1st time coco slabs smething's going wrong already

Hi all!

I've recieved my new cuttlings (Chocolope).
After 3 days in a propagator at 95% humidity i decided it's time to put them in the slabs.

First i cut holes in my slabs (canna slabs) and watered each slab with 3,5 Litres of PH 5.6 and EC 0.8.
About 0,5 Liter of drain came out of each slab.

A day later i went and put all my clones onto the slabs. I gave then each clone 50ml of PH 5.6 and EC 1.0

I spray them every few hours so they get the tropical feeling. Humidifyer is 24/7 on.. tent humidity is about 60%

Got 2x 600watt hps lamps hanging on approx 1meter from the plants. However some of the clones seem happy and some look sad (leaves lowering, see pics).

Have i overwatered here or whats exactly going on?


ps. yes i give them root stimulator, i also sprayed them with HY-PRO spraymix (leaf fertz) today

I flush my coco for like an hour before I use it and then saturate it one last time with ph'd water + calmag overnight before using..

Is it necessary no but it is what I do and never had a problem using cocotek,cocogro,and have used a few random offbrands as well.

also quit spraying them! If the coco is moist there is no need to spray which is why you are seeing over water symptoms. IMO

The guys in my local growshop said i should spray them because my exaust is pulling too much moist out of the air. If i dont do that the himidity drops to 40%.. i only spray the leaves not the medium.

Beside they dry out within minutes.. But what you are saying, it is impossible to overwater on coco slabs?

it is only impossible in coco when your roots are developed Right now you are watering at both ends just try watering the coco and then since you have low humidity throw a dome or plastic cup bag etc over the top of your clones. Try that and post again in a couple days and IMO you will see them perk right up.

I do grow in coco BTW.

I have only given them water on the slabs once (50ML. (like 1.7 oz)) they have been in there for like 4 days now. I had a few extra clones as backup. I took the worst looking clone out of the slab to swap it with a better one and i saw that it's roots had visibly grown since i put it in there.. so i guess thats kind of a relief but i want them to get better fast lol. Right now my vegging scheme is messing up, don't want them to become too big later.. they are 20 clones on 1 square meter.

Keep us posted.

So just for the record.. i should stop spraying them. But shall i give them water on the slabs or not? If yes, then shall i give until a drain comes out or just enough to moist it?

tnx in advance

yeah I would stop spraying them and water the coco untill you get a decent run off. You said they are rooted so mix a 1/5 strength feed up and use that.

Mist your dome and place it back on and within 24 hours if you do not see improvement get back on and post a pic I will try and help.

Your coco could also be full of salts. I have never had a problem but I flush mine excessively before using it.

Okay update.. i havent sprayed for the last 24 hours, humidity is about 50% in the tent.
At this point almost all of them have hanging leaves. I am about to water a few of them to see if they will improve by only watering on the slab.

ps. the reserve clone i swapped with the worst looking clone is now also hanging sad. When i put it the leaves stood UP, now they are all down.. i felt with my fingers at the moment of replacement and the coco inside the slab felt moist.

Okay new update..

I decided to do something drastic..
1. I bought 2 new slabs (canna) and cut them open
2. i also bought 40 very small pots that i filled with the coco from the new slabs
3. i carefully pulled every clone out and re-potted it into the small pots
4. i watered every pot with 50ml of EC 1.2 and PH 5.7 solution and double dosage of root stimulator
5. Ive built a mega-propagator where i put all the clones in.. humidity inside is about 75-80% with my humidifyer ON
6. 600watt hps with a adjust-a-wing hangs about 1 meter above the propagator

I hope this does the trick.. if so then i will buy whole new slabs tuesday and repot them there.

PS. the slabs were really really moist inside after i pulled out the clones.. so i think they were eighter suffucating or the extreme moisture made the roots lazy/not willing to expand to look for water and nutes. i will update again once i see improvement or not

Raise your ph slightly. Unlike traditional hydro the sweet spot for coco is 5.8 -6.2. Let smaller plants/clones dry out a little more than normal to establish a root zone. I also only suggest using a foliare spray once a week during a dark period. Good luck

urban1026835 said:

I flush my coco for like an hour before I use it and then saturate it one last time with ph'd water + calmag overnight before using..

Is it necessary no but it is what I do and never had a problem using cocotek,cocogro,and have used a few random offbrands as well.

also quit spraying them! If the coco is moist there is no need to spray which is why you are seeing over water symptoms. IMO

Click to expand...

Canna slabs are prebuffered. No rinsing is needed. Actually all the canna substrates arw prebuffered except the cogr boards. Buffered correctly too.

eekje said:

The guys in my local growshop said i should spray them because my exaust is pulling too much moist out of the air. If i dont do that the himidity drops to 40%.. i only spray the leaves not the medium.

Beside they dry out within minutes.. But what you are saying, it is impossible to overwater on coco slabs?

Click to expand...

Spraying your plants with rhizo or nitrozime at initial transplant is ideal. Your grpwstore is rite. Actually try and get the canna dvd tutorial. Your fine. U just put them in. Let them settle. Give it time