Grow Mediums Diving deep into coco, a few questions to be answered.. :)

[magnum gom]

Greeting to all the AFN who linger here in COCOville.

I've been thoroughly researching coco growing for the past few weeks and before I squeeze the trigger on it I wanted to ask a few questions.

Firstly I want to the thank everyone on here that has been so helpful and kind to share there knowledge on this subject! I have already learnt so so much by reading and following others.

Some of these questions might seem a little dumb but I just wanted some reassurance from the community


My grow space is 1.2m x 1.2m. I normally grow 9 plants in 11 liter pots of soilless medium. This is tight but works fine for me (even with the bigger genetics that I grow,). I would like to fill the space now with some Critical+ SEEDLINGS from Dinafem and am thinking of putting 8 in there on a DRIP TO WASTE system with regular feedings to achieve the 'hydro' results in coco. I know what your thinking, its going to be so tight in there! I plan on topping and lolli-poping them.. Keeping them trimmed, uniform and maintained for the space there in.

My question is do you think I should use 1 gal or 2 gal pots? 1 gallon just seems so small to me! Thats 3.5 litres! Now keep in mind I will veg these seedlings for 4 weeks before flipping to 12/12 (photos not auto’s) and I do plan on WATERING MULTIPLE times a day once the roots are established.


I think I'll run it DTW but for enviromental reasons I am interested in RECIRCULATING. This raises a lot of questions. Primarily doesn't it fuck up your res by adding the used/collected run off water? For example perhaps the plant has used up more N than Other nutrients, now your mixing that with a nute 'balanced' res. Seems complicated..

I see some coco growers feeding from day 1 and others from day 7, it is normal to feed from day 1 isn’t it? Obviously very light feedings to begin with.

I also wandering why growers cut down on feeding after the stretch and then again in late flowering? Is this because the plants need less nutes or is to keep humidity down or both?
And when you cut down from say 5x a day to 3 and then 1or 2 towards the end do you up the strength of the feed as you minimize the amount of watering's per day, or just leave it?

As for products like drip clean or florakleen that clean our roots systems from build up of salts, should these be constantly used with every feed or less?

If I have a 8 line drip system, how do I figure out what rating water pump do I need?



And finally what is the point of a product like ORCA mykos or great white? If using mineral fertilliser (which I plan too) doesn't the mixture of mineral and an organic not really work together?

Thanks in advance for the help!
@Wile e Peyote @Truu @Groff @blue @hairyman @Waximus

 

[Royalroacho]

I dont think u can have a recirculating res, its drain to waste. Itd fuck it up even if u could filter thr coco out. Its possible in wrong. Try googling that, not sure how itd be done, itd start collecting stuff from the coco, i think.
I personally started giving a couple small feedings witha 4 oz cup for the first couple weeks of veg so i could control it better, then give them 30% run off after i see the roots in thr drainage holes. Ive never used flushing solutions, dont need em. I prop em in a styrofoam ring. More like an omega shape, i had water get trapped in thr ring, but give them good runoff. I didnt do it on a timer, ive had even an expensive timer fail, but i didnt ask for reviews or anything.
im not sure about changing how many times a day you feed, watch the leaves, you can tell if they want more from the coloration for nutes, and the angle they stand for water.
i got great results with mycos in soil, i just started some in coco, not sure if itll do anything since im using synth nutes. alot of people think it makes a big difference, well see im willing to test it out. really u cant know without a conttolled experiment, so im probly wasting money

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[blue]

Hi There,

I'm definately not the person who can answer all these questions but can offer my experiences on the subjects

My question is do you think I should use 1 gal or 2 gal pots? 1 gallon just seems so small to me! Thats 3.5 litres! Now keep in mind I will veg these seedlings for 4 weeks before flipping to 12/12 (photos not auto’s) and I do plan on WATERING MULTIPLE times a day once the roots are established.

I would say 3.5 litres is a bit small, although it's definately possible. I've always used 11 and 15 litre pots and got good results, but seen others using smaller pots (although not for a while)

I think I'll run it DTW but for enviromental reasons I am interested in RECIRCULATING.

I can't remember seeing a Recirculating coco grow, i've always watered drain to waste (by hand) with a little amount of run off (around 10%) .. pots on stilts to avoid the pot sitting in the run off water and letting it evaporate.

I see some coco growers feeding from day 1 and others from day 7, it is normal to feed from day 1 isn’t it? Obviously very light feedings to begin with.

Coco contains no nutes, and the plant can live of the nutes in it's cotlylodeons for a good few days, although i used to feed the coco with a light dose (0.8ec) so that when the plants need it, there's something there. I use soil and organics now as don't have to the time to EC check, ph and all that jazz

I also wandering why growers cut down on feeding after the stretch and then again in late flowering? Is this because the plants need less nutes or is to keep humidity down or both?

I never did, the feeding increased until i see the limit and then kept at that. upto 1.7ec is around normal for a flowering plant although i've had autos take stonger feedings with no ill effects - it depends on the plant and size etc. Watering would increase, sometimes chugging down 4 litres a day... maybe more.

As for products like drip clean or florakleen that clean our roots systems from build up of salts, should these be constantly used with every feed or less?

I've never used these, just watered to run off to clean it through.

And finally what is the point of a product like ORCA mykos or great white?

Its for root development i think - although i've not used them both (using mycotrex with my soil grow seems to have helped!). With coco i always used Canna Rhizotonic for that.

doesn't the mixture of mineral and an organic not really work together?

If i'm correct i think that Canna Coco A&B are mineral and Boost is organic (?) .. and they're paired together in the canna feeding guide. And i'm sure they understand that coco grows need to be PH'd down to 5.8ish ... so they know that PH down (phosphoric acid in flower) will be being used.
This leads me to believe it should be fine as long as they work together (NPK wise).

Hope some of this helps!

All the best

Blue ^_^