Coco problems, leaves malformation

Heisenberg.2nd

Active Member
I have not grown in Coco for a while and had problems during the first transplant, I did not wait for the roots to be big enough to carry them into the final pots. Infact, the Coco remained soaked and never dried in 1 month and the plants had problems. The color of the leaves is light green and I understood where my problem was: I measured the runoff after 4 weeks (I watered very little with 500/600 ppm and pH 6 since it was still wet) it marked me 300 ppm and 6.5 pH. I use canna coco plus and I buffered the first time RO water with calmag, total ppm 250 and pH 5.9. Now I have buffered again with double the water volume of the pots with pH 5.6 and ppm 600 (4 gallons each pot), runoff is 340ppm and pH 6.1. I'll have to fix again trying to load more nuts. In addition light green plants, all leaves have malformations. What can it be caused by? defs? pH too high? too much light? I am using cob 3070 and have grown many other plants in Coco / Idro without ever having this problem. my strains are sweet cheese, citradelic sunset, cobalt haze, black rose x chemD / I95 ethos, glookies, runtz muffin.. multistrain and all strains with malformations. I hope someone can give me an answer and ask if by chance it might become hermy.
 

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Wattzzup

Well-Known Member
If you’re not feeding your coco at least once a day you will have issues. Start by feeding once a day. Not sure why you were waiting for it to dry out? For a month?

Also I’m not sure why you keep “buffering” that’s something you do before you plant.
 

DrOgkush

Well-Known Member
You can still over water in coco.

and I don’t water everyday either. More like every other day really.
You plant looks locked out. I have to trust your words with your ph. But it’s looks like your watering with heavy alkaline. I water at 5.7-5.9 consistent. I’m not the coco star tho. I just started using it a few months ago. Other people here are way smarter than I. I’ll just leave this as helpful curve.
 

Heisenberg.2nd

Active Member
I waited to reduce pot weight a bit but it never happened. I usually water and wait for it to lighten up a bit and then give water again but this Canna Coco plus doesn't seem to dry out. Temp 74 and stay soaked for so long. Usually I did this and I had no problem watering one day and one day off, then when the roots expanded I gave nuts every day. Now I will continue every day and I hope to recover a little since they are 1 month old and the plants are small
 

inth3shadowz

Well-Known Member
You can still over water in coco.

and I don’t water everyday either. More like every other day really.
You plant looks locked out. I have to trust your words with your ph. But it’s looks like your watering with heavy alkaline. I water at 5.7-5.9 consistent. I’m not the coco star tho. I just started using it a few months ago. Other people here are way smarter than I. I’ll just leave this as helpful curve.
I water Coco daily in solo cups from the day it pops ground starting at 1/4 strength and up it 1/4 each week after. You can't really overwater coco, it's just that most people don't feed it properly. Alot of people on here jump on me for saying that, but seeing is believing. Cheers!
 

inth3shadowz

Well-Known Member
250ppm is low. At that size plant in Coco, I'm feeding 1 tsp Maxibloom, which in tap comes out to nearly 800ish ppm.
 

Heisenberg.2nd

Active Member
I wanted to follow the philosophy of some who irrigate at low ppm, in flowering they use a maximum of 500ppm and have great results. My pots are too big because to make it work, you have to irrigate several times a day with developed roots. And I have given low ppm in huge pots by making several mistakes. In fact, in my previous crops at this point plants were double size, already showed pre-flowers, watered every other day in 3 gallon pots with 600/700 ppm and the runoff was always the same ppm. Once flowering daily feed.
Not growing for a while made me rusty because with autoflowering in coco coir I made insane harvests, seeing my plants now so it seems like made newbie mistakes. Even the temperatures are not the best, I have 65 when lights off and basically with the LEDs it's better to keep higher temperatures. Now I will continue to give nuts every day hoping to recover this lockout. I can't understand what happened to the leaves that have 6 fingers or 4, I've never had all these malformations in a multistrain. It could happen to 1 or 2 plants out of 8/10 but not all..
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
A small plant in a big pot of coco isn't ideal to start with, it's much easier to keep from overwatering when you pot up a couple of times. Then the pot doesn't stay soaked and the media gets a slight wet/dry cycle that's good for growing roots. Also, some brands of coco retain more water due to different fiber lengths.
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Small plants with a small root structure do not need to be watered daily in coco. When I transplant into the final pot of coco I don't water for a couple days. People say you have to water daily until runoff. That is not true. I've used blumats without any runoff for entire grows. Healthy plants start to finish.

The idea that you have to water a small plant in coco daily is false. If the coco is still wet then why just pour more nutrient solution through it?
 

DrOgkush

Well-Known Member
I water Coco daily in solo cups from the day it pops ground starting at 1/4 strength and up it 1/4 each week after. You can't really overwater coco, it's just that most people don't feed it properly. Alot of people on here jump on me for saying that, but seeing is believing. Cheers!
Your probably an expert coco grower as well. Knowing how to read and adjust based on what your plant tells you. Not everyone is established like yourself. But do not tell people they can’t overwater coco. That’s the worst coco growing advise in the world literally. Like it doesn’t get worse than that. If there is not roots to uptake the water/nutrients. Is just going to run stagnant.
and that’s all bad. It’s not soil. Far from it. But there are similarities and common practice that should be followed.
 

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
To overwater coco you have to have a small root mass in a big pot and it stay wet so long the o2 depleates.
If you water regularly regardless of it being wet your adding more o2 everytime you water and it stays health.
Now that said I don't water daily in veg. But I don't allow full dry out either because that can cause problems.

Canna coco is designed for use with tap water.
You should just give it a normal feed, like follow the canna grow guide or nutrients your using instructions, but just knock off a 3rd of the advised amount.

You don't need to buffer canna coco Pro and there's no point chasing the run off ph either.
Just feed them normally.
Raise your temps if you can too.
 

inth3shadowz

Well-Known Member
Your probably an expert coco grower as well. Knowing how to read and adjust based on what your plant tells you. Not everyone is established like yourself. But do not tell people they can’t overwater coco. That’s the worst coco growing advise in the world literally. Like it doesn’t get worse than that. If there is not roots to uptake the water/nutrients. Is just going to run stagnant.
and that’s all bad. It’s not soil. Far from it. But there are similarities and common practice that should be followed.
How's it the worst advice if it works? Lol im not saying you water a solo cup worth of medium with a gallon of water. In fact a gallon of nutrient water for me will last for 8 smaller plants one week. I water til just a slight runoff daily.
 

Wattzzup

Well-Known Member
I’m just going by what I learned. I have no problems now. And I’m by far a beginner.

which is exactly what I put. As well put I’ll let someone else take over with much more experience.
you say something is the “worst advice ever” but it’s actually the correct suggestion for him.
 

Gemtree

Well-Known Member
The light green is from the Coco holding onto mag so foiler a few times with Epsom salt till the mag in the cocos cation catches up
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
I don't know where the "You have to water coco at least once daily until runoff" came from. Most likely a few of the cut and paste cannabis 101 sites out there. When I first started using coco I never did and I still don't. If you have to water until runoff daily then how do people explain a no runoff system like blumats? Maintaining a proper moisture level constantly is all you need to do. If you don't use high EC nutrient solution you won't get the salt buildups people claim you'll get if you don't water until runoff daily.

This is from the Canna website:

"Constantly watering coco results in over-watering. When using coco, there is a need to water at a minimum of 50% dry. Sometimes 70% dry might be better especially during the first weeks, when most roots are formed. After all, the roots also need oxygen and where there is water there is no air."

.

Now I know many people use Canna coco so why do people that use the product ignore what they say yet listen to some cut and paste on some lame coco cannabis site I won't name?

The main thing is to not let the coco dry out. If you have a small plant you do not need to water daily if the coco is still wet. In fact the roots grow better when the coco is not constantly saturated. When the plants are bigger with a large root structure more frequent watering is required. But just to be watering daily until runoff because you heard from someone that's what you need to do or read on some crappy cannabis site is not necessary. You need to maintain the proper moisture level. If the coco is still wet then it's got plenty of moisture.

I'm not running blumats right now and I have plants growing in the flower tent flowering. I haven't been watering all of them daily and they're all healthy. I've been growing cannabis for decades and in coco for years. Watering daily until runoff is just another one of those things I don't do and only see people doing on cannabis forums.

I don't know about anyone else but I'm not mixing nutrients up just to pour them down the drain. If the coco is good and wet it doesn't have to be watered. So much stuff gets passed around in cannabis growing circles and much of it is incorrect. I'm not saying you won't have to water everyday or multiple times a day because as the plants get bigger and use more the coco is going to dry out faster. Watering in coco depends on the size of the plant, the size of the pot, the ambient temperature which affects how fast the coco dries, the type of pot plastic or fabric, etc...

Canna which is one of the largest coco coir suppliers out there says you don't have to water daily. You just have to maintain adequate moisture levels. So is Canna wrong and why?
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
I don't know where the "You have to water coco at least once daily until runoff" came from. Most likely a few of the cut and paste cannabis 101 sites out there. When I first started using coco I never did and I still don't. If you have to water until runoff daily then how do people explain a no runoff system like blumats? Maintaining a proper moisture level constantly is all you need to do. If you don't use high EC nutrient solution you won't get the salt buildups people claim you'll get if you don't water until runoff daily.

This is from the Canna website:

"Constantly watering coco results in over-watering. When using coco, there is a need to water at a minimum of 50% dry. Sometimes 70% dry might be better especially during the first weeks, when most roots are formed. After all, the roots also need oxygen and where there is water there is no air."

.

Now I know many people use Canna coco so why do people that use the product ignore what they say yet listen to some cut and paste on some lame coco cannabis site I won't name?

The main thing is to not let the coco dry out. If you have a small plant you do not need to water daily if the coco is still wet. In fact the roots grow better when the coco is not constantly saturated. When the plants are bigger with a large root structure more frequent watering is required. But just to be watering daily until runoff because you heard from someone that's what you need to do or read on some crappy cannabis site is not necessary. You need to maintain the proper moisture level. If the coco is still wet then it's got plenty of moisture.

I'm not running blumats right now and I have plants growing in the flower tent flowering. I haven't been watering all of them daily and they're all healthy. I've been growing cannabis for decades and in coco for years. Watering daily until runoff is just another one of those things I don't do and only see people doing on cannabis forums.

I don't know about anyone else but I'm not mixing nutrients up just to pour them down the drain. If the coco is good and wet it doesn't have to be watered. So much stuff gets passed around in cannabis growing circles and much of it is incorrect. I'm not saying you won't have to water everyday or multiple times a day because as the plants get bigger and use more the coco is going to dry out faster. Watering in coco depends on the size of the plant, the size of the pot, the ambient temperature which affects how fast the coco dries, the type of pot plastic or fabric, etc...

Canna which is one of the largest coco coir suppliers out there says you don't have to water daily. You just have to maintain adequate moisture levels. So is Canna wrong and why?
Canna Coco's recommendations are based on using pure coco without perlite, so there is a difference there. Sure you can do it without multiple daily feedings and no runoff, if you are using large containers full of straight coco and relatively low EC. There are some drawbacks to that however, similar to the same drawbacks you get in recirculating type systems, in that the plants will pull the nutes they need most, and leave the others behind, thereby resulting in fert imbalances. The beauty of a drain to waste system with multiple feedings, is that you ensure proper nutrition ratios are always available to the plant, and you can also get away with much smaller container sizes and less media. I'm guessing that canna coco doesn't want you buying less media, because that results in less sales for them. Same with perlite; if you fill your pot up with 30% perlite, that's 30% less sales for them. I've cannabis in coco for over a decade in all kinds of pots (big, small, wide, narrow, etc), and in varieties of media mixtures (straight coco, coco/perlite, coco/ricehulls, etc). In my experience the plants in large pots of straight coco which are only watered occasionally always did worse. The plants with smaller pots in coco/perlite fed 4x per day have done much better.
 
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