It would be nice if someone like Bonecarver( hint, hint) would write up an article on the do's and don'ts of coco growing. maybe the techniques that have worked best, so others can avoid the pitfalls.

I am still learning about coco so I am not experienced enough at this point. But I do love the medium much more than peat based mixes.

Cheers,
SH

i dont want to seem like a coco expert - i think i need a lot more time to know it all - ony thing i can say is what worked for me and other coco-growers i know. at the moment i think reading the threads i have in my link can propably give u some info of the method we use.

we (the co op) have been talking about writing things down for others - to make some kind of manual based on our method. however it would include more stuff than only coco growing - also the way of "training" we use. its a mixed method and we want to make sure it works under these conditions we are in now.

in a while we will start that thread. coco-based hydro outdoors is quite new, as far as we can tell from the boards etc on the net, that new infact it doesnt seem to be able to find info about outdoor coco hydro growing of weed - and still thats one of the main ways vegetable and fruit crops are grown in green houses over here.. . so there might be some ideas to share to other interested growers.

the things we think about:
- salt-build up because of evaporation or other heat and sun related probs
- the nutes and watering schedule
- price and effort compard to yield
- qaulity


the first 2 we got controlled now and the 3th and 4th after the harvest....
..

but untill that just ask away and ill se if i can answer - and hey - there is a LOT of other good coco growers here on IC. not saying im good anyway.

peace

alrighty then. I still think you're more qualified than most, as I have seen your threads at other places besides here.

I think the one question that I think most people have trouble with is when to water, with or without nutes? I'm talking indoors, hand watering. There seems to be many views in this. Do you keep it wet...or let it get fairly dry before another drenching like a peat based mix?

I have recently purchased a coco specific nute line, as I was tired of guessing when to add cal-mag with my gh line or pbp kline or teas. I am running a side by side with two seperate strains, 2 plants of each. One of each gets coco nutes, and the other two of each strain gets regular nutes. Should be interesting to see the results.

Cheers,
SH

i let the coco get dryer before i water - its more economic and works really well. but thats because my system is drain to waste. i dont let it dry too much since that leads to buildup of salts.

with canna coco and good water quality i have never had problems worth mentioning with nutrition.

peace

bc-- How often do you feed your plants per day? and for how long?

Mosca

P.S. Excellent thread!

yes I'm happy the coco thread lives.

mosca: It depends on your setup; plant size,container size, heat, ventilation.
seedlings put straight in 12/12 in 1 liter pots need heavy watering everyday for instance under a 400w hps

mosca - if i use drippers i have it on 1 hour a day. as i said before its a drain to waste. when i hand water - i water every 1 - 2 days.

peace

[stikky budz]

bonecarver - im curious, how much do you drip through the plants (per plant) in that one hour?
I'm growing in coco at the moment, hand watering, but thinking about setting up drippers one day and i'm trying to work out res sizes etc.

i water untill it spills out a bit in the end. sometimes i let about 30% flow out dto drain.

peace

and yet another cinnamon seedling overwatered/stunned with coco.There's no way I can water small plants efficiently, because the water goes stays at the bottom of the pot and the roots are not deep enough yet.Starting seedlings in jiffy pellets (which suck) and putting them into coco is too much stress.The jiffy cups suck too since they mold very easily.I guess I'm buying another canna terra plus soon for seedlings and mums