OG Kush, and Trainwreck. Drain to waste coco with House & Garden Nutes

It's been a very long time since I've posted on here, and I am glad to see that this coco thred is still rockin and goin strong. My last grow I posted here was my Monkey Juice Test Run which you can find here:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=855352#post855352

I have still been growing in coco coir non stop, and experimenting with all kinds of techniques and fertilizer recipies. Whether its a recirculating system, or drain to waste, I have found that the House and Garden Van De Zwaan Coco nutrient line has given me the best results by far. The overall weight, and the quality of the finished product are on a whole different level compared to other nutes I have used in the past.

I will be posting pics as this grow moves along, and will be explaining any and all techniques I use in this current system. Thanks again to all the support in the past, and I hope you enjoy the new grow.

Week 1 ( Bloom )

Week 1 ( Bloom )

I didn't have a chance to snap any pics of my veg for this grow, but here it is in a nutshell. After my clones have rooted, I transplant them into 4" containers filled with coco ( specifically botanicare's cocogro loose fiber ), and let them veg under 4 T8 fluorescent lights for 1-1/2 to 2 weeks depending on strain. They get hand fed during this time, and the only fertilizer used is a product made by Fox Farm called Marine Cusine. It is a dry time released mineral/organic fertilizer that I top feed to the little girls at the rate of 1/8 tsp per 4" container. All they get is plain water untill its time to go into week 1 of bloom.

Now here they are at the start of week 1 bloom. Sorry for the bad pictures, my camera phone was all I had at the moment, but better ones are to come.
After my plants are vegged ( which the veg time is dependent on the strain ) in this case 12 days, I do a small lollypop to them before they are transplanted into the 2 gallon containers. Here are a few before and after pics of them.

Before:

After:


Almost forgot. Here is what my homemade drain to waste setup is lookin like. It holds 40 plants in 2 gallon containers, drip fed under 2 1000w Hortilux bulbs using SunSystems Magnum XXXL reflectors, and digital ballasts.

Here is a breakdown of my first weeks feeding with the House & Garden nutrient line. I've kind of changed their feeding chart to suit my needs, as I feel most nutrient companies suggest a very high rate of food which will almost for sure burn your crop if you stick to what they suggest.

For week one, I mix into my 50 gallon rez filled with RO water, 200ml (4ml per gal.) each of Cocos A&B. 50ml (1ml per gal.) of Roots Excelurator, 225ml (4.5ml per gal.) of Multienzyme, and 20ml (.4ml per gal) of Drip Clean. I then adjust my pH to around 5.8 to 6. Since this is a drain to waste, I feed my plants for 3 minutes a day when the light first comes on, and that is it. By the 5th or 6th day of the week, I usually fill my rez half full with just plain RO water and run it till the next weeks feeding starts.

For those who arn't familiar with the House & Garden line, do a google on it, and you can read further on what these products do. What I really like about their line is that you don't need a veg and bloom A&B, which is similar to canna's line. You use the same base nutrient from start to finish. But the bloom enhancers used in the flowering phase ( in my opinion ) are some of the best on the market. Week 2 will be coming soon...

Here are a few more pics of my RO storage tank, and some shots of day 5 of bloom. I also threw in a few random OG Kush shots from a previous grow.


OG Kush

Train Wreck


Random OG Kush Shots

Very nicely done, Mo!

Very clean!

I'm looking forward to hearing more about your irrig sys.
(Where do you drain?)

Is that PVC tables/stands?

& are those gutters?

What are you rooting cuts in?
...looks like a pellet, of some sort, in the middle of that 4" pot...:wink:


Nice flowers, BTW!

Awesome. Very well written and good pics detailing everything.

I'd like to try drip fed coco soon.

I love the coco man... stylin!

The babies look great, and those OG shots... Mmmmmm

Thanks everyone. I switched over to coco from soil about 4 years ago, and I havn't went to anything else. It's one of the most forgiving and versitile mediums you can grow in (imho).

Hey Peat, I use either GH's Rapid Rooters with Clonex Gel, trays n' domes, or I use the new Clonex Root Riot plugs that come with trays and gel. I have the same results with both, so it just depends on what I can get.

nice bro, love the OG colors on those budshots! Great setup, love the RO machine storage as well!! Those will be some very happy ladies, the TW looks just like mine man even in veg there is no mistaking her IMO. Keep up the great work! PEACE

Mo Budz,

That's a sweet set up.

I run Head's modified Lucas formula on a 4 x 4 drip to waste table under 1000W.

I've been wanting to try House and Gardens but the price of their full line of nutes kinda scared me off.

I'm pulling up a seat to see how this turns out for ya!

Grow Safe

SDC

very nice man, my next op will be drip system cus handwatering more than a few plants is a bitch man i dont want to ever do again. is that one dripper enough to saturate the whole 2 gallons of medium? i was a little scared that smaller pots would need more than one line. anyway does one per plant work good? do they flood fast enough to create a little pool up top that covers all the medium?

caligreen said:

nice bro, love the OG colors on those budshots! Great setup, love the RO machine storage as well!! Those will be some very happy ladies, the TW looks just like mine man even in veg there is no mistaking her IMO. Keep up the great work! PEACE

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Thanks cali. Oh ya I love the wreck. It does especially well in coco, best yeilds I have ever been able to get from it.

Smokindogcujo said:

Mo Budz,

That's a sweet set up.

I run Head's modified Lucas formula on a 4 x 4 drip to waste table under 1000W.

I've been wanting to try House and Gardens but the price of their full line of nutes kinda scared me off.

I'm pulling up a seat to see how this turns out for ya!

Grow Safe

SDC

Click to expand...

Thanks Smokin, I have been running H&G for almost 2 years now, and before that it was canna, and advanced nutrients. H&G has given me the best results in coco so far, and price wise, it is actually more concentrated then many other companies nutes. And with their addatives, they are used in different stages, so unlike AN your not adding 20 different things into your rez at once.

Mr.Bitti said:

very nice man, my next op will be drip system cus handwatering more than a few plants is a bitch man i dont want to ever do again. is that one dripper enough to saturate the whole 2 gallons of medium? i was a little scared that smaller pots would need more than one line. anyway does one per plant work good? do they flood fast enough to create a little pool up top that covers all the medium?

Click to expand...

The single drippers work great for the 2 gallon grow bags, I am also using a 1056gph pump to power all 40 of them. Since they get fed once daily it keeps the coco moist all the time. You can see in the pics that the top of the coco gets little dry. Its mostly from the intensity of the lights drying it out a little.

The link in my first post shows some drip rings I made in an old system running AN, which fed in a circle around the base of the plant. Worked great, but once the plants are big, its almost impossible to move them around if needed.

Gonna have some more pics soon for the start of week 2.

Thanks again every1

you really like H&G better than canna? I run H&G as well, with a few of their additives, but I heard canna was the start of it all and I wanted to try their organic line...Anyway I'd love to hear more comparison from your experience. Thanks

MO BUDZ, looks great bro! With the H&G, what do you feed with through the whole bloom period?

glad i caught this early on to enjoy the show. i'll be watching.

caligreen said:

you really like H&G better than canna? I run H&G as well, with a few of their additives, but I heard canna was the start of it all and I wanted to try their organic line...Anyway I'd love to hear more comparison from your experience. Thanks

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From what I hear, William Van De Zwaan was the main guy behind Canna's nutrient formula. He then decided to start his own company using the same formula, but improving on it. The biggest differences is the additives. Canna uses cannazyme for their main enzyme product, and H&G uses 2 different enzymes Multizyme and Bud XL. Both serve different purposes. Also the Shooting Powder is a one of a kind bloom enhancer, and I have tested it side by side with AN's big bud and overdrive, and it puts them to shame IMO. Their Top Booster (which is similar to Canna's pk13/14) contains a form of chelated iron which seems to work a little better too. Last but not least, H&G's nutrient line is completly produced in house. Their make all their fertilizer, have their own lab, and do all their testing in the same facility. This is all just my opinion on the products tho, and I think both H&G and Canna are very high quality nutes.

But what it all boils down to is preference, and I have had good results with many nutrient lines. But H&G, and Canna are my top 2 choices for coco, H&G being #1.

Mountain High said:

MO BUDZ, looks great bro! With the H&G, what do you feed with through the whole bloom period?

glad i caught this early on to enjoy the show. i'll be watching.

Click to expand...

Hey Mountin, with the H&G the only products I use during bloom is Cocos A&B, Roots Excelerator, Multizyme, BudXL, Shooting Powder, and Drip Clean.

For Weeks 1-3 I use A&B, Roots, Multi, and Drip Clean. I do not use Top Booster too often anymore, as timing is very criticle with that product, and if used at the wrong time I have noticed a decrease in my overall yeild. Top Booster basically tricks the plant into thinking its in a drought, and therefore stimulates flower growth sooner. With the right timing it can do great things, but there are certain varieties that don't respond well to it.

Starting week 4, you no longer use Roots, or Multi. You still use the A&B, but add Bud XL to the mix. The last 3 days of week 3 or week 4 would be the time to add the Top Booster if you did use the product. But you do not want to run it any longer then 3 days in your rez.

Weeks 5,6,and 7 (if its an 8 week strain) I use A&B, Bud XL, and Shooting Powder (at 1 sachet for every 25 gallons). I also cut my A&B back when I add the shooting powder, and sometimes cut the A&B out completly in week 7.

Week 8 is flushed with plain water only untill harvest time comes.

This method works great for me, as I have been running the same line for almost 2 years now, but I'm sure there might be others out there with different techniques which work great too. I'd be stoked to here anyone else's experiences with the H&G line and how it performed for them in coco.

thanks MO BUDZ, sounds like your method works wonders for you. looks close to the H&G recommendation but with a few small changes. i plan to run a method like yours but i havnt decided if i am going to use the drip clean or the roots excelerator in there. have you always used these two products? im sure they help, but to me they almost seem irrelevant. you think it would be ok to leave them out?

Mountain High

I also run H&G in a coco drain to waste system. I run basically the same way as described but i am using the Aqua Flakes with cal-mag added 5ml a gallon. Do you ever have to add cal-mag to the Coco A&B?
My buddy swore that R.O. water with Aqua Flakes was better for Coco than the actual Coco A&B. I do get pretty spectacular results though. Just wondering if you have to add cal-mag. I love H&G nutes in coco, so simple and easy with great results. It makes some beginners I know look like pros. I think that not enough people know about these nutes but will soon. Out here in Central Cali people never even heard of H&G and most hydro stores dont even carry it. I finally talked my hydro store in to start carrying it
He said he is recieving great feed back on their products. No I dont work for H&G I just want people to know this is a great nute line.

Hey Mountain High,
I dont have any experience with Drip Clean just yet, but Roots Excelurator is the best product in its class on the market today and you would recieve great benefits from using it. It is quite pricey but it will last forever at 1ml a gallon and only used in the beginning weeks of growing. Do a search on it and you will see.

i will do some research on it... thanks gowanstarr.

i'm a fan of the H&G line! iv'e been playing with coco for a couple years and tried canna, monkey juice, then House & Garden, it is better by leaps & bounds, i will be sticking with it, i run the six week flower schedule and then flush straight water for 2 weeks, under a 600w hortilux, blueberry yeild as high as 6oz. try it...you'll like it..