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Coco multiple feeding questions??

Last grow i only water/fed daily... I think i could have done twice per day with no issues.. My old regime was day 1 Feed, day 2 Feed, day 3 Plain water repeat... Is that still a good way to go for single day? If i did twice per day what would the regime be? Help would be awesome.
 
R

Rab.C

i am new too growing but i think your never supposed to feed coco plain water.
i am feeding every other day but going too feed everyday now
 

AgentPothead

Just this guy, ya know?
I only did coco for 1 season starting, so I'm not by any means an authority. I agree with Rab you should never give your coco plants pure water, unless you want to flush them right before harvest. I found a thread, I'll take a look see if I can find it again, it talks about instead of once a day large feeding, to split it up into smaller, multiple feedings. The way a body builder eats a bunch of smaller meals to gain mass, something to do with keeping the metabolism sped up I think. If you were watering 2 liters a day, once a day, you could split that into 1 liters twice a day, .5 liters four times a day, .25 liters eight times a day, basically as often as you want to go in there, or can setup a machine to do it for you. :tiphat: Found it.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=241341
 
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Yeah the guy i started growing coco with (he ran it and I loved it) he did 2 feedings, 1 plain water.. it was supposed to help with salt build up but idk... lol
 

AgentPothead

Just this guy, ya know?
Yeah the guy i started growing coco with (he ran it and I loved it) he did 2 feedings, 1 plain water.. it was supposed to help with salt build up but idk... lol
If you water to runoff each time, I think that runoff is supposed to help clear out the coco of salt buildups. I was watering to a little bit of run off because it was being thrown away after. I've seen people do massive runoff with a recirculating system.
 

Bush Dr

Painting the picture of Dorian Gray
Veteran
Rab is correct, never plain water

Did you ph the molasses water?
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
If I'm watering twice a day, I'm happy if it just runs off once. I have to accommodate for the rise in root-zone EC though. A bit lower feed, and a bit more run-off. As a feed that doesn't run-off, increases root-zone salinity. So your having to lower the food input on the 'too waste' feed, to accommodate the feed with no waste.

Now I'm talking about EC 0.1 and maybe 25% more waste. And I'm talking about each feed dropping this maybe 7% like it's a horror story. I don't want to think about a death flush every 3rd time. Perhaps its a shock treatment?
 

FunkBomb

Power Armor rules
Veteran
You need to get run off with coco to prevent salt buildup. If you're not getting run off lower the nutrient levels by 15-20%. Keep your pH around 5.8-6.0 and you'll be fine.

-Funk
 
You need to get run off with coco to prevent salt buildup. If you're not getting run off lower the nutrient levels by 15-20%. Keep your pH around 5.8-6.0 and you'll be fine.

-Funk

Ive always ran till runoff.. Just did the whole Day 1 feed. Day 2 feed and day 3 phd water/molasses... Repeat.
 

mango420

Member
Multiple feeds per day is where coco really shines. And no problem feeding plain water, this is a complete myth that holds no weight. Been giving coco plants plain water in between heavy feedings for years and never one issue.
 

Absolem

Active member
And no problem feeding plain water, this is a complete myth that holds no weight. Been giving coco plants plain water in between heavy feedings for years and never one issue.


Terrible advice. Not feeding coco coir plain water is based on science.

Coco coir is an anion. Anion's have a negative charge and attract cations which carry a positive charge. Let's say your coco coir has 100 anion sites. These sites are filled with cations. Ca++, Mg+, K+, and Na+. Filling the cation sites is crucial for proper growth in coco coir. When you use plain water to feed coco coir you end up replacing the Ca++ and Mg+ with K+ and Na+.

As coco coir degrades it releases K and can fill the empty cation sites with K+ locking out Ca++ and Mg+, if watering coco coir with plain water. This throws off the nutrient feed and can cause growth issues. Using plain water once a week a person shouldn't really see any issues but there is no need to use plain water if using the correct feed ratios. If you think you nutrient feed is too hot just cut it back to 75%. This will keep your feed ratios in check.
 
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mowood3479

Active member
Veteran
In flowering plants I fertigate 2x per day (sometimes 3x)
I never give straight water.
I use heads 6/9 gh mix with botanicare pbp

Done probably 50 runs this way no issues
Only fertigate to run off once a week or so (if that)
 
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f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
a complete myth that holds no weight.

Edit: I wrote this before any other replies were made, then fell to sleep without posting. It's good to see it's all been said. I almost felt attacked..

My post:
I think you got your position across. What weight do you bring?

A plant only wants so much, and my goal is to make it available for them constantly. You can't miss every third day and expect no consequence. It's inherently hard to see what you didn't get, but a third less food has to mean something. You can't add it to the other two feeds, as over optimum feeding, limits yield about as much as under feeding. So that time is pretty much gone. A third of your feeding time affected.

Coco doesn't like plain water flushing either. It has a balance to preserve. A day without feed can leave it out of condition. You could eat lots of the K, leaving the anions able to take on the broad choice of cations in your feed, not just K. As an example.


I think peoples image of salt build-up may often involve white crystals. This is not why we reach run-off. It shouldn't ever be that dry. It's more accurate to say the solution in the root zone is getting more saline. Water is leaving at a greater rate than the salts, so what's left is getting saltier. We must flush, but with a feed that makes things right. Just water means the coco gets stripped of what we conditioned it with. It's a backwards step for the coco, and missed opportunity for the plants.


What logical or proven argument says different?
 

mango420

Member
10 plus years of growing in coco in 25 plus light shows and never an issue giving water in coco in between several feedings. This is called real world experience. I’m sure others have many more years experience tho.
 

CannaRed

Cannabinerd
I know that when using salamander soil by Fox farm, (which is coco, perilite, guano, ewc, oyster shell) they tell you to feed only twice a week, and flush three times throughout the grow instead of the end.
I'm guessing this is because it's not straight coco coir?
 

sturgeongeneral

Active member
Veteran
I'm pretty new to Coco myself but I'm feeding nutrients every feed, 3x a day each time until runoff to keep salts from building up. Only time I e fed plain h20 was the last 10 days for a flush with clearex. I just put 15 ecsd in yesterday.
picture.php
 

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