Flushing in coco loco

[JDwinell]

Hello so I've noticed the very beginning of nitrogen toxicity in my plants being grow in 3 gallon fabric pots of COCO LOCO potting mix..not Coco coir but a branded amended potting mix containing Coco coir in it..anyway I'm using bush Dr cal mag and fox farms trio but have only fed base nutes twice at 1/4 strength but I've been feeding bush Dr cal mag for 4 or 5 feedings straight if not more and I know it contains more than calcium and magnesium, it has a rating of 1 0 0 ..so 1 percent nitrogen and I believe that is the culprit..so I want to flush my medium but not completely remove the original potting mix amendments in the process of removing excess ADDED SALTS.... Anyway I'm confused on exactly how to flush correctly to achieve my desired affect... I'm now planning on feeding pure water PH 6.3 with low PPM under 300...I plan on feeding each plant 5 or more cups or enough to fully saturated each pot but stop before producing runoff...is this a correct flush?? should I add anything to my feed water to aid in the flush??? Please I need advice ASAP!!!!
Thank u God bless!!!

 

[013]

yucca is commonly used as wetting agent / flushing additive, depends on what you have on hand but aloe vera fillet or aloe juice might be another option

but here’s the other part- when you wet the media, you kinda feed again because you activate any existing nutes in the soil…

here’s my total ppm strategy…. golden peppermint, cat piss, swamp water

58CD6A00-B805-4B5D-B21B-86120A9E1207.jpeg

• 013
• Apr 5, 2023

shaken not stirred - looks like vomit mixed with toe jam

124050AD-B63C-46C4-8473-DD0A6288CB94.jpeg

• 013
• Apr 5, 2023

and I never flush my soil. Never, ever, ever flush. Yup flush is always in the toolkit but it’s not something I utilize. When you stick a ppm meter in that golden gray soup mix the display flashes- Run it’s quicksand!!!

 

[JDwinell]

yucca is commonly used as wetting agent / flushing additive.

but here’s the other part- when you wet the media, you feed again because you activate the existing nutes in the soil…

So let me get this straight lol..ur saying even "flushing" the plant as I described will still be as a feeding for the plant as the water is still activating the amendments and nutrition that is already present in the medium..??? Or no..??? Thank u..

 

[013]

I’d say yes it has the potential to activate any nutes in the soil

 

[JDwinell]

I’d say yes it has the potential to activate any nutes in the soil

Awesome cool cool..just had to make sure lol.. u never know wat sumone well say lol..

 

[013]

just my 2 cents but I’m sure others will have different opinions too!

 

[JDwinell]

just my 2 cents but I’m sure others will have different opinions too!

My friend I will be ACTUALLY utilizing ur advice..thank u thank u..
Any suggestions as for wetting agents (cost effective if possible) like recipes or even branded products possibly...again thank u!!!.

 

[013]

Fox Farm Sledgehammer is yucca based, I also see a lot of peeps using RAW brand in their journals

Aloe Vera juice is about $2 a quart or like $9 for a gallon at mart of wal, get the clear stuff not the red dyed.

not saying you should copy me at all, but I throw the book at them with water sessions, mine starts with well water, splash of Dr Bronners peppermint soap, tablespoon or two of mosquito bits to soak in overnight for fungus gnats, FF sledgehammer for the yucca, some down to earth 5-4-2 organic dry mix, teaspoon of Neem Seed meal, great white mycos, FF microbe brew, 1/4 cup castings or dried kelp, Leonardite

maybe some real growers recbarge, liquid kelp or liquid fish ferts. Typically I wet sift it thru a strainer and/or coffee filter to strain out the bigger chucks.

 

[JDwinell]

Awesome thank u

Fox Farm Sledgehammer is yucca based, I also see a lot of peeps using RAW brand in their journals

Aloe Vera juice is about $2 a quart or like $9 for a gallon at mart of wal, get the clear stuff not the red dyed.

 

[013]

Hey it’s my pleasure!!! Hope something helps. Dont go whole hog all at once tho, baby steps, keep studying here & build on what works in your garden!

 

[SmokingWings]

but I've been feeding bush Dr cal mag for 4 or 5 feedings straight if not more and I know it contains more than calcium and magnesium, it has a rating of 1 0 0 ..so 1 percent nitrogen and I believe that is the culprit..

A rating of 1-0-0 is close to no Nitrogen when mixed. If I was to see a possible Nitrogen problem on any of my plants I would be not be worrying that the Nitrogen from the Cal-Mag is causing the problem.

A photo showing the plant from above looking down and a good one from the side showing the whole plant top to bottom including the pot you are growing in would help the group pinpoint the problem.

so I want to flush my medium but not completely remove the original potting mix amendments in the process of removing excess ADDED SALTS.... Anyway I'm confused on exactly how to flush correctly to achieve my desired affect... I'm now planning on feeding pure water PH 6.3 with low PPM under 300...I plan on feeding each plant 5 or more cups or enough to fully saturated each pot but stop before producing runoff...is this a correct flush?? should I add anything to my feed water to aid in the flush???

Is "... feeding each plant 5 or more cups or enough to fully saturated each pot but stop before producing runoff...is this a correct flush??" No it is not a correct flush. It is a way to water a plant for a saturated soil but it is not a flush.

You will need to use enough water to be 3 times the amount of soil or growing media that is in the pot. If you have a 3 gallon pot properly filled to the top then you will need 9 gallons of water. Or if in 5 gallon pot then 15 gallons of water.

To do the flush you will have to pour the water into the soil and let it flow out the drainage holes or out the bottom of a "cloth" pot. All of it, every gallon of that water gets poured on the soil. The faster it flows through the better. It will take anywhere from several minutes to an hour or so. The main idea is that the water dissolves any build-up of salts from excess fertilizers and flushes it through the soil before these salts can accumulate lower down in the soil.

Plan ahead for that water. I have read about people putting the pot into the bathtub or shower stall since those have decent size drains and can quickly handle the volume of water. Some have mentioned balancing the pot of soil over a toilet bowl since that will handle large amounts of water even faster than a bathtub drain.

An option I have used is to get an empty 5 gallon bucket and put the grate an old BBQ grill over the bucket and put the pot of soil on that. Pour for awhile, let it drip into the bucket, dump bucket where you think is best and start pouring again. After a time of two the method should fall into place and it will take an hour or less.

@013 brings up the Fox Farm Sledgehammer. Personally, I am not sure it is needed but it will not hurt so it is your call. There are other similar products on the market if you want to experiment and try something else if you plan another flush a couple in a couple of weeks.

....my plants being grow in 3 gallon fabric pots of COCO LOCO potting mix..not Coco coir but a branded amended potting mix containing Coco coir in it...

Coco Loco is a blend of coco coir and compost with a bit of Perlite mixed in. Based on some time spent cruising the internet I think that it is about 45% coco, 45% Aged Forest Products (which is a compost) and about 5% Perlite with the rest being a mix of Kelp, Earthworm Castings, Lime and other soil additives. To me it sounds like it is Fox Farms' answer to the traditional Peat Moss, Compost & Perlite potting soil mix.

 

[JDwinell]

A rating of 1-0-0 is close to no Nitrogen when mixed. If I was to see a possible Nitrogen problem on any of my plants I would be not be worrying that the Nitrogen from the Cal-Mag is causing the problem.

A photo showing the plant from above looking down and a good one from the side showing the whole plant top to bottom including the pot you are growing in would help the group pinpoint the problem.


Is "... feeding each plant 5 or more cups or enough to fully saturated each pot but stop before producing runoff...is this a correct flush??" No it is not a correct flush. It is a way to water a plant for a saturated soil but it is not a flush.

You will need to use enough water to be 3 times the amount of soil or growing media that is in the pot. If you have a 3 gallon pot properly filled to the top then you will need 9 gallons of water. Or if in 5 gallon pot then 15 gallons of water.

To do the flush you will have to pour the water into the soil and let it flow out the drainage holes or out the bottom of a "cloth" pot. All of it, every gallon of that water gets poured on the soil. The faster it flows through the better. It will take anywhere from several minutes to an hour or so. The main idea is that the water dissolves any build-up of salts from excess fertilizers and flushes it through the soil before these salts can accumulate lower down in the soil.

Plan ahead for that water. I have read about people putting the pot into the bathtub or shower stall since those have decent size drains and can quickly handle the volume of water. Some have mentioned balancing the pot of soil over a toilet bowl since that will handle large amounts of water even faster than a bathtub drain.

An option I have used is to get an empty 5 gallon bucket and put the grate an old BBQ grill over the bucket and put the pot of soil on that. Pour for awhile, let it drip into the bucket, dump bucket where you think is best and start pouring again. After a time of two the method should fall into place and it will take an hour or less.

@013 brings up the Fox Farm Sledgehammer. Personally, I am not sure it is needed but it will not hurt so it is your call. There are other similar products on the market if you want to experiment and try something else if you plan another flush a couple in a couple of weeks.


Coco Loco is a blend of coco coir and compost with a bit of Perlite mixed in. Based on some time spent cruising the internet I think that it is about 45% coco, 45% Aged Forest Products (which is a compost) and about 5% Perlite with the rest being a mix of Kelp, Earthworm Castings, Lime and other soil additives. To me it sounds like it is Fox Farms' answer to the traditional Peat Moss, Compost & Perlite potting soil mix.

Thank u my friend I definitely will be using ur advice..

 

[Listersmeghead]

I've been following your grow jd.. I wouldn't worry to much about nitrogen toxicity as you've hardly fed the plant..
Just a plain ph'd watering here and there will be enough.

 

[JDwinell]

I've been following your grow jd.. I wouldn't worry to much about nitrogen toxicity as you've hardly fed the plant..
Just a plain ph'd watering here and there will be enough.

I really do very much appreciate ur advice my brother and in super stoked that you've been a long for this whole trip..ya I may be a lil jumpy with my extremely early nitrogen toxicity diagnosis..Im just gonna give plain water next feed and then start an every other Nute/plain water schedule with a 1/2 recommended dose then up from there..that's my plan now always subject to change...thank u..

 

[bluter]

lets see the plants. hard to call n tox with only a worded description. could be other things going on.

 

[JDwinell]

They honestly look healthy just one looks a little darkish and it happened kinda suddenly..also my lighting makes them look MUCH MUCH LIGHTER than in True light...

 

[bluter]

one looks a hair overwatered but really your fine with everything i can see. nice grow.

 

[JDwinell]

Yes I'm 100% in agreeance...and here's the unfortunate girl.(pic).I backed off last feed and only gave her about half the amount of liquid as the bigger girls which I will surely have to continue to do likewise...I'm new to this and watering is difficult so I was just giving same amount to all ...but now I can't continue to feed like this but I don't want to do anything totally confusing and mess up....but yes I will definitely have to closely monitor and apply amount of water I give to each individual pot+plant...
*This plant is also very dense and filled with tons of new growth everywhere...

one looks a hair overwatered but really your fine with everything i can see. nice grow.

 

[bluter]

the fact you're using a partial pre-nuted media changes things a bit. normally in coco you wanna feed / water to about 10% runoff. from mid veg forward it's pretty much everyday, up to multiple times per day in flower.

 

[JDwinell]

the fact you're using a partial pre-nuted media changes things a bit. normally in coco you wanna feed / water to about 10% runoff. from mid veg forward it's pretty much everyday, up to multiple times per day in flower.

Yes my only really hands on experience with growing prior to this comes from coco/perlite 70/30 blend with GH Nute line plus cal mag silica other amendments...this has definitely been challenging but I'm looking forward to a good product with the soil like organic amendments helping to create this...we shall see..