MarshallB’s Early ‘21, Mixed Coco Grow

MarshallB · Jan 31, 2021

Hello all, welcome to my 2021 journal. This year my goal is to start a perpetual harvest and abide by a 5 plant limit. Plants under 6” tall don’t count. I’m doing this mainly for the wife’s mental security so I may slip something in here or there. My basic idea is to have 2x biggies in flower, 2x in veg and 2x seedlings. Flower times will be 9 weeks and total veg time will be 12 weeks with 4 of those weeks being called seedling weeks. Two plants have to fill a 5x5 so they will need to be big and I’m thinking I might do a “T” manifold at node 3 to cover some ground. Since Im going from a 3x3 to 5x5 I may have to play around with timing such as adding a week to the beginning of flower for 18/6 to let the newly stationed plant grow into the space more but we’ll see. If I can get to 2.5-3lb every 9-10 weeks I should have enough medicine and not die. Thats my goal anyway. Im still on the fence about setting up my dripper system atm because my ph will swing from 5.8ish to 6.5ish over the day. Ive since reduced the amount of bubbling in the res and it’ll rise to 6.3. On previous grows I ran AN sensi coco and didn’t really worry about ph at all but with adopting cult’s method Im trying to just keep it simple for now and really dial in the new method

Strains: 1xILGM Bruce Banner, 1xILGM Skywalker OG and just to fill some holes/med shortages as the schedule gets going, 3xSeedsman Blueberry Auto and 1xSeedsman Strawberry Cheesecake Auto.

Media: 100% Canna professional coco, not prepped in any special way. Just bag to pot

Pots: 16oz solo, 1G nursery, 7G smartpot

Tents: 2x2 Dry
3x3 Veg
5x5 Flo

Lights: Veg - Marshydro Tsw-2000
Flo - Marshydro FC-6500

more pics and info coming soon, thanks for stopping by

Bill284 · Feb 1, 2021

MarshallB said:
Hello all, welcome to my 2021 journal. This year my goal is to start a perpetual harvest and abide by a 5 plant limit. Plants under 6” tall don’t count. I’m doing this mainly for the wife’s mental security so I may slip something in here or there. My basic idea is to have 2x biggies in flower, 2x in veg and 2x seedlings. Flower times will be 9 weeks and total veg time will be 12 weeks with 4 of those weeks being called seedling weeks. Two plants have to fill a 5x5 so they will need to be big and I’m thinking I might do a “T” manifold at node 3 to cover some ground. Since Im going from a 3x3 to 5x5 I may have to play around with timing such as adding a week to the beginning of flower for 18/6 to let the newly stationed plant grow into the space more but we’ll see. If I can get to 2.5-3lb every 9-10 weeks I should have enough medicine and not die. Thats my goal anyway. Im still on the fence about setting up my dripper system atm because my ph will swing from 5.8ish to 6.5ish over the day. Ive since reduced the amount of bubbling in the res and it’ll rise to 6.3. On previous grows I ran AN sensi coco and didn’t really worry about ph at all but with adopting cult’s method Im trying to just keep it simple for now and really dial in the new method

Strains: 1xILGM Bruce Banner, 1xILGM Skywalker OG and just to fill some holes/med shortages as the schedule gets going, 3xSeedsman Blueberry Auto and 1xSeedsman Strawberry Cheesecake Auto.

Media: 100% Canna professional coco, not prepped in any special way. Just bag to pot

Pots: 16oz solo, 1G nursery, 7G smartpot

Tents: 2x2 Dry
3x3 Veg
5x5 Flo

Lights: Veg - Marshydro Tsw-2000
Flo - Marshydro FC-6500

more pics and info coming soon, thanks for stopping by

Fan freeken tastic. Awsome garden my friend. Welcome :welcome:

Love your training method. You are the only other person I have seen using a stick. I have a giant black jack wit a 4' stick through it.

MarshallB · Feb 1, 2021

Thanks alot! Yeah Ive never grown in a 5x5 with just two plants so this is my first approach, super cool that your doing it to Im going to check out your links asap. I’d love to see a giant version like 4’, thats exactly what I hope to accomplish. With the 2’ ish width goal I’m thinking it should just stay a simple T and get that bonus of no more recovery times from topping.

MarshallB · Feb 2, 2021

Heres some shots of the operation. I really enjoy the design and build it’s always ongoing

MarshallB · Feb 2, 2021

The blue push button activates tranfer pumps in res, the toggle on the back of the button box selects either flower or veg res. The rain bird controller activates the circulation pump 6x a day for 1min. Im set up for hand watering at the moment since I went 100% coco and 7g final pots but I might set drippers back up a later time. The rainbird controller is wifi and has 8x24vac outputs so you could really do alot with them and for ~$90 its a deal. Hvac on tents all have the new ac infinity controller 67’s which are also bluetooth so pretty much any env adjustment can be done from the couch on the phone. I don’t particularly like that the controller 67’s connect to Bluetooth as I once read about growers in Colorado getting robbed because theives cruise around looking for those kind of signals and then rob the joint. Taking my chances for now as thats what home defense is for though.

MarshallB · Feb 2, 2021

And heres the flower tent. Still have to run my drains to the front. Im keeping them seperate on this build to monitor run off easy if needed. I don't plan on having a lot of run off if any till flush so no pumps and what not

MarshallB · Feb 2, 2021

Gonna try and get something to go here. I was gifted a film container of ‘78 Acopoloco (lol I cant even get the phone spell check to recognize what Im trying to type) gold. I put a tea bsg of black tea in a hot 2oz of water for about an hour then added 1oz of a .4ec (3ml/G calmag, 1ml/G root excell, 1/4 scoop/G great white). I was wondering if a little bit of cloning gel dissolved in solution might help too. Anyway my plan is to rinse the seeds with ro in a little seed colender cup and then soak in my solution for 4hrs at 76-78F atop the water heater. Then into paper towel ziplocks dampened with solution and put back on water heater. Well see what happens. I read that it is slightly possible to rejuvenate hormones in a seed and it will germ, so I have my fingers crossed. Their is a ton more seeds to play with but I’ve only took about 30-40 for this first exp. I really hope to just get one of these babies going for interest as they are about ten years older than I am but also it would also be one hell of a nostalgic kick for the gifter

Bill284 · Feb 2, 2021

MarshallB said:
Gonna try and get something to go here. I was gifted a film container of ‘78 Acopoloco (lol I cant even get the phone spell check to recognize what Im trying to type) gold. I put a tea bsg of black tea in a hot 2oz of water for about an hour then added 1oz of a .4ec (3ml/G calmag, 1ml/G root excell, 1/4 scoop/G great white). I was wondering if a little bit of cloning gel dissolved in solution might help too. Anyway my plan is to rinse the seeds with ro in a little seed colender cup and then soak in my solution for 4hrs at 76-78F atop the water heater. Then into paper towel ziplocks dampened with solution and put back on water heater. Well see what happens. I read that it is slightly possible to rejuvenate hormones in a seed and it will germ, so I have my fingers crossed. Their is a ton more seeds to play with but I’ve only took about 30-40 for this first exp. I really hope to just get one of these babies going for interest as they are about ten years older than I am but also it would also be one hell of a nostalgic kick for the gifter

That’s freeken brilliant imo.
Never had to rejuvenate seeds that old so I can’t say if there is anything else you could add.
The brew you have sounds promising, hope they pop.
I’d love to see some old school GOLD in that cool set up you have there.

MarshallB · Feb 4, 2021

The results are in...it didn’t work. The ziplocks were pretty stinky today like bad wet towels so I just tossed em. I don’t want any kind mold or spores riding me to my grow. I’ll try another run with boiled water at some point but gonna continue research before another attempt. I’m pretty sure it would be an act of god if one of these even popped anyway so to the back burner the project goes

MarshallB · Feb 4, 2021

Day 35 for Skog and banner

MarshallB · Feb 6, 2021

I think I may have a little salt build up or nutrient balance issue going but Im not completely sure. Ive seen this look in my last 3 grows always about the same time too. Last night they got 2L each of 400ec calmag to get some of the salts eaten up. Im trying to stay away from run off this grow but if it comes down to it I may just have to go that route. My other theory is that Im just feeding too low that they cant handle the light (33K lux). My feeds have been at most 1000ec at around 20oz a day. Once I started seeing the pre signs of nitro I took it down to 900 then 800 @ 40oz then 750 @ 40oz then yesterday 400 @ 2L. Here is a pic before lights out this morning. On the plus side I see my roots are all the way to the edge of the pot and they’re popping up every where on the top, looking like some good root density is starting to develop.

Bill284 · Feb 6, 2021

MarshallB said:
I think I may have a little salt build up or nutrient balance issue going but Im not completely sure. Ive seen this look in my last 3 grows always about the same time too. Last night they got 2L each of 400ec calmag to get some of the salts eaten up. Im trying to stay away from run off this grow but if it comes down to it I may just have to go that route. My other theory is that Im just feeding too low that they cant handle the light (33K lux). My feeds have been at most 1000ec at around 20oz a day. Once I started seeing the pre signs of nitro I took it down to 900 then 800 @ 40oz then 750 @ 40oz then yesterday 400 @ 2L. Here is a pic before lights out this morning. On the plus side I see my roots are all the way to the edge of the pot and they’re popping up every where on the top, looking like some good root density is starting to develop.

I'm sorry I'm not good with ec but I'd be hitting her full strength or as strong as she will take.
Something I just noticed when I went back and reread some, is there a reason you didn't put anything in the coco? There are a couple things I mix in but no perlite that puzzles me. I've seen your setup so I know you know what your doing . Just curious.
But I just love your setup WOW.

MarshallB · Feb 6, 2021

For this cycle I thought I would try out Cultivator’s coco easy coco technique found on this site. He recommends no perlite and you can go with a once per day feeding. No perlite sounded nice and convenient because I wash it outside and this time of year its 12F. This is actually only my 3rd grow in recent years and now I’m in coco so I’m still learning. I have a good understanding of all the variables but when It comes to reading the plants needs and signs I still have some ways to go. I’ve never had 100% happy and healthy plants like you grow but that Is definitely my goal. I think I bit off a little more than I could chew with the two past grows following the cocoforcannabis tech so I figured I’d take it down to the basics. Thanks for the nice comments on the set up! Im no engineer but I love engineering and making things a little more complicated than they need to be lol

Im kinda thinking now they just weren’t getting enough water @20oz a day so I might have developed some hot spot lower in the media. I think I’ll give 1000ec to runoff today and see whats going on in there

Bill284 · Feb 6, 2021

MarshallB said:
For this cycle I thought I would try out Cultivator’s coco easy coco technique found on this site. He recommends no perlite and you can go with a once per day feeding. No perlite sounded nice and convenient because I wash it outside and this time of year its 12F. This is actually only my 3rd grow in recent years and now I’m in coco so I’m still learning. I have a good understanding of all the variables but when It comes to reading the plants needs and signs I still have some ways to go. I’ve never had 100% happy and healthy plants like you grow but that Is definitely my goal. I think I bit off a little more than I could chew with the two past grows following the cocoforcannabis tech so I figured I’d take it down to the basics. Thanks for the nice comments on the set up! Im no engineer but I love engineering and making things a little more complicated than they need to be lol

Im kinda thinking now they just weren’t getting enough water @20oz a day so I might have developed some hot spot lower in the media. I think I’ll give 1000ec to runoff today and see whats going on in there

If you have the roots filling the pot i always try and water till I get run off.
Except when I first flip to flower I, they slow a bit first couple days.
I have herd of people running straight coco before just never saw it done before. Your engineering skills are stellar, real nice work. I used to build custom homes so I appreciate the skill it takes to do great work.

MarshallB · Feb 6, 2021

Thanks alot Bill! I gave them 5L each @750ec 5.8ph w/ about 1L+ runoff. Banner on the right had a runoff of 760ec and skog on the left (the one sending the signs) was at 920ec. I’m pretty happy to see those numbers where they are, Ive seen plants about the same size but autos with 3000ec at first runoff and look great still so it can’t be build up. Im now wondering if the ph crept up in the coco bringing on that pre clawing with increased nitrogen uptake. The thin blades I’m assuming would be the micros dropping out at that higher ph as well. Whatever it is, I believe watering to run off today will straighten it out.

Bill284 · Feb 7, 2021

MarshallB said:
Thanks alot Bill! I gave them 5L each @750ec 5.8ph w/ about 1L+ runoff. Banner on the right had a runoff of 760ec and skog on the left (the one sending the signs) was at 920ec. I’m pretty happy to see those numbers where they are, Ive seen plants about the same size but autos with 3000ec at first runoff and look great still so it can’t be build up. Im now wondering if the ph crept up in the coco bringing on that pre clawing with increased nitrogen uptake. The thin blades I’m assuming would be the micros dropping out at that higher ph as well. Whatever it is, I believe watering to run off today will straighten it out.

If you have been giving an amount predetermined by you for a period of time
You can get a problem. If what you plan to do doesn't improve things you might have to give it s flush with ph,d water. But hopefully your right.
Also I read to convert ec to ppm x .500 is that close I want to understand your numbers but I'm eliterete ..hehe.

MarshallB · Feb 9, 2021

For the EC to PPM conversion, yeah you are right, its just half. I think its all good and I was just a little light on nutes. They seem to be growing just fine and greening up. They always look a little tired before lights out but by lights on their lookin perky again. My hypothesis is that they don’t have enough nutrients so they stop processing light and start guarding them selves by making like praying hands at the top of the plant late in the day (pics below). Like for an example at a certain point, say at 20mol of light on a 25mol of light day. I have a pic of gelato doing the same kind of guarding with the leaves over the sensitive baby node at the tallest point of the plant. Im pretty damn sure I was underfeeding then too. What causes the top of the plant to react like this is still kind of a mystery. I haven’t been able to find a single other case but it could always be the way I am describing the problem or whatever

Saturday feed 750ec/375ppm 1.25Gal
Sunday feed 800ec/400ppm 2L
Monday feed 900ec/450ppm 2L
Today will be 1050ec/525ppm 2L

Current mix:
RO water = 100ec/50ppm
Advanced Nutrients Calmag - 3ml/G = 300ec/150ppm
Advanced Nutrients 3part - 5ml/G
H&G Root Excelurator 1ml/G
Ph down 2ml/5G
Total - 1050ec/525ppm 5.8ph