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The123321
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Thanks. Do you use coco for it on there?
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The fastest growing and most vigorous plants I've ever grown were grown using organic dry amendments in coco. Just saying.
Hello... If I may jump-in... The BEST advice that I can give U is: Please listen to what these knowledgeable people are sharing with U. Why would U even want to "push your truck to work" like @TorturedSoul has mentioned? @Emilya is spot-on, asking us to remember that organic soil amendments require microorganism's in the soil to break-down these amendments into things that the plant can use. This is the way of our natural world. To do otherwise is much like driving against traffic on the other side of the road. It can be done, but at what cost. And when things go wrong... ?Thanks. I have had a few threads asking for tips and advice on how to make dry amendments work in coco for my grow. I made this thread because in looking up how to do it I found a few people asking similar questions many of which are likely from the popular youtuber mr canuck that does dry amendments in coco with success on youtube. I made this thread to talk it out with people to try to figure out how it could work. From what I have read I know the general thinking of most people is that organic dry amendments does not work in coco then whenever you ask about it people often just say dont do it do soil instead without much of the why that is. I have read from many people that have made it work. I just thought it would be nice to have a talk with people that know more about it than I do and try to figure out ways to make it work on there. I do not plan to try dr earth dry fertilizer in coco for my next grow. I am planning to use biotabs using their recommended guide which also recommends either 50 50 soil perlite or 50 50 coco perlite on there then watering with tap water though every 2 weeks it recommends putting in feeding with microbes on there. That may be why it works in coco with biotabs due to the recommended adding in more microbes every 2 weeks on there.
Yeah I still can't grasp the point of all this overcomplicating of growing in Coco here either. I understand the theory the OP has behind his perpetual grow, but still don't think this is the most user friendly grow method, especially when there's MegaCrop out there. I'm a big believer in the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) method of doing things, sure you probably can grow dank herb with all these dry amendments and biotabs and whatnot, but at what cost of effort and time going into the grow? Also, will it really be THAT much better than just using a simpler system? Maybe in soil yes where the dry amendments would really kick ass, but doubtful in Coco it will really be that much of an advantage just due to the hydroponic nature of growing in Coco.Hello... If I may jump-in... The BEST advice that I can give U is: Please listen to what these knowledgeable people are sharing with U. Why would U even want to "push your truck to work" like @TorturedSoul has mentioned? @Emilya is spot-on, asking us to remember that organic soil amendments require microorganism's in the soil to break-down these amendments into things that the plant can use. This is the way of our natural world. To do otherwise is much like driving against traffic on the other side of the road. It can be done, but at what cost. And when things go wrong... ?
Still pending tale of the scale, and quality comparisons to some of the same strains from previous grows but, so far - in early week 5 of flower, I'm a believer.. after numerous successful.. yet expensive.. both in time and $.. at least, for my frugality (@1g/W) large plant, soil/bioCanna-based grows, I'm currently trying my first coco/DOA run.. Went even further, though, in this latest 'envelope pushing exercise', by experimenting with Sea-of-Green format on a sub-irrigation bed (a.k.a. SWICK.. a DIY water system - using pure water only in a reusable perlite bed).. to get away from being chained to the grow, mixing nutes and watering buckets every 2-3 days, when I can/should be doing other things.. and, doing supercropping ONLY .. to shorten the few big stretchers in the mix.. 6 different strains, from clone and seed.. significantly reducing time attending the grow and increasing the amount of time available for other things away from the grow.. picture at Fwk5.1 perhaps worth a thousand more words..The fastest growing and most vigorous plants I've ever grown were grown using organic dry amendments in coco. Just saying.
ALL the ingredients in Gaia Green.. and many more organic and mineral specialty products.. can you say, 'insect frass', 'glacial rock dust? mycorhizzae? .. are readily available from various sources used by Living Soil growers.. e.g. Build-a-Soil, etc., etc., nothing magical in this.. only the many, many combination(s) and ratio(s) of those ingredients, as being recommended (at best), or even being evangelized about (at worst, IMO). My advice, FWIW (2cents?).. Do your research, then make your decision(s), then get on with your gardening.. always something new to consider, but no subsitute for rolling up your sleeves.So I did not read this whole thread so not sure if anyone has said this. On youtube their is the channel mr. Canucks grow he uses coco coir and organic dry amendments from gaia green. The bad thing is they are not available in the states. He is in Canada so I'm waiting for it to come to the states before I try coco. Right now I use soil and the green sunshine company nutes.
one does not water to run-off (top-watering) when growing in coco with dry organic slow-release amendments. Alternatively, a DIY sub-irrigation system, using only pure water (pH-adjusted, if need be) is a viable, longer interval, alternative...You've tried the Dr Earth powders, have you tried the Dr Earth Life slow release pellets?
Maybe they won't get washed out as easily as the powders.
I don't know a lot about it but have you ever seen Me. Cannuk on you tube? He grows in Coco with nothing but dry release fertz. And his outcome is amazing. I watch all his videos and learn a lot. His are better than the average how to grow vids. His seed to harvest should answer a lot of questions about this subjectI am in my first grow and I tried dr earth dry slow release fertilizer mixed into the coco coir with perlite. It was recommended by many people on the forum to not do it. I tried it anyway and I wish I had not. I have learned my lesson on that and I am now trying a more proven method with biotabs for my next grow on there.
I would like to talk through the organic nutrients and why they do not work with someone that knows more about it. My understanding is that coco does not hold onto the nutrients like soil does and you also water coco like 2-3 times more often than you do with soil then if you follow the recommended levels on the bag that is recommended for soil it is more nutrients than the plants want since you are watering more often it releases the nutrients 2-3 times more often than it would in soil right? In coco if you water to runoff like is what many websites recommend then you water away the dry amendments you mixed into the coco. Then would you be able to do dry amendments in coco if you do like 1/3 of the recommended level mixed in with the coco and instead of watering to runoff you water it and let the pot sit in the runoff long enough to wick it back into the pot? Then it is not losing those nutrients and the plant gets it back when it wicks back up into the pot on there.
Then if you do a much lower amount of the nutrients mixed in to make up for the extra watering you do on coco with the not draining to waste and letting the plant wick the water with nutrients back into the pot would that not make it work better with coco? Like do 1/3 of the recommended amount of dry slow release organic fertilizer mixed into the pot then top dress it more often to make up for that on there.
I know that organic fertilizer in coco is not recommended and I am not planning to try dr earth dry fertilizer in my next grow I am just wanting to talk it out with those of you that know more about this than I do. I have read that many people are wanting to try dry amendments in coco then it would likely be helpful to them if there is a way to make that work on there.
There is one way to make basic charcoal; using fire and depriving the burning material of oxygen to prevent the complete combustion of what is called the biomass. Level of the temperatures and the amount of oxygen allowed during the process seems to be what determines which of the 3 basic charcoals are produced.2. If you want to add biochar, It HAS to be inoculated.
Adding non inoculated biochar will have the opposite effect and actually pull your microbes away from the rhizosphere until it's reached a level of saturation. I do believe that the biochar has a place though, doing exactly as you say, providing a home for the microbes to live in. For those of you that don't know that is the main purpose of biochar, it's inert, and doesn't decompose. It is NOT potash and won't give you the issues Emilya suggested. One of the issues brought up is the low cation exchange capacity of coco, and biochar appears to me to be a direct solution to that issue.
This is what has worked for the plants in my perpetual flowering cabinet. The lights are mounted at the same height. When I put the next set of plants into the cabinet they are placed on blocks and elevated so that they are within a productive distance from the lights. As the plants grow taller I can remove some of the blocks lowering the plant and keeping that plants canopy within what I feel is the optimum distance from the light.One thing about your staggered harvest game plan that I don't think you've considered.
How are you going to maintain an even canopy height? Do you have 3 lights to hang at different heights for each stagger in the grow? This is a challenge i'm currently dealing with in my auto grow of 2 different strains.
This is what has worked for the plants in my perpetual flowering cabinet. The lights are mounted at the same height. When I put the next set of plants into the cabinet they are placed on blocks and elevated so that they are within a productive distance from the lights. As the plants grow taller I can remove some of the blocks lowering the plant and keeping that plants canopy within what I feel is the optimum distance from the light.
Sometimes, by the time the plant is going to be harvested, I have pulled all of the blocks and the pot of soil is sitting on the floor of the cabinet.
Enjoy the day.
I think you are on the right track with the biotabs and going light with the biochar. I am anxious to see the results of the side by side.
never used either so I don't really know... but knowing what I know about your grow, you need all the microbes you can get.Thanks. I am a little over 2 weeks into the grow and the plant that has the biochar in the pot does look better. What do you think about biochar that is pre charged vs the raw biochar that is not loaded with microbes on there?