[PetFlora]

Here's a tip for hydro growers.

I am now using coco + 3" net pot + 3" coco cup insert

After having success using it with rooted clones, I decided to see whether pre-rooting was necessary. Well, not with my technique. I have a DIY bubbler and simply dropped the filled net pot into the bubbler. 5 days, no issues, no droop, no stress

hth

[juzsumguy]

phew now i read this thread whole but i still got some questions. hope you guys can help me out.


ok, i bought coco slabs and have hooked them up to water lines.

You say that i should have 10-20 % runoff after feeding. Now if i feed 2x a day, lets say 6l combined (3l in morning 3 l before night) i should have a runoff of ~1l. But when i up my feeding schedule now, to lets say 6x a day, how do i water now?

Do i still give 3l each water with 10-20% runoff (which is then equal to 6x the food i provide or nutrients i need), or do you only feed like 1l but then 6x a day and in the end this also euqals 10-20% runoff from all feedings?

Also is there a super important reason why i need drippers? Cant i just put my lines in the slabs? is it cause ur timers are based on minutes and otherwise you would use to much water? Cause mine is based on either seconds or minutes.

[stucrew]

Canna brand Coco coir question. Do I need to add extra Cal/Mag when I hydrate my coco coir? I'm trying to do things right instead of react to problems later. Advice? I'm thinking I'll put a layer of perlite in the bottom of my 3 gallon smart pots and mix my coco with perlite 50/50. I used botanocair last time. This Canna Coco seems so fine that I worry about it compressing without the perlite. Also the bottom of smartpots seem to stay wet and I don't want them to retain too much water between waterings (flood and drain recirculating) with Canna Coco brand nutrients. My seedlings are 6 ZOD and 3 Diamond Cookies.

[PetFlora]

Following up on my post from 11/05...

In hydro, some coco leaked out into the nutes.

Next time, after the plant develops, I will rinse out the cup to remove as much loose cc as possible and infill with small ornamental stones

[kin_dawg]

Originally Posted by stucrew

Canna brand Coco coir question. Do I need to add extra Cal/Mag when I hydrate my coco coir? I'm trying to do things right instead of react to problems later. Advice? I'm thinking I'll put a layer of perlite in the bottom of my 3 gallon smart pots and mix my coco with perlite 50/50. I used botanocair last time. This Canna Coco seems so fine that I worry about it compressing without the perlite. Also the bottom of smartpots seem to stay wet and I don't want them to retain too much water between waterings (flood and drain recirculating) with Canna Coco brand nutrients. My seedlings are 6 ZOD and 3 Diamond Cookies.

When I was using Canna coco a few years back I would use it straight from the bag, no rinse, no charge. Just a good watering in with nutes after planting. That's what is so good about Canna coco buffered and ready to use as opposed to generic compressed bricks which require alot of rinsing as they have very high salt content.
Now I have gone gone back to Canna coco in the last few days and gave it a small rinse just to be safe but probably wont bother again next time after checking the run off for salts to make sure it is still pre rinsed and good to go.
You can put perlite in the bottom but it's isn't necessary. For me perlite is messy, dusty, make transplanting and cleaning up a hassle. Plus another bag of shit I need to haul around.
As for adding perlite to your mix it also isn't necessary IME coco is perfect on its own. If you do add perlite you will see different ratios really impact frequency of water so keep your watering game tight. Straight coco is more forgiving.
IME the best place for perlite is the top of your pots as your roots will grow right to the top of your coco and you can tip it back off the top pots and collect it back up. Also helps restrict root aphids.

[kin_dawg]

Originally Posted by juzsumguy

phew now i read this thread whole but i still got some questions. hope you guys can help me out.


ok, i bought coco slabs and have hooked them up to water lines.

You say that i should have 10-20 % runoff after feeding. Now if i feed 2x a day, lets say 6l combined (3l in morning 3 l before night) i should have a runoff of ~1l. But when i up my feeding schedule now, to lets say 6x a day, how do i water now?

Do i still give 3l each water with 10-20% runoff (which is then equal to 6x the food i provide or nutrients i need), or do you only feed like 1l but then 6x a day and in the end this also euqals 10-20% runoff from all feedings?

Also is there a super important reason why i need drippers? Cant i just put my lines in the slabs? is it cause ur timers are based on minutes and otherwise you would use to much water? Cause mine is based on either seconds or minutes.

Run off isn't an exact science nor even deemed necessary by some so don't get too caught up. Water with a small amount of run off and judge the results based on your plants. Next run water with even more runoff (and watch your nute$$ run down the sink hole) and see if your plants were improved any. I've water all ways. I've watered both with a little and alot of run off, sure alot of run off makes for healthy plants but so does hardly any run off. And if I did see a problem I would surely flush and change what it was that I was doing.
The trick is with minimal runoff is to keep your coco media evenly moist at all times so they don't dry and the nutrients in the media become concentrated. Plus plants love applications of fresh nutes oxygenated water. They really really do.
No drippers are not necessary, they are a means of water delivery.
A member by the name gaius uses coco slabs check his threads.

[stucrew]

Thanks kin-dawg I appreciate the good advice. I did put perlite in the bottoms of the pots (I just don't want to have over saturated bottoms. Experiment is the key to finding what works so if it doesn't seem to make a difference I can cut that out in the future).

[bmaster]

Originally Posted by stucrew

Thanks kin-dawg I appreciate the good advice. I did put perlite in the bottoms of the pots (I just don't want to have over saturated bottoms. Experiment is the key to finding what works so if it doesn't seem to make a difference I can cut that out in the future).

kin-dawg has some great advice. I'd like to add a few things, I've discovered over the years of growing in Coco.

I use clay pellets instead of perlite in the bottom. not as messy and easier to reclaim and reuse.

I use Drip Clean from House and Garden with every watering. It keeps the salts from building up in the coco. It works so well that I never have to have any runoff. That saved me huge in nute costs and the bother of moving my plants every day to feed with runoff.

Do not get caught up in the need for expensive coco specific nutes. I bought into that until I realized that a cheap bag of GH Maxi Bloom works as good if not better. Believe me when I say I've tried them all.

Canna Coco is very good and is ready to use.

Coco works very well with organic growing, especially if using Bokashi Compost.

I hope this helps as well
good growing
B

[Snow Crash]

Originally Posted by bmaster

I use Drip Clean from House and Garden with every watering. It keeps the salts from building up in the coco. It works so well that I never have to have any runoff. That saved me huge in nute costs and the bother of moving my plants every day to feed with runoff.

Where does the excess go?

Like, let's say I add 100ppm of Calcium at each feeding. But my plant is only consuming ~80% of that Ca. I feed and feed and feed, day after day, and continue to leave about 20ppm of calcium in there.

Please, explain to me how using a product like drip clean without runoff makes the calcium just disappear.

That's not what drip clean does. It's not how drip clean works. Hell, just look at the name. DRIP clean. This is a product that is intended for use with drippers to prevent salts from accumulating and clogging them.

Drip Clean does not, and cannot, vaporize excess nutrients. What it does is lock up elements in a chelate to keep them from precipitating. Its not unicorn piss and fairy tails.

[Shokunin]

Originally Posted by Snow Crash

Where does the excess go?

Like, let's say I add 100ppm of Calcium at each feeding. But my plant is only consuming ~80% of that Ca. I feed and feed and feed, day after day, and continue to leave about 20ppm of calcium in there.

Please, explain to me how using a product like drip clean without runoff makes the calcium just disappear.

That's not what drip clean does. It's not how drip clean works. Hell, just look at the name. DRIP clean. This is a product that is intended for use with drippers to prevent salts from accumulating and clogging them.

Drip Clean does not, and cannot, vaporize excess nutrients. What it does is lock up elements in a chelate to keep them from precipitating. Its not unicorn piss and fairy tails.

It's actually complex sugars (Dextrose, glucose) that bind with insoluble salts..pretty simple...

You're right though, the whole point is to use it WITH run off..

Florakleen @ 5 ml / gallon followed by a full str feed works wonders for me