How Often Should I Water In Coco?

GoinGreen

New Member
Hello, This will be my first grow and i decided to do it in coco. It came in one of those water expandable bricks. Well i was reading some guides and some people say to wait till it starts to dry out and other people say they water/feed every day? Im just confused about how often i should water, i dont have any perlite mixed in, its just 100% coco. So far, ive been waitin about 2-3 days between waterings, but my seedling do seem to be growing kinda slowly...also, when should i start adding nutes? as i understand, coco is a neutral medium so it has no nutrients in it unless i add them. I'm using the Roots Organic nutes, ive got buddah grow, trinity, and budda bloom..so how often should i feed them too? thanks for any help guys:)
 
I wouldnt worry about nutes until either the cotyledons are turning yellow, or its at least onto its second set of true leaves.

seedlings typically will grow slow for the first while, as most of its energy is being used to develop a nice root base.

as far as watering goes. (i have only used coco once) but i would suggest just letting it dry out almost until its dry as fresh coco. i would use a misting bottle to spray the coir down when it is time for watering, as it will be easier to water it evenly.

depending on the temps in your room, how much the plants drink, etc, you may have to water once a day, twice a day, once every 2 days, etc. its different for ever senario. its a learning curve, and you'll master it in due time :)
 
Hey GoinGreen-whats up--i also grow in coco-good advice from nibec--also get some calmag; you will need it pretty soon. cannabis loves calcium and coco has none. good luck :peace:
 
I would use a 1/4 strength nutrient solution as soon as leafs first showed.

As you said - coco is a neutral medium so it has no nutrients in it unless i add them.

That means theirs no food for ya lil girlie, growth will be slow.
 
This is all very sound advice here....fuzzy is right coco is natural and needs nutes....gives you that awesome control you crave...I would be adding 1/4 strength once the second set starts popping....word
 
Coco is a great medium, and it's hard to overwater with it, but easy to underwater. If you're using a runoff tray like me, here is what I do:

Get a measuring cup of some sort and fill it with nutes. Pour enough to equal about a quarter the volume of your planter into the coco. Wait and look for runoff. After a few minutes with no runoff, add another quarter. Wait and look for runoff. At some point, you will add some and the excess will flow into your tray. If you kept track, you now know how much it takes to fill the planter. Now, lift the planter and get an idea of it's weight. Go ahead and use a scale if you want. Let nature proceed, and the next time your planter feels light, water it with the amount you figured out from earlier. Also note how long it took to get light. This will indicate a feeding schedule that should work fine until you transplant to a larger planter. The only real variation will be nute strength. Also, take a foam picnic plate or similar and cut out a cover for the coco. Good luck!
 
I am running 95ltr pot with drain I feed x5 times in one 24 hour cycle. 1st one hour before lights come on 5th 15 minutes before lights go off and threeothersspread evenly between these times. This is in both veg and flower. These feeds are on a timer set to feed at these times every day for one minute per feed.
 
I flushed my coco down to below 50 ppm. Tap is 24-30 ppm. Dried out the coco, Made up BPN to 250 ppm and ph'ed to 5.8. placed coco into a tote or tub with nutrients. I soaked over night. I transplant with wet coco as I make sure the roots get covered nicely. I use air pots also. I water with nutrients every day, checking ph b4 and after. I just dunk them now in a five gal. bucket for a few mins. then place it on a wirerack table to drain back into the bucket, they really like water every day. Flood & Drain would be great, run 3 times, every 8 hours.
 
How often to water depends on how much the plant drinks, which larger depends on the plant size and age. It also depends on the humidty and temps of the room, and the type of pot.

For me about every 3 days. Just check the top soil. Once the first inch is dry, then water, or if you notice the lower leaves starting to droop, after you haven't watered in a few days. The bottom leaves are the first to droop if they need water. But keep in mind, over watering also causes this.

How much you water matters too. In my recent journal I gave the amounts of water I use per size of pot.

5 gallon pot about half to 1 gallon of water if the plant is large.
 
Keep in mind coco is a hydroponic medium and will be very diff then soil. Should water to run off once a day to everyother day till gets a few sets of leaves. The nuts your using should tell how much to use per stage. Big mistake I see people make is by not following manufacturing instructions. Once your in full vegg they should take a feed every day , I'm almost to flower I feed early in the day w full strength nuts and water in the evening with calmag n water only. When goes into flower the schedule will change as it gets further into flower will need more nuts and supplements, to pack on weight. If the coco dries completely this can be detrimental to your plants could cause severe probs or even kill them.
 
I am running 95ltr pot with drain I feed x5 times in one 24 hour cycle. 1st one hour before lights come on 5th 15 minutes before lights go off and threeothersspread evenly between these times. This is in both veg and flower. These feeds are on a timer set to feed at these times every day for one minute per feed.

What type of system you watering with?? Can you describe? Or show
 
I am running 95ltr pot with drain I feed x5 times in one 24 hour cycle. 1st one hour before lights come on 5th 15 minutes before lights go off and threeothersspread evenly between these times. This is in both veg and flower. These feeds are on a timer set to feed at these times every day for one minute per feed.



What type of system do you use? can we see it?
 
Some really good info here so thought I would resurrect this thread.

From reading everything I can find on coco and auto flowering strains I think I have found a good method of watering/feeding. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Cracked seeds should be placed into wet coco and allowed time for the top inch or two to dry before watering again.
Plain water should be fine for first two sets of leaves or when the cotyledons have started turning yellow.
Keep letting the first inch or two of coco dry out before watering/feeding at this stage to let roots grow out as much as possible.
Once passed the seedling stage, plants should be watered/fed daily like a normal hydro system all the way until harvest

Does this sound right to you guys?
LEDRF has some great YouTube vidoes that covers this and shows what he does
 
Five, I still feed daily during the seedling stage, I just only use enough water to keep the 4 inch rockwool moist. That has been my new method because it gives such good results, the 4 inch rock wool.

If the seed is directly in coco, then I would only feed with very little around the stem. If you water with very little, then 24 hours later, the coco will have dried a bit.
 
Coco -

Feed from day 1. Low strength nutrients as often as you need too.

Keep the medium wet and water to run off to clear salts.

Coco contains no nutrients so it's essential to provide them directly to the plants root zone on a regular basis. Plain water will mess up your pH levels.

Watering to run off clears any built up salt residue - this is important since coir is naturally fantastic at storing salts.
 
How often to water depends on how much the plant drinks, which larger depends on the plant size and age. It also depends on the humidty and temps of the room, and the type of pot.

For me about every 3 days. Just check the top soil. Once the first inch is dry, then water, or if you notice the lower leaves starting to droop, after you haven't watered in a few days. The bottom leaves are the first to droop if they need water. But keep in mind, over watering also causes this.

How much you water matters too. In my recent journal I gave the amounts of water I use per size of pot.

5 gallon pot about half to 1 gallon of water if the plant is large.
What about if the top leaves droop ? Is that lack of nuits ?
Or to much water
 
Back
Top Bottom