Watering strategy for plants in pots to big? Coco

[GodtyrLoki]

Hey guys, I was just wondering how to water a plant in a pot that is too big for it, as due to a noob mistake I up potted from starter pots (almost solo cup size) to 10L and 12L smart pots (around 3 gallons pots) I started to get a nute deficiency on the right-hand side plants at 1/4 nutrient strength so i upped it to 1/2 which was a little too much as the leaves of the guys in the bigger pots started showing sign's of nitrogen toxicity ...

I'm running coco 60%/perlite 40%, using the H3ad formula for coco with cal mag (GH micro and GH bloom at a ratio of 6/9 per gallon) , feeding daily to 20%-30% runoff (as I'm using tap water)

from what I am seeing the plant that I still have in the little container can handle a lot of nutes but the bigger potted guys seem to get overfeeding symptoms when fed the same strength solution .. is this because the ones in the bigger pots have more to eat from so they kinda snack all day and overfeed themselves? whereas the guy in the smaller pot basically can't overeat due to the fact that he will go through the nutes in his container much faster and have none left to overfeed himself?

should I just water the plants in the bigger pots way less like every second day as compared to every day?

Some advice would be great from the experienced growers here.

 

[Blew Hiller]

@Preston9mm @Chris Scorpio @Pennywise ...one of them should know...

 

[Chris Scorpio]

What nutes are u using , any calmag or other additives

Coco needs to be watered daily, big or small pot, needs water since it dosent retain and nutes or moisture for sustained amount of time

What's yer water pH at

 

[GodtyrLoki]

What nutes are u using , any calmag or other additives

Coco needs to be watered daily, big or small pot, needs water since it dosent retain and nutes or moisture for sustained amount of time

What's yer water pH at

using GH micro and bloom and cal-mag (the 6/9 H3ad formula) and I foliar spray leaves with epsoms salts 1-2 times a week ... my PH is always at 5.8 -6.0 ( i measure and adjust the pH after I put my nutes in ).

My tap water is at about 250ppm and I usually cal mag to 400ppm .. then nutes up to about 750 ppm at the 6/9 ratio

 

[Chris Scorpio]

I'd just be sure and water daily at least to runoff

Ya need to keep nutes and water in the Coco. Dry Coco isn't good, not like soil that retains nutes in the soil

 

[GodtyrLoki]

I'd just be sure and water daily at least to runoff

Ya need to keep nutes and water in the Coco. Dry Coco isn't good, not like soil that retains nutes in the soil

Thanks for your reply mate, I keep getting told that because I up-potted to big to let the coco dry slightly to let the roots search for water to fill the pot ... I've also been told to just water the outside of the pot so the roots have to search out further to get the water ... is there any truth in these statements?

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Yes and no to both...lol

I'd be too worried of it drying too much myself

They look good besides those few lower leaves, so not much to worry about yet

 

[Blew Hiller]

I've also been told to just water the outside of the pot so the roots have to search out further to get the water ...

How I do it in soil...no idea on coco.

 

[scrogster]

So you're using the hempy bucket formula but , revised by that other guy do to coco ? Just calls for more micro if I recall. Are you feeding every watering? Or feed,water, feed ,water? How often are you wetting the medium?

 

[GodtyrLoki]

Yes and no to both...lol

I'd be too worried of it drying too much myself

They look good besides those few lower leaves, so not much to worry about yet

should I cut off those yellow lower leaves? I have fixed that deficiency issue now .. it was not enough nutes for the plants on the right ( 2 on right are a different strain to the others) but the ones on the left and middle were fine with the lower strength then like a noob I overcorrected by going straight to half strength nutes and gave too much and started to get deep greens and a bit of clawing and 2 leaves got the slightest bee's dick of tip burn so I'm backing it down to a 1/3 strength solution and ill try and feed them about 750 ppm

 

[GodtyrLoki]

So you're using the hempy bucket formula but , revised by that other guy do to coco ? Just calls for more micro if I recall. Are you feeding every watering? Or feed,water, feed ,water? How often are you wetting the medium?

every day is a feed day ( i feed every day to 20-30% runoff) .. I was told to never ever use plain water for coco by a bunch of people?

 

[scrogster]

Is this the feeding your doing FOR COCO?

 

[scrogster]

I have never used straight coco but I have used %100 perlite with Lucas formula and had great results. One thing I did do diffrent from you was use full strength after I took them out of cloner. Never had a issue with burns , N toxicity , leaf curl , or anything . I'm not a pro but till to me it looks like those yellow leaf are saying till feed lack of N or cal- mag . I guess what im trying to say is the Lucas formula was intended to use at full strength. Wait and see im sure someone that's doing coco hempy will chime in.

 

[GodtyrLoki]

I have never used straight coco but I have used %100 perlite with Lucas formula and had great results. One thing I did do diffrent from you was use full strength after I took them out of cloner. Never had a issue with burns , N toxicity , leaf curl , or anything . I'm not a pro but till to me it looks like those yellow leaf are saying till feed lack of N or cal- mag . I guess what im trying to say is the Lucas formula was intended to use at full strength. Wait and see im sure someone that's doing coco hempy will chime in.

Yeah someone else said I should be able to run full strength too .. but at a 1/2 I started to get tip burn and nitrogen toxicity as the leaves were curling downwards seen here ... one or 2 (not pictured here) leaves had a very very small burn right on their tips.

 

[falstaffo]

Thanks for your reply mate, I keep getting told that because I up-potted to big to let the coco dry slightly to let the roots search for water to fill the pot ... I've also been told to just water the outside of the pot so the roots have to search out further to get the water ... is there any truth in these statements?

hi, im new (2weeks to the day) new to the scene too, and also growing in coco (pure)
have read a lot on the coco topic in that time, the main point being never let coco dry out, one thing ive read a few times is how water does not run easily through coco, it will always find the path of least resistance, this means that the coco will never soak evenly, pockets in the pot can therefore dry out and cause issues incl’ but not limited to permanent damage to roots.
i actualy just ordered some growth tech wetting agent, have seen it advised now a few times to add small amounts to help with water dispersion through coco... i think for smaller baby plants in larger pots not recieving perhaps the quantity of liquid to allow for complete dispertion the wettig agent may be a great help.

i planted my seeds after they split straight into 10l fabric pots, the coco had only been ran through a shower at the time, id learned nothing at this point il add no conditioning or any of that opps lol
anyway i have wondered also about if the little ones would suffer in the larger pots being so diddy, not being fed in large volumes, how im going to avoid dry pockets etc, if anything ive watered mainly around the stem then moving out, leaving the outer edges til last. havent been giving a high volume of fluid 200-250ml but seems to be ok so far, looking at a couple of them it will be time to up volume soon anyway lol

 

[GodtyrLoki]

hi, im new (2weeks to the day) new to the scene too, and also growing in coco (pure)
have read a lot on the coco topic in that time, the main point being never let coco dry out, one thing ive read a few times is how water does not run easily through coco, it will always find the path of least resistance, this means that the coco will never soak evenly, pockets in the pot can therefore dry out and cause issues incl’ but not limited to permanent damage to roots.
i actualy just ordered some growth tech wetting agent, have seen it advised now a few times to add small amounts to help with water dispersion through coco... i think for smaller baby plants in larger pots not recieving perhaps the quantity of liquid to allow for complete dispertion the wettig agent may be a great help.

i planted my seeds after they split straight into 10l fabric pots, the coco had only been ran through a shower at the time, id learned nothing at this point il add no conditioning or any of that opps lol
anyway i have wondered also about if the little ones would suffer in the larger pots being so diddy, not being fed in large volumes, how im going to avoid dry pockets etc, if anything ive watered mainly around the stem then moving out, leaving the outer edges til last. havent been giving a high volume of fluid 200-250ml but seems to be ok so far, looking at a couple of them it will be time to up volume soon anyway lol

yeah, newbie here too.... I water the opposite which is I water around the edges and make sure they get most of it then move in with less as I want the roots to grow out to search for water but i don't want them to have no water on the way .. I know this works in soil but I'm not 100% sure if it works in coco anyone can feel free to tell me I'm doing it wrong haha

I've been putting like a liter each through my 10/12L pot till like 30% run off as I'm using tap water not sure if this is right either hahaha

and i have 40-50% perlite in mine too so I can pour a liter and a half through and get a liter back out sometimes

 

[falstaffo]

yeah, newbie here too.... I water the opposite which is I water around the edges and make sure they get most of it then move in with less as I want the roots to grow out to search for water but i don't want them to have no water on the way .. I know this works in soil but I'm not 100% sure if it works in coco anyone can feel free to tell me I'm doing it wrong haha

I've been putting like a liter each through my 10/12L pot till like 30% run off as I'm using tap water not sure if this is right either hahaha

and i have 40-50% perlite in mine too so I can pour a liter and a half through and get a liter back out sometimes

tap water i think is recommended to try and use only if below 2/300ppm, its harder to keep ec/ppm in range you want if your starting point is high, what is your tap ppm?
you should leave it to sit out 24hours too to off the chlorine too.

 

[KingJoe83]

Hey guys, I was just wondering how to water a plant in a pot that is too big for it, as due to a noob mistake I up potted from starter pots (almost solo cup size) to 10L and 12L smart pots (around 3 gallons pots) I started to get a nute deficiency on the right-hand side plants at 1/4 nutrient strength so i upped it to 1/2 which was a little too much as the leaves of the guys in the bigger pots started showing sign's of nitrogen toxicity ...

I'm running coco 60%/perlite 40%, using the H3ad formula for coco with cal mag (GH micro and GH bloom at a ratio of 6/9 per gallon) , feeding daily to 20%-30% runoff (as I'm using tap water)

from what I am seeing the plant that I still have in the little container can handle a lot of nutes but the bigger potted guys seem to get overfeeding symptoms when fed the same strength solution .. is this because the ones in the bigger pots have more to eat from so they kinda snack all day and overfeed themselves? whereas the guy in the smaller pot basically can't overeat due to the fact that he will go through the nutes in his container much faster and have none left to overfeed himself?

should I just water the plants in the bigger pots way less like every second day as compared to every day?

Some advice would be great from the experienced growers here.

I’d just back off on how much you feeding them if access is sign I am
In coco in 3 gal pots I feed about 1 gal of two water with advanced nutrients ph perfect i ph to 5.8-6.1 I feed it daily .

 

[KingJoe83]

yeah, newbie here too.... I water the opposite which is I water around the edges and make sure they get most of it then move in with less as I want the roots to grow out to search for water but i don't want them to have no water on the way .. I know this works in soil but I'm not 100% sure if it works in coco anyone can feel free to tell me I'm doing it wrong haha

I've been putting like a liter each through my 10/12L pot till like 30% run off as I'm using tap water not sure if this is right either hahaha

and i have 40-50% perlite in mine too so I can pour a liter and a half through and get a liter back out sometimes

Also remember you can never over water in coco coco always will Retain around 30% oxygen so don’t worry about drowning roots .

 

[KingJoe83]

yeah, newbie here too.... I water the opposite which is I water around the edges and make sure they get most of it then move in with less as I want the roots to grow out to search for water but i don't want them to have no water on the way .. I know this works in soil but I'm not 100% sure if it works in coco anyone can feel free to tell me I'm doing it wrong haha

I've been putting like a liter each through my 10/12L pot till like 30% run off as I'm using tap water not sure if this is right either hahaha

and i have 40-50% perlite in mine too so I can pour a liter and a half through and get a liter back out sometimes

@Derbybud any pointers here