Coco is not the loose medium it's portrayed to be

[Sueet]

But how do i measure it ? Do I need a meter ?

There are charts you can google, I believe it is also there in the article I linked.

 

[Grower2020]

Well what do you know , I fed twice today at 800ppm instead of once a day at 350 ppm , that's half strength nutes which a few have said I will need to be at because of the high amount of perlite in my mix 50/50. And I raised my light up to about 80cm instead of 55cm and now they are praying and seem to be loving being fed twice a day which is super cool. I also upped my calmag too and it already appears that there is some darker green coming back into the leaves. So I'm convinced that along I haven't been giving enough nutrients and also not fertigatijg enough.
When I wake up in the mornings I'm going to make up 20L of solution which so it lasts for the entire day and feed twice every day from now on and hopefully get some awesome results in the end . I will up my ppm by about 80/100ppm per week until I see the most subtle signs of nute burn on the tips and then I will hold that ppm and back it off ever so slightly from that range and keep that range right through flower . I can see I will end up being up around 1600-1800 in full bloom watering 2-3 times a day

 

[Skunksta]

Nice one i always try to get my seedlings on full strength nutes soon as poss in coco normally first feed after
potting in wet coco with only calmag and i dont stop adding mag until the end.Glad things are on the turn.

 

[Grower2020]

Nice one i always try to get my seedlings on full strength nutes soon as poss in coco normally first feed after
potting in wet coco with only calmag and i dont stop adding mag until the end.Glad things are on the turn.

Here I was thinking I was overwatering but I was actually not watering enough. God it's definitely not as easy as a good quality soil to begin with, geez the science involved is kinda insane really. But I guess if you want something enough you will get it . Hopefully if I apply what I've learned today for the rest of the cycle I will pull off some dense as nuggies without deficiencies until I flush. I was so close to just ripping them clean out of the pots and crunching them up and tossing the coco onto my parents garden bed as mulch for them ‍
I get so much help here at the 420 mag and I really appreciate everyone's input. Even if some things don't work for me which might work for others it doesn't mean certain advice won't work in slightly different circumstances . So I take as much of it as I can in from a certain few that I know are onto it and store the knowledge in my peanut brain for later use lol
Thanks again peeps n hope to catch up again in a couple weeks when I've got more problems most likely lol

 

[Grower2020]

I have a question, my runoff ppm is basically exactly the same as my inflow ppm . Is this a problem or is it just because i am getting about 50% runoff and its basically flushing the medium with every feed ?i kept 6 out of the 8 as a coco experiment , thought I would persevere with a few while my old faithful potting mix seeds sprout n see if I can get the hang of it. I must say the dropping has disappeared since I haven't really been letting the coco dry out much at all and fertigatijg to run off 2-3 times a day at 700-800ppm, canna coco a+b and calmag only. Tuned the feed back to about 700ppm today and 3x fertigates. Since I have been doing this for 3 days now they haven't been droopy at all. I'm really not used to watering this much and the feeling that they are getting too much water is always on my mind. But since I upped the ppm and increased feed frequency I've only seen improvements really. The frequent fertigating must be dragging in not only fresh nutes but air with it. I have 50% perlite so it's probably why they can handle it . I'm tipping pots on a 45 degree angle too , to make sure every last bit of excess water drains out the drain holes after fertigating to avoid sogging and suffocation. Any ideas about the ppm run off being the same as inflow ppm?

 

[Skunksta]

I would say thats a good thing no build up other wise it would come out higher , lower and the coco has nothing left
in it? Think you might of found your sweet spot dont test myself had to many grows fighting run of levels most
times making things worse. if my ladies look ok i leave them be spent to many hours looking for answers to questions for problems i created myself by messing to much.I made myself into a lazy grower seems to work FOR ME.

 

[Grower2020]

I would say thats a good thing no build up other wise it would come out higher , lower and the coco has nothing left
in it? Think you might of found your sweet spot dont test myself had to many grows fighting run of levels most
times making things worse. if my ladies look ok i leave them be spent to many hours looking for answers to questions for problems i created myself by messing to much.I made myself into a lazy grower seems to work FOR ME.

I just had another closer look at them and although they are not drooping, there are more bronzy coloured spots forming on the lower leaves. I'm thinking maybe adding a small bit of Epsom sulphate to each nutrient mix. But I'm also thinking it could be over watering causing the spotting . But the leaves aren't drooping which is confusing me.
I can see it's going to spiral out of control if it doesn't get sorted out soon and I will either lose patience or they will just die anyway.
Might let them dry out a bit , maybe go back to only feeding once a day although I don't see them drooping to suggest I should. Would you water less and leave current ppm without adding Epsom? Or continue fertigating multiple times a day and add Epsom ?

 

[Grower2020]

I would say thats a good thing no build up other wise it would come out higher , lower and the coco has nothing left
in it? Think you might of found your sweet spot dont test myself had to many grows fighting run of levels most
times making things worse. if my ladies look ok i leave them be spent to many hours looking for answers to questions for problems i created myself by messing to much.I made myself into a lazy grower seems to work FOR ME.

Don't stress about maybe giving me the wrong advice I'm willing to try anything you have in mind . I'm just experimenting with coco anyway so if they die or whatever I don't really mind coz I have my faithful potting soil seeds popping anyway.
I can even try multiple things. Like 3 of the plants I can try drying out more at the same ppm, and three of them I can continue to keep the medium wet and fertigate multiple times a day with added magnesium in the form of Epsom.
Sound like a plan ?

 

[Skunksta]

All i can go on is my own experience and i never water twice a day this early but seemed to be working for you.
Once a day if that me.I dont let the coco dry but i wont feed if its still damp.As i said i give them recommended strength nutes right from the start and always add calmag.Like soil i find getting a nice root ball going in coco calls for the coco
to get dry ISH no were near as dry as you would in soil.After my ladies are 2/3 weeks old i will put them in there 2nd pot at that point is when i feed twice a day after a few days.I will still back of if they dont need it.But i find after a week in pot 2 they want the twice a day feed.Last pot back down to once a day and flip wait a week there back up to twice aday
and MAY hit 3 times if needed in full flower.I am no expert far from it but it seems to work for me over the years.
May be try this on one of the experiments might be over feeding i guess btw hope this helps a little.

PS. i use shogun nutes all at recommended levels.Might be why i get away with full strength not sure i have not used anything else in sometime if its not broken etc. I would also back of on calmag if you do plan on the epsom salt route.
'KINDA' the samething.But sounds like a plan to me.

a/b
silicon
katana roots
calmag

 

[Grower2020]

All i can go on is my own experience and i never water twice a day this early but seemed to be working for you.
Once a day if that me.I dont let the coco dry but i wont feed if its still damp.As i said i give them recommended strength nutes right from the start and always add calmag.Like soil i find getting a nice root ball going in coco calls for the coco
to get dry ISH no were near as dry as you would in soil.After my ladies are 2/3 weeks old i will put them in there 2nd pot at that point is when i feed twice a day after a few days.I will still back of if they dont need it.But i find after a week in pot 2 they want the twice a day feed.Last pot back down to once a day and flip wait a week there back up to twice aday
and MAY hit 3 times if needed in full flower.I am no expert far from it but it seems to work for me over the years.
May be try this on one of the experiments might be over feeding i guess btw hope this helps a little.

PS. i use shogun nutes all at recommended levels.Might be why i get away with full strength not sure i have not used anything else in sometime if its not broken etc. I would also back of on calmag if you do plan on the epsom salt route.
'KINDA' the samething.But sounds like a plan to me.

a/b
silicon
katana roots
calmag

Nice flat leaves on all but one of them. Standing up praying to their God which is the samsung lm301b lol the newer growth is darker but not too dark compared to the bottom leaves and I'm fairly confident I've got the ppm fairly right now at 750-800ppm. Fastbuds claims zkittlez auto is one of them hungry strains so that's probably why they are loving the full calmag dose and half strength nutes of canna coco when most people are only using 1 quarter strength on other strains.

 

[Skunksta]

There looking nice and healthy mate.Im betting you defo found your sweet spot.

 

[Grower2020]

There looking nice and healthy mate.Im betting you defo found your sweet spot.

Yeah I'm pretty happy with them now. Not going to up pot them just going to flower them in these 1.5gal pots for my first time . Might up pot one of them so that I know how to tackle the watering schedule next time round when I do a full 6x6 grow in coco.
Are they about normal size for 13 days old ?

 

[Skunksta]

Im not a auto grower but if those were my fems i would be happy with there development.

Yeah I'm pretty happy with them now. Not going to up pot them just going to flower them in these 1.5gal pots for my first time . Might up pot one of them so that I know how to tackle the watering schedule next time round when I do a full 6x6 grow in coco.
Are they about normal size for 13 days old ?

 

[Grower2020]

Im not a auto grower but if those were my fems i would be happy with there development.

Thanks ma n appreciate it

 

[Grower2020]

Im not a auto grower but if those were my fems i would be happy with there development.

I think what I might do is go back to watering once every two days on the same 800ppm. Because I've reduced the heat stress and also got the nutes right now . Its been 24hrs since their last feed and they still look good and i can still squeeze moisture out of the coco from the top layer . No point really hitting them again if the medium is still wet I guess as long as I don't see any drooping from lack of oxygen then if I do I'll just continue with the high frequency fertigating to drag in the fresh oxygen. Just going to keep playing with them mildly and try to tweak things to perfection if I can.

 

[Skunksta]

Coco is a real forgiving media as you have found out mistakes can be rectified pretty fast unlike soil.
Hang in there you wont regret it .Dont think i would go back to soil unless it was organic now.

 

[Grower2020]

Coco is a real forgiving media as you have found out mistakes can be rectified pretty fast unlike soil.
Hang in there you wont regret it .Dont think i would go back to soil unless it was organic now.

The only thing that really worries me is the fact that if you miss diagnose something and try to treat it with the opposite of what it might actually need then things couod get pretty ugly very fast . Where as my good ole pre nuted potting mix has everything you need right from day 1 all the way to harvest, the only thing I usually do is give it a little hit of bloom and trace elements half way through flower. So easy unless you over water or have bad drainage like my last collapsible pot experiment that held water badly. Outdoors no problems they dry out fast, but indoors those pots are bad news.
But I do like coco , I've always wanted to experiment with it and I'm glad I'm giving it a a go. Only live once so may as well tick things off my bucket list. I want to do a perlite only hempy grow one day too . After i make enough money to experiment more I'll give it a go.

 

[Grower2020]

@skunksa @013 Only a couple of days between first two photos and second two photos . Really bouncing now. If I can successfully up pot them and get the feed right and not over water them I'm going to fill the 6x6 with coco next run.

 

[Skunksta]

Looking good geeza praying to the samsung's

 

[Grower2020]

Looking good geeza praying to the samsung's

Yeah I'm in love with coco now lol just need a bit more practice with them while they are young but once you get them past the baby stage and dial the nutes in they just go hard . I've got another 650watt light exactly the same on its way should be here by Friday I'd say . So I'll have 1300watts in total in the 6x6 . Should be heaps to cover the 6x6 shouldn't it ?