What's Going On With My Plants? (coco)

[farmari]

If that Botanicare aeration mix is as they advertise it then it sounds very difficult if not impossible to overwater. Can you judge by how heavy the container is, if it feels waterlogged? Maybe do a porosity test on the Botanicare aeration mix with an empty container to test if it's possible to overwater with the stuff. 1EC is fine with 3 week old plants.

If the coir surface is dry then maybe you should flush with a 1EC nutrient solution until you're getting runoff PH in the acceptable range. I'm really not a plant health expert... I tend to brutalize my plants... but I'm guessing too high PH as most likely followed by overwatering as less likely.

Also in my opinion when having trouble, simplify things to narrow down the problem. For example I just use tap water, a one part nutrient, and PH Down, for my nutrient solution. No need for calmag or anything else. (though that varies for everyone... everyone's tap water is different for example)

 

[ChemDgMillionre]

And here it is.
H3ad says you need to replace the o2 as often as possible since its hydro.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55683
Both of these guys say to water everyday or you will have problems
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=81674
Bottom line is water everyday with the correct ratio. Dont bother with calmag.
Mofos have air stones in their res and let the coco dry out...lol that shit is backwards
Peace

How is 24/7 sopping wet coco not a breeding ground for spores? I'm not trying to be an ass, I'm serious. Is it simply because of the oxygen exchange? If your not watering to a complete run off how is there efficient oxygen exchange? IME if I keep making a pot heavier before the plant has the roots to drink it.. Well that's just chasing my tail.

 

[Coconutz]

I water at least twice a day in flower.
Seems to grow fat colas.
In veg I hit them once a day unless I need to speed growth up a bit, then Ill water twice.
Ive seen plants grow great underwater.
Ive also had amazing growth with blumats set to keep the coco moist at all times.
Ill be setting them back up soon. Ive never had plants so big in coco.
Yields are always higher when I dont let the coco dry at all.
People who let their coco dry seem to need to supplement with other shit to avoid problems because the nutrient balance and ph get out of whack when dry.
When I use a base nute and keep the coco wet the entire time it stays perfect at all times and never drifts
Remember, even full of water theres always enough air in coco unless the coco has been reused too many times.
Peace

 

[w2008]

hi there, if you keep a bowl of water in your cab, it will evaporate and raise the R/H. imo

 

[MIway]

iv read a bunch on recommendations & a lot varied with my personal experiences... even with the recs of people that i would consider credible sources, yet their experiences differed than mine. id wager it all really depends on the environmental & cultural differences during the runs... different rooms, different growers, different condiions. what may work in one room wont in another.

but, from real practical experience, for me... have root rotted coir w a perlite mix in a ebb&gro system that cycled x3 feeds per day. honest to god root rot & plant death. the culprit wasnt just as simple as saying multiple feeds is the killer... pot size, system design, plant vigor, room temps, rh... all factored into my drowning the roots, in coir.

it all just depends.

 

[papaduc]

There's so much misinformation on message boards these days it makes asking for advice almost pointless half the time.

Despite all the back and forth in this thread, nobody has pointed out to you your biggest mistake from the very beginning - using calmag as your primary nutrient. I know coconutz alluded to it, but said it contained too much nitrogen.

The truth is, and people need to realise this - in fact I wish there was a sticky at the very top of the plant health section of every message board out there - calcium and magnesium are just two elements of the many which your plants need. Feeding them alone in the form of a solution which is made specifically for a deficiency, and in the process replacing the actual plant food you are supposed to be using, is one of the worst ways you can approach feeding a plant.

What's wrong with potassium? Is it not our friend anymore? It's a vitally important part of the building process of any plant.

And Phosphorus? Did it offend someone? That too is a building block primary macro nutrient.

Calmag has neither of these, nor does it have iron, or sulfur, or any of the micro elements like copper, manganese etc.

It's a mistake that's repeated time after time... and it doesn't show any sign of ending soon.

Start your seedlings on a feed of 1.0ec of base veg nutrient.... I'm losing the will to say this nowadays.... but it's true. Start there, forget your nutrient recommendations or special formulas, 1.0ec of a base veg feed like floranova will be absolutely perfectly fine. Any adjustment you need to make from that will be small. Very small.


With regards to the plants pictured, they're the symptoms of a ph problem mate. The twisted leaves is the tell tale sign. Sometimes it's a genetic thing and the plant will grow out of it. The original Blueberry was known for it.

Always check the ph of your coco before using it.

With regards to watering... can you over water? Have you over watered? Should you water everyday?

Truth is, anyone who tells you you must water everyday or you must follow a wet/dry cycle, is wrong. It's as simple as that.

You can do either in coco. People can debate what gets the best results, but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about whether either will damage your plant.

There are so many variables when it comes to the appearance of the plant, that I question the opinion of anyone who says water is definitely responsible for problems; too much or too little.

You can have seedlings sitting in a small ice cream tray with no drainage holes, flooded with water, and watch them steadily drink it over the following days.... provided the environment is right. I've seen sage (the herb) dill, chives, so many plants, flourish in flooded pots which I forgot to drill holes in. I've seen cannabis do the same in coco. It works and if people doubt this, they can try it for themselves.

This isn't a method I practice, just one I've seen first hand which dispels the notion that cannabis can't grow in a full saturation rootzone.

I follow a wet/dry cycle with seedlings. When I say dry I don't mean bone dry, I mean still moist, but light.

In all my years growing I have never seen one plant which, not one single seedling of one single strain, out of hundreds, that suffers as a result of the pot not being watered every day. It's never happened. Again, that proves beyond any doubt that it's not true coco must be watered every day.

If you want my advice, make up a batch of floranova veg feed to a strength of 1.0ec. Adjust the ph to 5.8 and thoroughly flush through every pot til what's coming out of the bottom matches what's going in at the top, both in ph and ec. To the nearest 0.1 anyway.

Then leave them to dry out (til they're light, not bone dry) for the next few days. Then post back and let us know how you're getting on.

From that point, even if everyone has a different opinion on what's gone wrong before, you'll be at a good place to fix any problems, if that doesn't fix them completely.

I'd also buy some food grade 35% hydrogen peroxide and use that at 1ml per liter when you water. It's a good preventative in my experience and adds extra oxygen to the root zone.

Take care.

 

[Mister_D]

You are starting to experience several problems. Your first and biggest issue is the humidity being too low. Research VPD (vapor pressure deficit), and get your humidity in the correct range. To do this in your case I recommend a cup full of water with a towel or similar hanging half in the water and half out. The towel acts as a wick that will pull water from the cup and then evaporate it into the air. If that isn't getting humidity up where it needs to be, then add a second cup or a fan blowing on the towel of the first cup. The rust (orange) spots are calcium def., likely due to the humidity being so low your plants can't transpire enough water to move the calcium up the plant. Also certainly a decent possibility you are experiencing lock-out from your dash of this, drop of that nute schedule. Switch to h3ad's 6/9 recipe and add NOTHING to it other than ph down to get to 5.8. I use it full strength, which in my water is ~1.5 EC. If it comes out stronger or weaker in your water, either dilute to 1.5 EC or add nutes until it is at 1.5 EC. I use this formula full strength on everything from freshly sprouted seedlings to unrooted clones to plants in full flower. As for watering everyday, this is fine in a small enough container relative to plant size (a key concept most don't understand, hence the varied answers on the subject). You plants are obviously doing fine with daily watering in those containers, so I'd continue doing just that. Roots form different types (air vs water type) depending on their environment. You have set your plants up to grow water roots, so going to a wet/dry cycle now would actually be counterproductive. You can if you'd like, but it will stall veg while the roots change form. Botanicare coco (bagged and bricks) is some of the best sold, and 99% of the time it's already flushed and recharged in the bag/block (I.e you just plant, feed, and watch them grow. no special charge needed). Fix your humidity and flush a gal. of h3ad's through each plant to reset the CEC in the coco. Then continue feeding your normal amount of water/nutes everyday just as you have been doing.

 

[Bad Habits]

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to respond and try and help! The amount of responses is pretty amazing considering I'm just a noob

That being said, it is a bit... entertaining... at the varied advice everyone is giving. Ha guess just gotta try out some different things and find out what works.

Before responding, lemme tell you what I have done since the last time I posted. I upped the feeding: 1.5ml rapid start, 4ml FN grow and 4ml calmag. This gave me 610PPM and added a drop of PH up for 6.1ph. Water temp was 66f. I also started misting them with PHed water to try and help with the low RH. Woke up today and the plants looked significantly better, although this pic doesn't really do it justice:

On a tangent: when should I transplant these babies? Today is day 21... white root tips will appear at the bottom of the pots in the holes (see previous pics) then disappear later...

You need to use nutes with the coco. In the rooters you can use just water. When the seedling stretches after popping you can just bury it in your pot with the rooter a few inches down.
Seems to work well for me.
Forget additives all together until you have some grows under your belt. Theres no way of telling if they work or what they do unless youve grown without them. Its also much easier to fuck up with additives in the mix

I think I made a huge mistake by only giving them water (no nutes) for the first week. On my second batch of seedlings (which I haven't posted pics of) the fresh seedlings had browning and curling on the tips of the leaves, which I'm pretty sure is from that. I think I need to check out those rooters you were talking about!

 

[baccas]

Check your ph first then let the pits dry out and see if that helps

 

[Bad Habits]

If that Botanicare aeration mix is as they advertise it then it sounds very difficult if not impossible to overwater. Can you judge by how heavy the container is, if it feels waterlogged? Maybe do a porosity test on the Botanicare aeration mix with an empty container to test if it's possible to overwater with the stuff. 1EC is fine with 3 week old plants.

If the coir surface is dry then maybe you should flush with a 1EC nutrient solution until you're getting runoff PH in the acceptable range. I'm really not a plant health expert... I tend to brutalize my plants... but I'm guessing too high PH as most likely followed by overwatering as less likely.

Also in my opinion when having trouble, simplify things to narrow down the problem. For example I just use tap water, a one part nutrient, and PH Down, for my nutrient solution. No need for calmag or anything else. (though that varies for everyone... everyone's tap water is different for example)

Yeah I can definitely tell when the container is heavy and when it isn't and obviously needs water.

Okay, now I'm a bit confused about EC/PPM. For some reason up till now I thought 1EC = 1000ppm, but after a quick google search that doesn't seem right?

I water at least twice a day in flower.
Seems to grow fat colas.
In veg I hit them once a day unless I need to speed growth up a bit, then Ill water twice.
Ive seen plants grow great underwater.
Ive also had amazing growth with blumats set to keep the coco moist at all times.
Ill be setting them back up soon. Ive never had plants so big in coco.
Yields are always higher when I dont let the coco dry at all.
People who let their coco dry seem to need to supplement with other shit to avoid problems because the nutrient balance and ph get out of whack when dry.
When I use a base nute and keep the coco wet the entire time it stays perfect at all times and never drifts
Remember, even full of water theres always enough air in coco unless the coco has been reused too many times.
Peace

My buddy runs his on drippers that do 30 second feedings like 6x/day in flower. He Get's fat ass nugs, well over 1lb/plant. As another member pointed out, I don't think there is a maxim: there are different variables to determine how often the watering needs to occur in coco. Thanks for the input, and great perspective.

hi there, if you keep a bowl of water in your cab, it will evaporate and raise the R/H. imo

No room in the cab ATM to really do that. When I transplant this first batch and move them into the closet I'll have to do that, and then put another one in the cab for new seedlings.

iv read a bunch on recommendations & a lot varied with my personal experiences... even with the recs of people that i would consider credible sources, yet their experiences differed than mine. id wager it all really depends on the environmental & cultural differences during the runs... different rooms, different growers, different condiions. what may work in one room wont in another.

but, from real practical experience, for me... have root rotted coir w a perlite mix in a ebb&gro system that cycled x3 feeds per day. honest to god root rot & plant death. the culprit wasnt just as simple as saying multiple feeds is the killer... pot size, system design, plant vigor, room temps, rh... all factored into my drowning the roots, in coir.

it all just depends.

Shows it varies from person to person and grow to grow! Thanks for sharing your experience mate.

There's so much misinformation on message boards these days it makes asking for advice almost pointless half the time.

Despite all the back and forth in this thread, nobody has pointed out to you your biggest mistake from the very beginning - using calmag as your primary nutrient. I know coconutz alluded to it, but said it contained too much nitrogen.

The truth is, and people need to realise this - in fact I wish there was a sticky at the very top of the plant health section of every message board out there - calcium and magnesium are just two elements of the many which your plants need. Feeding them alone in the form of a solution which is made specifically for a deficiency, and in the process replacing the actual plant food you are supposed to be using, is one of the worst ways you can approach feeding a plant.

What's wrong with potassium? Is it not our friend anymore? It's a vitally important part of the building process of any plant.

And Phosphorus? Did it offend someone? That too is a building block primary macro nutrient.

Calmag has neither of these, nor does it have iron, or sulfur, or any of the micro elements like copper, manganese etc.

It's a mistake that's repeated time after time... and it doesn't show any sign of ending soon.

Start your seedlings on a feed of 1.0ec of base veg nutrient.... I'm losing the will to say this nowadays.... but it's true. Start there, forget your nutrient recommendations or special formulas, 1.0ec of a base veg feed like floranova will be absolutely perfectly fine. Any adjustment you need to make from that will be small. Very small.


With regards to the plants pictured, they're the symptoms of a ph problem mate. The twisted leaves is the tell tale sign. Sometimes it's a genetic thing and the plant will grow out of it. The original Blueberry was known for it.

Always check the ph of your coco before using it.

With regards to watering... can you over water? Have you over watered? Should you water everyday?

Truth is, anyone who tells you you must water everyday or you must follow a wet/dry cycle, is wrong. It's as simple as that.

You can do either in coco. People can debate what gets the best results, but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about whether either will damage your plant.

There are so many variables when it comes to the appearance of the plant, that I question the opinion of anyone who says water is definitely responsible for problems; too much or too little.

You can have seedlings sitting in a small ice cream tray with no drainage holes, flooded with water, and watch them steadily drink it over the following days.... provided the environment is right. I've seen sage (the herb) dill, chives, so many plants, flourish in flooded pots which I forgot to drill holes in. I've seen cannabis do the same in coco. It works and if people doubt this, they can try it for themselves.

This isn't a method I practice, just one I've seen first hand which dispels the notion that cannabis can't grow in a full saturation rootzone.

I follow a wet/dry cycle with seedlings. When I say dry I don't mean bone dry, I mean still moist, but light.

In all my years growing I have never seen one plant which, not one single seedling of one single strain, out of hundreds, that suffers as a result of the pot not being watered every day. It's never happened. Again, that proves beyond any doubt that it's not true coco must be watered every day.

If you want my advice, make up a batch of floranova veg feed to a strength of 1.0ec. Adjust the ph to 5.8 and thoroughly flush through every pot til what's coming out of the bottom matches what's going in at the top, both in ph and ec. To the nearest 0.1 anyway.

Then leave them to dry out (til they're light, not bone dry) for the next few days. Then post back and let us know how you're getting on.

From that point, even if everyone has a different opinion on what's gone wrong before, you'll be at a good place to fix any problems, if that doesn't fix them completely.

I'd also buy some food grade 35% hydrogen peroxide and use that at 1ml per liter when you water. It's a good preventative in my experience and adds extra oxygen to the root zone.

Take care.

I'm doing a 1:1 FN grow/cal mag ratio, which it seems you missed... Great explanation on the different elements though, thanks.

How exactly do you check the PH of the coco before using it? Run water through it and test the run off, or just stick the probe right into the medium? Sorry to ask such a noob question!

Also one more person in the "can't overwater coco" corner as previously noted people seem to be divided on this about 50/50...

I mentioned how in my 2nd batch of seedlings (just started week 2) I think I fuked them up by only giving them PHed water the first week, which I suspect threw off the balance of the coco after reading more about this. I mentioned that with that batch I'm going to run the 6/9 formula and compare it to my friends FN/calmag formula to see which yields better results. Do you think I should flush those with 1.0ec veg feed like you recommended to get the coco stabilized???

Thank you very much for the detailed response!

You are starting to experience several problems. Your first and biggest issue is the humidity being too low. Research VPD (vapor pressure deficit), and get your humidity in the correct range. To do this in your case I recommend a cup full of water with a towel or similar hanging half in the water and half out. The towel acts as a wick that will pull water from the cup and then evaporate it into the air. If that isn't getting humidity up where it needs to be, then add a second cup or a fan blowing on the towel of the first cup. The rust (orange) spots are calcium def., likely due to the humidity being so low your plants can't transpire enough water to move the calcium up the plant. Also certainly a decent possibility you are experiencing lock-out from your dash of this, drop of that nute schedule. Switch to h3ad's 6/9 recipe and add NOTHING to it other than ph down to get to 5.8. I use it full strength, which in my water is ~1.5 EC. If it comes out stronger or weaker in your water, either dilute to 1.5 EC or add nutes until it is at 1.5 EC. I use this formula full strength on everything from freshly sprouted seedlings to unrooted clones to plants in full flower. As for watering everyday, this is fine in a small enough container relative to plant size (a key concept most don't understand, hence the varied answers on the subject). You plants are obviously doing fine with daily watering in those containers, so I'd continue doing just that. Roots form different types (air vs water type) depending on their environment. You have set your plants up to grow water roots, so going to a wet/dry cycle now would actually be counterproductive. You can if you'd like, but it will stall veg while the roots change form. Botanicare coco (bagged and bricks) is some of the best sold, and 99% of the time it's already flushed and recharged in the bag/block (I.e you just plant, feed, and watch them grow. no special charge needed). Fix your humidity and flush a gal. of h3ad's through each plant to reset the CEC in the coco. Then continue feeding your normal amount of water/nutes everyday just as you have been doing.

Like I said to the other guy who suggested the dish of water: I'm definitely gonna do that once I transplant the first batch out and have more room to set that water/towel contraption up. Until then I'm gonna frequently mist them with just PHed water. Do you think this okay for a fix for a few days?

As mentioned, gonna run the 6/9 on my second batch as you recommended and compare it to my current nut regimen...

Thank you for breaking down these various concepts for me. Reading this thread has been a great educational experience

 

[papaduc]

I'm doing a 1:1 FN grow/cal mag ratio, which it seems you missed.

No, I got that bit. I think you mentioned you started them on calmag, then moved onto the 50:50. Both ways are wrong.

Calcium and magnesium supplements should be used if and when you need them. This seems to be very much an American thing. In the UK you don't hear of people doing this anywhere near as much. I have never used the stuff one time.

It's probably the single biggest misconception in coco growing that you need to use heavy amounts of calmag. I personally think it comes from a time not long ago when the quality of coco was poor and needed to be buffered, flushed, etc.

This isn't the case anymore and if people are using good quality nutes and good quality coco, they are more than likely wasting their money on calmag and more often than not, grows are suffering as a result of the imbalance in feeding caused by replacing the base plant food with what is only supposed to be a supplement.

Drop the calmag altogether and use the floranova grow you have got. Make up the entire 1.0ec with that. It has everything already in it, in the right balance.

How exactly do you check the PH of the coco before using it?

Just fill a 1L pot with the coco, ph some water to 6.0. Flush the pot through slowly and catch a cup full of the run off. That's as accurate as you need to be to know if your coco is out of whack. If it drops of the charts, it's probably not a properly buffered coco.

I didn't see which coco you're using, or whether it's bagged or brick etc. What is it?

Also one more person in the "can't overwater coco" corner as previously noted people seem to be divided on this about 50/50...

Like I say, there are variables. I wouldn't say it's impossible to overwater coco, but it's possible a plant can be completely flooded and still be ok with life. A plant can stand in a cup of still water and be ok... or it can go wet/dry like in soil and be fine.

It just shows it's tolerant of different conditions and that more often than not it's something else throwing it out of line.

I mentioned that with that batch I'm going to run the 6/9 formula and compare it to my friends FN/calmag formula to see which yields better results. Do you think I should flush those with 1.0ec veg feed like you recommended to get the coco stabilized???

Formula?... psshhh....

Listen brother. There's only one formula you'll ever need, and it doesn't come in a packet. It's called reading your plants. When you know how to do that you'll be able to apply any brand of any nutrient you want and you'll have full control of the show.

Start with your basic bottle of perfectly balanced plant food at 1.0ec (from a tap water of 0.2 that is)

Use only that. Nothing else.

If your lowest leaves yellow, up the strength by 0.2ec. If the tips of the leaves claw down a bit, or burn, or the plant gets very dark and waxy looking, back off by the same amount.

They're the basics you need to get started in coco, and most of that can be applied to any pot-based medium.


In answer to your question, yes, flush the plant through with that mixture (1.0ec of well shaken floranova) Ph adjusted to 5.8. Until what comes out of the bottom is the same value ec&ph.

Leave them for a couple of days them report back.

In the meantime, read through these two threads below. Read them from beginning to end. They're only a few pages long and they should put a lot into perspective.

one

two

 

[Pragma]

Your problem definitely is NOT the amount of the water your giving, but what you are putting in the water. I water the shit out of my cuttings/seedlings and Ive never had problems aslong as they are properly ventilated.

For starters, I would use bigger pots, as your medium is currently too small which makes the ec/ph fluctuate quite a bit more than in a bigger pot. If transplanting them atm is out of the question then I would suggest small but more regular feedings. Its a pain in the ass, which is why its better to start your plants in the final pot if possible.

Also it looks like you have wayyy too much perlite in your mix, or they are perhaps floating up when you water, but you need to know that perlite gives your medium more ventilation at the cost of weakening your medium's ph buffer and increasing your EC swings. If you are still a beginner I would suggest you not use perlite at all.

For sure what I'm seeing is something off in the pH/EC of the water you're feeding, or spikes in the medium itself caused by not enough runoff or not frequent enough watering.

Also, if you are using any additives at the moment stop it. Your plants should be able to grow until maturity quite perfectly using just base nutes at ec 1.0-1.2. Always perfect your growing using as little ingredients as possible. Also, trying to compensate by adding cal/mag etc. when your plants are unhealthy usually ends up hurting more than helping. Since your plants are still so small all you need to do is give them a nice big watering with ph 5.8 ec 0.8 water mix, giving enough runoff so that the medium itself goes towards that ph/ec. Your roots are probably as unhealthy as your plants are, and giving them a low EC slightly more acidic environment around them allows them to recover from the stress and regenerate.

Anyone with enough experience should be able to tell that ec/ph is off parameters when you see twisting leaves. Underfed plants will yellow up. Twisting leaves almost always means an unhealthy medium, or an additive that the plant did not like. Some pests could also cause it. Even if you did overwater, which you probably didn't, you would see droopy leaves and not twisting ones.

If you have access to it and its not too much for your budget, try to get Advanced Nute's Grow-Micro-Bloom ph perfect. It is really fool proof and most people don't even need to adjust pH if their water is soft. Just don't use the doses they recommend unless you want to cook your plants. Always go by your EC meter, starting at 0.6 EC going up to 1.2 EC. At your plants size I would be giving them around 1.0 EC already.

 

[Pragma]

Yup, looks like papaduc also gets it. And he reminded you to shake your bottles before using which is also very important.
Oh yeah, CalMag is really bad to use when you don't need it. Especially in coco since it leeches mg/cal and you can permanently damage your medium beyond repair if you saturate it with too much Cal/Mg.

 

[Moe Funk]

If you want to know if you are overwatering, then take them out of the containers and have a look at the roots. If they are soggy looking and brown that is your issue. If they are white with fine root hairs then it is something else.

You most definitely can overwater in coco - right affter a transplant.. Brown soggy dead roots. If that is your problem then I would transplant them into a slightly larger pot with drier coco and leave them for a few days until they are light. Coco is not soil but after a transplant I treat mine like soil for a few days and go by weight. Then increase watering once they grow into the pot.

 

[Coconutz]

wow dude
knock it off with the calmag
thats the last thing these plants need
peace

 

[Bad Habits]

Thank you very much for the replies everybody.

So much hate on the calmag! Seems like everybody in here doesn't think I should be using it...

Like I said, for this batch of 5 I'm gonna do the nute formula my buddy gave me, because he is a successful grower. That doesn't mean he knows everything or that he couldn't do it differently/more efficiently, but for these 5 youngins they're gonna go with his general feeding schedule till chop.

This thread has been very informative though and some great perspective for me. Can't wait to see how batch #2 of the 6/9 compares to this one!

For the last 3 days (including today) I've been feeding 1.5ml rapid start, 4ml FN Grow, and 4ml calmag per gallon (440ppm and 5.9ph). They're looking better everyday.

Here's one of em last night:

Here they are this morning:

In the cab after watering:

Today I got around to doing some runoff tests. Tested each plant individually after the first watering with about 10% runoff. Each plant was between 6.6-6.8ph, but there was some variation in PPM: 510, 590, 560.

Decided to do some flushing to see if I could get what I was putting in the top to be the same as the bottom, as suggested by one user. Went through a gallon of the mixed up nutes, and each plant got watered 3 times. After the third time, the ph was between 6.5-6.6, and the PPM between 450-480. With each watering, the ph dropped pretty consistently by 0.1 and the ppm by about 20-70 depending on the plant.

This whole process took about an hour.

Should I really flush them until the PH and PPM is nearly identical in the input and output???

Thanks everybody.

 

[Coconutz]

No!
You shouldnt even check your runoff!
You shouldnt be flushing them!
You arent even flushing them if youre using 4ml of calmag!
OMG!
I only meant you couldnt overwater them if you watered them without disregarding plant health!
If you keep forcing calmag into the medium you are going to compound the problem.
Water them everyday, but dont water them for an hour...lol
If I water a small plant 2 times a day with 6/9 it looks fabulous... If I start adding shit to the mix and try and water 2 times a day the plant OD's.
Peace

 

[sourpuss]

Don't let the coco dry out like soil.
Ph fluctuates more.

Treat it like a hydro set up. Sorry if you already stated organic. Still do so if your running teas.

Plants don't look too bad. Flush them and start fresh.

Ph is key in coco, I think u said 7? Just start fresh after a flush.

Good luck.

 

[sourpuss]

Multiple feeds per day will give you hydro like growth. Dtw works great...

 

[papaduc]

Should I really flush them until the PH and PPM is nearly identical in the input and output???

No. You obviously have a properly buffered coco. That's a good thing.

I should have been more clear.

If the ph would have dropped off to well below 5.5, then my advice would have applied. In your case it's unnecessary.

The EC of the coco and the balance of it should be fixed by pouring through a balanced feed and getting a lot of run off. Since you've decided to stick with the calmag 50:50 approach, I wouldn't recommend doing that now either. That was only to balance the medium out with a good ec made up of the right balance of nutrients. In my opinion 50:50 with calmag is not that, but you can get away with it.

Cannabis is a forgiving plant and will tolerate a lot of over/under/ or out of balance feeding. It will/might grow well despite the addition of the calmag at the rate of 50:50, not because of it. You'll probably get by, and if that's the route you want to take, it's your choice. You only learn as you go on anyway.

Maybe try a different method next time, or, try just one of your plants on the 1.0ec of floranova grow alone, and see how it performs next to the others?
It's worth a try and it will only be more experience gained.

Take it easy