New Grower coco runoff really high, 1st grow

[Nacho34]

Im going into the 5th week of veg on an auto and photo. measured the ph/ppm. both read at 6.0/2500ppm. watered in at 950ppm. i only water when the top layer has dried out, which is every 3-4 days. With a 5-10% runoff. im thinking, do i need to water more frequently and have more runoff, so there wont be a salt build up? i noticed white on the outside of the 3gal smart pots. Is that normal? I see some rust spots on about 6 or so older fan leaves. so far no nute burn just looks like calmag def. should i do a flush real quick, was thinking about throwing into 12/12 next week for the photo. bottom left.

im running GH w/
tap(140ppm)
2ml/calmag,
2ml/micro,
4ml/bloom
= 950ppm at week 5.

 

[Nacho34]

Img.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

You don't let coco dry out. At the least, once roots are established, you water every day even several times a day.

Runoff doesn't really matter for measuring but Drain to Waste with multiple feeds really capitalizes on the hydro aspect of coco. 5.8-6.2ph and keeping the coco moist to prevent salt build up. They look hungry and running only two parts seems to be causing chlorosis. Nitrogen deficiency and or just too little feed is my opinion.

 

[Trichome farmer]

@Gladiators any coco nuts able to advise nacho i use coco but i dont water to run off

 

[Olderfart]

I went through some confusion on this - turned out that my meter was in ppm when I thought it was in EC. For starters, you might double check the meter setting to make sure it was not on EC when you measured the runoff.


Unfortunately in my case, the error meant that I had hit my plant with nutes more than twice as strong as I planned, and my runoff was in fact as bad as it seemed. To fix it, I elected to flush with proper strength nute mix until runoff was similar to input in pH and EC. If you decide to do likewise, use a nute mix, not just phed water. If you change more than ~150 ppm at a time, you will stress the plants a bit, and they will need some time to adjust the new osmotic conditions, but that is what I did, and the plant eventually did just fine.

I would deal with the nute strength issue before trying to interpret leaf issues. If you are actually at over 2000ppm in the coco, you may have any number of lockout problems going on that will need to sort out before leaf symptoms can be instructive. OTOH, I am new at this game, so take the suggestions of more experienced members first. I chimed in mainly because I likely just went through the same experience.

Good luck with the grow.

 

[Nacho34]

I went through some confusion on this - turned out that my meter was in ppm when I thought it was in EC. For starters, you might double check the meter setting to make sure it was not on EC when you measured the runoff.


Unfortunately in my case, the error meant that I had hit my plant with nutes more than twice as strong as I planned, and my runoff was in fact as bad as it seemed. To fix it, I elected to flush with proper strength nute mix until runoff was similar to input in pH and EC. If you decide to do likewise, use a nute mix, not just phed water. If you change more than ~150 ppm at a time, you will stress the plants a bit, and they will need some time to adjust the new osmotic conditions, but that is what I did, and the plant eventually did just fine.

I would deal with the nute strength issue before trying to interpret leaf issues. If you are actually at over 2000ppm in the coco, you may have any number of lockout problems going on that will need to sort out before leaf symptoms can be instructive. OTOH, I am new at this game, so take the suggestions of more experienced members first. I chimed in mainly because I likely just went through the same experience.

Good luck with the grow.

Awesome. Thanks for the tip. I think tom. Im gonna do that.

 

[Nacho34]

You don't let coco dry out. At the least, once roots are established, you water every day even several times a day.

Runoff doesn't really matter for measuring but Drain to Waste with multiple feeds really capitalizes on the hydro aspect of coco. 5.8-6.2ph and keeping the coco moist to prevent salt build up. They look hungry and running only two parts seems to be causing chlorosis. Nitrogen deficiency and or just too little feed is my opinion.

Ok cool. I was running through a gal. Each feeding. Like said every 3-4 days. With watering everyday or multiple times a day like u said. Do u ever encounter gnat prob. With it consistently moist.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

Ok cool. I was running through a gal. Each feeding. Like said every 3-4 days. With watering everyday or multiple times a day like u said. Do u ever encounter gnat prob. With it consistently moist.

I used clay hydroton pebbles.

 

[St. Tom]

I run a mix of clay pebbles and coco 60/40 and I find if I dont water to run off regularly I will get a lockout eventually

 

[Arthur]

When coco dries, it messes with the ione exchange between plant and medium. Ph will shift, causing major problems.

Coco is a hydroponic medium, it is not meant to ever get dry. The beauty of coco is that even when wet, it allows for good O2 exchange to the roots, letting you feed more, more frequently.

When on a coco run, I water small plants once a day. In flower that goes to twice a day to runoff.

Soil and coco can't be treated the same. Running one like the other will always end poorly.