Grow Mediums [Canna] Coco Growing Tips

[4d-Rock]

Sorry i missed this one Mr Greenhorn! I've just seen your thread and you seem to be rocking it just fine!!

When i used to grow seriously in coco, i'd be feeding by EC rather than ml per litre. So i'd be starting a 1.0EC and then building up from there. It's a bit of a pain at first .. but you soon get used to roughly how much nutes in however much water will get roughly to where you want to be.

I'd be checking my final EC BEFORE adding PH down to get to 5.8.
If you go a little too far ... adding a small amount of Rhizo will bring it back up (but not loads) ... if you accidentally go crazy with PH down and ec is at like 5.2 .. i'd bin it off and start again. So be careful lol or you can waste an aweful lot of time with this.

I now grow organically with autopots so don't have to do anything. (a consequence of life getting busy)

Looks like you got around 4 weeks left on yours - so you're on the home straight now

What do you do in a situation where you are regularly supplementing with CalMag? Do you include that in the overall EC/PPM or add it after your EC measurement and ignore it like you do with the pH Down?

Let's say i'm targeting a recommended final nutrient solution of 500 ppm as per a schedule and my tap water starts at ~60ppm. The recommended dosages are not assuming that you are using additional supplements like CalMag. I've read that the mixing sequence goes CalMag, Nutrients, pH up/down. So when I go to mix up my feed and add 1 ml/L of CalMag it pushes me to 300ppm before I even get started with my other nutes. So my choices at this point would be to add less of the other nutrients than recommended to stay around the recommended 500 ppm, or to just go ahead and add the recommended volumes but the TDS will end up being much higher. Or I suppose a third option would be to add nutrients to the tap water until you reach 500 ppm, and then add your CalMag and ph down without worrying about how the ppm is affected.

For context, I'm on my first coco grow where I am using a coco (brick)/perlite mix in a 2 gallon fabric pot. I am using the Fox Farm's Trio with CaliMagic. I have to say, it's been difficult to find a good schedule that matches my identical situation of stealth LED grow bucket, autoflower, coco, and Fox Farms with Calmag. Has been alot of trial by error (I have a journal in the New Growers Journal section).

Thanks

 

[blue]

What do you do in a situation where you are regularly supplementing with CalMag? Do you include that in the overall EC/PPM or add it after your EC measurement and ignore it like you do with the pH Down?

Hey there! The Calmag should be included in the overall EC measurement before PH additions.

I've read that the mixing sequence goes CalMag, Nutrients, pH up/down.

Yeah, that sounds good! I'd go similar like Beneficials (rhizotonic, calmag etc) --> Base Nutes ---> PK / flowering booster ---> PH management.

You need to be careful with Calmag as often it also contains other things (nitrogen most specifically) unless you've got like a "canna mono" or something like that. You don't want to be doubling up on the nitrogen.

I think some people use it in very small amounts regularly.

It's nice to have those perfect leaves all the way through a grow ... but in brutal honesty, you can cook your leaves to hell and still pull a crazy good harvest of super tasty buds.
I'm not familiar with PPM converstions, but i would keep your EC (pre PH) to at least 1.0 for a young seedling, 1.5ec at about 1 foot tall, and for flowering 1.7 to 2.0 EC is a good range. (2.0 could nute burn it a little.. but really depends on the strain .. the size etc)

Good luck with the first one! Coco is great - but requires some attention which i no longer have time in my busy life for. (I've gone organic for an easy life)

 

[chefdave]

Hey there! The Calmag should be included in the overall EC measurement before PH additions.



Yeah, that sounds good! I'd go similar like Beneficials (rhizotonic, calmag etc) --> Base Nutes ---> PK / flowering booster ---> PH management.

You need to be careful with Calmag as often it also contains other things (nitrogen most specifically) unless you've got like a "canna mono" or something like that. You don't want to be doubling up on the nitrogen.

I think some people use it in very small amounts regularly.

It's nice to have those perfect leaves all the way through a grow ... but in brutal honesty, you can cook your leaves to hell and still pull a crazy good harvest of super tasty buds.
I'm not familiar with PPM converstions, but i would keep your EC (pre PH) to at least 1.0 for a young seedling, 1.5ec at about 1 foot tall, and for flowering 1.7 to 2.0 EC is a good range. (2.0 could nute burn it a little.. but really depends on the strain .. the size etc)

Good luck with the first one! Coco is great - but requires some attention which i no longer have time in my busy life for. (I've gone organic for an easy life)

Blue 1 ec equals 750ppm cheers

 

[chefdave]

What do you do in a situation where you are regularly supplementing with CalMag? Do you include that in the overall EC/PPM or add it after your EC measurement and ignore it like you do with the pH Down?

Let's say i'm targeting a recommended final nutrient solution of 500 ppm as per a schedule and my tap water starts at ~60ppm. The recommended dosages are not assuming that you are using additional supplements like CalMag. I've read that the mixing sequence goes CalMag, Nutrients, pH up/down. So when I go to mix up my feed and add 1 ml/L of CalMag it pushes me to 300ppm before I even get started with my other nutes. So my choices at this point would be to add less of the other nutrients than recommended to stay around the recommended 500 ppm, or to just go ahead and add the recommended volumes but the TDS will end up being much higher. Or I suppose a third option would be to add nutrients to the tap water until you reach 500 ppm, and then add your CalMag and ph down without worrying about how the ppm is affected.

For context, I'm on my first coco grow where I am using a coco (brick)/perlite mix in a 2 gallon fabric pot. I am using the Fox Farm's Trio with CaliMagic. I have to say, it's been difficult to find a good schedule that matches my identical situation of stealth LED grow bucket, autoflower, coco, and Fox Farms with Calmag. Has been alot of trial by error (I have a journal in the New Growers Journal section).

Thanks

good morning First of all let me say if your tap is 60ppm and your cal mag pushes to 300 something is wrong because almost all 2-0-0 calmag adds 38-43ppm
ther are some double strength out there but that would still be only 80ppm. I have grown photos in coco for 10 years but autos are so different!!!!! This is my first auto crop also, I'm 2wks out till chop, So depending on strain start at 400ppm for first 2wks raise to 550 after. Watch plants see how they react. I pushed my autos and found they can handle 8-850ppm in late veg-early flower but they like lower ppm 6-700ppm, Your growing in 2 gall grow bags so I would not do more than 20% perlite in your coco mix, unless you want to water 2x a day. Also only add cal mag 1/2 strength for every other feeding til it builds up in coco. It has 2% N which is good in veg but no so much mid flower on. Also before putting seedling in coco, precharge it with a full strength 400ppm calmag feeding Cheers Chef Dave

 

[4d-Rock]

Hey there! The Calmag should be included in the overall EC measurement before PH additions.

Yeah, that sounds good! I'd go similar like Beneficials (rhizotonic, calmag etc) --> Base Nutes ---> PK / flowering booster ---> PH management.

You need to be careful with Calmag as often it also contains other things (nitrogen most specifically) unless you've got like a "canna mono" or something like that. You don't want to be doubling up on the nitrogen.

I think some people use it in very small amounts regularly.

It's nice to have those perfect leaves all the way through a grow ... but in brutal honesty, you can cook your leaves to hell and still pull a crazy good harvest of super tasty buds.
I'm not familiar with PPM converstions, but i would keep your EC (pre PH) to at least 1.0 for a young seedling, 1.5ec at about 1 foot tall, and for flowering 1.7 to 2.0 EC is a good range. (2.0 could nute burn it a little.. but really depends on the strain .. the size etc)

Good luck with the first one! Coco is great - but requires some attention which i no longer have time in my busy life for. (I've gone organic for an easy life)

Thanks Blue!

I think I may have over-fed and maybe had my pH a little on the low side so I ran a flush last night (2.5L at 300ppm/6.4pH). Hopefully that clears up the salts and gets the pH in a nice place for the uptake of Ca (not sure if it tells us much, but the runoff came back at 700ppm/6.3pH). The plan now is to start at about 1.2EC (600ppm) since I am just starting week 3. At this point I just don't know how much CalMag I need to run in order to stop the deficiency. I've added a picture of what it looks like at Day 19. You can see spots forming still on the newer leaves but the first true leaves are in rough shape. I know, not a big deal as they will die off anyways.

Like I mentioned I am using CaliMagic (1%N, 5%Ca, 1.5%Mg, 0.1%Fe) and they recommend 1mL/L as an amendment but like I said, it shoots up my ppm in a 1L mix. Yesterday prior to dilution I mixed 1L which started at 60ppm, I added 0.5mL CaliMagic which pushed it to 300ppm (0.6EC), 2mL of Big Bloom then moved it to 400ppm (0.8EC), and then 1mL of Grow Big, to 700ppm (1.4EC). Then I diluted this for the flush. I may use a similar ratio for the next feeding, maybe lower the Grow Big since the Calimagic has the extra N. I may play with the Calimagic a bit and test to see what's going on there.

good morning First of all let me say if your tap is 60ppm and your cal mag pushes to 300 something is wrong because almost all 2-0-0 calmag adds 38-43ppm
ther are some double strength out there but that would still be only 80ppm. I have grown photos in coco for 10 years but autos are so different!!!!! This is my first auto crop also, I'm 2wks out till chop, So depending on strain start at 400ppm for first 2wks raise to 550 after. Watch plants see how they react. I pushed my autos and found they can handle 8-850ppm in late veg-early flower but they like lower ppm 6-700ppm, Your growing in 2 gall grow bags so I would not do more than 20% perlite in your coco mix, unless you want to water 2x a day. Also only add cal mag 1/2 strength for every other feeding til it builds up in coco. It has 2% N which is good in veg but no so much mid flower on. Also before putting seedling in coco, precharge it with a full strength 400ppm calmag feeding Cheers Chef Dave

Thanks for the input ChefDave! FYI, I am using a TDS pen which is on the 0.5 scale which I believe 1EC = 500ppm.
I will be trying to stay in the 500-600ppm range for now and I'll try only using CaliMagic every other feeding. I did do a full charge to the coco prior to transplanting into the 2 gallon pot.
And I agree, less perlite/clay pebbles would be a good idea for next time. I'm already watering every 1-2 days.

 

[chefdave]

Thanks Blue!

I think I may have over-fed and maybe had my pH a little on the low side so I ran a flush last night (2.5L at 300ppm/6.4pH). Hopefully that clears up the salts and gets the pH in a nice place for the uptake of Ca (not sure if it tells us much, but the runoff came back at 700ppm/6.3pH). The plan now is to start at about 1.2EC (600ppm) since I am just starting week 3. At this point I just don't know how much CalMag I need to run in order to stop the deficiency. I've added a picture of what it looks like at Day 19. You can see spots forming still on the newer leaves but the first true leaves are in rough shape. I know, not a big deal as they will die off anyways.
View attachment 910013
Like I mentioned I am using CaliMagic (1%N, 5%Ca, 1.5%Mg, 0.1%Fe) and they recommend 1mL/L as an amendment but like I said, it shoots up my ppm in a 1L mix. Yesterday prior to dilution I mixed 1L which started at 60ppm, I added 0.5mL CaliMagic which pushed it to 300ppm (0.6EC), 2mL of Big Bloom then moved it to 400ppm (0.8EC), and then 1mL of Grow Big, to 700ppm (1.4EC). Then I diluted this for the flush. I may use a similar ratio for the next feeding, maybe lower the Grow Big since the Calimagic has the extra N. I may play with the Calimagic a bit and test to see what's going on there.



Thanks for the input ChefDave! FYI, I am using a TDS pen which is on the 0.5 scale which I believe 1EC = 500ppm.
I will be trying to stay in the 500-600ppm range for now and I'll try only using CaliMagic every other feeding. I did do a full charge to the coco prior to transplanting into the 2 gallon pot.
And I agree, less perlite/clay pebbles would be a good idea for next time. I'm already watering every 1-2 days.

Your right I was stoned 1ec=1000ppm Chjeers

 

[4d-Rock]

Ouch, might have to change plans. Checked this afternoon and after the diluted mix last night the spotting increased fairly substantially. Little bit of curling leaf tips as well. I guess it really didn't like the reduction in nutes/calmag, or maybe the slightly higher pH (6.4 compared to regular 5.8-6.0).

 

[Blalack55]

Hey @blue or anyone that can help, I am about to start my first run and I am going with coco and blumats and later on rockwool. My tap is 425ppm so I'm going to go with filtered water, so you think I'll get by with what I have? It's my first so I don't want to go crazy with nutes and I saw a few people with just the basic run of nutes.

 

[blue]

Hey @blue or anyone that can help, I am about to start my first run and I am going with coco and blumats and later on rockwool. My tap is 425ppm so I'm going to go with filtered water, so you think I'll get by with what I have? It's my first so I don't want to go crazy with nutes and I saw a few people with just the basic run of nutes.

You got more nutes than me ... I think you'll be okay!

Personally i'd stick with Rhizo, CocoA&B, Boost and a PK booster. The cannazyme i've used before, but wasnt' 100% sure it made that much of a differnce over 1 grow when i always replace my coco.

The PK addition will really help in the floweing phase to fatten and dense up the buds.

Don't forget to keep your PH in check!

Good luck!
Blue ^_^

 

[Dichoti]

Great thread man!

I'm sort of new to indoor and wondered if it was easier or harder than soil? Seems like it more time consuming needing water daily. I know people prefere coco all over but it it worth it in the end? More work and more nutes but if the yield is double I'm down. Also wondering if it's forgiving cause it seems like it's sort of a bitch to get down

It's pretty simple to get down. Just bend your knees, protect your neck and...

...it is simple to use, man. I've been using it since day one. Using megacrop with it makes the learning curve easier, too. I water when I can feel the coco getting dry, Which is usually every other day to every 3 days. In a 5 gallon bucket, one gallon of water with give you roughly a gallon and a half of run off. Adding 15-20ml of 3% peroxide to your water the day before boosts the oxygen in the water, too.
It's to early, so I'll finish my response later lol