How to grow in coco loco?!

[Olderfart]

I had some old seeds didnt know if they would germinate or not so i just dropped them in little folgers cans for the hell of it! Hoping they pop think its cool the solo cup challenges and what not fun to follow and see what they do. Anyways back to coco talk. Only thing im worried about is the feeding and how i should go about it.. Do you feed everytime etc. I have fox farm trio and calmag. Little worried ill burn them thwt fox farm trio is some strong stuff hard to get the right amount down.

Mix the ratios according to the Fox Trio instructions, and use an EC meter to adjust the mix to target EC levels by adding plain water. If your water is hard, you will need to at least dilute it with distilled or RO water, or find another source. My tap water sucks, so I use surface water from a creek, or later in the winter, melted snow.

The EC target you choose will depend to some degree on whether you top irrigate or sub-irrigate. If sub-irrigating, you need to keep EC levels even lower than with top irrigation. I have, I think never kept them low enough with my autopots, so I always ran into lockout issues. I am now going to automated top irrigation more or less as described by Cocoforcannabis.com. It worked a treat on my solo grow last winter.

 

[Olderfart]

I had some old seeds didnt know if they would germinate or not so i just dropped them in little folgers cans for the hell of it! Hoping they pop think its cool the solo cup challenges and what not fun to follow and see what they do. Anyways back to coco talk. Only thing im worried about is the feeding and how i should go about it.. Do you feed everytime etc. I have fox farm trio and calmag. Little worried ill burn them thwt fox farm trio is some strong stuff hard to get the right amount down.

Oops, forgot to mention, there are other growers here who really like sub-irrigation and make it work well, so don't let me discourage you from trying it if that is your interest. One good thing with coco is that if the you-know-what hits the fan, it is possible to reset things with a flush. Better avoided if possible, but doable. In contrast, if thing go sideways in soil, recovery is harder because it is hard to know what is left in the soil and therefore what to add if anything.

 

[JAB]

I can't help you with the program with those nutes, but you may get specific information from others.

What I can suggest at this point is that you will find the process easier and more effective with pH and EC meters. The pH meter needs to be decent, the EC meter not so much. I use an Apera PH60 which has a replaceable probe. After a couple years, it is finally slowing down enough that I have grabbed a replacement for the next round. My EC meter is just a cheapie, but it is calibratable which helps in comparison with my original cheapie.

To keep the pH meter happy, you need to make or buy some storage solution and keep the probe in it whenever it is not being used. As in never let the probe dry out.

My apologies if you are already on top of the meter thing, and good luck with the transition.

Im not on top of it. Lol i have a ph meter but its a cheap one so ill grab the meter you have asap then. Thank younfor your help!

 

[JAB]

Mix the ratios according to the Fox Trio instructions, and use an EC meter to adjust the mix to target EC levels by adding plain water. If your water is hard, you will need to at least dilute it with distilled or RO water, or find another source. My tap water sucks, so I use surface water from a creek, or later in the winter, melted snow.

The EC target you choose will depend to some degree on whether you top irrigate or sub-irrigate. If sub-irrigating, you need to keep EC levels even lower than with top irrigation. I have, I think never kept them low enough with my autopots, so I always ran into lockout issues. I am now going to automated top irrigation more or less as described by Cocoforcannabis.com. It worked a treat on my solo grow last winter.

My water is well water with a 7.3 PH and has iron, calcium and magnesium in it. I am waiting on a PPM meter to test it but i know my neighbor uses his straight for his veggie garden and it grows AMAZING. We are on the same well but i dont drink it because the iron taste is ehhhhhh. Haha

 

[JAB]

Oops, forgot to mention, there are other growers here who really like sub-irrigation and make it work well, so don't let me discourage you from trying it if that is your interest. One good thing with coco is that if the you-know-what hits the fan, it is possible to reset things with a flush. Better avoided if possible, but doable. In contrast, if thing go sideways in soil, recovery is harder because it is hard to know what is left in the soil and therefore what to add if anything.

Thats another thing that made me want to grow in coco is if i see a toxicity i can just flush and start over! The soil in my first grow there wasnt anything i could really do and that drove me nuts.

 

[JAB]

Oops, forgot to mention, there are other growers here who really like sub-irrigation and make it work well, so don't let me discourage you from trying it if that is your interest. One good thing with coco is that if the you-know-what hits the fan, it is possible to reset things with a flush. Better avoided if possible, but doable. In contrast, if thing go sideways in soil, recovery is harder because it is hard to know what is left in the soil and therefore what to add if anything.

What about cultivation nation 70/30 coco coir perlite buffered? I tried to find an ingredient list to see if it has any amendments but ended up just emailing for the answer. This is a cheaper and faster route for me since perlite is $32 for 2cuft where im at and coco coir takes forever to ship to me.

 

[Olderfart]

What about cultivation nation 70/30 coco coir perlite buffered? I tried to find an ingredient list to see if it has any amendments but ended up just emailing for the answer. This is a cheaper and faster route for me since perlite is $32 for 2cuft where im at and coco coir takes forever to ship to me.

View attachment 1470940

Looks good to me, but as you found, it is hard to be certain what is in there. I see no indication after a quick search that it is anything other than buffered coco with 30% perlite, which should work well. I used a bit more perlite (~40%), but 30% should work great. If getting coco in another form is a hassle, I'd give it a try.

You might want to do a bit of digging to see if you can find growers that have used it to see how reliable the buffering is. It is easy to buffer it yourself if there is any doubt.

If you give it a try, do a journal and review the results so other peeps here can learn about the product.

 

[Olderfart]

Thats another thing that made me want to grow in coco is if i see a toxicity i can just flush and start over! The soil in my first grow there wasnt anything i could really do and that drove me nuts.

My last grow, other than the solo experiment, was soil, and I ran into some sort of lockout/deficiency, and just had to suck it up. I still got good bud, but not being able to fix things bugs me too, and is one of the reasons I am heading back to coco for a grow. I like the simplicity of a soil grow when it works, but I also like the control available with coco. I still haven't settled on one or the other for sure. Both approaches work well in the right hands. To some degree the choice is as much a matter of the grower's personality as it is the needs of the plants.

 

[DCLXVI]

If you're ordering online, I have had very good luck with Cyco Coco Pearl. It's a bit more $$ at $48 for a big bag off Amazon.

The Coir looks fine as well. It' is prebuffered, which means it's loaded with Cal/Mag so you shouldn't need to add extra unless the feed schedule says to. Nice article here:

What is Coco Coir? - Washing Vs Buffering

What is Coco Coir? - Washing Vs Buffering

www.shogunfertilisers.com

Lots to read up on for coco. However, once you know the basics it is pretty easy.

I would highly recommend testing your water before you decide how to proceed. The ppm/EC of the water will dictate how much fertilizer you can add to it. My tap water is 210ppm or so. i started by cutting it with jugs of distilled water from the store 50/50 to bring it down to a more useable range. I finally invested in a RO machine as the price at the store rose considerably, and I hated lugging gallons around.

I usually run seedling strength nute mix through the coco to wet it initially, rinse out the coco dust, and to test the runoff and see how much "stuff" they put in it. The Cyco Pearl comes out at around 700ppm initially. I rinse it until the runoff drops to around 400ppm or a little less. The seedling strength is 300-350ppm. You will have to adjust nutrient strength based on your chosed fertilizer line and what the plant tells you.

I ran a solo cup of coco with Advanced Nutrients Sensi line and had tip/nute burn around 450ppm. I am currently running Jacks 321 at around 700ppm without issue. So, numbers are a guideline.

Coco basics:

Always fertigate. Always nutrients mixed in, never water only.
Adjust pH to between 5.8-6.2
Water to runoff everytime. Suggested volume is 20%. So, if you fertigate 500ml in you should be looking for 100ml of runoff. If you get less, water more!
Nutrient strength guidelines are for photoperiods. Autos do great between 50-80% strength.
The EC/PPM guide number is your starting water + nutrients. If your guide says 500ppm and your water is 200ppm, you can add 300ppm of nutes.


In the seedling stage you may not need to water for a few days after the initial soak, after that, once a day, and eventually you may need to water 2-3-4 times a day depending on how much the plant wants. I'm at about day 40 currently, watering 2x a day and about 1000ml each time.

 

[JAB]

My last grow, other than the solo experiment, was soil, and I ran into some sort of lockout/deficiency, and just had to suck it up. I still got good bud, but not being able to fix things bugs me too, and is one of the reasons I am heading back to coco for a grow. I like the simplicity of a soil grow when it works, but I also like the control available with coco. I still haven't settled on one or the other for sure. Both approaches work well in the right hands. To some degree the choice is as much a matter of the grower's personality as it is the needs of the plants.

Yea my last grow was in soil and the plants were stunted from the amendments already being jn the soil even just watering. Black golf organic soil is what i used. Its just really hot i guess and A LOT of mulch. But i will try to find someone using that coco mix see if it works out!