A question about shooting powder/koolbloom

[Ez Rider]

I'm currently hand watering in coco with the h&g (cocos) line. I haven't decided if I'm going to use shooting powder or koolbloom for my hardener, but I'm wondering if I'll be able to reuse the coco after putting such strong pk's into it? I do plan on doing a through flush the last 5 days of flower, and I've been running dripclean throughout. Anybody have any experience with this?

 

[Cameltom]

i use dry koolbloom and coco, but dont reuse soil.I have read about people doing it. they seam to wash the shit out of it with really hot water. I guess it helps dissolve the built up slats...
with chem ferts i flush for 11-14 days ph 5.5-6, i use hydrozyme up to 7days from harvest
and stop watering then too

 

[Snow Crash]

That's fine. Just rinse it clean by the end. You don't want those ferts in there in the last 2 weeks, much less at the start of the next grow. As long as you're properly cleaning the media things should be fine. But you can always consider a secondary product like Drip Clean, FloraKleen, or Clearex to better facilitate the removal of those elements.

Also, I found Shooting Power to suck the donkey balls in coco. KoolBloom Dry is where I'd be but check out AN Big Bud Dry, or CX HeadMasta for better results. That's what I'm using at the moment.

 

[Ez Rider]

That's fine. Just rinse it clean by the end. You don't want those ferts in there in the last 2 weeks, much less at the start of the next grow. As long as you're properly cleaning the media things should be fine. But you can always consider a secondary product like Drip Clean, FloraKleen, or Clearex to better facilitate the removal of those elements.

Also, I found Shooting Power to suck the donkey balls in coco. KoolBloom Dry is where I'd be but check out AN Big Bud Dry, or CX HeadMasta for better results. That's what I'm using at the moment.

I have been using dripclean and seagreen. Now I thought one of the benefits of coco was that you didn't need to flush as long. I've used the h&g soil line, and did fine with a 1 week flush in biobizz lightmix. You really think the coco needs a 2 week flush? I'm only running ~1000ppm on the feed. I've seen the bigbud powder, it says weeks 2-5 on the label...how do you use it? Not familiar with headmasta. You think the coco is ok to reuse with a good flush, correct?

i use dry koolbloom and coco, but dont reuse soil.I have read about people doing it. they seam to wash the shit out of it with really hot water. I guess it helps dissolve the built up slats...
with chem ferts i flush for 11-14 days ph 5.5-6, i use hydrozyme up to 7days from harvest
and stop watering then too

Are you happy with the KB results? When do you start with it? You seem to be in the 2 week flush camp too. My strains are only 8 weekers, I'm afraid yield will suffer if I don't feed for 2 weeks.

 

[Coconutz]

I do 3 days of pure water, but I reduce my nutes over the last few weeks
At 1000 ppm you may want to go with a longer flush
I feed 600ppm or so and then fade them out to almost nothing
GH says 7 day flush is good with the powder.
I only use kb for one or two feeds in coco and dont worry much about it, but I dont reuse

 

[Ez Rider]

I do 3 days of pure water, but I reduce my nutes over the last few weeks
At 1000 ppm you may want to go with a longer flush
I feed 600ppm or so and then fade them out to almost nothing
GH says 7 day flush is good with the powder.
I only use kb for one or two feeds in coco and dont worry much about it, but I dont reuse

Are you feeding multiple times a day? I'm in 12l pots, which only need watering every second or third day. This is why I feed them a little stronger. Hell, if I went by the h&g chart, I'd be running ~1600ppm's, and I'm only on day 15.

Are you happy with the results of the KB? What else are you doing nute-wise? This is my first coco run, so I'm certainly open to suggestions.

 

[Coconutz]

Yea, I water atleast twice a day once in flower.
I find coco reacts way better when I never let it dry at all.
Besides a little PK all I ever use is silica
A little hydroplex once at the middle of week 1 and 3 and then some kb liquid once a week before I hit them with the dry kb once or twice.
I find that too much pk after the calyx swell can cause some foxtailing. I might be going to once every other week...
A lot of pk can cause extended flowering times and nasty looking weed.
A little bit of kb powder goes a long way!
I actually remove all my other nutes before adding the powder and then switch to just molasses or a very diluted 6/9 formula without any micro(so about 0/3 or something)

 

[Ez Rider]

Yea, I water atleast twice a day once in flower.
I find coco reacts way better when I never let it dry at all.
Besides a little PK all I ever use is silica
A little hydroplex once at the middle of week 1 and 3 and then some kb liquid once a week before I hit them with the dry kb once or twice.
I find that too much pk after the calyx swell can cause some foxtailing. I might be going to once every other week...
A lot of pk can cause extended flowering times and nasty looking weed.
A little bit of kb powder goes a long way!
I actually remove all my other nutes before adding the powder and then switch to just molasses or a very diluted 6/9 formula without any micro(so about 0/3 or something)

I'd be afraid of getting gnats if I kept the coco that wet. I also don't think the roots would grow out into my pots if I kept them soaked. I have noticed that most people doing multifeeds are using much smaller pots. Mine are 3 1/2 gal...seems like most multifeeders are using <2gal.

I really like the consistency of coco over soil, but I don't want to maintain a nutrient res, and I don't really have room for it. Also, the biologicals I use don't seem to like sitting in solution for extended periods. The ph rises and doesn't want to come back down.

I am going to cut the coco with 20% aerorock next time. Hopefully this will put me in a water every other day situation. Maybe everyday in late flower.

I'm not familiar with KB liquid, what the difference?

 

[Snow Crash]

I have been using dripclean and seagreen. Now I thought one of the benefits of coco was that you didn't need to flush as long. I've used the h&g soil line, and did fine with a 1 week flush in biobizz lightmix. You really think the coco needs a 2 week flush? I'm only running ~1000ppm on the feed. I've seen the bigbud powder, it says weeks 2-5 on the label...how do you use it? Not familiar with headmasta. You think the coco is ok to reuse with a good flush, correct?

The idea of flushing when the plant is still in the media is to limit what the plant can uptake. You can't really wash elements out of a plant through it's roots. Osmosis doesn't work like that. But, by properly limiting the elements available in the last 10-14 days the plant will need to utilize remaining nutrient stores to generate energy and new growth. While there might be (might being the operative word here) a slight reduction in finished size the final product will be cleaner and burn healthier.

The length of this period really depends more on the genetics. I prefer to try and build the buds in the heart of flower, the middle weeks. At the end of the grow I tend to allow my plants a little extra time as the trichomes ripen. Plants don't grow on my schedule so I plan to flush about 10 days before I expect the harvest day. This way I can get at least 7 days of flushing on the shorter end, but up to 20 days on the longer end if they need an 80 day flowering period to finish.

~1000ppm sounds outrageous to me. I wouldn't go over 1.8ec on even my hungriest plants. This last run I was averaging 1.2ec-1.4ec and pulled a solid pound from a 400w lamp. Less is more in coco.

I use Big Bud Dry from day 4 of flowering through day 40 of flowering. It's more for the Potassium than anything... Head Masta is used basically start to finish at 3.8ml/gallon, I go for around 1ml/gallon at the start, peak around 3ml/gallon in weeks 5-7, and drop it down to 1ml again before flushing.

 

[Ez Rider]

The idea of flushing when the plant is still in the media is to limit what the plant can uptake. You can't really wash elements out of a plant through it's roots. Osmosis doesn't work like that. But, by properly limiting the elements available in the last 10-14 days the plant will need to utilize remaining nutrient stores to generate energy and new growth. While there might be (might being the operative word here) a slight reduction in finished size the final product will be cleaner and burn healthier.

The length of this period really depends more on the genetics. I prefer to try and build the buds in the heart of flower, the middle weeks. At the end of the grow I tend to allow my plants a little extra time as the trichomes ripen. Plants don't grow on my schedule so I plan to flush about 10 days before I expect the harvest day. This way I can get at least 7 days of flushing on the shorter end, but up to 20 days on the longer end if they need an 80 day flowering period to finish.

~1000ppm sounds outrageous to me. I wouldn't go over 1.8ec on even my hungriest plants. This last run I was averaging 1.2ec-1.4ec and pulled a solid pound from a 400w lamp. Less is more in coco.

I use Big Bud Dry from day 4 of flowering through day 40 of flowering. It's more for the Potassium than anything... Head Masta is used basically start to finish at 3.8ml/gallon, I go for around 1ml/gallon at the start, peak around 3ml/gallon in weeks 5-7, and drop it down to 1ml again before flushing.

From what I'm reading in the coco forum, I am running my nutes pretty strong I guess. I never really checked ppm's much before. I've usually went by the "if it burns, it's too much" rule. I haven't seen any signs of burning yet, but I'm considering easing up some. A few guys I talk to locally, say they run ~1800ppm in mid/late flower. They're using pretty much the same nute program as me, in coco. 1800 does seem like A LOT to me. These guys are telling me that the lower ppm's only work for small pots, with multi-watering daily. I'll measure some of my runoff next time and see where it's at. That should tell me if I'm overfeeding or not. You're saying 600-700ppm tops, correct? My meter is .5 conversion.

Are you running the bigbud in conjunction with the headmasta? What are you running as a base?

 

[otis33]

I replaced sp with moab when I was using h&g's full line and it worked just as well. I reuse my coco sometimes and if it's flushed week there should be no problems. I usually flush 10-14 days before chop and when I do a slurry test off the coco out usually has a low enough ec to reuse without further flushing. I have used koolbloom powder in place of shooting powder as well with similar results. I would also suggest feeding at a lower ec. I have been having great results feeding@1.2 ec from start to finish. I do recirculation, dtw, and blumats. the blumat set ups actually have coco with pretty high ec at the end of the grow, but when that are given plain water for the last two weeks it gets it low enough that I will only need a little rinse if any at all.

 

[azez]

i use cool bloom in weeks 3 and four and thats it
i flush 14 days at the end
peace
ez

 

[Coconutz]

I'd be afraid of getting gnats if I kept the coco that wet. I also don't think the roots would grow out into my pots if I kept them soaked. I have noticed that most people doing multifeeds are using much smaller pots. Mine are 3 1/2 gal...seems like most multifeeders are using <2gal.

I really like the consistency of coco over soil, but I don't want to maintain a nutrient res, and I don't really have room for it. Also, the biologicals I use don't seem to like sitting in solution for extended periods. The ph rises and doesn't want to come back down.

I am going to cut the coco with 20% aerorock next time. Hopefully this will put me in a water every other day situation. Maybe everyday in late flower.

I'm not familiar with KB liquid, what the difference?

Liquid is 0-10-10 bulking formula and used in early flower
the dry is 2-45-28 and for ripening at the end
My stems cant support my buds

 

[Snow Crash]

From what I'm reading in the coco forum, I am running my nutes pretty strong I guess. I never really checked ppm's much before. I've usually went by the "if it burns, it's too much" rule. I haven't seen any signs of burning yet, but I'm considering easing up some. A few guys I talk to locally, say they run ~1800ppm in mid/late flower. They're using pretty much the same nute program as me, in coco. 1800 does seem like A LOT to me. These guys are telling me that the lower ppm's only work for small pots, with multi-watering daily. I'll measure some of my runoff next time and see where it's at. That should tell me if I'm overfeeding or not. You're saying 600-700ppm tops, correct? My meter is .5 conversion.

Are you running the bigbud in conjunction with the headmasta? What are you running as a base?

I am running both in conjunction, but the head masta goes for a few weeks longer. Canna Coco A+B has been my base but I'm looking to tinker here in the near future. 600-800ppm on a 0.5 conversion, so 1.2-1.6ec is where I tend to land through most of the grow.

I do run 1 gallon and 2 gallon containers and feed daily.

 

[Ez Rider]

I replaced sp with moab when I was using h&g's full line and it worked just as well. I reuse my coco sometimes and if it's flushed week there should be no problems. I usually flush 10-14 days before chop and when I do a slurry test off the coco out usually has a low enough ec to reuse without further flushing. I have used koolbloom powder in place of shooting powder as well with similar results. I would also suggest feeding at a lower ec. I have been having great results feeding@1.2 ec from start to finish. I do recirculation, dtw, and blumats. the blumat set ups actually have coco with pretty high ec at the end of the grow, but when that are given plain water for the last two weeks it gets it low enough that I will only need a little rinse if any at all.

How many ml's of a+b were you running with h&g? ppm's? How often do you water your dtw? What size pots?

Liquid is 0-10-10 bulking formula and used in early flower
the dry is 2-45-28 and for ripening at the end
My stems cant support my buds

What are you running as a base? What size pots?

I am running both in conjunction, but the head masta goes for a few weeks longer. Canna Coco A+B has been my base but I'm looking to tinker here in the near future. 600-800ppm on a 0.5 conversion, so 1.2-1.6ec is where I tend to land through most of the grow.

I do run 1 gallon and 2 gallon containers and feed daily.

By daily, do you mean 1x, or multiple?

 

[otis33]

right now I am doing 40ml of a&b 2ml of protekt. 1ml drip clean. my tap has a pretty low ec, so all together I end up at 1.2 ec. when I was using all the additives I would do 40mla&b add the additives then dilute to 1.2ec. I found that after adding the h&g additives that the ec didn't rise that much except shooting powder.I think after adding moab to the 40mla&b my ec end up at 1.4 or 1.5 and if the plants don't get tip burn then Iwill continue to feed at this strength until flush. I stopped using the additives( used to used the entire line) because there wasn't a yield increase and the finished product wasn't better in any way. I have a few different set ups, my dtw right now is mostly I think 6 and 10 liter so I think 1.5 and 2.5 gallon , my reciculating(ppk) are in 2gal buckets and the blumats are in 2&3 gal. I am feeding the dtw 4 times s day.. they are actually in chow mix, the ppk are fed 6x and I also had a bed that was just harvested that was fed once daily that was dtw as well.

 

[Ez Rider]

right now I am doing 40ml of a&b 2ml of protekt. 1ml drip clean. my tap has a pretty low ec, so all together I end up at 1.2 ec. when I was using all the additives I would do 40mla&b add the additives then dilute to 1.2ec. I found that after adding the h&g additives that the ec didn't rise that much except shooting powder.I think after adding moab to the 40mla&b my ec end up at 1.4 or 1.5 and if the plants don't get tip burn then Iwill continue to feed at this strength until flush. I stopped using the additives( used to used the entire line) because there wasn't a yield increase and the finished product wasn't better in any way. I have a few different set ups, my dtw right now is mostly I think 6 and 10 liter so I think 1.5 and 2.5 gallon , my reciculating(ppk) are in 2gal buckets and the blumats are in 2&3 gal. I am feeding the dtw 4 times s day.. they are actually in chow mix, the ppk are fed 6x and I also had a bed that was just harvested that was fed once daily that was dtw as well.

Thanks Otis.
When you say 40mla+b, how big of a res are you using? I've been running 6.5ml/gal a+b. You don't even feel the roots excelurator is worthwhile? What about the drip clean? I've seen several people say it doesn't make a difference if you're not overfeeding.

I've got samples of both moab and kb powder, when the time comes.

 

[otis33]

oh right, I meant 8ml of a&b...I recently had to leave my wife to care for some things and she missed everything in 5 gal buckets....per gal:8ml A 8ml B 2ml protekt 1ml drip clean

 

[otis33]

yes I do use roots excel during veg and sometimes until stretch is over. there is a noticeable difference in root growth with that stuff... definitely worth the$

 

[otis33]

when feed at low ec you can get by without the drip clean for sure, but it's a good insurance policy when growing in coco. when I was starting out, I fed according to feed charts which were ridiculously high ppms and I never got lock outs even in my blumat grows where there is no run off. if you water to a decent amount of run off you can get by without it as well.