dont treat coco like soil??

[Guywithoutajeep]

When the blumat control themself get back to me, for now it read that you control the blumat. How dry is too dry? Does the blumat use a censor to determine the amount of roots in the pot to gauge the proper saturation level given the pot size and root size?

Does the blumat use a censor to determine the amount of roots in the pot to gauge the proper saturation level given the pot size and root size?

Yes. Take a gander at the physics behind a tensiometer. That is what is contained inside the cone.

How dry is too dry? What your asking is what determines the threshold at which the blumat initiates itself, correct? Yeah just keep reading my friend.

I'm feeling like Mistress over here guys...shes explaining chemistry and I'm saying, "wrong!" and now I'm gonna get into some physics and some of you are going to say wrong! And naturally I've only been speaking in terms of theory and second hand experience. So yeah, I suck, but I'll still be back in a few months with results. I want this to work because I think there is potential to better our grows.

Double good night

 

[NiteTiger]

I could take a picture of my plants right before the lights go off and right when they go on and you tell me. I get droopage my friend. My sour D's drink like crazy!!!

Yeah, same here. I'm not sure what point you're responding to there?

And dude your walking a tight rope when you start messing with light leaks. I can't guarantee hermie safety, I can only maximize the safety potential.

I'm one of those that likes to push things just for my information I pushed many grows over many strains to test just what it took to cause a hermi with a light leak. While it varied from strain to strain as to how long the constant exposure took to have an effect, the effect was only under the constant light. No amount of screwing around with green bulbs and leds had any effect whatsoever, though.

Even when they were left on 24/7 for a month.

Now, I'm not saying you should disregard light tightness. Far from it. My point is it does get over stated, is all. There's no reason to be scared of ducking into your grow if the need arises is all I'm sayin'.

Kinda like getting busted for electrical usage, or 1kw lights needing their own circuit. Concerns blown way, way out of proportion.

So I think we should come to a conclusion about drips and hand watering... Otherwise its not possible to say one is superior to the other.

Agreed

Would love to debate the Blumats with you just for debate's sake, but this isn't the time or place

 

[Danseur]

I read about the blumats tensiometer, but that does not do anything different than a human is capable to do. If you can't it is the fault of your own, not hand watering. Blumats still need the same knowledge from the gardener to set the proper feed, and container size to plant size. Simply maintaining adequate moisture is not mastering a medium. It is a web of things working together, which is why blumats are not the answer. Knowing how to use them appropriately is. The same goes for a gardener using drippers or hand watering.

We shall agree to disagree.

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

I just picked up my Tropf Blumat set today! I posted pictures of the unboxing and instruction manual...

Danseur - I think the Tropf Blumat can indeed do something that a human is not capable of, unless you were to babysit the grow 24/7.

 

[Danseur]

Well that does not make a control experiment now does it?

I think this has already been covered, but to blame handwatering method on lack of available resources (in this case time) is not the fault of the method. It is the fault of the gardener. Driggery Driggery Doooo

There was once a gardener who loved nothing more than to baby sit a grow 24/7. What says you to that? I am losing my typing voice, I will leave those to make their own opinions on this topic.

 

[xmobotx]

And how are we licking the nute companies asses?

lol - i m just sayin; i asked a question and everyone's further replies were "just buy product such and such" although no one quoted me or seemed to reply to me specific - there was nothing to answer my query - just a series of "advertisements"

God damn you just came right out and slapped us all in the face . I don't think anyone is ass spelunking on purpose. I really am not knowledgeable enough to get on with that stuff just yet. Eventually I'd really like to do a whole bunch of side by side experiments with coco, organics, bloom boosters etc.

I wouldn't even know where to start with organics in coco. I don't even know a single grower who uses coco to begin with. I brought a bottle of H&G coco AB to the counter at my local grow shop and the guy didn't even know what the stuff was, how much it cost, or when the last time was that someone had bought the stuff. So yeah not too many coco growers out there.

lol "ass-spelunking" -i theorize that, as long as the nute req's are met, the explosive growth benefits of coco should be present along w/ the sustainable OG benefits. just looking for someone knowledgable enough to help me out - i m NOT going to buy any coco-nutes

You can treat the coco how you wish to, but treating it as a soil-less medium in an active hydroponic system will give its best results around the board.

Growing in a straight coco mix using organic teas works, but similar to treating straight coco as a soil it is limiting its potential. However amending the coco with some worm castings, greensand, humic's, and other choice amendments can make quite the organic mix. Trade secrets But then this is not longer just coco, so we will leave it at that.

like danseur here - thx 4 the answer. the bag actually says to mix w/ EWC and such -negating many folk's argument that str8 coco is the only way to go (then buy coco-spec nutes)

but, i dont want to mix anything... i do want to xpiriment w/ the str8 coco -and i want my gro to always be organic (and many "organic" nutes aren't)

 

[NiteTiger]

lol - i m just sayin; i asked a question and everyone's further replies were "just buy product such and such" although no one quoted me or seemed to reply to me specific - there was nothing to answer my query - just a series of "advertisements"

Ah, gotcha now

I was like WTF?!

Also, I use straight coco, but I use non-organic hydro nutes. So, I can tell you straight coco works, and works very well without specialized ferts.

Not into organics myself, but, as I said, I'd think the Organic Hydro forum would have some good info on different ferts. I also mentioned I haven't seen any org coco grows, so make sure you shoot me a link to your grow thread when you're up and running!

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

Well that does not make a control experiment now does it?

I think this has already been covered, but to blame handwatering method on lack of available resources (in this case time) is not the fault of the method. It is the fault of the gardener. Driggery Driggery Doooo

There was once a gardener who loved nothing more than to baby sit a grow 24/7. What says you to that? I am losing my typing voice, I will leave those to make their own opinions on this topic.

I would love nothing more than to be able to babysit my grow 24/7, but it's just not possible, as I have a job and a life outside my cabinet. I don't think anyone said handwatering is inferior, just that it requires more constant monitoring.

Where did I say I was running a scientific side by side experiment? It will be happening in the future, but it's not going to be the first thing I do with the Tropf Blumats.

You're right in handwatering, drip, or any other method of irrigation is just that, a method of irrigation.

What are the optimum conditions for coco? Always moist with no/minimal runoff? Always moist with frequent runoff? Moist/dry cycles with no/minimal runoff? Moist/dry cycles with lots of runoff?

From your posts here it seems you know exactly what the plants want, so please, share.

 

[NiteTiger]

What are the optimum conditions for coco? Always moist with no/minimal runoff? Always moist with frequent runoff? Moist/dry cycles with no/minimal runoff? Moist/dry cycles with lots of runoff?

I'm not going to jump in and make a definitive generalization, but it's a question I'm sure other growers have, so I wanted to address it.

I've found that to be more strain dependent than anything. I've had some strains that love the bog, and some that love the desert

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

Thanks NiteTiger! It seems that Danseur has left the building... guess I won't be getting an answer from them.

 

[Carl Carlson]

I have not grown with coco in an ebb and flow system yet, but if you read through dongle69's thread, her yields increased over time and at the end she said: "Currently I'm feeding once a day at lights on. I have tried multiple feedings a day to as little as one feeding every 3 days. Once a day seems to give them what they want while not keeping things too wet for fungus gnats to thrive."

 

[!!!]

"Don't treat it like soil" usually refers to watering.

Water daily - You NEVER want to overwater soil, it's the #1 newbie mistake, but with coco, when your plants have been in the pot for a week or more, they're probably established and you should water daily, or even 2-3 times a day.

I don't know anything about soil, but keep pH at 5.8 when watering/feeding coco. Also make sure you supplement with calmag, something you normally don't need to do in soil or hydro.

Not much else to it really..

 

[Guywithoutajeep]

I would love nothing more than to be able to babysit my grow 24/7, but it's just not possible, as I have a job and a life outside my cabinet. I don't think anyone said handwatering is inferior, just that it requires more constant monitoring.

Where did I say I was running a scientific side by side experiment? It will be happening in the future, but it's not going to be the first thing I do with the Tropf Blumats.

You're right in handwatering, drip, or any other method of irrigation is just that, a method of irrigation.

What are the optimum conditions for coco? Always moist with no/minimal runoff? Always moist with frequent runoff? Moist/dry cycles with no/minimal runoff? Moist/dry cycles with lots of runoff?

From your posts here it seems you know exactly what the plants want, so please, share.

Dude I'm with you in that blumats can do something that hand watering can never do. When you have a piece of equipment that can measure the water tension inside of soil it can put you at a little advantage. Essentially the tensiometer is sensing the rate of water absorption by your roots and the rate of drip is adjusted accordingly. Anyways I'm done explaining this, if people don't choose not to understand these physics then I don't know what to say. Moving on.

So I've been playing a little bit with water frequency over the last few days and as of right now my plants are much more vigorous watering more frequently using less water. This is a pretty unproven observation, but it's working better. I'm attempting to get less run-off with more watering, but its tough when your hand watering.

They're over 4 feet, halfway through week 4. Once they start filling in a little bit more I'll put up some pics.

 

[Carl Carlson]

So I've been playing a little bit with water frequency over the last few days and as of right now my plants are much more vigorous watering more frequently using less water. This is a pretty unproven observation, but it's working better. I'm attempting to get less run-off with more watering, but its tough when your hand watering.

are you watering plants within the grow differently or all one way?

 

[eastcoastbuds]

use flood trays there cheap and so easy to maintain

 

[Castelvetro]

i treat coco just like soil, i think most do who have grown with it, u just got to get your ph right. but mine is about right and plants look amazing, same nutes n water i give my soil, ph around 6, let it dry out a little then re water without run off, the water water to bring in more oxygen is a oxy moron statement to me and doesnt make any differance, once the intial soak and run of run threw happens the roots are drowned temporarily by water until it dries out a little, coco kept moist all the time grows like shit ime. so its just like a pro mix or a very airy peat basted soil mix. dont get the difficulties some have with running it.

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

i treat coco just like soil, i think most do who have grown with it, u just got to get your ph right. but mine is about right and plants look amazing, same nutes n water i give my soil, ph around 6, let it dry out a little then re water without run off, the water water to bring in more oxygen is a oxy moron statement to me and doesnt make any differance, once the intial soak and run of run threw happens the roots are drowned temporarily by water until it dries out a little, coco kept moist all the time grows like shit ime. so its just like a pro mix or a very airy peat basted soil mix. dont get the difficulties some have with running it.

I don't know how accurate that is... maybe we need a poll.

Letting coco dry at at certain points in the plants life can be helpful, but I don't know that doing it regularly would be of any benefit to the plants. Sure, it might not kill them, but that doesn't mean it's good for them.

 

[beats6789]

sometime I eat coco in the morning before work.

 

[Castelvetro]

dry n wet are words that have coco neurotics so in a mess, yes let coco get a tad dry, doesnt have to even be dry on the very top layer, but keeping coco full moist or wet all the time is a no no, i water mine before the top layer dries, when its light to pick up i water, the ones that arent i dont.

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

dry n wet are words that have coco neurotics so in a mess, yes let coco get a tad dry, doesnt have to even be dry on the very top layer, but keeping coco full moist or wet all the time is a no no, i water mine before the top layer dries, when its light to pick up i water, the ones that arent i dont.