Growing in coco watering question

[AloeRuss]

Hello

By now most of you know that I grow in coco for the first time (many successful grows in peat moss)

I heard that you can also feed from the bottom by filling the saucers with food. This occurred as being stance to me but that doesn't not say that it is a valid and proven way to water.
However. My question is:
Every time i water, there is a saucer full of food thats left behind when I am done. (Yes. My pots are sitting in saucers and no, I cannot empty 100+ of them when I water.)

What happens to that food as it slowly evaporates and almost gone by the next feeding?

 

[stoned40yrs]

The H2O evaporates and only the salts are left behind on the saucer.

 

[AloeRuss]

Thank you for that reply. The question becomes. Does the flower consumes whatever left or not?

 

[stoned40yrs]

If the saucer is deep enough so that the water can go into the holes of the pot then the plant is sucking up your overflow. This might cause a problem seeing how you can't water to waste.

 

[stoned40yrs]

Thx for posting this thread, it reminds me to put something under my containers so they are above the level of the runoff waste.

 

[Coconutz]

 

[AloeRuss]

Hi coconutz.. Happy Monday. What u think.

 

[AloeRuss]

I mean, ican get a vac to suck all the water out but it
Is an hour job so I don't want to do it if I don't have to.

The holes on the buckets are deffenatley covered and sometimes 2 inches under water

 

[Coconutz]

If you have 100 plants youre going to need to build tables or you will be working for pennies an hour, if that...

 

[ozzieAI]

wasn't it snype that built a tilted floor and cut in a drain?

 

[stoned40yrs]

I mean, ican get a vac to suck all the water out but it
Is an hour job so I don't want to do it if I don't have to.

The holes on the buckets are deffenatley covered and sometimes 2 inches under water

I don't see any other option at this point. You are just starting to flower right? Your choices may be shopvac the water up or have MAJOR problems in flower.

 

[carson]

agreeing that you do not want your plants sitting in old runoff.

 

[cheifnugget]

It will be ok for a min....then u will see problems.....salt buildup...lockout...your pal takes so t be living off of your PhD formula anymore they will be adding those leftovers to the mix and changing the ph and ppm. You want runoff with coco every time you fees for best results...you
Should ditch the saucers and but employees all on tables with. Drain in the bottom of the table probably easier said than done

 

[SRGB]

AloeRuss:

Growing in coco watering question
Hello

By now most of you know that I grow in coco for the first time (many successful grows in peat moss)

I heard that you can also feed from the bottom by filling the saucers with food. This occurred as being stance to me but that doesn't not say that it is a valid and proven way to water.
However. My question is:
Every time i water, there is a saucer full of food thats left behind when I am done. (Yes. My pots are sitting in saucers and no, I cannot empty 100+ of them when I water.)

What happens to that food as it slowly evaporates and almost gone by the next feeding?

Hi, AloeRuss.

This might be helpful

Square Root® Brand Garden Bag - Drain-To-No-Waste [Methods]

The brief synopsis being that the gardener would top-feed the specimen a minimal amount of nutrient solution, with the derived shallow level of run-off serving as an external reservoir.

The key would be accurately evaluating approximately how much waterr or nutrient solution the specific cultivar actually assimilated over the course of a 24-48hr period, and only providing that amount at the top-feed.

Calculating that approximate - to exact - amount of nutrient solution would take into account 1) the size of the specien; 2) the media capacity of the specimen-holding vessel; 3) the average temperature of the garden; 4) the average RH, or, inversely, the average volume of dehumidification of garden moisture per 24-48hr period, or, the average amount of evaporation within the garden per 24hrs - more specifically - the rate at which moisture might evaporate from the external container holding the run-off; 5) specific properties of the media used; that is, the water-holding properties of the media.

With coco coir, the media can hold a fair amount of moisture in the center of the coco coir within the specimen-holding vessel. The method is still possible, with gardener awareness of the media properties; that is, actually extracting a portion of the center of the media to verify how much moisture might be held therein 24-48 hrs after delivering a top-feed.

Please note that our experiments were performed usig SRBGB`s as the specimen-holding container. SRBGB`s were specifically designed to permit root growth through the SRBGB, thereby permitting continued root growth from inside the SRBGB into the shallow level of run-off surrounding the SRBGB.
With 1 liter to 3 gallon SRBGB`s the run-off acccumulation might only be 1/16 to 1/8 inch to provide sustained moisture over the course of 24-48hrs, during which period the roots would grow into and utilize the accumulated run-off in the external basin. With 5 gallon to 20 gallon SRBGB, the accumulated run-off might accrue to 1 inch to a maximum of 2 inches. The main criteria being accurately measuring the average duration of depletion of moisture in the external basin - by specimen uptake and evaporation. The short version might simply be to water less, especially when employing a media such as coco coir, which might tend to hold a fair amount of water in the center and bottom of the specimen-holding vessel.

Perlite or pumice might drain more thoroughly than coco coir, thereby providing a more accurate opportunity to guage the level of moisture held within the specimen-holding vessel by observing the run-off accumulation leve in the external basin. However, we have also experimented with solely coco coir as a medium employing the Drain-To-No-Wsate Method.

The method might require a `learning curve`, as the gardener might actually benefit from accurately measuring exactly how much water or nutrient solution a given specimen might actually use over a specific period, rather than simply watering an arbitrary amount of water, either by automated means, or hand-watering. the specimen would only be top-fed when the level in the external basin depleted - directly corresponding to the rate at which the specimen actually used the run-off solution.

Some of the goals of the method include 1) maximizing efficiency; 2) minimizing or eliminating waste; 3) maintaining a virtually `fresh` solution, constantly; as the specimen would only be provided with the approximate amount of moisture that would be available for 24-48 hrs - though that period can extended.
In essence, the specimen would signal to the gardener when next to water, and no water would ever be discarded from the external basin, as the inital input of water would only be the volume that would accumulate to approximately 1/8 inch - 2 inches in the external basin.

The method might become simpler to the gardener once they calculate the exact amount of water or nutrient solution their specimen actually uses over a set given period. This approach might tend to be contrary to the general concept of feeding an arbitrary amount of water, either by pump or hand - without determining if the specimen actually used all of the applied water.

There might be greater details of the method at the link, above. Again the process might be slightly more involved with coco coir as a sole medium, due to its inherent properties, yet possible.

The method might be somewhat challenging to describe due to the generally accepted practices and conceptions regarding `run-off`; that is, `run-off` might not be generally considered as still valuable and usable after draining through the given specimen-holding vessel. We found, during experiments with SRBGB`s, that if the run-off can be managed to only accumulate to a level in which it might be utilized by the specimen over a 24-72 hr period (or longer, with some other considerations), the nutrient solution might still be very useable by the specimen.

The main factor in nutrient solution viability being the pH of the solution, or, the approximate total solubility of the soluton over a given period.

Cation exchange in coco coir is an entire topic in and of itself, involving some accurate awareness of at least calcium, iron, sulphates and phosphates` actual chemical properties, and correspondingly, the chemical changes that might occur during cation exchange. As coco coir might inherently contain certain organic compounds, or cations, thereby directly influencing the viability of the provided solution. More inert media, such as perlite or pumice might not influence the applied solution to the degree that coco coir might. Also, coco coir can be very inconsistent from pallet to pallet, contain insects, fungus or other properties that might chemically react with the applied nutrient solution.

Specifically with coco coir, we found that applying a 5.0-5.5 initial pH nutrient solution might be helpful in maintaining a solution within the center of the coco coir - as the pH might tend to become more alkaline durig cation exchange, as nitrate-based nutrients release more hydrogen ions.

We hope that this post might be helpful.

Kind regards,
/SRGB/

 

[AloeRuss]

I also wanted to ask if this is only a coco thing?
My last grow I had plenty runoff sitting in there but I had the best result ever. That was peat moss

 

[skull and roses]

I had a friend that had this issue. He got problems because it was wicking back into the plants and the ppm was over 4000. So what we did for a quick fix was to buy a smaller diameter saucer and put it under the plants upside down in the existing saucer. The run off could evaporate and no more wicking. Eventually the wicking will cause problems. At the least a final product that will never fully flush.

 

[chronic.cough]

I had a friend that had this issue. He got problems because it was wicking back into the plants and the ppm was over 4000. So what we did for a quick fix was to buy a smaller diameter saucer and put it under the plants upside down in the existing saucer. The run off could evaporate and no more wicking. Eventually the wicking will cause problems. At the least a final product that will never fully flush.

Great suggestion with the smaller saucer thing.

 

[whadeezlrg]

DTW with coco is not necessary. I water daily with just enough water to saturate the medium without achieving runoff for the entire duration of the grow(minus flush) and have NEVER had any issues. I also feed light and use drip clean.

fwiw...been growing in coco since 08

 

[BlackBuds]

I have done as skull and roses suggested because I am in a shallow space and cannot do tables. Works great just be careful about tipping them over when you work around them.

 

[dansbuds]

My Catch trays set on the floor & I use a buckethead shop vac to suck up the runoff every night , yes EVERY night .





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