First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil)

[redbullgrow]

Greetings all,

I have started a grow couple weeks ago in coco for the first time in over 15yrs when I was using soil. I'm starting to see what resembles a Calcium deficiency and am wondering if it's something I've done wrong. Here is the post I started In the journals area.

Any help would be much appreciated, since this is my first setup in a very long time.


First Grow in Over 15 Years!

Greetings fellow growers,

I have started my first grow in over 15yrs. I'm using a 4x4 tent, a Kind K5 750xl light, and Coco. This is my first attempt at using both an LED light and a hydroponic medium as all my previous grows years ago were in Soil using HID lights. All was going well for the first two weeks from germination to the start of the veg cycle. It wasn't until I decided to do a flush 1day ago to start the Canna A&B nutrients that signs have pointed south.

Seeds Planted and Nutrients being used.

3x Afghani (reg)
2x Critical (fem)
1x White Widow (fem)
1x Deep Cheese (fem)
1x Blue Kush (fem)
1x Strawberry Blue (fem)

Nutrients
Canna A&B
Rhizotonic
Cannazym
Magic Cal
Mykos
Azos
Einstein Neem Oil (bug prevention)
Canna Start (used from germination till day of flush)

Now I'm uncertain that this was a direct cause of the flush, or if it was due to a leaf drenching with an Einstein solution 3days ago (only for preventative measures), which might have burned the leafs under the light, or a combination of both the drench and flush. The nutrient mix used until last night (first watering after the flush) was 10ml Canna Start, 5ml Rhizotonic, 1ml Magic Cal per Gallon of RO Water, which gave me roughly 325ppm and would ph between 5.7 - 6.0 each watering. If there is anybody out there that can help steer this ship in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

RedBullGrow

 

[thebudking]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

The rust color on the leaves is magnesium, never used those nutes so I don't know which one to recomend. I use botanicare calmag. Also, the stems look purple? That is a sign of over watering, hard to do in coco unless it is mixed with perlite or something else to hold water. How often are you watwring?

 

[redbullgrow]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

Hey BudKing,

Thanks for getting back at me. The brand of Coco I'm using is Royal Gold Tupur, and yes it has a mix of perlite in it. Ive been watering roughly every 2 days after placing the starter plugs into Dixie cups (seeds popped on 3/21, and were placed into the dixie cups the following day). Transplanted them to 1gal containers on 4/1, and started doing an every day watering about 4 days ago only because they were feeling a little light. Everything I've read about coco says basically water everyday.

I was wondering if it was a Mag issue for the rust color on the leaves. The new mix of nutes I have mixed up per gallon of RO with a ph of 5.8 is as follows.

4ml Canna A
4ml Canna B
4ml Rhizotonic
4ml Cannazym
2ml Magic Cal

The ending result gives a 525ppm. Now since its a Mag issue I'm having, what would be some solutions, add a bit more Magic Cal say up to 5ml, the recommendation on the bottle is 10ml / gal but from my past experiences in soil I've always eased them into a full feeding when needed. Since this is the first time in a hydroponic setup, should I expedite what I was used to doing?

As for the over watering it sounds like the mix I'm using is closer to that of soil in regards to the need in letting it dry out a bit further say than what a straight coco medium requires. Ill back off the everyday watering for a bit and see where that gets me.

 

[thebudking]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

Looked up the magical, doesn't have a lot of magnesium in it. Looks like that is all you need. Do you have any Epsom salt at home? It is pure magnesium sulfate. Mix a tea spoon to 2 gallons when you feed next. Skip the Epsom salt for a feeding and give it more if that doesn't clear it up. It won't fix tha damage done but it shouldn't get worse. Maybe up the magical to 5 mL after the course of Epsom salt. When I run coco it is 100 percent coco, nothing else. That way if I have issues it is easy to flush with strait water for a few days and start with new nutes. You water more often but it works for me.

 

[redbullgrow]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

After replying to you, did some research for trying to correct mag def in coco and came up with the same as your suggestion. Went out and picked up some Epsom salt and will start treatment with it tomorrow am when I water next. When I get through this round maybe ill go with straight coco next time. Thanks again for the suggestions, Ill report back in a couple days.

 

[redbullgrow]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

BudKing,

Do you think it would be wise to mix up some epsom salt solution for a foliar feed? After doing some research last night, it seams some people were doing this to help the deficiency while waiting for the next feed cycle.

 

[thebudking]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

You can try it the only thing is once the water evaporates it will leave a film of mag on the leaves. I have never had luck with a foliage spray. If it is getting worse I would just mix Epsom salt and water and give it to them. You don't have to wait until you feed. I wouldn't spray it on.

 

[redbullgrow]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

Thanks bud,

Just did a full watering with amended ingredients of 2tsp epsom salts and 15ml more of MagiCal into the 5gal bucket. ended up using about 1.5 gal to water all nine plants. Hope to see some positive results here in the next couple days.

-RBG

 

[redbullgrow]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

Quick Update

The additional MagiCal along with Epsom Salt, things have definitely taken a turn for the better. All new growth is lush, green, and the purple stems have turned green almost 90%. My guess is in two days they will be fully green. Going to Veg these out for another 2 or so weeks and then flip the 12/12 switch.

-RBG

 

[thebudking]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

Nice. Glad it worked.

 

[thebudking]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

Make sure to flush it really good before you got to flower. Get the extra salts out of it before you start the heavier bloom nutes. The coco shouldn't hold alot of them but just to be safe.

 

[neon green]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

If you water infill about 10-20% runoff you should never have to flush in coco.

 

[redbullgrow]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

Thanks B King.

Still planning on vegging for about another week or so as I just transplanted into the 5gal pots about 5 days ago. Due to space got rid of 2 Afghani plants (reg seeds) as they were growing very tall, and in the past I've noticed the ones that grow really tall (same genes at least) are 7/10 times male. Still hanging onto the 3rd as its growing much more compact like the rest. Still think I'm going to need to ditch one more due to space though and its up against a fem Critical seed or the gamble of the Afghani reg since I have two Criticals going. Next watering going to try and take pictures and post some details to the grow journal.

Before I flip to 12/12 I was already planning on giving them a flush after I transition the LED light to a more red spectrum while tapering off the blue to mimic how I've grown in the past with MH and HPS lights.

-RBG

 

[gr865]

Re: First time grower in Coco (15yrs ago was in Soil).

BudKing,

Do you think it would be wise to mix up some epsom salt solution for a foliar feed? After doing some research last night, it seams some people were doing this to help the deficiency while waiting for the next feed cycle.

You must remember that Epsom "Salt" is a salt, too much can damage roots and it will damage leaves if salt builds up. I would not spray the leaves. Use it in you feed but don't overdo it, as one poster stated, make sure you have plenty of run off.
I use a 75% coco blend in Hempy buckets and I water to 30+% runoff. I have struggled with these issues also, hope I finely have it under control. Good luck, the folks you have helping you are right on, pay attention to them.

Peace out,

GR

 

[redbullgrow]

Update

After just over 1wk from the 12/12 flip, the plants are in full stretch mode and growing about 1" per 24hr cycle. Starting to wonder if I have enough vertical space to accommodate them. With my setup I have about another 3+ feet left to the top (leaving about 2ft of grow space, and an additional 1.5ft for the light distance to the canopy). If worse comes to worse and need more space I guess I can reconfigure the flood table and lower it onto say 1gal containers instead of the 5gal buckets they are on now, but hope it doesnt come to that as ill also have to chop a significant amount off the scrog net legs as well, not to mention figure out a way to drain the waste water.

Here are some photos of the canopy taken yesterday.





Here are some photos of canopy taken 2 days ago.





Strawberry Blue


White Widow

 

[redbullgrow]

Now that buds are bulking up, I'm starting to think about preparation for the final flush, and how to go about it correctly. Most of the research I've done people say about 7-14 days of a pure water. My question is should one be adding anything to the water such as a sweetener like Cyco Suga Rush? A guy at the hydro store says to run this along with my Cannazym for the last 7days which contradicts what I've been reading. Any sound advice would be much appreciated. Would hate to have come this far and screw up the final stage on my first run back.

-RBG



Just some backbone info, I'm using the lineup of Canna nutrients, and have been following the schedule.

Current mix into a 5gal bucket at wk6 (day 39).
Canna A&B - 40ml
Rhizotonic - 10ml
Cannazym - 47ml
Boost - 60ml
Technaflora Magical - 30ml
Just stopped adding PK 13/14 to the mix as of 2 days ago.

My ladies basically have a 60day flower period give or take.
Royal Queen Critical @ 49-59 days
Dinafem White Widow @ 48-65 days
Dinafem Deep Cheese @ 56-64 days
Dinafem Blue Kush @ 60-63 days
World of Seeds Strawberry Blue @ 63-121 days

 

[thebudking]

A flush product is all I have used. You can add a sweetener/sugar but nothing else. You want a good chemical free flush. Everyone has their own way...you can never go wrong with just plain old water.

 

[redbullgrow]

Thanks King, as for how long to flush coco what would you recommend, 1wk?

 

[thebudking]

I do water and clearex, 2 watering then 3 watering of plain water. I water every other day. So mine comes out to about 10 day flush then I leave them in the dark for 24 hours. Not sure if that makes a differance...but I do it when I can.