How to grow in Coco: Feed schedule

Hey everyone.

Ive been growing for a long time now and mostly coco. Ive grown literally thousands and thousands of plants so here i will dedicaye a thread to growing in coco.

Please ask questions, i will always answer. No question is stupid, if you dont know then you dont know.

I will start by adding this feeding schedule. There are variations and more ways to do it but this will 100% give quality results.


Here is the Coco schedule. Remember its a guide, no substitute for knowing plants needs.


Ive had a lot of questions on nutrients recently so im going to list a full nute schedule that i use for Coco and Hydro growing. Im not going to list a soil feed schedule because there are variables that could affect what nutrients are used. Also 99% of my growing is hydroponic and I include coco in that so I will advise on what I do to get top results.

Before I make the list be aware that nutrients are way less important than light source and environment. I know alot of people grow on a tight budget but dont skip on a good light source. The video I posted yesterday explains about minimum requirements for growing and why. You want minimum 400w actual draw for a 4x4 square foot area (1x1m), yes you can grow with less but i'm not interested in growing weed with a torch or a 200w draw LED that claims to be a 600w equivalent. If you are growing even one plant make it the best it can be, its a long process to grow. Dont settle for an oz or 2 every 3 months as its wasted time and money when you can x6 that minimum just by using the correct source. A 400w hps would be the minimum requirement for me and my feed schedule represents a grow using adequate light. It stands to reason that a plant with less light will need less nutrient, just like a standard car will need less fuel than a Bugatti Veron.

So with all that said here are the schedules. You can omit anything you like additive wise but base nutrient is the most important. These are recipes that work for me and will vary depending on the quality of the water but anyone using water that is no higher than 0.7ec (350ppm) or using RO water should work. Of course try to never use tap water higher than 0.4ec (200ppm) if it can be helped.

The schedules will be based on 9 week strains, if running 8 week strains just finish nutes a week earlier. I never grow strains longer than 9 weeks now but a 10 week strain you would add 1 more week of the final boost. Strains over that will be different mix and I wont touch on that today.

I have got to these recipes over 15 years or so growing. Im not saying this is the only way but you will not fail if you follow these recipes and have adequate light source and environment.

My schedules will go off using RO water so a starting water of 0 EC (0 PPM) This will make it easier, you can omit calmag if water is of good quality and 0.3ec+ usually but its worth having incase it needs to be dded. If using water of 0.3 ec (150ppm) for example you would add that value to the value of feed i suggest. So if I suggest 1.0 ec of nutes you would add 0.3ec on to that making 1.3ec. Also the values will add up so for example if its 0.3 calmag and i add base nutrient then add it on to the 0.3ec. so if i say base up to 1.0ec that includes the 0.3 of calmag, in other words 0.7ec of base nutrient.

Finally a good EC/PPM meter is really important as is a good PH Pen, they will help you know exactly what is going into the nutrient mix and will be a valuable tool for diagnosing any possible problems. Never go off what the bottle recommends especially for anything that effects EC/PPMs.

RECIPE FOR COCO COIR.....

SEEDLINGS....

Jiffy pellets/root riot cubes/rockwool

Calmag (optional, use if water is RO) 0.1ec (50ppm)
SuperVit 1 drop/4litres water
H+G Roots Excellurator Gold 0.3ml/litre
Great White mycorrhizae 1 scoop/4 litres
PH 5.5-5.8

Soak the cubes or pellets in the solution and wring out so damp and not wet, add the seedling. this mix will get the rooting started quickly and produce strong hairy roots. I transplant into a 1-3 litre pot as soon as the tap root comes out the bottom of the cube.


FIRST TRANSPLANT

Great White mycorrhizae sprinkled in the hole where cube will be placed or onto the cube itself.
CalMag 0.3ec (150ppm)
Advanced Nutrients PH Perfect Micro Grow Bloom 1.0ec (500ppm) This is approximately 2ml/litre.
Roots Excellurator 0.3ml/litre
SuperVit 1drop/4liitres
Advanced Nutrients VooDoo Juice 2ml/litre (once per week)

PH 5.8

SECOND TRANSPLANT.....

Great White Mycorrhizae sprinkled in hole for transplant or direct onto rootzone
CalMag 0.3ec (150ppm)
Advanced Nutrient PH Perfect Micro Grow Bloom 1.2-1.4ec (600-700ppm)
SuperVit 1drop/4litres
Roots Excellurator 0.3ml/litre
Advanced Nutrients Voodoo juice 2ml/litre (once per week)

FLOWER PERIOD (START OF 12/12)

WEEK 1

Calmag 0.3ec (150ppm)
Ionic Coco Bloom 1.4ec (700ppm)
Buddhas Tree Flower Burst 0.25ml/litre
Advanced Nutrients Voodoo juice 2ml/litre
Roots Excellurator 0.3ml/litre
Great White mycorrhizae 1scoop/10 litres
Advanced Nutrients sensizym 2ml/litre or Cannazym 2.5ml/litre

PH5.8-6.0

WEEK 2

Calmag 0.3ec (150ppm)
Ionic Coco Bloom 1.4ec (700ppm)
Buddhas Tree Flower Burst 0.25ml/litre
Advanced Nutrients Voodoo juice 2ml/litre
Roots Excellurator 0.3ml/litre
Great White mycorrhizae 1scoop/10 litres
Advanced Nutrients Sensizym 2ml/litre or Cannazym 2.5ml/litre

PH 5.8-6.0

WEEK 3

CalMag 0.3ec (150ppm)
Ionic Coco Bloom 1.5-1.6ec (750-800ppm)
Buddhas Tree Flower Burst 0.25ml/litre
Sensizym 2ml/litre or Cannazym 2.5ml/litre

PH 5.8-6.0

WEEK 4 and WEEK 5

CalMag 0.3ec (150ppm)
Ionic Coco Bloom 1.6ec (800ppm)
Buddhas Tree PK 0.25ml/litre
Buddhas Tree Advanced Metaboost 1ml/litre
Sensizym 2ml/litre or Cannazym 2.5ml/litre

PH 5.8-6.0

WEEK 6

CalMag 0.3ml/litre (150ppm)
Ionic Coco Bloom 1.6ec (800ppm)
Buddhas Tree Pk 0.5ml/litre
Buddhas Tree Advanced Metaboost 1-2ml/litre
Great White mycorrhizae 1 scoop/10litres

PH5.8-6.0

WEEK 7

CalMag 0.3ec (150ppm)
Ionic Coco Bloom 1.6ec (800ppm)
Plagron Green Sensation 1.8ec (900ppm) (can use Buddhas tree PK and metaboost as in week 6)

PH5.8-6.0

WEEK 8

CalMag 0.3ec (150ppm)
Ionic Coco Bloom 1.8ec (900ppm)
Plagron Green Sensation 2.0ec (1000ppm) (can use Buddhas tree PK and metaboost as in week 6)

PH 5.8-6.0

WEEK 9

First water to 50% run off.
Allow to dry until pots light to lift.
Water only daily. Enough so that its ready for more 24 hours later. DO NOT KEEP DRENCHED. Biggest chance of bud rot is now.
Flushing will clean excess salts and increase both yield and quality as it forces plants to finish.
Only water until harvest, minimum 7 days water.




Hydro is exactly the same as above with 3 changes.

1st replace Ionic Coco Bloom with Ionic Hydro Bloom

2nd Base nutrient EC/PPM at each feed can be pushed an extra 0.2ec/100ppm if required

3rd PH should be between 5.5-6.0 throughout.


In Recirculating Hydro PH swings are normal, allow some fluctuation as its better for plants to have a good range to uptake nutes. Set it at the lower end and allow it to increase. If it goes over 6.0 readjust to 5.8.



The recipe above is just one recipe that works well. Once you understand the plants needs at each period of growth you can adjust the feeds as going week by week isnt the most accurate way to do it but 100% this baseline recipe will give great results.

Finally in Coco and Hydro plants must be fed daily at least once per day. Do not keep media saturated ever. For Coco give enough liquid so plants are ready to be fed again 24 hours later when hand feeding. So plants should be light to lift but not completely dried out to the point of leaves wilting. Never allow it to dry out completely as the salts in the Media will burn the roots.


I hope this helps and if anyone wants alternatives to any products just ask.

Peace.
After first transplant , when do you start watering daily?
 
Welcome back @Cultivator !!!
I when true all your journals in the last 2 months, that is when I decided to go with coco. Did my vegg part with no issue following your feeding schedule hooked up to a drip system. Now I flip the ladys 3 days ago and one of my plant is showing this.. EE47B089-CED7-4321-9B8C-9FD6205DED4F.jpeg9A772F6E-E3BA-4FEF-BF37-73E2B216103B.jpeg
What could do this??
Thank you
 
Welcome back @Cultivator !!!
I when true all your journals in the last 2 months, that is when I decided to go with coco. Did my vegg part with no issue following your feeding schedule hooked up to a drip system. Now I flip the ladys 3 days ago and one of my plant is showing this..EE47B089-CED7-4321-9B8C-9FD6205DED4F.jpeg9A772F6E-E3BA-4FEF-BF37-73E2B216103B.jpeg
What could do this??
Thank you

Mg deficiency, no?
 
Hello Cult,

Great thread, I've read it all! I've also read through hundreds of pages of other threads on this forum and others.

I'm just past two weeks into my first grow. I think I over watered a bit which may have resulted in slightly slow growth, but other than that my plants are looking decent.

They are in 5 Gallon coco perlite now. I'm having issues with algae on the surface. I cut out watering this morning and will feed when the lights come back on at 5pm. My temps are running 28 to 37 celcius. To combat this I have the lights off from 1pm to 5pm and this is keeping temps below 33 celcius. I'm in the tropics! If the algae persists tomorrow I will cover the surface with cloth or newspaper. Any ideas?

I am using Growth Technology Nutrients and Additives. This is the only brand available in my part of the world. My budget for my first grow is maxed out, and here is what I have:

- Ionic coco grow
- ionic coco bloom
- Cal mag
- nitrozyme
- silicon
- pk boost
- formulex

I used formulex for the first 10 days and then switched to Cal mag and grow. I buffered my coco with silicon and Cal mag. I am 14 days in and feeding at 150ppm Cal mag and then adding grow to 550ppm. I have been adding 0.5ml nitrozyme per liter every other day. I also have a small amount of silicon in the feed. The GT feed chart for coco has me going slightly higher for ionic grow by 2ml, which should put me around 700ppm. I'm working up to that and plants look good. The chart has me feeding nitrozyme once a week.

I will upgrade to include the rest of GT lineup for my 2nd or 3rd grow. I want to improve the environment by upgrading lights and some kind of aircon intake to get temps down first.

As you do use Ionics Bloom and know the brand.... What are your thoughts regarding their feed schedule?
 

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After first transplant , when do you start watering daily?

Water daily from the beginning. You can not over coco, providing pots arent sitting in their run off.

Welcome back @Cultivator !!!
I when true all your journals in the last 2 months, that is when I decided to go with coco. Did my vegg part with no issue following your feeding schedule hooked up to a drip system. Now I flip the ladys 3 days ago and one of my plant is showing this..EE47B089-CED7-4321-9B8C-9FD6205DED4F.jpeg9A772F6E-E3BA-4FEF-BF37-73E2B216103B.jpeg
What could do this??
Thank you
Hello Cult,

Great thread, I've read it all! I've also read through hundreds of pages of other threads on this forum and others.

I'm just past two weeks into my first grow. I think I over watered a bit which may have resulted in slightly slow growth, but other than that my plants are looking decent.

They are in 5 Gallon coco perlite now. I'm having issues with algae on the surface. I cut out watering this morning and will feed when the lights come back on at 5pm. My temps are running 28 to 37 celcius. To combat this I have the lights off from 1pm to 5pm and this is keeping temps below 33 celcius. I'm in the tropics! If the algae persists tomorrow I will cover the surface with cloth or newspaper. Any ideas?

I am using Growth Technology Nutrients and Additives. This is the only brand available in my part of the world. My budget for my first grow is maxed out, and here is what I have:

- Ionic coco grow
- ionic coco bloom
- Cal mag
- nitrozyme
- silicon
- pk boost
- formulex

I used formulex for the first 10 days and then switched to Cal mag and grow. I buffered my coco with silicon and Cal mag. I am 14 days in and feeding at 150ppm Cal mag and then adding grow to 550ppm. I have been adding 0.5ml nitrozyme per liter every other day. I also have a small amount of silicon in the feed. The GT feed chart for coco has me going slightly higher for ionic grow by 2ml, which should put me around 700ppm. I'm working up to that and plants look good. The chart has me feeding nitrozyme once a week.

I will upgrade to include the rest of GT lineup for my 2nd or 3rd grow. I want to improve the environment by upgrading lights and some kind of aircon intake to get temps down first.

As you do use Ionics Bloom and know the brand.... What are your thoughts regarding their feed schedule?

500ppm is a little low for plant that size. Is that ppm including the 150ppm for calmag? Could be phosphorus def but at that stage of growth it's not normal. I haven't used the combination of nutes you are using all at the same time so I dont know how they interact with each other. Whenever there's an issue it's a good idea to drop the additives and just go base nute and a little calmag.

Would you recommend adding a silica, and a sweetener to the nutrient schedule? Or stay away from that?

You can add any additives you want. Just depends what base you are using, and knowing why you want to use them. I only use silica of rooms are running slightly warmer and I use carbohydrates to fuel my mychorrhizae.
 
(Sorry for so many questions)

So on the second week of flower this is what the nutrient mix looks like EC wise:

water: 0.129 EC
after cal-mag: 0.414 EC
after base: 1.485 EC
after Bud Ignitor: 1.653 EC
after Sensizym: 1.665 EC
after Big Bud: 2.208


Does this look right? Or should the whole mix be 1.4?
 
(Sorry for so many questions)

So on the second week of flower this is what the nutrient mix looks like EC wise:

water: 0.129 EC
after cal-mag: 0.414 EC
after base: 1.485 EC
after Bud Ignitor: 1.653 EC
after Sensizym: 1.665 EC
after Big Bud: 2.208


Does this look right? Or should the whole mix be 1.4?

I wouldn't use the big bud and bud ignite together. The big bud is bumping your ec up way too much. They both are very similar products. Advanced nutrients can be very confusing because they have so many products.

For week2 in flower I'd just use calmag, base nute and bud ignite, senizym is optional.
 
I wouldn't use the big bud and bud ignite together. The big bud is bumping your ec up way too much. They both are very similar products. Advanced nutrients can be very confusing because they have so many products.

For week2 in flower I'd just use calmag, base nute and bud ignite, senizym is optional.

So should I cut down the big bud for week 3 to keep the EC down?
 
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