Grow Mediums What nutes do you hand watering coco growers use?

[ItzSticky]

It's not coco-specific, but I've been using Dyna-Gro's one-part nutrients for a couple years. Foliage-Pro in veg, Bloom in flower. I use Pro-Tekt throughout for silicon (and as a pH up), and also add GH CALiMAGic for rebuffering reused coco or for especially calcium-hungry strains (the Dyna-Gro nutrients provide some calcium and magnesium), and otherwise add a little epsom salts for extra magnesium and sulfur.

All of the above can be mixed ahead of time and stored for a week or two without going off / pH drift, so typically I mix a couple gallons at a time once a week or so. I bottom-feed, so usually I just dump the pre-mixed nutrient water in trays once a day.

Have you ever ran into only a Calcium or only a Magnesium deficiency using a one-part solution?
Do you mix the epsom salt into the nute water or sprinkle on top and water in?

What kind of PPM/EC numbers should i be striving for during Seedling/Veg/Bloom/ and late bloom?

 

[parsing_trees]

Have you ever ran into only a Calcium or only a Magnesium deficiency using a one-part solution?
Do you mix the epsom salt into the nute water or sprinkle on top and water in?

What kind of PPM/EC numbers should i be striving for during Seedling/Veg/Bloom/ and late bloom?

I've had calcium or magnesium deficiencies individually with just the one-part solution, yes, but I also use my tap water (likely calcium-heavy) so my starting ratio of calcium to magnesium is probably a bit wonky. Also, I tend to grow several strains at once with the same nutrient mix, and sometimes a plant or two wants more or particular nutrients than the others. I mix the epsom salts in with the nutrient water, they dissolve pretty easily.

I'm wary of recommending specific EC targets because a few months ago my old EC meter started failing, my old and new one disagree about readings (by about 20%!), and I haven't picked up / made a reference solution to confirm that the new one is the more accurate one yet. I generally start low, gradually increase, and make adjustments based on how the plants react. I switch from Foliage-Pro to Bloom around the end of flowering stretch, because I figure they still need extra nitrogen for that growth.

 

[ItzSticky]

I've had calcium or magnesium deficiencies individually with just the one-part solution, yes, but I also use my tap water (likely calcium-heavy) so my starting ratio of calcium to magnesium is probably a bit wonky. Also, I tend to grow several strains at once with the same nutrient mix, and sometimes a plant or two wants more or particular nutrients than the others. I mix the epsom salts in with the nutrient water, they dissolve pretty easily.

I'm wary of recommending specific EC targets because a few months ago my old EC meter started failing, my old and new one disagree about readings (by about 20%!), and I haven't picked up / made a reference solution to confirm that the new one is the more accurate one yet. I generally start low, gradually increase, and make adjustments based on how the plants react. I switch from Foliage-Pro to Bloom around the end of flowering stretch, because I figure they still need extra nitrogen for that growth.

I'm going to try feeding rainwater this round, see how that goes.
The Epsom salt is used for a magnesium supplement?
What do you use for calcium? I've seen Nectar Of The Gods has a pure calcium nute.

I have a relatively cheap PPM meter, ended up purchasing 1000ppm solution to calibrate it. Was about ~30ppm off.
What kind of Coco do you use?
I'm using Mother Earths Coco + Perlite. It states its ready to use, so not sure if I should add Cal-Mag

 

[Howie7]

My 2 cents…. I feel like it doesn’t really matter. I mean, as far as the average grower goes. Your top brands are all going to produce similar results depending on how you control the conditions in your tent.

I feel like it’s similar to the argument between Chevy/Dodge/Ford. People have their favourites but they all accomplish the same thing if you use them correctly. Anyway, I’m using coco and Root Farm from Canadian Tire and having good success

 

[DCLXVI]

I'm still quite new to coco but I've had really good luck with it so far. I've run a couple nute lines through it all with similar results, hence I think coco is just plain easy to work with! If you check pH and strength. Fertigate often and to runoff.

I'm currently running Cyco Pearl coco and I just picked up a bag of Mother Earth coco/perlite. I like to run some seedling strength nutrient mix through the coco even if it's prebuffered. I collect and test the runoff for both pH and ppm. I noticed the Cyco Pearl was quite strong at around 700ppm on the initial rinse through. I have not tested the MotherEarth yet. I like to run/rinse with seedling strength nutrients until the runoff is between 300-400ppm.

With the prebuffered coco you should not need calmag right away. Depending on your nutrient line you may need more later on. Some of the coco specific lines address this in their A/B formulas.

I am using the Jacks 3-2-1 line with success. They use plain epsom salt as a sulfur and Mg addition. I ran my last tent full of autos on 80% strength, which funnily enough worked out to 3g 2g 1g of the 3 part Jacks formula.

Your water source can make the biggest difference. I used distilled water for the entire last grow and it was much easier than trying to use tap water. Your water can contain a lot of dissolved "stuff" that will effect your grow. Same with pH and trying to adjust it in range.

 

[parsing_trees]

I'm going to try feeding rainwater this round, see how that goes.
The Epsom salt is used for a magnesium supplement?
What do you use for calcium? I've seen Nectar Of The Gods has a pure calcium nute.

I have a relatively cheap PPM meter, ended up purchasing 1000ppm solution to calibrate it. Was about ~30ppm off.
What kind of Coco do you use?
I'm using Mother Earths Coco + Perlite. It states its ready to use, so not sure if I should add Cal-Mag

Epsom salt: Yes, it's magnesium sulfate, it provides magnesium and sulfur. The Dyna-Gro nutrients are a bit low on sulfur unless you use Mag-Pro (I don't), which they recommend with RO.
Calcium: GH CALiMAGic.
Coco: Canna (bagged).

 

[Delty]

I’ve only ever grown in coco and have always used Canna Pro+ bagged coco alongside Canna Coco nutrients. I never pre buffer as there is no need and very rarely get any mag/cal def, as you’d expect for a medium + nutrients designed to work together.

I rarely go higher than about 1.2 EC of nutrients on 0.05EC rainwater. Occasionally have to use our hard (0.6 EC) tap water for a total EC of 1.8, the plants don’t mind either way. I also re-use my coco at least once. Leave to soak in cannazym until roots broken down, occasionally I remember to charge with some cal mag but still have rarely had a cal/mag def either way.

The only issues I’ve had have been completely my fault and due to overfeeding with too high EC, though fixed with a flush but with 2-3 days lost.

Coco feels a really good medium once you have it down and I love the yields even from relatively small airpots.

 

[ItzSticky]

I'm still quite new to coco but I've had really good luck with it so far. I've run a couple nute lines through it all with similar results, hence I think coco is just plain easy to work with! If you check pH and strength. Fertigate often and to runoff.

I'm currently running Cyco Pearl coco and I just picked up a bag of Mother Earth coco/perlite. I like to run some seedling strength nutrient mix through the coco even if it's prebuffered. I collect and test the runoff for both pH and ppm. I noticed the Cyco Pearl was quite strong at around 700ppm on the initial rinse through. I have not tested the MotherEarth yet. I like to run/rinse with seedling strength nutrients until the runoff is between 300-400ppm.

With the prebuffered coco you should not need calmag right away. Depending on your nutrient line you may need more later on. Some of the coco specific lines address this in their A/B formulas.

I am using the Jacks 3-2-1 line with success. They use plain epsom salt as a sulfur and Mg addition. I ran my last tent full of autos on 80% strength, which funnily enough worked out to 3g 2g 1g of the 3 part Jacks formula.

Your water source can make the biggest difference. I used distilled water for the entire last grow and it was much easier than trying to use tap water. Your water can contain a lot of dissolved "stuff" that will effect your grow. Same with pH and trying to adjust it in range.

If you get around to testing the MotherEarth I would really like to hear what you got!
We'll see how RW treats me then.

Epsom salt: Yes, it's magnesium sulfate, it provides magnesium and sulfur. The Dyna-Gro nutrients are a bit low on sulfur unless you use Mag-Pro (I don't), which they recommend with RO.
Calcium: GH CALiMAGic.
Coco: Canna (bagged).

The GH CALiMAGic is both cal and mag correct? Would you feed CalMag if the plant was only Cal deficient?
I'll have to grab some Epsom Salt then.

I’ve only ever grown in coco and have always used Canna Pro+ bagged coco alongside Canna Coco nutrients. I never pre buffer as there is no need and very rarely get any mag/cal def, as you’d expect for a medium + nutrients designed to work together.

I rarely go higher than about 1.2 EC of nutrients on 0.05EC rainwater. Occasionally have to use our hard (0.6 EC) tap water for a total EC of 1.8, the plants don’t mind either way. I also re-use my coco at least once. Leave to soak in cannazym until roots broken down, occasionally I remember to charge with some cal mag but still have rarely had a cal/mag def either way.

The only issues I’ve had have been completely my fault and due to overfeeding with too high EC, though fixed with a flush but with 2-3 days lost.

Coco feels a really good medium once you have it down and I love the yields even from relatively small airpots.

I plan on using RW this grow. Looking at a 55gal rain catch barrel that I'll have my gutter system on top of to help catch rain.

Do you add anything into your rain catch barrel to keep it bacteria-free?
As of right now my solution is just to clean gutter system and add UC roots every 3-4 days.

 

[jay-toker]

I've used both BioThrive and MaxiGro/Bloom and agree with Jax about calmag.

 

[jam005]

Dutch Pro.