Coco Brix

[Lyba]

After some trouble I experienced, I started surfing on the internet and decided to go and get the Plagron coco-brix and stop dragging bags of coco into the house. I chose the Plagron-brix.
First because they probably sell the cleanest coco in the market (EC guarantee < 0.3) and second the coco is pH-buffered (I promised myself 1.5 years ago never to use an unbuffered coco again). The ladies are about 2 weeks old now.

Each coco-brix equals 9 litres of coco, they are sold in a pack of 6. So that is 54 litres, a little bit more than a bag of coco, but definitely not the same size. Now I can put 6 bags of coco in one big sports bag. So nobody knows where the brix goes

I have been growing on coco for two years now, but still a virgin on the forum. I will get you a weekly update on how things are running.

Some details:
• Grow room: 11.5 ft. x 13 ft. and 6.5 ft. in height
• 2x active air intake at floor level
• 1x extraction filter 1500 m3/h
• 6x 600W HPS
• 2x wooden crates 10 ft. x 4 ft. covered with plastic foil and
drainage for water
• 200 litre barrel, ceramic pump and a normal garden hose
• 90x 11 litre pots filled for 70 White Widows and 20 Amnesia’s
• 100x Plagron Coco-brix; Plagron Coco A & B; Power Roots; Pure Enzym;
Green Sensation; Vita Start; Mighty neem and Diamond Shield.


Oke enough talk let’s go to work:

1) Filling the barrel -> no nutes; pH=5.5; filling 7 buckets of water

2) I put one brick in a bucket and it starts to pop after only a few seconds. I will leave the brix in there for about half an hour

Mixing the coco in the pot by hand to unravel the big coco-chunks in there……


3) I take the coco from the pot and squeeze remains of water back into the pot. Then I fill an empty pot with the coco fiddle about and spread it in the pot. And yes it really looks like the coco you buy in a 50 litre bag. Already very very pleased with that

4) After filling all 70 pots, I turn on 3 lights as far away from the pots as possible and wait for the pots and the coco to adapt to the temperature in the room. The temperature in the room is 24⁰ C.

5) I start planting my cuttings and water them using Coco A & B and Power Roots -> pH= 5.7 & EC= 1.7. I also foliar feed the young ladies with Vita Start.

 

[Lyba]

Time has come to plant the White Widow cuttings……

6) Humidity is about 70%. Humidifier and extraction fan are turned off for the time being.

After the third day the cuttings are really starting to take off and on the 4th day I top the White Widows. I am still waiting for the Amnesia to root and hope to plant them within 3 days. I don’t mind setting the Amnesia’s into flower after 5 days. They will be growing strongly until the fourth week.
The hardest part is getting the white widows and the amnesia’s equal in height.

On the 5th day I spray the plants using Vita Start, I lower the lights to about 28 inch from the plants.

On day 6 time has come to turn on the fan, all 6 lights and the humidifier. Now it is important to regularly check temperature [27⁰ C] and humidity [65%]. The timer for the light is now set to 18 hours light – 6 hours darkness. For the first couple of days I prefer to keep the lights on for 24 hours for a good development of the young cuttings........


Week 2

As the leaves are still looking light yellowish, I have decided to give more of Coco A&B [pH=5.7; EC=1.9]. I probably should have given more Coco A&B at the beginning. From experience I know the dose given strongly depends the strain that is grown.

I have topped all 70 white widows this week to get some more volume. They were rather puny when I got them. Unfortunately it were not the best cuttings I got.
I planted the the 20 Amnesia’s cut from my motherplant. I also topped the white widows in order to get the plants at the same level in height between the different strains. I will also place a scrog net over the plants at the end of week 2 in bloom, level out the plants at the height of the net so I can put the lights as close as possible.

It is easy to spot Amnesia’s, they are smaller than the white widows and are marked with a yellow label. The plants have turned more green by now.

A cutting of the Amnesia looking nice & healthy.

Last time I experienced a lot of problems with spidermite. This time I am going to regularly spray with Plagron’s Mighty Neemoil and hopefully I will not have to us any chemical products like the Massai from Bayer which I have used before.

After the 12th day of growth the Amnesia start growing vigorously (for them it is the 6th day of growth). From experience I know they will keep on growing until the 4th week. The White Widows usually stop growing after the second week. So I have decided to put them all into flower starting tomorrow. So then we will be going from 18h to 12h of light.
This weeks menu: 100 ml. Plagron Power Roots, 100 ml. Pure Enzym; 200 ml. Plagron Coco A & B
[pH=5.8 ; EC=2.0]

The girls have turned from light yellow to nice healthy green with clear beautiful veins in the leaf. The temperature is about 25⁰ C, not bad for a 1500 m3 fan running 6 600W lights with ballasts.
The Humidity is about 70% and I will lower it to about 65% until I have reached the 8th week of bloom. I control the humidity using a HR-50 Humidifier with Hygrostat.

The Amnesia’s were nice and green from the start. I believe this is a strong strain in general which makes thick stems, needs less food and is less vulnerable; can withstand big changes in temperatures (day/night); handle lower min. temperatures compared to for instance a white widow.

The ladies on day 11

 

[Lyba]

Week 1 Bloom

This week 3 or rather the first week of bloom. The ladies are doing very well. I topped some of the plants that were sticking out so I get a more levelled field of plants and the light can be used more efficient.

The leaves are looking better and better most probably because I am spraying the Mighty neem every other day. In between I once sprayed the Plagron Micro Kill and once Diamond Shield to protect my plants from any bacterial infection or any mould.

Feeding water: Coco A&B, Pure Enzym en Power Roots --> pH=5.8 ; EC=2.0
Grow Room: Temperature 25⁰C ; Humidity around 65%

Next week I would like to keep things the same and only take up the EC to 2.2.

My pH sometimes goes up from 5.8 to 5.9 to 6.0. I aim to never get it below 5.7 and never over 6.0

The first three weeks I only make 100 litres of feedingwater instead of 200 litres; mix the freshly made feedingwater for a period of 4 hours before administering it to the plants. I water them every other day as the 11 litres coco in the pot provide enough buffer to do so.
They told me on hydro- or cocoslabs it is better to water a couple of times during the day. I don’t have any experience with the slabs, but for the 11 litre pots, I haven’t noticed any difference in end-result when watering the plants 50 litres daily or 100 litre every 2 days.

In the next coming weeks the plants will be consuming more & more and I will be feeding them more regularly.

Sorry guys had a busy week and made no pictures , for next week I promise to get you some nice ones……be patient

 

[exploziv]

I think your album is set to private so pics don't show. Fix that so we can see the pics you posted. Good luck!

 

[LEDNewbie]

yup, can't see pics.....

 

[Lyba]

Sorry guys...... I didn't realize this. But trying to find out how to change album status....can't find it. Pleazzzzzze Help

 

[Lyba]

Ahhh figured it out, are the pics visible now????

 

[Lyba]

Week 2 Bloo

It seems like the growth of the white widows has stunned at the end of this week. The Amnesia’s though are still growing strong.
Now I figure is the right time to go and place the scrogg-net and bend some of the long and thin Amnesia shoots under the net. There is still some difference in height between the plants, so I separately adjust the 6 lights at a distance of +/- 20 inch from the plants daily.

I am taking my EC level up to 2.3, hopefully the tips of the leaves don’t curle up. Otherwise I am lowering the dose again.





The picture is taken on the day that the ladies are exactly 2 weeks old. You can see the little flowers appear. I notched the 3 swivel fans one up for better air circulation. I am controlling the humidity and temperature fairly well --> T=25⁰C ; Humidity = 65%. Happy with that .

I have removed the yellow leaves at the bottom of the plants, probably caused by the low EC I gave the ladies at the start. I hope this will not have a negative effect on the growth. The Plants really look well compared to my previous run, where all was covered with spidermites by now.
I don’t need another zoo in my growroom, so I am checking thouroughly for mites every day…….
Today I also cut off some little side branches that hold no glorious future, so the plant can save his energy for better and “higher” purposes …..

This also creates more space between the plants for air to circulate.
The bloke from the shop gave me a sample of Sugar Royal, he was real enthusiastic about it. Apparently it is a product that strongly stimulates the sugar/resin production. I am going to start using it right away. Real curious what Plagron pulled out of their hat this time .
It has to be administered on a weekly base at 2 ml/l. So from now on every Sunday is Sugar Royal day…..
Anybody any experience with this product???

 

[ekomsi]

Welcome Lyba, nice grow I look forward to your updates, I have no experience with the product your asking about. You from the UK?

Good luck and Coco is a great medium.

 

[Lyba]

Welcome Lyba, nice grow I look forward to your updates, I have no experience with the product your asking about. You from the UK?

Good luck and Coco is a great medium.

Yep, I live in the UK for some years now....

Can you tell me if the pics are visible now?????? anyone???

 

[exploziv]

Yes, they are visible now!
Good luck with your grow!

 

[supernuck]

Looking good so far Lyba, are you hand watering all 90 pots? Even if they are not drying out daily I would water them once a day when they have themselves some solid roots. When I was hand watering coco plants in previous grows they were much happier in flower when I did not let them get dry and come flush time I noticed a huge difference in runoff EC between plants that I let dry out in flower and those who had their roots zones 'refreshed' everyday. You are going to have a jungle in there soon!

 

[Lyba]

Looking good so far Lyba, are you hand watering all 90 pots? Even if they are not drying out daily I would water them once a day when they have themselves some solid roots. When I was hand watering coco plants in previous grows they were much happier in flower when I did not let them get dry and come flush time I noticed a huge difference in runoff EC between plants that I let dry out in flower and those who had their roots zones 'refreshed' everyday. You are going to have a jungle in there soon!

for the compliment. I am handwatering once every day now.

Been thinking of flushing them by next week, although the values my run off are still okay and I am using the Pure Enzym every watering. Don't know better to be save then sorry, but why change a winning team everything seems to be okay.
I will decide come next week.

Thanks for the advice and if you have an opinion on wether I should be flushing or not please do.....

 

[Lyba]

Week 3 Bloom

All right then, time to put the scrogg-net in place. Buds are starting to appear and I don’t want to stress the plants too much by extreme bending of the long Amnesia shoots towards the net.

My feeding water: EC = 2.2 ; pH=5.9; Humidity is under control and lies around 65%
Next week I am going to stop giving them Power Roots and Enzymes and start using Green Sensation.

The Amnesia’s are still growing, but normally they should stop by the end of this week……

Today is the last day and then week 4 of bloom starts. They really have to stop growing now….please please stop .
With a few days delay I finally put the net and I had to bend some of the Amnesia quite firm to get them close to the net, so I can keep my lights closer to the plants. Also towards the last two weeks, I hope to have nice big budded ladies that will enjoy the support of the net, otherwise they will fall over towards one another due to their weight.
The plants are placed in two long crates on wheels. I found it wise to also place 2 scrogg-nets, so I can always move the crates separately if needed.

 

[ph0r2102]

Looking really good lyba! You say you have been growing coco for two years? Have you tried using less medium, say 1/2 or 1/3? Or adding a transplant stage between veg and flower? Im curious why you are using such a (imo) large amount? I've seen very good results and faster growth with much less.. Personaly grown in coco once, years ago, and starting back into it now. Not knocking you.. everyone has their rhyme and reason..

 

[superjet]

dude those are nice! tell me that's the end of week three or i'm going to start feeling a little inadequate over here.

 

[Lyba]

Looking really good lyba! You say you have been growing coco for two years? Have you tried using less medium, say 1/2 or 1/3? Or adding a transplant stage between veg and flower? Im curious why you are using such a (imo) large amount? I've seen very good results and faster growth with much less.. Personaly grown in coco once, years ago, and starting back into it now. Not knocking you.. everyone has their rhyme and reason..

Less medium would be possible, but you need to water more with less medium and I don't have an automated system. More medium is more buffer if you are running a little late sometimes for watering..... I have a very busy life

On the other hand I also feel the more room there is for roots the bigger and stronger the plants.

 

[Lyba]

Week 4 Bloom

Week 4 of bloom has started and the by now big ladies are looking stunning. There are 3-4 plants that turned a little light greenish….. maybe a little shortage on Calcium, Magnesium?? But nothing really serious.

The Plants are spending a lot of energy developing around this period….Time to bring in some serious reinforcement: Green Sensation
I will be using the Green Sensation until the 9th week using 1 ml/l all the way through. In my case 100 ml. Green Sensation per 100 litres of water.

It is becoming too hard spraying the plants as I can’t reach all plants without stressing them too much. Everything has closed up and I can’t reach them with my telescope-sprayer. This will be the last time I am going to spray the Might Neem.

Already I am predicting a better harvest than the previous one. I am controlling the climate a lot better and I haven’t noticed any weird bugs up to now!! Will be checking daily though….

The leaves are slightly curling up, so I am probably overfeeding. I am going to drop my EC-level from 2.3 to 2.0 to be on the safe side. I rather underfeed a little than overfeed…..underfeeding will still give him the vigour to perform. I try to keep my pH between 5.8 – 6.0 and the last weeks I prefer to have it at 6.0.

 

[Lyba]

Week 5 Bloom

The Buds are growing and fattening up nicely. The Amnesia’s are a little too darkish green and a little behind compared to the White Widows. Apparently the Widows need more food than the Amnesia’s. rather have the ladies a little more hungry than fat and satisfied.

I’m going to keep the EC at 2.0 so I don’t overfeed the amnesia’s and still feed the widows enough for a good development. The Green Sensation covers about 40-50% of your base nutrients, made a mistake with that the first time. The way to go is first adding Green sensation 1 ml/l, measure the EC and then add coco A&B until the desired EC-level is reached. I don’t have to add Enzymes or a PK13-14 as they are also present in the Green sensation. All that is left to do then is adding some pH-down until it levels out to 5.9.

I am currently feeding the plants 1 litre of this solution per plant every 2 days.

Humidity is kept at 63% and I haven’t spotted a mite so far. Let’s keep it like that .

 

[Lyba]

Week 6 Bloom

Sorry for the late update, I had a long hard date with the flu. Anyway everything looks good up to now. The Amnesia’s are not as big and thick as previous times.
They have suffered from overfeeding. I hope they will recover this loss.

I have sprayed the Mighty Neem for the last time and still haven’t detected any mites or any other pests. I do have some yellow leaves in the lower part of some plants, but with 3 weeks to go this is quite normal.

I am feeding at an EC = 2,0 and pH= 6.0

Amnesia not as big as I wanted them to be at this stage, but they look really nice and sticky with lots of resin...


Week 7 Bloom

The White Widow buds are getting real big and they look yum yum, especially the ones that are situated in the middle of the crates.
Last grow I kept the two crates separate from each other, so I had an aisle between the two for easier maintenance. Now the crates are standing againt one another for more efficient use of light.
The lights are placed closer together now, which gives the plants intenser light from the sides. Definetely an improvement.

The crates have wheels on them and the scrogg-nets are also mounted on each crate, so I can separate them easily if needed.
Previous grows the heat generated by the lights was blown into one corner, I improved this by putting 3 fans. One on every side of the crates for better air circulation.

I am going to drop my EC-level to 1.8 and will keep the pH at 6.0.
The ladies are still on Green Sensation until week 9 and that stuff is awesome!!

I have stopped spraying water on the plants to keep humidity at a more constant level. Also to lower the risk on mould creeping into my buds as I don’t control my humidity that well anymore at this stage.
Sometimes humidity is up at 78%.....not so happy with that