germination, grow size and smoke quality of course! The two strains from them will be kings kush and pure kush. A couple of northern lights seeds I acquired from sensi seeds, because I really fell in love with their variation of the super nice NL and it is known to produce some of the finest seeds and strains. All the seeds are feminized so I don't need to waste my time and space in the tent. All though I have realized that non feminized seeds produce better phenotypes, but there will be a time for that when I order seeds the next time. Indica is my favourite smoke at the moment, hence the indica dominant strains...

The grow will begin in 2 liter buckets and after three weeks of veg, along with fim-pinching or tying down the main branch to give the plants a little more bushiness. After a good level of growth around 30-40cm is reached, I will transplant the plants into the bigger buckets. The buckets will be punched out from the bottom, so extra water is allowed to run through and air can get into the roots better. The first two weeks down of 12/12 photo period I will flush the plants with PH balanced water, a low e.c. and let them dry for three to four days and then pump them with an e.c. of 1.6, obviously depending on the tolerance of each individual strain. I will repeat this process two more times a week later and another week after the next one. I do not know if this will speed up the blooming of the plants, but I have heard of this, and might as well give it a go. During week 4 when the bud is starting to form, I will flip my light and turn the grow into a vertical grow :) I have had some nice yield figures with vertical before, so I want to see what it will give with coco. I will flower vertically as long as necessary and then flush for around 3 to 4 days with final solution to give the bud some extra flavor. I will use advance hydroponics bloom and micro for the grow along with diamond nectar from GHE.

I will make a grow diary on this, so that all of you interested can follow my process... What do you guys think?

p.s. I grew some greenhouseseeds jack herer a while back in 6 liter buckets in soil with biobizz organic fertilizer. It turned out nice, around 40 grams per plant, five plants in total, 250w vertical with cooltube. Here is a sample of what I managed to produce:

Peace!
 

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gigi86

Member
Hey guys I have a question about my tap water.....
initially the ph and ec are:
7.5 and 0,55
after 24H :
8.5 and 0,55
If I mix ro water with tap water I just need use some drop of ph down but if I use only tap water I need to use alot of ph down for have the same ph (5,8) like 2ml per 10 L .....
I dont know If I use too much ph down will cause some problem in the future
 
B

bonecarver_OG

distilled water, ROwater and even rainwater works well to bring down the ec of the water/nute mix.

tap water contains a lot of bicarbonates, and to neutralize it, a lot of acid is needed. also the ph scale is not linear. to jump down one step in ph means its 10 times more acid.

"The pH scale is logarithmic and as a result, each whole pH value below 7 is ten times more acidic than the next higher value. For example, pH 4 is ten times more acidic than pH 5 and 100 times (10 times 10) more acidic than pH 6. The same holds true for pH values above 7, each of which is ten times more alkaline (another way to say basic) than the next lower whole value. For example, pH 10 is ten times more alkaline than pH 9 and 100 times (10 times 10) more alkaline than pH 8."

this is why a lot more of ph down is needed when the water is more alcaline to start with and has a lot of bicarbonates.

more info on water, bicarbonates and etc;

Alkalinity of Drinking Water Explained
Alkalinity of water may be due to the presence of one or more of a number of ions. These include hydroxides, carbonates and bicarbonates. As discussed in previous articles, hydroxide ions are always present in water, even if the concentration is extremely low. However, significant concentrations of hydroxides are unusual in natural water supplies, but may be present after certain types of treatment. Small amounts of carbonates are found in natural water supplies in certain sections of the country, rarely exceeding 3 or 4 gpg. They may also be found in the water after lime soda has been used to soften the water. Bicarbonates are the most common sources of alkalinity. Almost all natural supplies have a measurable amount of this ion, ranging from 0 to about 50 gpg.

Alkalinity. The alkalinity of water may be defined as its capacity to neutralize acid. Alkali substances in water include hydroxides or bases. They can be detected by their acrid taste and by the fact that they cause red litmus paper to turn blue.

Phosphates and silicates are rarely found in natural supplies in concentrations significant in the home. Compounds containing these ions may be used in a variety of water treatment processes. Moderate concentrations of alkalinity are desirable in most water supplies to balance the corrosive effects of acidity. However, excessive quantities cause a number of problems. These ions are, of course, free in the water, but have their counterpart in cations such as calcium, magnesium and sodium or potassium.

You probably will not notice an alkaline condition due to bicarbonate ions except when present in large amounts. In contrast, you should readily detect alkalinity due even to fairly small amounts of carbonate and hydroxide ions.

Strong alkaline water has an objectionable "soda" taste. The EPA Secondary Drinking Water Regulations limit alkalinity only in terms of total dissolved solids (500 ppm) and to some extent by the limitation on pH.

Highly mineralized alkaline waters also cause excessive drying of the skin due to the fact that they tend to remove normal skin oils.

Troublesome amounts of alkalinity can be removed by reverse osmosis, along with other total dissolved solids. Other methods of water treatment also remove total dissolved solids, but they are somewhat less suitable for household use compared to reverse osmosis. These methods are distillation and deionization (demineralization).

its all basic organic chemistry :D peace and happy 2012 to all coco growers :D
 

jorgeblen

Member
try to acidify ur water before adding nutrients. works great for me. much less ph down needed. this issue seems to be worst when dealing with hard tap water. using nitric acid instead of phosphoric acid is also a good hint. take care
 

SilverSurfer_OG

Living Organic Soil...
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Yeah i have noticed it only takes a few drops of cider vinegar (or any vinegar) to neutralise an alkaline water... but once any nutrients have been added - liquid kelp, fish emulsion, EM1 products etc it takea a whole lot more vinegar to bring it back down.

But then organic cider vinegar has all kinds of minerals and trace elements to its not a bad thing :smoke:
 
J

J.C.grower

hey guys i just recently have been really interested in changing from Soil to Coco coir. so i had to try it, i bought Botanicare Readygro Aerated formula mix. (perlite and coco). and ive been feeding with General Organics, organic nute line. but so far its been a week and my green crack lady does not look so healthy(purple stem, leaves pale). i really dont know what myproblem could be, some said over watering so i held off, but still looks sad :( is this mix a the problem or what is going on??
btw this thread is extremly helpful! cheers!:tiphat:
JC:joint:
 
T

TribalSeeds

Im watering these girls by hand in 3ga coco pots. The set-up is in a 4x8 1200w SJ tent. I have a pinched nerve in my back, but im burning the dank

 
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