Questions on Coco

[Lil Dab]

Does anyone recommend transplanting instead of me going direct to pot with the peat pellet? I have a transplant bag from coda I was thinking of using

I prefer using a double solo cup method with one cup slit and bottom cut out. so there is very minimal chance of damaging roots. I have a half dozen of those transplant bags I’ve never dared to use. Always worried about getting them out of the bag easy even with the Velcro side. So mine just hold tools and training clips

If you’re sticking with the pellet I’d go straight to final home with those once they sprout. Less meshing around

 

[Lil Dab]

Next grow I will be using Floraflex prepared coco mix, but I will check EC before assuming that it is ready.

Not sure if you noticed but pretty sure all flora flex coco isn’t buffered just rinsed really good. Been using the bagged stuff for a while now. I was wanting to try a round without buffering but did some digging and found where it’s not buffered. It’s some of the best coco I’ve ordered and about the cheapest with shipping!

I still do a RO rinse and then buffer before using always

 

[Dankerson]

I prefer using a double solo cup method with one cup slit and bottom cut out. so there is very minimal chance of damaging roots. I have a half dozen of those transplant bags I’ve never dared to use. Always worried about getting them out of the bag easy even with the Velcro side. So mine just hold tools and training clips

If you’re sticking with the pellet I’d go straight to final home with those once they sprout. Less meshing around

Thanks man! I think you're right, just gotta make sure I don't go overboard with the watering. Should see some action tomorrow with it.

 

[BII]

For initial watering, I saturate my coco/perlite with about half(for me) dose (1 g/gallon) MegaCrop 2-part. Using 5-7 gallon bags, I transplant seedlings (modified paper towel method) into these. From there I don't water at all, never see need for about 2 weeks. Then when the bag could use some watering, starts to feel lighter, I start feeding full dose (MegaCrop 2-part, 2 g/gallon for 1st half of veg growth).

The repeated watering of sprouts and seedlings growers do, and worry about - Is that really needed? Just like in nature/soil, if using enough initially saturated media in a bag/pot, it should retain sufficient moisture to support seedlings for weeks. This forces the plant to put out tap and side roots throughout the bag/pot. [Basically, just water/feed as you normally would, when the pot gets dry or light enough by your usual standards].

 

[Mara Cachafa]

For initial watering, I saturate my coco/perlite with about half(for me) dose (1 g/gallon) MegaCrop 2-part. Using 5-7 gallon bags, I transplant seedlings (modified paper towel method) into these. From there I don't water at all, never see need for about 2 weeks. Then when the bag could use some watering, starts to feel lighter, I start feeding full dose (MegaCrop 2-part, 2 g/gallon for 1st half of veg growth).

The repeated watering of sprouts and seedlings growers do, and worry about - Is that really needed? Just like in nature/soil, if using enough initially saturated media in a bag/pot, it should retain sufficient moisture to support seedlings for weeks. This forces the plant to put out tap and side roots throughout the bag/pot.

I was watering my plants religiously twice a day, but on this grow, soon after transplant into 3-gallon pots of coco/perlite I landed in the hospital for 8 days (OK now). I thought, since coco doesn't retain as much water as soil, they'd be dead and crispy when I got home. They must have grown enough roots to find every bit of moisture, because during 8 days with no water they grew a foot and looked fine. So now I don't fret if I miss a watering, these are drought-tolerant plants. In outdoor grows in Colombia in the 70's, the best bud was from the dry side of the mountain, in spiny forest habitat (mesquite, cactus, gumbo limbo, ebony, lignum vitae). Trees there survive months without rain.

 

[BII]

I was watering my plants religiously twice a day, but on this grow, soon after transplant into 3-gallon pots of coco/perlite I landed in the hospital for 8 days (OK now). I thought, since coco doesn't retain as much water as soil, they'd be dead and crispy when I got home. They must have grown enough roots to find every bit of moisture, because during 8 days with no water they grew a foot and looked fine. So now I don't fret if I miss a watering, these are drought-tolerant plants. In outdoor grows in Colombia in the 70's, the best bud was from the dry side of the mountain, in spiny forest habitat (mesquite, cactus, gumbo limbo, ebony, lignum vitae). Trees there survive months without rain.
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Your seedlings thrived with no water for 8 days in 3 gallons of coco/perlite. In 5-7 gallon bags, as noted I usually start feeding/watering after about 2 weeks, but in a few cases (not recommended) where I initially saturated the coco/perlite with full dose veg. nutes I've gone without watering for about a month.

Rather that fidget with repeated periphery watering, spraying the surface, etc. (encouraging root growth at the surface vs. throughout pot), I suggest just water/feed seedlings/sprouts/young plants as you normally would, when the initially-saturated bags/pots get dry or light enough by your usual standards.

 

[Olderfart]

Not sure if you noticed but pretty sure all flora flex coco isn’t buffered just rinsed really good. Been using the bagged stuff for a while now. I was wanting to try a round without buffering but did some digging and found where it’s not buffered. It’s some of the best coco I’ve ordered and about the cheapest with shipping!

I still do a RO rinse and then buffer before using always

Thanks for the head's up, I thought it was buffered as well. I will give it a rinse and buffer. I ordered it when it was on sale, and it is indeed the best source I have found so far, but only in the US. I could not find a Canadian supplier, so I picked it up south of the border while I was travelling. I will order more if/when I notice it coming up on sale again.

Does anyone recommend transplanting instead of me going direct to pot with the peat pellet? I have a transplant bag from coda I was thinking of using

I transplant from solos now, I use the double cup setup with the inner cup sliced to allow easy removal of the bottom before placing the bottomless cup with its girl in it into an exactly shaped hole, and then pulling the sides, leaving the plant in its new pot with a minimum of stress. I think that this provides about as stress free transplant as is doable. I now do this by cutting the bottom off above the constriction near the bottom, and cutting the sides vertically so that the cup is in three pieces, the bottom, and two independent sides. I then minimally tape it all together before placing it inside a second cup to make sure that it does not come apart before transplant.

Using permeable fabric for this purpose might be more stress due to root adhesion or penetration of the bag - there is no way to remove the bag without ripping root hairs. The solo cup is smooth inside, and if set up properly, damages absolutely nothing. Most of my solo transplants are happily growing again in 48 hours or, usually, less. The other advantage is that you can use the same coco as in the final pot, so if you also fertigate with an identical mix for a while after transplant, the plant will "see" virtually no change at all.

I have tried direct planting, but prefer to start with extra solos so I can select the best, and/or not waste time for a seed to emerge in a final pot only to have it not show up, thereby wasting a week or so of grow time.

Different strokes eh, but that is the system I have arrived at after a few years of this mischief.