Canna coco nutrients and coco

COCO How Too

To start, I just want to state that everything I state works for me and for my situation. I use Canna COCO Nutrients with some additives from House and Garden and Atami. Everything is in ML per Gallon.

KNOW YOUR WATER
It happens often, that some people assume that all water is created equal. Next thing you know your having horrible results whilst someone else is having amazing results using the same recipe.
The water I am using contains large amounts of Iron, manganese, magnesium, and calcium. The EC of my water is 231 or .231. I use EC because it is universal, whilst PPM is a conversion of EC by dividing by either .7 (Europe) or .5 (United states). When using Canna nutrients, they expect you to be using water with an EC of 400, with most of it being comprised by calcium and Magnesium. Since I don’t want to HAVE to have some sort of Calcium and Magnesium supplement and an RO filter is an addition cost including maintenance, I found it much easier to just use plain well water when mixing nutrients and have thus far found it to work without issue.

BLUMATS
I use Blumats for auto watering. I found that, since runoff is reduced, you don’t need to use nearly as much nutrients then you would need to use is you were watering by hand. Although there is runoff, it is drastically less than if you were watering by hand. More around 5% at best. Coco medium had the ability to sequester nutrients from the nutrient solution. With this ability and the fact that the reservoir is ran through all the plants when changing to a different ML per Gallon, so if I were to switch to 6 ML per a gallon from 4 ML per a gallon I would crank up the Blumats and let them run through all the pots. I also use dripclean, which is good at keeping the lines from clogging up over time.
For a reservoir, I use a igloo water dispenser. Come to find out, the rain barrel connector that comes with the Blumat Balcony kit, fits perfectly in place of the spout, like shown below.


Now, I would like to say that you should keep your work area clean, but as you may be able to tell, it has to be cleaned bad. Pictures are a bit old and it went awhile before it got cleaned out.


ROOTS, ROOTS AND MORE ROOTS.
I found that for COCO to work the best, you want a very well established root system. Before I use Blumats, I water by hand. I let the medium get a little dry in between watering, otherwise that plants literally get lazy. When I first started in COCO, I watered daily and could not figure out why it took so long for the plants to get 6” tall. They were healthy, seemed happy yet they just didn’t want to grow fast at all. Using a weak solution, Like 2ML per gallon, mixed with some House and Garden Roots Excell (more concentrated version of Rhizotonic) and a little bit of Orca, to add micro life to my coco, Which is Cyco Brand not Canna. Then I let the medium dry up a bit so that the tops look on the dry side in between watering. When done like this, the plants take off with roots taking over the whole pots. When I can water and two hours later the medium is dry then I know its ready to be constantly watered with the blumats. From what I have noticed, the bigger the roots that bigger the yield and buds tend to be.



This picture of Qrazy Train above shows how small the buds get when you don’t have a well-established root system in COCO. If the root system was allowed another week, the buds would be the size of a fist, and the plant would have been much larger in size as well. The burning on the leaves in the background are from a light that couldn’t be raised anymore so the tops got burnt on the glass of the cooled hood. Plants were moved and have grown past that point, I just never bothered to remove those leaves, but did before they went into flowering.

Canna COCO with Blumats feeding schedule.
For Clones and seedlings
2ML of Canna COCO A + B
1ML of H&G Roots excel
10ML Orca
Then let dry between watering’s. small amounts of runoff work well. I really don’t care too much about how much I get.
For Low feeding plants that are a foot or taller in Veg
4ML or Canna Coco A+B
1ML of Roots Excel
Move up to the size pot you want, smaller pots dry quicker so I found that scaling pot sizes helps them grow quicker, then continue watering until you can leave for two hours and find them nearly dry by the time you get back. And No I am not kidding, if you want some Hydro like results, you want them to have one hell of a root system. A 2 liter pot works well for massive size plants, I have found that the buds get so heavy that you will find them on the ground one day and will have to tie them up so they will not fall over. I have used a 2 gallon pot and got great results from those as well



Like the Agent Orange pictured above, which even after a case of bud rot, yielded a quarter pound or dried and cured bud. This was hand watered and did not have blumats running it at the time. With coco, you can get soil results when you treat it like soil and water it once a day. But if you treat it like hydro and water three to four times a day, or have it constantly watered by blumats, you can get Hydro Like results. Future runs yielded much better. Now that I have gone vertical, the results thus far are amazing.

As for handling runoff, I found that using metal roofing material, on a slant allowed runoff to run down to some bent metal flashing that brought it over to a drain. I used white roofing and it kept other plants from absorbing runoff from the upper plants.



For Heavy yielding plants, I found that I can go up as high as 7ML of A+B per gallon of water. Anything higher than that tends to make the leaves look sickly dark green with burnt tips. I aim for the healthy green like seen in some of the last pictures.
I wait till I have little white Puff ball buds on top of the plants then add 5 ML of KoolBloom from General Hydroponics, for one week, and one week only. Any more than that will cause a calcium and magnesium deficiency which waste nutrients and lowers yield. The 3 gallon pots in the above picture were growing so fast that they were topped right before being put into flowering. So far two weeks in, they are covered with 1 inch puff ball buds and have grown over 1 foot tall from the stretch. If they were not topped then there would have been no room for them and they would have grown into the cooled hood above them.

POT SIZE



2 liters can yield 2 ounces per plant all day long. 2 Gallons can get 4 ounces per plant BUT they are massive plants and that reduces the amount you can fit into a 4X4 footprint under a 1000Watt light. Granted, strains vary yield wise and I am talking about medium yielding plants not heavy yielding.

ADDATIVES…
Before you run ANY Additives do yourself a favor and get the base nutrients running good with your setup. Trying to juggle additives and base just so you can get them all to work is too much and you wont know if things are messed up from not having the base nutrients right or maybe you are adding too much of some additive. People Swear by Drip Clean and all I noticed is that is not used, I may have a line that gets a little gummed up. Drip clean can cause what appears to be a phosphorus and potassium deficiency. Then again, that’s what happens when you add to much to your res. I made a mistake and added 1ML per gallon instead of the .5ML a gallon and I had purple stems and the edges of the leaves going yellow, curling up and burning. If I didn’t just start doing that and added a bunch of other stuff I wouldn’t have been able to deduct that drip clean was the problem. Learn from my mistake and take things slow. If your yield is low and plants look well fed. Back off the feed, chances are you are overfeeding and reducing your yield.
Other than roots excel and the occasional Cannazyme, I like to run Atami Bloombastic for the last three weeks. I tend to run no higher than 1 ML a gallon on the bloombastic and drop the Base Canna A+B down to either 2 or 4 ML depending on whether it is a heavy of light feeder.
I run PK booster when I get the little fluffy white balls forming, depending on strain. For instance, Agent Orange is a LIGHT feeder, and doesn’t really do much till the last three weeks of flowering, then she blows up with flower growth. If I add a PK booster at my usual point of growth she will just get sterile nanners that form all over her and some slight burning on the tips of the leaves. Never a seed even though she will be covered in Nanners!!! I feed her 4ML at the height of growth. Now during her last three weeks, not only does the Bloombastic bring out incredible purple coloring, but she is all that is needed as a PK booster and Agent Orange will burst with growth and start packing on the weight.

WHAT TO KNOW
With Coco, you must be able to read your plants!!!! Each strain and pheno wants something more or less than the other pheno or strain. Rule of thumb that I go by is by feeding 4ML. I will keep raising it by the week till I start to get the Dark green colored leaves. I will than lower it an ML or two giving it time to go back to the healthy green that I love to see. They grow quicker, produce more and overall create a much better smoke. When I see pictures of dark green leaves that look like dark forest green crayons, I know the plant is overfed and had an abundance of nitrogen in her leaves. When I had Agent Orange hooked to the same res as Qrazy Train, she turned dark green and threw out nanners like crazy whilst the Qrazy train had a nice lighter green and was completely happy all around. I didn’t have the heart to back it off because one Agent orange got labeled wrong.




Here is my little candy girl Plush berry, I will update with a picture when she is out of the flower room and ready for harvest. Last time I took a 6500K light to her she was starting to turn her calyxes a nice purple magenta color. She is 8 weeks in and to my surprise, she looks to be ready sometime this coming week!! Normally I run to 10 weeks since everything I run never seems finished till then. But Green House seeds White Rhino and Plushberry are so close while Red Dragon trails behind and may be a few more weeks I pushed these girls to 6ML and had to back them back to 4 till there color evened back out. Now they are at 2ML with 1ML bloombastic, The last three days will be nothing but 2ML preceded by a nice flushing of the coco to get everything down to 2ML.
To be good at anything it takes about 5 years minimum. To master something it takes up to 10 years or more. If you keep doing the same thing over and over you will never learn. So feel free to experiment and try new things. I gave top shooter a try, she added 2 weeks to each run but she did increase yield a bit. Just couldn’t justify the extra few weeks for the little yield increase I got. That and the cost of the product on top of the extra run time made it break even at best. I will say that it works as advertised.

I hope to add more when I have the time along with some more pictures, please feel free to comment

I'm loving Canna Coco and their Coco A and B.

Ran into problems using bricks and non Coco specifuc nutes.

Gota say all your picks look good man! good job! I'd never heard of blumats lol just googled them an they def look good, I'm a firm believer in the little and often method of watering!

thats the chart I've been more or less stickin to for past couple years (all in ml per 10ltr)... Only thing I'd say I've had to change for most "8" week strains is that pk13/14 should be at least a few days earlier and for anything your expecting to take 9 to 10 starting at week 5 seems sweet.
I always put 4 under a 600w in a 4x4 space an give them about 2 weeks veg from rooted clone (or untill there between 12 and 16 inches depending on whether strain is prone to stretch or not) in 15lt(3 gal) pots, also in Canna coco with quite a bit of perlite mixed in!
Always generally get over 500g dry, big bud from sensi and jack herer from a mate lol where both up near 600g on couple of occasions... Only strain I've realy had trouble with was green house trainweck can't remember exact numbers but was workin out at less than 450 per light... Had a nightmare with it collapsing and not being able to support itself, only ran it once and wasn't realy expecting to have to give it so much care!

anyway that's my 10 cents worth, thought I,d share...

Like you say if you keep doing same thing you never learn! So I'm now bout to move into dwc and start changing what nutes I use and just tryin to follow the same ec schedule.... Been doin same for a while and whilst it works I'm sure I can improve!

I burned an over fed using cannas chart. And I went through a ton of nutrients in the process. Sounds like you had good results with following the chart. Blu mats are nice, they make life easy esp when you have as many plants running as I have had. Found 9 large plants for a 1000 watt light on a 4x4 footprint works well. Any more and I would have one or two shaded out and stunted. I thought about running house and garden nutrients at 3/4 strength. I was suggested to drop everything by 1/4 from there feed chart and was told that it works well ran in DWC. Never tried it myself so don't have any personal results to know what works best with it.

I also run a few few 3 gallon fabric pots, takes awhile for a good root system, then again I am picky and have so many clones that I always have something ready to go in at a moments notice. I started a vertical grow using metal fencing that's four feet high and 12 feet long. When wrapped around a 1000W light I have all parts of the plants 2 feet from the light. So far still have the plants stretching so been interlacing the branches till the buds start to form those little white puff balls. With the 3 gallons, it takes a good month to have a massive root system, once in budding the roots system stop growth and you won't have a big enough root system to get the largest yield possible. I have been running the same strains for 2 years now and have tried all different things to improve yield and a big root system has been key. I never bothered with adding perlite to my coco and been meaning to add some and do a side by side and see what works best. I never felt the need since coco only holds capillary water thus it can only hold the right amount of water to keep the roots well fed with the right amount of air to keep them from drowning. I have a ton of clones ready at all times so I tend to have to cut them back a couple times before I have a light freed up in the flower room.

I have to say I am a big fan of perpetual growing. Cause clones will show you whether what your doing is better or whether the phenos or genetics are better. White rhinos YIELD in comparison to my other plants but they seem too generic and common place to make them interest me much. I like red dragon with the guava fruit smell, which was so intense that it smelled like insecticide tell late budding when it calmed down a bit. Plush berry, well I got two phenos, one has a small yield but smells like candy, no weed like smell just CANDY!! The other is taller, has a decent yield and smells like berries with a musk undertone. I may just keep the smaller of the two since I like rare NOT common place genetics and phenos. Since most people pick based on yield, I am never happy with what can be found on the market.

I'm thinking about doing a type of DWC so I don't have to use large plants that will climb a metal fencing and can build a vertical setup that uses a pump so I am not limited by needing to keep blu mats low to the ground. It would also give me a reason to use my ec meter again. Once I had things dialed in I had no need for it anymore and it has been collecting dust. I only use it if I have an issue, as a diagnostic tool to take readings from run off to make sure there is no build up. I had a few problems with blumats losing water from inside the cone, osmosis is a bitch like that and found that adding a light feed mix kept the water from being sucked out of the cone to balance the salt content from the other side. That and kept the blu mats running more consistently.

Man red dragon has a beautiful smell and taste never grown it though but that reminds me I may have some decent clones available to me from a close allie...
yeh that's another thing the nicest tastin shit never seems to be the best yielding but I guess that's a metaphor for everything in life!
forgot to mention actually I'm and have been for a good while, using super roots airpots... I'm just a big fan of gettin as much oxygen to the roots as poss hence adding the perlite just makes the coco that bit lighter. Tbh I've never done head to heads with normal pots and or no perlite just because of a lack of time, space and money lol.
Time to start experimenting again this year though, put some of the fun back into the game! Your same as me, I haven't touched an ec meter in at least 18 months and very rare to even check ph... Pretty much know exactly where everything gonna be sitting!
Just started a new strain actually, critical yumbolt? You any experience with that? Very early on but looks like it gonna be a good pheno. Not much to go on yet mind you but it's got a nice structure to it.... The guy I got it from swears its from a lovely mother, so lets hope so.
I'm looking at doing some monsters in dwc to cut down numbers cause that's a bit of an issue round my way, so the fewer plants I can get down to the better really! Your vertical setup sounds pretty awesome, nice way of doing it! Think itm gona do some scrogin when I start wi the dwc seems best way to stop from wasting a lot of energy.

Vertical grow allows for larger yields. With vertcal grows it is possible to get 1 to 1.5 grams per watt. I have found it very hard to do that with a horizontal grow with low yielding strains and I like my high quality, low yielding strains. So anything that allows me to get the max out if them is something I'm going to do. It's quite easy to do as well, at least the way I'm doing it. So far they have almost covered a 12' long 4' high screen that I wrapped around a 1000 watt light in a cool tube with no reflector. It allows for all the plant to be within 2' from the light with the exception of a few small branches that made there way 6" closer.

WATCH YOUR PH
The Ideal PH is 5.8 reason being is that 5.8 is the PH that all nutrients are best absorbed at. Make it more alkaline and certain nutrients like Phosphorus and potassium are better absorb. And so on, even though information like that can be useful, I didn’t feel a chart was necessary since a simple google search can find it. In soil, Ph around the roots is controlled via the CO2 released by the roots metabolizing sugars. CO2 in a solution creates Carbonic acid, only problem is that CO2 is only effective in high concentrations nearest to the roots so in order for the plant to free up more nutrients it needs to grow more roots through the soil. Hydro or semi Hydro like Coco seems to be, short cuts the whole process, making the only requirement being that the PH needs to be adjusted by another means. With Canna, I heard of bad results coming from the use of PH down that contains Phosphoric acid. Well I use general Hydroponic PH down, can get a gallon for $27, and it will last a good amount of time. It also contains citric acid in the mix but either way it works and doesn’t have any ill effects.
Make sure to test and calibrate your PH pen, and always buy a nice one. The cheap ones are junk and create more problems than they are worth. I got a nice Bluelab for 130 with a cleaning kit for an extra 40 and never had an issue in years. Every now and then, I found it important to check and calibrate. Knowing the ph of my tap is an easy way to make sure it is on the mark and so far, I have gone 4 months without cleaning or calibrating and she was off by .1 still best to not let it go that far, that was just me being a little lazy and rushing to fill up reservoirs because I had things I had to take care of.
As for runoff PH, the bag of COCO providing its RHP will normally state that it buffers ph to a range of 5.5 to 6.3. Which is the acceptable range allowed for growing in Hydro. And I have had amazing runs and the runoff PH comes out at 6.3 or 6.2 after multiple runs at 5.8 feeds. So I don’t bother worrying about runoff PH cause it never seems to have any effect regardless of what the PH is that is running off.
I have to add this point because I have seen it so often. Soil does not need to be watered with PHed water! I had tap water with a PH of 8.5 ish, my laundry always came out great I may add. I NEVER had my soil PH rise above 6.5 and I even would reuse a large portion of my soil for my next grow since I was growing organic. Other than needing some extra perlite since composting old plant material would really muck up my reused soil, I never had to do anything. Using a soil sample, mixed in a test tube always read 6.5. Soil can buffer PH very well until you add some lime then I would see a raise in my PH. Im guessing some people must have had an instance where they felt PH went off or something else happened. Then again, testing PH before making any changes using a test requiring a small sample be prepaired is the best option before trying to make any correction to any medium.

EC IN AND OUT
EC in is important. Most feed charts tell you what the EC should be along with the mix that makes that EC. Although canna wants 2.2 minus the starting point of .4 for your tap water. (In my case .231) I run no High than 1.6 and that will burn some strains while others flourish. So it is more like 1.4 added by nutrient salts. EC is a measurement of electric conductivity of water measured in micro Siemens, if you work on the scale I do which is us so move the decibel over behind the 1 in the reading .231. PPM’s is a conversion by dividing the number by either .5 in the US or .7 in the rest of the world. So I found to eliminate confusion, its best to go by EC and not PPM. Since Salt will allow electricity to travel through water better, then the higher the number the more salts are in the solution. Now what salts are there is not listed or testable by measuring all around salt content. So the runoff EC gives you an idea as to whether the plant is absorbing nutrients or only a few while allowing the rest to build up.
Using EC out from the bottom of the pot, will allow you to get a general idea as to whether your plant is eating or not, but won’t tell you what she is eating and what she is leaving behind. That is where reading your plants comes in handy. If a problem arises, the first thing I do is check my runoff and see if she is more than 300 or .3 over what I am feeding her. .3 or 300 is my cutoff and I will flush her if she gets to that point. Coco also likes to sequester nutrients so unless you are reusing, some of your nutrients may be taken in by the coco itself.

SETTING BLUMATS
I have followed the instructions on the box and had good luck. I have read that having them drip once every 8 to 10 seconds is the best thing to do. After watering, wait 45 minutes and set to dip once every 8 seconds. I have done it without issue following instructions and have tried implementing the drip every 8 seconds and managed to up my water intake from 3 to 4 gallons a night per light, to 7 to 8 gallons a night. Then again, plant size matters drastically when it comes to water intake but no matter how big plants get, under a 1000 watt you should not have to go through more than 8 gallons a night. After each run it is good practice to put the blumats under water and make sure no air got into them. That tends to not happen unless you have a bit of a drought.

Thanks for the info got4. I notice on the canna site when you flush they want you to flush with there additives. In my opinion I just think they want you 5 waste more nutes. I flush with plain r/o water. It's too costly tooflush with there boost additve. So do you flush with or with out additives?

Never flush coco with straight or just RO water for the heck of it or to correct problems. Save flushing for the end. Read this:

Growing on Coco: Busting the Myth
by Ralph B. Par

The Indoor Gardener Magazine Volume 3 - Issue 6

In my travels and correspondence around the world, I find there is much confusion about the use of coconut husk litter, commonly known (after aging) as coco peat or mulch, in crop production. I was first made aware of the produce as a potential additive to mineral soil or light peat mixes in the early 1980s. The thinking then was that it had too many issues to use as a straight mix, but did have some interesting side results when used as a fraction in a potting mix, or as a soil amendment to improve soil structure. It was first introduced to the Royal Botanical Society in 1862 and proved successful initially but dropped out of favor because of its inherent issues. Now it has exploded onto the scene in all manners of sue, from fraction to complete, but what are we dealing with, and why such a delay before it was accepted into the general market?

To start, the physical characteristics of coco are unique, in that it changes its physical and chemical characteristics dramatically over time. Green or newly harvested mulch is actually the dust (and broken fibers) generated by removing the fivers from the husk of a coconut. THis matter is unusable at this point. After several months of decomposition, it begins to take on some usable characteristics: it holds moisture better and releases potassium and other salts slower, down to a reasonable level. Its structure also remains intact. There is a fairly short period from this point during which the coco peat is usable in container plant production.. Ideally, the coco peat has to go further to actually work with the plant correctly, but by then much of the structure is lost and the usable time in situ is severely shortened. While later stages of coco degradation are very acceptable as a soil amendment, the are not suitable for direct use. Structural problems are, however, a small part of the issue.

Water moves from an area of low EC to an area of higher EC in an attempt to balance out or achieve equilibrium; where a semi-permeable membrane isolates the two solutions, only certain elements or molecules can cross, typically a water molecule or smaller (selectively permeable), through the process of osmosis (Fig A). Membrane can also be selectively permeable, allowing certain sizes of particles to pass while restricting others. In typical soils and container mixes, fertilized at recommended levels, the EC of the root zone moisture (which includes nutrients [salts]) is lower than the internal EC of the root cells, allowing water to move, or diffuse, across the barrier membranes. As the root zone's EC reaches the EC levels of the plant, water movement slows and eventually halts. Unfortunately, it does not stop there and can move the other way, but not all. To compensate and get the water in the seawater solution (a solution of water plus many different salts) to move through the plant, the palm concentrates salts in the areas between the cell walls, known as interstitial spaces. This effectively shows an increase in the internal EC while allowing the actual cells to function normally. The process of harvesting the fivers also increases EC levels, because the coconut husks are first soaked in seawater (the most abundant water supply near where coconuts grow), which imparts its salts into every pore of the coconut material. When decomposition occurs, these salts come out in very high amounts, especially potassium, the most prevalent element found as an ion (salt).

All usable nutrients become available to the plant's internal processes as ions, or charged atoms or functional groups like nitrate. Ions affect each other. In fact, they combine in a controlled fashion, in a solution with other ions and no controls, they still combine or associate with other ions of opposite charge. They also affect the availability of each other as similar charges. This is known as antagonism, where one element in a large amount will decrease availability of another in a smaller amount. In this case, as the concentration of potassium increases, the availability of both calcium and magnesium decreases. It is more commonly known as locking out. When combined with the effects of pH and temperature, precipitation of these salts can occur. The effect works the other way. When calcium increases, potassium availability decreases. Additionally, potassium has the ability to almost move at will throughout a plant, as it is mostly unregulated, a characteristic all plants have adapted by harnessing these ions to do work as they move around.

This is all well and good, but how does that affect the use of coconut peat/mulch with plants? As the coco decomposes, it "gives off" salts that increase the EC of the medium, which will result in burning and imbalances in calcium/magnesium and potassium ratios; the "greener" the coco, the worse the problem. About the time this "give off" slows enough to really grow a crop in, the structure has the characteristic of muck peat and requires amendments like perlite, sand, pebbles or other large particles added to it to give the medium air. Also, the state of decomposition is at its highest, so what is left will not last long, and can easily be washed out of the container. We know that if the level of salts AND the ratio of these salts could be controlled at an earlier stage, we would have the advantage of good physical structure and proper nutrient balance.

Coconut peat has some wonderful physical properties that greatly benefit plant growth. To begin, it is renewable - no stripping of nature's resources. It makes use of the final product left over from cultivating and harvesting the much-prized nut. At the right point in its decomposition, coco peat can be used as a stand-alone medium with no need to add perlite or other persistent amendments. Coco peat itself is fairlypH-stable and buffers the pH well, in a very acceptable range for plant growth. WHile they are fairly solid and big early on, once the peat particles are treated and decomposed to a certain point, they are like sponges with micro-pores that hold water, away form the plant roots but available to replenish the larger pores the plant root can access. This effectively limits excess water while retaining water reserves. These particles hold onto no ions, only what may fill and dry on the particles themselves. So as long as the medium is moist , nutrients are available. At the proper point of decomposition, the particles form the perfect combination of air-to-water, because of the different fractions now present, which can actually mean more air space to water pace, with the micro-pores holding a reserve of water, giving a nice water buffer. Unlike peat moss, it has no oil on its surface, so wetting the particle is never an issue. The key in all this is to decompose the particle to the perfect point. The problem is still that the rate of salt release remains high at this perfect point.

Controlling the decomposition process, adding the correct nutrient buffer to adjust the ratio, feeding the plants the proper ratio of nutrients to offset the coco's "giving off" will produce the perfect growing conditions. When the medium is not taken into account, the results can be disastrous. Even when fed correctly, and the correct "buffer" of nutrient ratio set up, just one watering with plain water will wreck the buffer, sending the plant and medium into shock and rapidly escalating the potassium level. Consequently, plants that do not have enough of some ions like calcium (there are several) due to underfeeding or washing out will show a deficiency in these and other elements. Meanwhile, potassium builds up the plant tissue, ultimately leading to margin burning on the leaf surface, mostly at the tip. The first thing the inexperienced grower assumes is that he is overfeeding and has salt issues. He will decrease the feed concentration and leach the medium. This, of course, magnifies the problem and makes it worse. The key to proper coco growing is to use the right feed to balance the products the coco gives off. Think not only about availability, but about the ratio of one mineral to another as well. It is also important to water correctly.

Coco peat holds about 33% more moisture then similar grades of peat-based mediums if its structure is sound. Since a great amount of this is tucked away in the micro-pores, the medium can look dry but still be plenty wet. The same rules apply here as in soil or soilless mixes: water when the container loses 50% of the maximum water it will hold against gravity (immediately after drainage of a newly watered container). This is done by weight and yes, it does change with time, root mass, humidity, temperature and grower temperament (thumb on scale syndrome).

By controlling the decomposition and particle size closely, there is no need for anything to increase drainage, like perlite, and this removes a disposal concern. Even more air space can be achieved by increasing the fraction of coco fibers and husks. This results in a totally renewable and biodegradable medium that resists compaction. Finally, the pH of the medium, when buffered and controlled, remains constant pretty much throughout its useful life. The medium sets its pH at between 5.2 and 6.2, a perfect range, and will hold it there, unlike peat-based products that try to go back to a pH of 4.5 or less within three months of being planted. By using the correct age of coco with the right porosity, coco potting medium should be able to work through almost a year's worth of crops before being changed. The pH stays correct and only the structure changes, limiting the useful period.

So, we see that by controlling the aging process, using the correct ratio of nutrients, using the correct composition of nutrients, and pre-buffering the coco peat, growers can anticipate getting the perfect medium, correctly balanced, correctly composed, with good porosity, a water buffer, and a lot less headaches then peat-based soilless mix products. That is great for a start, but to complete a crop, it is critical that the correct nutrients be used as well. Consider coco as needing to be "fed" along with the plants. Once the medium establishes a buffer, which it will do based on the nutrients it sees, right or wrong, the grower can wipe this out by applying plain water to the medium. The medium hangs on to nothing and will readily flush away its nutrients; then the plant will suffer until the buffer is restored. Always use fertilizer when you water coco that a plant is actively growing in, at least at about EC = 0.6mS/cm3. This will hold the balance or ratio of the nutrients to each other and insure that the plant gets exactly what it needs.

I'm totally new to growing and have three grows under my belt now. How I grew was based on all my readings and I don't know why I kept my ph at 5.60 but I did the whole way through until harvest. I vegged a long time ( 7 to 8 weeks) as I had troubles in the beginning getting my flowering room setup and time to do it. Needless to say I grew monster plants under T5's with an EC 1.2 with every single watering. And to add to that I made sure I had a good runoff of about 30% every single time. All of this was done by hand watering. It was time consuming but I got to become familiar with each mystery bag seed. As I switched over to 12/12 on weeks 7 and 8 I defoliated the crap out of them. I just wanted to see what would happen and to MY shock they took it extremely well and it slowed my stretch down to hardly nothing and I had flowers form EVERYWHERE.
I kept the nutrients EC the same the whole way through until harvest and to my surprise I had extremely high final weights per plant. I don't know if it's just luck or what but I've stuck with this routine and it works for me. Theres other variables of course as I repotted three times up to five gallon pots and etc. I'd love to know everyone else's methods as well. I tried to start a thread where everyone would give there routines on their canna grows so people could take note. Including myself. I just want to learn and I'm so tired of bouncing from thread to thread with people arguing. Just simple setups and routines per post would be nice to see so other coco growers can get an idea of where to start and end. Here is the thread I started for that https://www.rollitup.org/t/canna-coco-whats-your-setup-and-routine.832761/ Like the thread by the way.
Cheers

I have a couple of canna coco grows under my belt. I cannot imagine it getting any easier to produce quality meds than this method. I do a flush of sorts, never having the nute level below 350ppm. Going from 1k+ down to 350 for the last week, lets the plants ease down and not get the "proverbial" rug jerked out from underneath it.
My belief is that "flushing" does not occur so violently in nature, the plant will simply take what it can use and leave the rest. By feeding lightly for the last week has made a world of difference in the final product.
I do have a feeding once a week that is 3x the normal run time, and this gives me a good rinse and will take away the weeks salt buildup as well.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

Great thread , awsome information!!

This might sound like a stupid question but when you water 3 times per day, are your pots actually drying out between waterings? Or do they just handle it because they have established roots ?

And your nute values seem low ? Maybe because they get fed so much they dont need it as concentrated ?
I feed pretty close to the chart like "on my way" stated , and if I feed less growth slows down.
Maybe this is because im watering once per day