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Can You Bottom Feed With Coco ?

A

astartes

Member
You certainly can bottom feed in coco, with one simply caveat. Once a week, get in there and do a heavy top watering to flush the salts that accumulate. If this can't be accomplished in your set up, then I'd move away from bottom feeding.

a.
 
D

DHF

Scrappy-doo said:
Well there's some respectable people giving their opinions which differ from mine so I'm not going to pick a fight. With all due respect I simply disagree.

I don't see any difference in feeding from the top and then letting the plants bottom feed sucking back up all the juices that came out, or just letting them suck up the juices from the bottom to begin with. Any salts that are in the runoff are going to get reabsorbed into the meduim as the plant drinks, which should cause this toxic salt buildup, but I have yet to see it in my garden.

With regards to blumats, most people I've seen using them in coco do so without runoff, so the salts should in theory accumulate and cause mayhem to the plants, but miraculously this is not the case, even in setups I've seen where drip clean is not being used.

I don't know... it's just my opinion. To each their own.
Click to expand...
Bro.....Not giving you an opinion........I`m stating fact.....and as far as Blumats are concerned , lower ppm`s across the board are recommended since the plants are fed constantly... but....shit runs downhill.......ask any plumber....

Wick nutrient filled juice from the bottom up , and there`s no way for it to get flushed back down out of said rootzone resulting in residual salt buildup guaranteed.....unless yas run dripclean @ 1 ml per gal for insurance ,or without top feed 1/2 strength flushes.........that said.....

Blumats don`t allow the soaking and drying out of the medium that perpetuates residual salt buildup in the upper rootzone that timed feeds will if the timed feeds don`t overlap and keep rootzones constantly moist like blumats can and do once dialed......but.....

Less is more and lower ppm`s across the board rules the day.....

Peace....DHF.....:ying:.....
 
Incognegro

Incognegro

Member
Buddaluva said:
Im wanting to do a bottom feed grow so i dont have to move my plants when i water

I have some smart pots that i want to use for it

Can i fill my smart pots up with coco and bottom feed with it ? Like have my smart pot sitting in a saucer and let it leach up when i water ?

Also can i use just coco instead of mixing it with perlight since its gonna be leaching up instead of draining out ?

Thanks in advance fellas
Click to expand...

I've done several grows bottom feeding... no probs... just make sure that every so often, give them straight water to avoid salt build ups (i fed straight water 1 time a week)

For the straight water I WOULD advise top feeding, but again I did bottom as well with no ill effects/build up/ burn etc.

Another helpful thing in my opinion, is to feed them slightly lower concentrations to help deter build up as well... i did, and didn't ..only thing I noticed was slightly less yield.... now who wants that?

Lastly, if bottom feeding, flush the shit outta them before harvest...
 
Last edited:
RetroGrow

RetroGrow

Active member
Veteran
Scrappy-doo said:
I don't see any difference in feeding from the top and then letting the plants bottom feed sucking back up all the juices that came out, or just letting them suck up the juices from the bottom to begin with. Any salts that are in the runoff are going to get reabsorbed into the meduim as the plant drinks, which should cause this toxic salt buildup, but I have yet to see it in my garden.
Click to expand...

Same here. Done it that way many times with no problem. The plants suck it up in a couple of hours with no ill effects. Salt buildup is a result of over feeding, as some of us tend to do. I have done it myself, but learned my lesson. 800 PPMs works for me in a system that is being fed daily.
 
Incognegro

Incognegro

Member
Damn 800? Sheesh, some of my girls would cringe at a ppm that low! lol
I agree though, i believe salt build ups come from a combo of overfeeding and not enough watering... if you over feed, but there's heavy runoff, if the plant is using it there won't be, or at least very little build up...but now if the nutes are just sitting there in the pot and not get absorbed...therein lies the problem... but what do i know I'm just a grower
 
S

SeaMaiden

I have done it, did my last two or three coir grows by flooding my trays and letting the girls wick it up. As has been mentioned, keep concentrations low, a weekly or so watering-only session where it's given from the top of the media helps prevent buildup. But then, maybe I can't really talk about salt buildup because I've never achieved it, even by bottom-feeding.

Sure helped my back and my time management, that's for sure. Doing sea of green, 1-2gal pots, 16/tray = a qualified metric shit-ton of time spent watering/feeding each pot by hand. Haven't jumped onto the blumat train yet, nor timed drippers, but if I *do* fire up the indoor spaces this winter I want a life, so some sort of automation is a must.
 
Buddaluva

Buddaluva

Member
More different opinions ( Nice )

Im gonna go ahead and try it out , i ordered one of those 5k bricks so when it gets here i will give it a go

I use the kiss method on my other grows so i will do the same with this grow ( maxibloom )

Iv never have used coco before and do not know anything about it to be honest but im ready to see what all the fuss is about

Im either gonna do Green Love Potion or Critical Jack Herer , have not really decided between the 2 yet

Im gonna use a 5g smart pot but i will start off in something smaller first then pot up to it

Thanks for everyone`s replies :tiphat:
 
S

SeaMaiden

I'm going to add a word of caution then, since this is your first foray into growing in coir, and that's because I used a lot of what DHF told me to find better success, and that is that it's better to not try a whole bunch of new things at once.


Since it's your first foray, get to know the media first before you try something as new (to you) as bottom feeding, that's my advice for you right now. I know that bottom feeding can be done, but I also know that my methods tend to be different from those of others in that where most folks like to push nutes as hard as they can, I like to see how far I can push it the other way and still get good results (i.e. I go for the least amount of feed they can take, not the most, make sense?). I didn't try it until I had gotten a few good coir grows under my belt and I felt very comfortable experimenting at that point. Also, I've been using bottom-watering/feeding with other plants for as long as I've been gardening, which is since I was a kid.

But quite a lot of what I've learned was based on information relayed very kindly (and patiently, I might add!) by DHF. He knows exactly where the rubber meets the road.
 
Buddaluva

Buddaluva

Member
Thanks S.M

I wont be trying to push to see how much they can take up , i will just do a little at a time and try to listen to what she is telling me when i water and dont water and keeping an eye out for deficiencies

The Green Love Potion and Critical Jack Herer are both freebies , i have a few freebies to test out with though before i break into the ones i paid for

Hopefully all will work out though , iv been top feeding for yrs and its a pain for me cuz i have to haul them to my tub and its a pain on my back so im hoping that bottom feeding will help save some time and pain lol

Thanks for your advise you giving me advise on an Aurora Indica before that i was having problems with and everything turned out good

thanks all
 
S

SeaMaiden

You're welcome, I'm glad to hear she came out nicely. :)

Wanna know how I solved my back and watering problems? Sump pump. 1/6hp or something like that, one of those coiled hoses and/or garden hose (clean if it's in the house, yeah? Yeah), some quick-release fittings, a trash can and off we go. Plug it in, use the valve to stop and start the flow (I put one at the outlet of the sump pump to ensure least spillage) and you can just set there and count chimpanzees.

I find that counting chimpanzees is the best way to ensure all girls get equal shares.

1 chimpanzee
2 chimpanzee
3 chimpanzee
and so on.


Another word of advice. Don't get distracted thinkin' about monkeys.
 
D

DHF

Bicycle Benny.....The very first post from the sloppy plainly stated the rules about top flushing to prevent residual salts buildup from wickin juice from the bottom up......and....

Blue Haze plainly stated it works well with clones cuz theres VERY minimal juice/nutes bein wicked up to root cuts , and The sloppy agreed.......but.....

Without top flushes with 1/2 strength juice at least once a week , most definitely residual salts will adhere and buildup in coco runnin higher ppm`s over 750/1.5 EC @ .5 conversion........guaranteed.......

You all would do well to heed SeaMaiden`s advice in that less is more and TOTALLY why my best girl grower can do ebb and flow bottomfeeds ftw..........WHY?.....

Cuz she get`s it......and......dripclean @ 1 ml per gal fer insurance seals the deal if yas gonna bottomfeed...but .....

If shit goes sideways , top flush with 1/2 strength juice till the plants come back from the shock.....

Peace....DHF....:ying:.....
 
cyat

cyat

Active member
Veteran
bottom fed....
picture.php
 
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