top feeding Coco PH

[snoopytime]

Hi Guys, its probably been gone over but its hard to dig up by searching for me anyway. I have read 'feed coco at 5.8'.

Is this still the belief\best idea?

I have a prety good mix, and I never bothered checking ph with it until I added one thing.

The mix is this: (all ml = per gallon of RO water)

Canna Coco (pure)
1 gallon smart pot
5ml silica blast
CNS17 grow or bloom or ripe (depending on weeks into flower)
1ml Roots Excel first 2 weeks or so
1 ml Floraliscious plus
.4 ml drip clean
5ml Aquasheild to keep PH steady.

I mixed up a new tank of chow today, 200 gallons.

For CNS17 I used soil\coco bloom at 25ml per gallon.
Then I added 5ml per gallon of Botanicare Hydroplex.

My PH would usually come up 5.5-5.8
But with the hydroplex it ended up down at 5.1
So I diluted some PH UP and raised it a bit to like 5.5

Any opinions on PH being a big deal, some guys like to shift PH around a lot but thats in like undercurrent etc.

Is coco best to ALWAYS hit it with 5.8?

Thanks a lot, take care now.

 

[Green lung]

5.6-6.0 for coco and yes it is important.

 

[snoopytime]

Thank you Sir, so in effect I did a good thing adding PH UP. I am always reluctant to add PH UP or PH DOWN . .but it does have its uses then I suppose.

 

[JAY LENWEED]

Hi Guys, its probably been gone over but its hard to dig up by searching for me anyway. I have read 'feed coco at 5.8'.

Is this still the belief\best idea?

I have a prety good mix, and I never bothered checking ph with it until I added one thing.

The mix is this: (all ml = per gallon of RO water)

Canna Coco (pure)
1 gallon smart pot
5ml silica blast
CNS17 grow or bloom or ripe (depending on weeks into flower)
1ml Roots Excel first 2 weeks or so
1 ml Floraliscious plus
.4 ml drip clean
5ml Aquasheild to keep PH steady.

I mixed up a new tank of chow today, 200 gallons.

For CNS17 I used soil\coco bloom at 25ml per gallon.
Then I added 5ml per gallon of Botanicare Hydroplex.

My PH would usually come up 5.5-5.8
But with the hydroplex it ended up down at 5.1
So I diluted some PH UP and raised it a bit to like 5.5

Any opinions on PH being a big deal, some guys like to shift PH around a lot but thats in like undercurrent etc.

Is coco best to ALWAYS hit it with 5.8?

Thanks a lot, take care now.

A ph 5.5 -6.0 is fine but using CNS17 at 25ml per gallon seems like your mix would be a little "hot."

 

[simple green]

In the future, consider mixing 2/3 RO water with 1/3 tap water to raise ph a little...

But as others have said, you're about fine.....

 

[Green lung]

My PH pen is probably the best thing I ever bought.

 

[snoopytime]

Hey thanks for the replies. SimpleGreen, I dont use tap water in SoCal as its teinted with the slime spores and you need at least UV to kill it, or hospital RO system lol. So instead I use straight RO then 5ml\gallon of Silica Blast which brings the PH up a bit also.

Jay Lenweed, 25 is actually their smaller dose, on some bottles of CNS17 Bloom coco it says 30ml which I have used also with no tip burn. But I am using 25ml so I can slide in the 5ml of Hydroplex.

I raised the PH to about 6.07 tonight and topped it off to thin out the mix a teeny bit. Lets see how they suck up that P & K. There is a chart I saw on here from a Brit company Plant Magix or something, they state that 6.0 - 6.2 is best for bloom as it allows better P & K uptake.

 

[blueberrydrumz]

Hey thanks for the replies. SimpleGreen, I dont use tap water in SoCal as its teinted with the slime spores and you need at least UV to kill it, or hospital RO system lol. So instead I use straight RO then 5ml\gallon of Silica Blast which brings the PH up a bit also.

Jay Lenweed, 25 is actually their smaller dose, on some bottles of CNS17 Bloom coco it says 30ml which I have used also with no tip burn. But I am using 25ml so I can slide in the 5ml of Hydroplex.

I raised the PH to about 6.07 tonight and topped it off to thin out the mix a teeny bit. Lets see how they suck up that P & K. There is a chart I saw on here from a Brit company Plant Magix or something, they state that 6.0 - 6.2 is best for bloom as it allows better P & K uptake.

yeah that how i do it, 5.5-6.0 for Veg & 5.75-6.25 for flowering works well.

 

[Snow Crash]

I have found that even with ridiculously low pH readings that I don't get any problems in coco. Cutting Edge Solutions Plant Amp drops the pH of their solution to 4.0ish, which sounds like a problem but it is a result of organic acids which break down quickly causing a rise in the solution once applied.

It was scary at first but after 2 months of feedings without seeing the runoff pH decrease, or pH issues with the plants, I was sold on not bothering with my pH. All I do now is run a Fulvic Acid for the organic acids to drop the level and run it au' natural. Although I do apply Pro-Tekt Potassium Silicate which has a great pH up capability.

To make an observation though...

5ml of 0-10-6 Hydroplex is adding at least 60ppm of Phosphorus to your solution. Given that you are already running 60ppm with the CNS17 Coco/Soil Bloom, that is an easy 120ppm of Phosphorus. As most growers around here can tell you, that is probably way too much P. I would suggest you cut the Hydroplex down to around 2ml per gallon. Save yourself some money (not like the stuff is expensive, but still) and probably keep the plants healthier too. Unless you know something about your phenotype we don't...

 

[SeaMaiden]

I prefer a range of 5.8-6.2, allowing a few feeds above and below those parameters. Also important to keep in mind are the individual preferences of whatever you're running.

 

[snoopytime]

Hey thanks for the extra answers guys! Yes Snow, that is a lot lol, I slimmed it down on last weeks batch. My main strain didnt flinch, but one lights worth of more picky\sativa leaning strain spit it out to the fans and roasted them off in a sacrifice.

Now, here is a question that has been in my head the last few days. The main strain is a hybrid, 10 weeker. Heavy producer, very hearty plant. the breeder is banned on here, but anyway its called kolossus. Mostly jack herer, powerplant, shiva and chronic.

The have exactly 2 weeks left. What should I throw in the mix? A nice 25ml\gallon of CNS17 Ripe? Or that at half stregnth? I was considering a bit of MOAB but I have never used it.

I want a good flush period too. Snow you seem like you know what the hell is truly going on, any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks! Snoop

 

[snoopytime]

Oh yeah I think I may try the ProTekt Silica next time my Silica Blast runs out. I have heard multiple people whose opinions I respect (including Snow) using it over Botanicares version.

 

[Snow Crash]

By day 55 on a 70 day strain I would definitely be rocking the Ripe. 25ml per gallon is still a relatively large amount of food but if she's that hungry then I say go for it. It is hard to play armchair quarterback but I would probably be backing off of the nutrients from this point forward. Maybe 25ml today, but 20ml tomorrow, and 15ml the day after that. The last 5 days or so are usually just fulvic acid and water for my own plants, so I'd say there are only 9-10 more feedings between now and then that you have a shot at. One good last boost with the Ripe and then allowing it to trail off is probably the best idea.

I would assume it is too late for MOAB also. I haven't ever run the stuff but I have run a combination of H&G Shooting Powder, AN Big Bud dry, and Botanicare Hydroplex before. As far as I am aware most of these products are best utilized from day 20 up to day 50 or so of Bloom. Although, with this particular product I may be wrong it probably isn't worth the risk this time around. Especially if you are happy about the size of your flowers. A lot of growth will still occur up until the harvest date so I guess it could go either way.

I am definitely a user and proponent of Silica. I have noticed increased stem rigidity and size which helps support larger flowers later into bloom without supports. I have also noticed a decrease in susceptibility to molds even later into bloom. When I began incorporating Silica I had also begun using a few other supplements, like Fulvic Acid and Seaweed Extracts, I noticed a dramatic improvement in my plants. I will run all of them together until I find some reason not to.

I prefer the Dyna-Grow Pro-Tekt over the Silica Blast. It is definitely a higher concentration and I can see the results on my EC meter when using it. I run 2-3ml per gallon of Pro-Tekt. Sometimes up to 5ml/gallon if I need the pH adjustment it provides.

One thing to be careful about is that when adding Potassium Silicate to a solution it will cause a (temporary) precipitation of Calcium Sulfate. This looks like a white cloud in the solution. To reduce the amount of precipitate formed when adding the Pro-Tekt I suggest that you hold off on adding any Epsom Salt until afterwards. This reduces the amount of sulfate available for the Calcium to bond with when subjected to the very alkaline Silica supplement.

 

[SeaMaiden]

I think that more than 20 days out is a decent window for a shot of *either* MOAB or Big Bud (of which I, too, have only used the powder).

 

[snoopytime]

Thanks guys! Yeah I actually made a mix of 20ml Ripe with silica, floraliscious plus and drip clean for now. Then when theres 5 days left I can purge that remainder of a tank (i make 200 gallons at a time).

One thing I do is add silica first. Then the base nutes. This way the sil goes completely into solution. A pretty sharp guy on another forum tipped me on this and it seems to work great.