Ebb/Flow with coco?

[mozer67]

Noob here with a few questions. Going to start a seedling in my ebb/flow system using a smart pot. How often and for how many minutes should I flood the table? I am going to us GH-flora nova bloom start to finish using lucas method, is that a good choice? Ive read that coco requires calmag sometimes? Will adding it along with the flora nova be too much for the plant? How often should I flush? Thanks for any advice given !

 

[Stond_Face]

Hi Mozer
Be careful starting your seedling in coco. It is very easy to to waterlog a small plant in coco.
Until the pot has roots to all corners, you need to go slow.
Once you have good root system, you actually can't water too often.
I use 6x6 pots in a 24x48" E&F table. I flood mature plants 3x or 4x during lights on. I flood for 10 minutes. Be careful not to submerge the roots for anything near twenty minutes. The roots start to starve for oxygen because there's no water circulation.
I use MaxiBloom. That's pretty much Lucas in powder form. Works great. With my water supply, I hardly ever need to adjust pH.
I do need to use Cal-Mag on some strains. And I use it for an initial rinse of the coco when I first plant them. Coco seems to hang on to some elements making them unavailable to the plant. It is a good idea to rinse the coco with half strength Lucas with added CalMag before planting.

 

[mozer67]

Thanks Stond! I've got some coco in a 5 gal. bucket that I re-hydrated from brick form that still feels a little damp this morning, so that shows me it does take a while to dry out. Almost like a soil/hydro hybrid media. I'm going to give it a good rinse with the calmag like you suggested and transplant in a day or two. Thanks again for your help!

 

[mozer67]

Another quick question Stond. Should I follow the directions on bottle of calmag of 1 tbs per gallon for my pre-soak, or mix a little stronger?

 

[medicalmj]

Another quick question Stond. Should I follow the directions on bottle of calmag of 1 tbs per gallon for my pre-soak, or mix a little stronger?

I would NOT go more than 1 tsp/gal. Check your EC after 1 tsp/gal and you'll see it increases quite a bit.

FYI - I find it's well worth the $ to buy canna coco. But if stealth is a concern then yeah, compressed bales makes more sense. I have had issues tho if I didn't rinse it well enough.

 

[medicalmj]

Noob here with a few questions. Going to start a seedling in my ebb/flow system using a smart pot. How often and for how many minutes should I flood the table? I am going to us GH-flora nova bloom start to finish using lucas method, is that a good choice? Ive read that coco requires calmag sometimes? Will adding it along with the flora nova be too much for the plant? How often should I flush? Thanks for any advice given !

Hey perhaps you just misspoke but Lucas is for GH flora (the 3 part), not GH FloraNova (1 part). That said if you are indeed using GH FloraNova (1 part), which I would suggest over the 3 part, I would add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp/gal CalMag throughout the grow with 1/4 in veg and closer to the 1/2 in flower. That's really all you need to add to get awesome results. Some add KoolBloom in flower tho. Keep it simple!

I have a buddy who uses GH FloraNova grow and GH FloraNova bloom, and not one other thing and he has great results. I highly suggest all Nubes start with a nute like GH floranova (1 part) and keep it simple.

 

[mozer67]

Thanks for the info. Medi.! Yeah, I just want to keep it simple and cost down. I read somewhere that the nova bloom was very similar to the 3 part lucas method because it had the micro and bloom mixed together in a 1 part nutrient. I am using Botanicare coco and I rinsed it very well after I hydrated it. Guy at shop said it was one of the better brands because they "pre-rinse" it to get rid of salts, but I went ahead and rinsed anyway, figured it couldn't hurt. I'll keep updates on here as I progress. Thanks again!

 

[ThePizzaMan]

Mozer....

I would not put seedlings in an E&F table. I would simply hand water them under MH or T-5's with a light strength nute solution.

I run coco in smartpots in Ebb and Flood and use Floranova 1 part with great success. You will need to add calmag...at least I do. I was getting all sorts of flourescent yellow leaves early on in veg....when I added the Cal/Mag(CaliMagic)....problems went right away.

Also....the coco needs some time to get going. The PH tends to fluctuate when you first put it in ebb and flood...and I think it is normal for most coco coir to have that happen to..... it will work itself out as time goes on. I also use drip clean when I run coco in E&F.

When you have to water every day in a solo cup...you are ready to transplant to your 1-2-3-5 gallon whatever pot. I am also using regular plastic pots in my ebb and flood...and the roots are think and shooting out the holes in all directions. You can use regular pots in ebb and flood with coco. The choice is yours really.

Also I would like to mention....with Smartpots....the growth is crazy. If you are in a tent or height restricted in any way....keep the veg time down to minimum. or else you risk having a mess on your hands...and a ton of burned plants.

Cheers

TpM