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Coco witouth drain ?
- Thread starter scarafino
- Start date
Ok well to clarify drain and runoff can be viewed as two separate things. To say grow with no drains, most people will assume you are talking about a pot or bucket with no drainage holes.
As for the question of whether runoff is needed I can’t truly say. I personally water to runoff. I can’t give a true percent as I use smart pots and just hand water til they start dripping and as soon as I see them start dripping I stop watering and they usually runoff whatever amount, I’ve never measured, within a minute or two. Once a week I will water for 15-30 seconds after the runoff starts to give them a good flushing in case there is salt build up.
I’ve also heard people say they bottom feed with coco which would be along the lines of a no runoff feed. Just put the smart pot in a saucer, fill the saucer and let the pot and coco soak it up. How well this actually works you’d have to find one of those people and ask.
As for the question of whether runoff is needed I can’t truly say. I personally water to runoff. I can’t give a true percent as I use smart pots and just hand water til they start dripping and as soon as I see them start dripping I stop watering and they usually runoff whatever amount, I’ve never measured, within a minute or two. Once a week I will water for 15-30 seconds after the runoff starts to give them a good flushing in case there is salt build up.
I’ve also heard people say they bottom feed with coco which would be along the lines of a no runoff feed. Just put the smart pot in a saucer, fill the saucer and let the pot and coco soak it up. How well this actually works you’d have to find one of those people and ask.
I use water in coco for the last days and it goes very well. Why would it be bad? You are just not giving nutrients. And it makes the coco easier to reuse. I stopped used enzymes, I don't think they are necessary
I don’t water based off of dryness, right now I hand water and I water once everyday regardless of dryness or wetness. Once plants are established in coco it’s nearly impossible to overwater them and as long as you use the right container you can get away with once a day watering.
If you want to grow a bigger plant in a smaller container you’d want to use multiple feeds a day. But with coco the idea is to keep it wet at all times unlike soil or peat where you usually want it to dry out a little before each watering.
Personally, I’m tired of hand watering every day so I’m currently building a Rez and drip system so I only have to worry about maintaining a Rez every few days and not be mixing up and hand watering everyday. This will also allow me to feed the plants multiple times a day instead of one big feeding everyday. This will stop it from being a const t up and down wet/dry cycle and allow it to stay saturated which will give better growth and less issues.
I found that in Coco, not watering to run off and not giving plain water every 3 days gave the weed a metallic taste. It showed in a slight burn on the leaf tips to.
I'm sure you're invested in Coco now and give it a go, but at some point in the future give organic a try, it's so easy it almost feels like cheating. Less work for better end product in my humble experience.
I'm sure you're invested in Coco now and give it a go, but at some point in the future give organic a try, it's so easy it almost feels like cheating. Less work for better end product in my humble experience.
You can try a hempy bucket with a coco perlite mix. Google it if you don't know.
chacaldubengale
New member
it's doable as long as you keep the coco constantly wet
with very little dryback
good in veg but in late flower its wrong because wet media will discourage generative growth ( production of flowers/fruits)
when you let your medium dry out, fertilizer diluted in your nutrient solution will dry out and become salts
these salts burn your plants and they cant uptake it
if you choose to work with very little runoff you have to test often the runoff EC/ppm of your coco to detect the salt accumulations
with very little dryback
good in veg but in late flower its wrong because wet media will discourage generative growth ( production of flowers/fruits)
when you let your medium dry out, fertilizer diluted in your nutrient solution will dry out and become salts
these salts burn your plants and they cant uptake it
if you choose to work with very little runoff you have to test often the runoff EC/ppm of your coco to detect the salt accumulations
