Indoor First Coco/Autopots Run

[Olderfart]

I might some day use just coco and MC some day just to add it to my canna skills.

Something I forgot to mention earlier about transition watering with autopots is that I think it is critically important to make sure the medium is moist throughout the pot before seeding or transplanting into it. You do not want any dry areas in there when you start because they can be persistent. I found this out after first wetting my medium, I thought thoroughly, letting it settle and wick overnight, and then finding the following day that in spite of some runoff, when I dug through the pot to mix things up before transplanting into it, there were still a couple of significant areas of dry medium in there. And this was with yucca in the liquid. When I start a pot now, I put the medium in a tote and mix it by hand as I wet it to make sure that the entire mix is wet before putting it in the pot. Then when I top water, I water the whole pot except near the stem of the seedling/young plant. Once the fans clear the edge of the pot, I turn on the reservoir. So far, this has resulted in very happy autopot plants.

 

[JohnEMad]

Something I forgot to mention earlier about transition watering with autopots is that I think it is critically important to make sure the medium is moist throughout the pot before seeding or transplanting into it. You do not want any dry areas in there when you start because they can be persistent. I found this out after first wetting my medium, I thought thoroughly, letting it settle and wick overnight, and then finding the following day that in spite of some runoff, when I dug through the pot to mix things up before transplanting into it, there were still a couple of significant areas of dry medium in there. And this was with yucca in the liquid. When I start a pot now, I put the medium in a tote and mix it by hand as I wet it to make sure that the entire mix is wet before putting it in the pot. Then when I top water, I water the whole pot except near the stem of the seedling/young plant. Once the fans clear the edge of the pot, I turn on the reservoir. So far, this has resulted in very happy autopot plants.

I don't use a wetting agent like Yucca but did find some dry areas even when I watered through before planting seedings into the autopots.
Great tip Mr. Olderfart

 

[Olderfart]

I don't use a wetting agent like Yucca but did find some dry areas even when I watered through before planting seedings into the autopots.
Great tip Mr. Olderfart

More than glad to be a help @JohnEMad. Happy autopotting mate.

 

[olegren]

@WildBill & @Olderfart -I've gotta keep this in mind -- about the yucca. I found the process of top watering really counter-intuitive in this run, but I guess that makes sense since I'm used to soil... and coco is so different. Helping to prevent dry pockets early on would've been immensely beneficial. I did have these totes sopping wet when I dropped the plugs in; but I really wish I had watered them more frequently and gone with an intermediary solo cup rather than going straight to final pots. Watering to runoff left them so bogged down that I was just paranoid about overwatering; but this stuff really does stay airy even when it's wet.

@St. Tom - Thank you for the words of wisdom! I'll keep that in mind. I have been so paranoid about burning that I am probably depriving them a little. My double grape plant keeps showing the very slightest hints of burnt tips; but it never seems to progress. I was paranoid about calcium going in because I heard so many horror stories; so I double buffered the coco and was hoping my feed would supplement. (I did see one Rx Blend journal here that chased some cal/mag oddities) I do have plenty of General Hydro Calmag on hand and might experiment with adding some in soon to see what it does. Do you recommend a particular dose in feed?

Growth has been really vigorous since my last update. I chickened out on topping. Was paranoid they're too far behind. I think part of it is because they're indicas. I need to remember to experiment with lower light to encourage some stretch. These things, like my previous indica endeavors, are fat little shrubs -- but they sure are filling out.

Still no signs of pistils. Anyway, so I opted to go easy on them and just LST instead. Watching the res close; but trying to let them drink down what was in there. I filled it way more than I should've early on with seedling dose and had to kind of feel my way into a good PPM/pH situation when deficiencies showed.

 

[DCLXVI]

Subbed! Thanks for including such a detailed write up of your load out and methods. I've been eyeballing the autopots. Great to see someone with a first run I can follow for what works and what doesn't.

 

[olegren]

Subbed! Thanks for including such a detailed write up of your load out and methods. I've been eyeballing the autopots. Great to see someone with a first run I can follow for what works and what doesn't.

Glad to help. Don't hesitate to reach out if you want clarification around anything. I really don't know what I'm doing, but I try to keep a lot notes when I change anything!

If I had this thing to start over, the only major change I would make is to start them in solo cups and ramp up fertigation earlier on. Otherwise, these autopots have made life a lot simpler. :smoking:

 

[olegren]

Today is day 30.

Been an exciting week; but not a lot has really changed. Trying to do better about reading my plants. I had a mild emergency. Early on, as soon as I noticed a stray rust spot, I did a couple calmag foliars. The problem abated, I assumed the spray was the fix, and I stopped doing it until I noticed a few more rust spots. I resumed the spray.

The next day, I noticed some strange yellow discoloration and even a few holes in newer growth. A quick visit to the infirmary gave some good insights, and this seems to have been the onset of lockout brought on by my spray; which I had recently resumed upon observing a few more random spots.



Thankfully, it only happened on one plant (Strawberry), and it was pretty limited. I stopped the spray, and sure enough -- the problem seems to have ceased. I continue to see hints of nute burn in both plants. This week, I had to be away for a couple days -- so I took the opportunity to empty some of the excess in my reservoir (I really overfilled with the seedling mix early on) and replaced it with quarter dose flowering nutes since both plants are showing hints of preflower. There was still a bit of the veg mix in there, so i just stirred it all up. I hope that wasn't a huge mistake, but emptying the thing was going to be a real pain that I'll need to solve in a future grow.



Came back today, and they seem to be doing OK. (At least no new problems) I'm a little curious about the strawberry plant's color, but it was the same one showing some other issues -- so going to let it ride and hope another week or so on this light flower nute dose continues to improve the situation. I think both could have some deficiencies, but those burnt tips make that seem unlikely; so hoping that I am just seeing more effects from that aforementioned toxicity and not going to adjust anything else 'til they've had a week to recover from those sprays and the feed changes.

On the LST front, I need to get in and tie them back down to try and let some of these lower sites stretch a bit.



Temps were a bit cool (Bottomed out around 67F) while I was away, so I'm hoping warmer temperatures help them drink a bit more.

More soon. Can't wait for these two to start stinkin.

 

[olegren]

Today is day 39.

These plants look better than any of their predecessors; although things are still far from perfect. They are much taller than any of my previous indica endeavors, and they've really started to sprawl since last week. I was worried about them being so bushy; but they have sorted much of that out themselves with the latest growth.



Since my previous update, I've added 5 gallons of water to res: 2 gallons of week 1 flower nutes; and 3 gallons of week 2 flower nutes earlier this week when I noticed it was low again. In both cases, I'm feeding at half Rx Blend recommended dosage. PPM in res is currently 310.

I've also been incrementing lights very slightly every other day or so now that most of the stretch seems to have subsided. They're currently getting 40-45k lux; just about 625ppfd per HLG's guidelines.

Average weekly temp + RH are 74.4F & 52.4%.

Still tracking some issues; but hesitant to adjust much since they both seem to be growing well. Double Grape is moving much quicker into flower than her Strawberry Nugget neighbor. Strawberry has a paler color and more prominent rust spots popping out; but they're still fairly spread out. I'm struggling with whether this is under-feeding or toxicity; so will not likely adjust much until I see clearer signs one way or another. I do see substantial yellowing in some of the lowermost leaves of Strawberry, so she may just be hungrier.

Those signs of tip burn in the Grape Plant have subsided somewhat, so I might increment feed again at the next res top-up and see how that goes. Also contemplating a flush just to rule out toxicity; but hesitant given all I have heard about the complexities of flushing when you are bottom-watering.

 

[Olderfart]

Today is day 39.



These plants look better than any of their predecessors; although things are still far from perfect. They are much taller than any of my previous indica endeavors, and they've really started to sprawl since last week. I was worried about them being so bushy; but they have sorted much of that out themselves with the latest growth.



View attachment 1270361



Since my previous update, I've added 5 gallons of water to res: 2 gallons of week 1 flower nutes; and 3 gallons of week 2 flower nutes earlier this week when I noticed it was low again. In both cases, I'm feeding at half Rx Blend recommended dosage. PPM in res is currently 310.



I've also been incrementing lights very slightly every other day or so now that most of the stretch seems to have subsided. They're currently getting 40-45k lux; just about 625ppfd per HLG's guidelines.



Average weekly temp + RH are 74.4F & 52.4%.



Still tracking some issues; but hesitant to adjust much since they both seem to be growing well. Double Grape is moving much quicker into flower than her Strawberry Nugget neighbor. Strawberry has a paler color and more prominent rust spots popping out; but they're still fairly spread out. I'm struggling with whether this is under-feeding or toxicity; so will not likely adjust much until I see clearer signs one way or another. I do see substantial yellowing in some of the lowermost leaves of Strawberry, so she may just be hungrier.



Those signs of tip burn in the Grape Plant have subsided somewhat, so I might increment feed again at the next res top-up and see how that goes. Also contemplating a flush just to rule out toxicity; but hesitant given all I have heard about the complexities of flushing when you are bottom-watering.



View attachment 1270359 View attachment 1270373 View attachment 1270374 View attachment 1270360

I have a Seedsman Strawberry Cheesecake Auto going now, and she is also light color, has also shown tip burn, and has also eaten a handful of lower fans. Maybe the Strawberry genetics are prone to this mischief. Bit of a pain, I have been chasing issues for much of the grow, now at ~day 52. I flushed her really well, twice in fact, and she is still not right, although the trend after the last flush might be an improvement. I have just about given up chasing it.

Good luck keeping her pointed in the right direction.

 

[olegren]

I have a Seedsman Strawberry Cheesecake Auto going now, and she is also light color, has also shown tip burn, and has also eaten a handful of lower fans. Maybe the Strawberry genetics are prone to this mischief. Bit of a pain, I have been chasing issues for much of the grow, now at ~day 52. I flushed her really well, twice in fact, and she is still not right, although the trend after the last flush might be an improvement. I have just about given up chasing it.

Good luck keeping her pointed in the right direction.

Interesting! Sorry to hear you are chasing similar problems, but I'll (selfishly) admit it makes me feel a little better. Thanks much for mentioning it!

I've seen a lot of contradictory information on the topic of flushing plants that are bottom-fed. Do you incorporate anything into the typical flush routine/process when flushing yours? Since it's coco, it seems like it couldn't hurt too much -- so I might very well give it a shot. I took a few pH readings in both plants with my Accurate 8, and I'm getting 6.6-6.8 which seems pretty high.