the Hand Watering coco thread

[MaynardG_Krebs]

Sooooo, when I was in soil I just hit them for the last two weeks with nothing but water ph'd at 6.1-6.3....but with coco I need to get something else? Why? I can't just flush the weed with straight water? I thought coco held less then soil and it would be only like 7-10 days with straight water to get the white ash????
I am just asking for clarification here MGK....I have utilized lots of your advice so far and it has helped enormously.

I'm just going by what I've read. Seems that clear water is not as good at leaching out the built up salts as good as a very dilute water/nutrient solution. If I remember correctly, it has to do with the salts being attracted to and swept away by the lower dilution of water and nutrients. One thing I can tell you for sure is it works. I do use either Clearex or FloraKleen (which are both mild sucrose solutions). It might be a waste of money, but it seems to be working well.

mgk

 

[gonzo`]

^^^^^ This guy is correct. Flushing with PLAIN pH water is actually having a worse effect than flushing with a very mild nutrient solution, pH adjusted...

 

[Justin_Credible]

I'm just going by what I've read. Seems that clear water is not as good at leaching out the built up salts as good as a very dilute water/nutrient solution. If I remember correctly, it has to do with the salts being attracted to and swept away by the lower dilution of water and nutrients. One thing I can tell you for sure is it works. I do use either Clearex or FloraKleen (which are both mild sucrose solutions). It might be a waste of money, but it seems to be working well.

mgk

So you use the 90/10 water/nute solution for how many days? Like for instance, I have been told to flush in coco for about 10 days vs soil that is at least two weeks. Do you use this clearex along with your nute solution for the last 10 days? Or do you use that for the 1st say, 6-7 days then straight water? I got my weed dialed in through soil to the point where it burns better then a cigarette. U still get a nice white ash by doing this MGK?

 

[MaynardG_Krebs]

So you use the 90/10 water/nute solution for how many days? Like for instance, I have been told to flush in coco for about 10 days vs soil that is at least two weeks. Do you use this clearex along with your nute solution for the last 10 days? Or do you use that for the 1st say, 6-7 days then straight water? I got my weed dialed in through soil to the point where it burns better then a cigarette. U still get a nice white ash by doing this MGK?

Hey Justin... I do the flush with the water/nute/clearex mix for 7 to 10 days.. usually closer to 10. My herb burns clean and down to a white ash, no snapping, crackling or other annoying 'nonflush' type stuff. Hope this helps!

mgk

 

[Apache123]

Hey Justin... I do the flush with the water/nute/clearex mix for 7 to 10 days.. usually closer to 10. My herb burns clean and down to a white ash, no snapping, crackling or other annoying 'nonflush' type stuff. Hope this helps!

mgk

Thank you! May I ask how many gallons do you flush throughout one pot for the 7-10 days? I use 4 times the size of pot for soil. 15 gallon pot will use 60 gallons of flush. Is this the same for Coco? Thank you in advance for any help provided. I hope all is well with everyone...

 

[OCkushKing]

Apache123 are you trying to flush the coco to correct a imbalance in the medium or flushing plants before harvest?

 

[Justin_Credible]

Hey Justin... I do the flush with the water/nute/clearex mix for 7 to 10 days.. usually closer to 10. My herb burns clean and down to a white ash, no snapping, crackling or other annoying 'nonflush' type stuff. Hope this helps!

mgk

Thank U MGK. K+

 

[MaynardG_Krebs]

Thank you! May I ask how many gallons do you flush throughout one pot for the 7-10 days? I use 4 times the size of pot for soil. 15 gallon pot will use 60 gallons of flush. Is this the same for Coco? Thank you in advance for any help provided. I hope all is well with everyone...

I've never really kept track of that. I use 2 1/2 gallon buckets for pots and I use about 1 qt of solution per watering and I water every day with an occasional skip.

mgk

 

[Apache123]

Apache123 are you trying to flush the coco to correct a imbalance in the medium or flushing plants before harvest?

Well I haven't flushed my coco yet but I thought that before I harvest I need to flush out the nutes and salts. Which leads to smoother smoke etc. Thank you for any help provided.

Cheers,

 

[dramamine]

I have a curious situation with my 10 day old seedlings in coco....I'm using the Botanicare

bricks and I didn't really flush them, I just hydrated them..bad choice, possibly...soon

after putting the seedlings (in rockwool) in the coco, they started to look a progressively

paler green, and growth slowed...they've had only Ph'd water, a half-dose of Rhizatonic

and a tiny amount of Canna a+b...I checked my run-off and the TDS were close to 800

ppm, so yesterday I flushed them with ph'd water until ppm were around 400...I haven't used

coco before, so I'm not sure if I should give them a small dose of nutes, or let them dry a

bit and breathe...the cups are still fairly saturated now


my soil-growing experience tells me to let them air out, but this is COCO and I know they

may need food at this point, too...


............if anyone has any thoughts, I'd love to hear 'em...........peace

 

[dramamine]

So I'm pretty sure that I've just kept these seedlings too wet. I guess that's part

of the learning curve with coco, learning how wet to keep it for different stages of

growth.......too wet, too soon, for too long...I think..

Anyhoo, thanks to Bonecarver and all contributors for this thread! I've learned so much

from it and I'm positive I can get this coco thing sussed... Peace, everyone..

 

[buddin_904]

dramamine.....did you pre-charge/hydrate your bricks with a nute/calmag solution?

i would say you need MORE nutes....ignore the ppm for now and give them more nutes than you would think they need (actuality, your giving the coco nutes)

 

[dramamine]

Hey, buddin...thanks for the input...you could be right...I didn't use calmag or nutes to

hydrate because my tap water is so hard, I figured they'd get the calcium they needed

from it, and that they wouldn't need nutes until second set of leaves or so..


I may give them nutes today and see how they react...things are looking pretty crucial

for them about now...it'd be nice if that was the issue, cuz I've really been wracking my

brain to figure what they're suffering from...don't want to make the same mistake again!

 

[slowandeasy]

Hey, buddin...thanks for the input...you could be right...I didn't use calmag or nutes to

hydrate because my tap water is so hard, I figured they'd get the calcium they needed

from it, and that they wouldn't need nutes until second set of leaves or so..


I may give them nutes today and see how they react...things are looking pretty crucial

for them about now...it'd be nice if that was the issue, cuz I've really been wracking my

brain to figure what they're suffering from...don't want to make the same mistake again!

What do you have your seedlings in? I have a a suggestion for you, if you cant do it this time...do it next time. I use Clear 9oz cups cut in half to start seedlings. Poke good drainage holes, then use another cup..with Black Duct tape to set the 1st cup into. So a cup inside of a cup. This way you can see your roots grow and how moist your Coco is staying.

If they are pale, it is prolly overwatering...or they are hungry. With Coco, I feed every time I water. When they are small, dont water as often to promote root growth. When roots fill bottom of cup, water more often. Once they are big enuff, I transplant to Smart Pots and Blumats. Good luck.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

with seedlings things can get easilly messy. just wait and take it easy, thats what works the ebst for me. some plants take time to establish them self in the coco. dryer moments help for small plants to grow the roots. with dryer i DONT mean DRY, but lesser humidity levels.

i feed the seedlings same feedings as for the rest of my plants in veg, but that might not work for every one.

slowandeasy is rigth

peace

 

[dramamine]

The advice is much appreciated. Thanks for the words of wisdom... It seems that I had kept the poor seedlings much too wet, which (I think) has resulted in them becoming very hungry... the classic: one thing led to the other (as with everything)

After airing out for two days, I gave them 2ml/liter of nutes and 3ml/liter of Rhizotonic without over-saturating the coco (no runoff).........wouldn't you know, they're starting to show more green over the course of the day...AWESOME!!

So, a very nice sight after days of worse and worse.... and a nice lesson on how the medium performs best at this early stage...

Slowandeasy, howdy! That's a good technique for keeping an eye on the substrate...I'm in the 16 oz. beer cups now, after starting in rockwool cubes... and it seems like you're exactly right--they were wet and hungry...not good..........thanks for the well-wishes, man


BC_OG: this thread is invaluable...THANK YOU

 

[buddin_904]

^ im glad stuff is improving dramamine

 

[dramamine]

me too, man....slow but sure!...peace

 

[Rigga Mortis]

Hiya, I plan to use coco and want to water twice a day during flowing and I have a few questions.

1. Is this excessive watering?

2. If not should I do half measure on the nutes each feed? Also when to feed? when the lights 1st come on and then 6 hours later?

3. When it comes to PK how many weeks and is it once a week or with each feed?

4. Do i need to have my water at a certain temp before I add my nutes before feeding?

Also does anybody use a foliar spray? if so what do yo use?

Cheers.

 

[plantsman]

Hi guys, been a while since I posted so forgive me if I make any newbie requests...

I have recently switched to coco but want to continue to use organic nutes. I have been using bio-grow and bio-bloom but am suffering from a nitrogen def in my vegging plants (red stems, stunted growth, light green small leaves).

Basically I dont know how much to use and when to use it? There is no schedule anywhere to help me...

Thanks