Pablo Tesla
Well-Known Member
Helo!
Have anyone tried to feed coco with no waste and flushing once a week?
Have anyone tried to feed coco with no waste and flushing once a week?
Coco feeding/flush
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Pablo Tesla
Well-Known Member
Yes, just trying to save nutes.
I'm watering 1.5 L per plant day, using a dripping system, 6L air pot, 20% runoff.
In flowering salts build up anyway, every 20 day needs a flush.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, I'll start reducing the amount of feed.
Looking for suggestions...
neon green
New Member
How are you diagnosing that you need a flush? Are you really throwing that much salt into your water? I've grown in coco for years and never had to flush.
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Pablo Tesla
Well-Known Member
The plants are now on week 5, I'm feeding with an EC=2.0 pH=5.8 and I measure the flush every day. When ec rises above 3.0 I flush!!
neon green
New Member
I don't use any fancy meters or anything like that. I just let the lady's tell me what they need. If they look healthy.... Their probably healthy. Meters are great if your haveing problems, but if you don't have any problems they tend to create more problems than they solve.
DarkGreenGoo
New Member
Coco does not need a high EC solution to grow good plants. You can grow fantastic medicine with a simple nutrient regiment. I use only two nutrients myself, and feed under 700PPM @ 5.7-5.8
My plants always come out well (except for some sunburn, mainly tent height).
In veg I feed them only when they need it. Which is normally every few days, maybe once a week. When they hit flower, I start feeding every other day until runoff. For two 3 gallon pots (75 percent coco, 25 percent perlite), I would make up 3 gallons of solution during flower. They drink less when they are in veg, so you would only need to make 2 gallon each time you feed.
It is pretty simple.
My plants always come out well (except for some sunburn, mainly tent height).
In veg I feed them only when they need it. Which is normally every few days, maybe once a week. When they hit flower, I start feeding every other day until runoff. For two 3 gallon pots (75 percent coco, 25 percent perlite), I would make up 3 gallons of solution during flower. They drink less when they are in veg, so you would only need to make 2 gallon each time you feed.
It is pretty simple.
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Pablo Tesla
Well-Known Member
Thanks man.
Very nice plants!!
Very nice plants!!
gr865
Well-Known Member
DGG,
Nice looking plants! You do have some pH issues, they don't look as sever as mine but I can see it in the leaves. I am not sure if it has effected my grow or not.
I am glad to see we grow so much alike. I'm using 75/10/10/5, coco/perlite/growstones/worm castings. I also grow mainline style. I am using GH CocoTec block coco and it is a bitch to charge. I think that is a majority of my pH problem, I am going with Botanicare next grow, still researching it. I am also using just two nutes, I use Head's modified Lucas formula for coco. It GH FloraMicro 6ml and Bloom 9ml per gallon, i add Cal/Mag and epson also. My ppm runs around 900 to 1000, and a pH of 5.8. Maybe I should lower my ml on the two nutes, though that is lower than GH recommends. I do use captured rain water, ppm 13 pH around 7.
I also see you use an LED, my first few grows were with LED and now I use it for vegging.
Let the harvest begin, I love my hobby that makes my medicine!
GR
DarkGreenGoo
New Member
Not a PH issue, the plant just seems to finish up this way. I am flushing them as of today and they will pretty much be done. My NB finished up in a typical way and my AK's stayed bright green right through (until pulling all nutrients). I also thought it was a PH issue to begin with, but it turned out not to be.
Your plants look great, I wouldn't change a thing.
I run LED's, but I found that many LED brands need lots of headroom. Two feet would be really good. Otherwise they really burn the plants. Some of the higher-end panels won't due to the way they assemble the LED's for coverage, but they are also weaker and cost insane amounts of money.
I will say that the colas from LED's are rock hard, and seem to produce the stickiest bud I have come across outside of certain outdoors spots around the world.
Another downside is they cause issues with Cal-mag. Most people I see who run LED's get Calmag issues. The same way people with Gavita's have issues with potassium.
Your plants look great, I wouldn't change a thing.
I run LED's, but I found that many LED brands need lots of headroom. Two feet would be really good. Otherwise they really burn the plants. Some of the higher-end panels won't due to the way they assemble the LED's for coverage, but they are also weaker and cost insane amounts of money.
I will say that the colas from LED's are rock hard, and seem to produce the stickiest bud I have come across outside of certain outdoors spots around the world.
Another downside is they cause issues with Cal-mag. Most people I see who run LED's get Calmag issues. The same way people with Gavita's have issues with potassium.
arellanobrian
Well-Known Member
Just read through and got some interesting info to think over. I had read alot that feeding every day, sometimes even multiple the times a day with nutes.
I was going to use a drain to waist drip system with a 5 gallon bucket as a res and don't know how long to run the pump and how many times a day to minimise wasting nutes as much as possible. I was planning on changing the res once a week and flushing with tapwater+some flushing agent. Any input/ideas/criticism would be awesome
I was going to use a drain to waist drip system with a 5 gallon bucket as a res and don't know how long to run the pump and how many times a day to minimise wasting nutes as much as possible. I was planning on changing the res once a week and flushing with tapwater+some flushing agent. Any input/ideas/criticism would be awesome
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- #13
Pablo Tesla
Well-Known Member
Hi,
So, I've been using a drain to waste system with coco coir with good results. I'm using a 5 liters reservoir and drippers by gravity, no pump.
I'm using a solenoid valve for gravity system, pressure compensated drippers and a digital timer. The flow is constant, I'm getting 60 ml/minute per plant.
Multiple feedings per day is a nice option, but be sure that your plant is on week 3 of flowering, not before. I made the mistake and the roots did not grow as it should. In the beginning I prefer to feed only once a day by hand.
Also, cleaning your reservoir every week or so is very importante. Otherwise algae starts to grow.
I always check the EC and pH of the drain, and only flush if is necessary, normally 2 or 3 times the whole grow.
When I prepare the food (coco A & B) Its only for the next day, after a few day its starts to oxidate its molecules and is easier to algae sprout. This advice came from nuts producer Plagron.
I had planned to install a aerator pump in my reservoir, but the nuts producer did not recommend it. I'm going to use a circulating pump.
Also, check the pH of the reservoir, mine usually increase a little bit after 12 hours or so.
Good luck and greetings from Uruguay!
arellanobrian
Well-Known Member
Hi,
So, I've been using a drain to waste system with coco coir with good results. I'm using a 5 liters reservoir and drippers by gravity, no pump.
I'm using a solenoid valve for gravity system, pressure compensated drippers and a digital timer. The flow is constant, I'm getting 60 ml/minute per plant.
Multiple feedings per day is a nice option, but be sure that your plant is on week 3 of flowering, not before. I made the mistake and the roots did not grow as it should. In the beginning I prefer to feed only once a day by hand.
Also, cleaning your reservoir every week or so is very importante. Otherwise algae starts to grow.
I always check the EC and pH of the drain, and only flush if is necessary, normally 2 or 3 times the whole grow.
When I prepare the food (coco A & B) Its only for the next day, after a few day its starts to oxidate its molecules and is easier to algae sprout. This advice came from nuts producer Plagron.
I had planned to install a aerator pump in my reservoir, but the nuts producer did not recommend it. I'm going to use a circulating pump.
Also, check the pH of the reservoir, mine usually increase a little bit after 12 hours or so.
Good luck and greetings from Uruguay!
thank you very much for the fast reply and im very interested in the gravity feed as it will save me on making a purchase as well as just less things to plug in. hope Uruguay is chill and mellow man best wishes
BrodyNitro
New Member
Kinda, this is just something I tried in the past because of time constraints. I decided to let my 1 gal pots sit in their runoff because I was unsure how much time there would be to water in the day or two that followed and they were already needing a hand feed at least twice a day. Never noticed any adverse affects but that only went on for a week or two
Stoney Roads
Well-Known Member
I water every day using the GH GoBox growing in botanicare coco nothing eles no perlite just 100% coco. I feed every watering and get about a 10-15% run off my ladies love it. Straight coco is so much easier to grow in imo
arellanobrian
Well-Known Member
i water everyday with my coco as well with a bit of runoff not too sure of the % but always a little. and i use 25% perlite in my mix, i just read it helps when i first started reading about coco and it seemed to work for me but i hear more and more that i should not use it...
BrodyNitro
New Member
Pablo, I might have some good news for you regarding saving nutes by reducing runoff. I've got three identical girls in the last day or two of week 3 of flower and the entire time I've been simply watering until the plates they all sit on have about 1cm standing water. These aren't the ones I was referring to in my previous reply, at the time I was unsure if I'd continue with this method but figured, why not keep the experiment going?
I've been feeding them once a day regardless of how heavy the 1gal pots are, adjusting amount of water depending how much they are still saturated to achieve desired runoff. Often times the plates are dry within 4 hours. The only discoloration on my leaves is from not bumping up my nutrient strength in time, the plants look just as happy as any other grow. I'm only using DynaGro Bloom and CalMag+
I owe you some pictures with this post but I don't want to use my phone to upload. I'll definitely report back
I've been feeding them once a day regardless of how heavy the 1gal pots are, adjusting amount of water depending how much they are still saturated to achieve desired runoff. Often times the plates are dry within 4 hours. The only discoloration on my leaves is from not bumping up my nutrient strength in time, the plants look just as happy as any other grow. I'm only using DynaGro Bloom and CalMag+
I owe you some pictures with this post but I don't want to use my phone to upload. I'll definitely report back
BrodyNitro
New Member
double post
gr865
Well-Known Member
Arella,
I ditched the Perlite for Growstone in my mix, which is 75/25 Botania Coco/Growstone. Growstone comes in different grades I use the pea size grade, it's call Soil Aerator. I much prefer it, it is totally inert, made from 100% glass, I believe it is spun. You might want to give it a try at some point.
I grow in 5 gallon Hempy buckets, water daily and twice daily during heavy veg., every watering is using a modified Lucas formula, with a goal of 20 to 30% runoff.
GR
