Flood and Drain with Coco

Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Hey there, is anyone here running flood and drain with coco? I haven't used coco much, just for top feed DTW.

I am very adept at running flood and drain with hydroton and wondered if there are any changes other than pH being at 6.0 when using coco?

With expanded clay pellets I am flooding once every 4 hours when the lights are on. Should I use the same schedule with coco? or should I go every 5 or 6 hours?

Is there any issues with floating pots or anything like that?

Thanks!
 
Michael Huntherz

Michael Huntherz

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Hey there, is anyone here running flood and drain with coco? I haven't used coco much, just for top feed DTW.

I am very adept at running flood and drain with hydroton and wondered if there are any changes other than pH being at 6.0 when using coco?

With expanded clay pellets I am flooding once every 4 hours when the lights are on. Should I use the same schedule with coco? or should I go every 5 or 6 hours?

Is there any issues with floating pots or anything like that?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I think that’s real similar to what people are calling SIPs, Sub-Irrigated Pots, check those out. I think it would be a good path for you, design and research wise. Watering every 6 hours would probably be sufficient, but that’s a guess straight out of my ass. I have hand watered and used gravity fed wicking systems in coco, never did the Sips or F&D thing yet.
 
OneHitDone

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Hey there, is anyone here running flood and drain with coco? I haven't used coco much, just for top feed DTW.

I am very adept at running flood and drain with hydroton and wondered if there are any changes other than pH being at 6.0 when using coco?

With expanded clay pellets I am flooding once every 4 hours when the lights are on. Should I use the same schedule with coco? or should I go every 5 or 6 hours?

Is there any issues with floating pots or anything like that?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Coco can get pretty wet with flooding.
I'd keep pots on the smaller side if your gonna flood coco.
Check out VaderOG on youtube - that is his preferred method. Flood and drain with straight canna coco that is.
He uses coco liners in the pots to keep the loose coco from just washing into the res
Looks to work well but gotta get expensive

One thing you could look at is something called RadicalBags :peace:
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
I do something similar but with rockwool on a layer of batting, timing is still about 4 hours maybe 3 later in life.
Plants get used to it and thrive. I can't stand dealing with the nightmare of organic, decaying media any more.
I don't mind the microbes, but I pay for the grow, so I call the shots.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Michael Huntherz said:
I think that’s real similar to what people are calling SIPs, Sub-Irrigated Pots, check those out. I think it would be a good path for you, design and research wise. Watering every 6 hours would probably be sufficient, but that’s a guess straight out of my ass. I have hand watered and used gravity fed wicking systems in coco, never did the Sips or F&D thing yet.
Click to expand...
Hey stranger! Give me a shout sometime, brother- long time no chat!
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Coco in ebb n flood is very sensitive to plant size vs pot size. You don't want to over water, you want the coco to get nearly dry. Early on it might mean watering once every few days, then once at the beginning of lights on, then as they fill in go to several times per light cycle.
 
kingromano

kingromano

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Hey there, is anyone here running flood and drain with coco? I haven't used coco much, just for top feed DTW.

I am very adept at running flood and drain with hydroton and wondered if there are any changes other than pH being at 6.0 when using coco?

With expanded clay pellets I am flooding once every 4 hours when the lights are on. Should I use the same schedule with coco? or should I go every 5 or 6 hours?

Is there any issues with floating pots or anything like that?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
hey man

i used coco in smartpots 1gal on time with ebb flooding and it works great
the problem with this method is the sat accumulation that you cant avoid
and that will force you to handwater to counter this ...
coco is like rockwool it works way better with top drip and multifeed all the day
 
RedDirtResin

RedDirtResin

Active Member
I used coco in a flo n gro for years with great success. I'm now running a couple of flood tables. I think I will run am experiment to see which one does best for me, recirculating flood times, or top drip DTW. 20190814_211541.jpg 20190814_135511_HDR.jpg
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
One of the major benefits of flood and drain or ebb and flow it the o2 pump action.
The water rises it pushed out everything from the root zone and when it walls its replaced with fresh o2.

That's why hydroton is the best option.
Coco takes time to soak water and more time to drain water.
Its also not entirely inert like hydroton so your nutrient profile is going to swing to higher K levels.

Im sure it will work but I doubt it will work as well as hydroton in the same situation.
Just like rockwool is ideal for nft , hydroton is ideal for flood and drain and coco is ideal for drain to waste systems.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
coreywebster said:
One of the major benefits of flood and drain or ebb and flow it the o2 pump action.
The water rises it pushed out everything from the root zone and when it walls its replaced with fresh o2.

That's why hydroton is the best option.
Coco takes time to soak water and more time to drain water.
Its also not entirely inert like hydroton so your nutrient profile is going to swing to higher K levels.

Im sure it will work but I doubt it will work as well as hydroton in the same situation.
Just like rockwool is ideal for nft , hydroton is ideal for flood and drain and coco is ideal for drain to waste systems.
Click to expand...
Coco works just fine.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Thing with coco... it's fibrous nature allows for lots of air pockets meaning it's much harder to drown a plant in coco. BUT as the plant matures the roots pack the pot tightly and those air spaces are getting filled up and packed tighter so there is less oxygen and thats the same time the plants start to slow down on drink (around day 50 ish for most strains). So if you auto water at the same frequency as they ripen you will likely have problems like root rot. Lengthen the intervals between watering during the ripening phase to avoid this.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Isnt coco similar to what your using already?Peat .
Im with hydroton,and renfro you have exp with the pebbles so why the change?
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
myke said:
Isnt coco similar to what your using already?Peat .
Im with hydroton,and renfro you have exp with the pebbles so why the change?
Click to expand...
I still use hydroton on flood and drain. I am using coco on top feed 10 gallon buckets.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
The reason for looking at coco for flood and drain is scale. My new building would have so much hydroton with 36 - 4x8 trays and I am looking for a more disposable media and something I don't have to wash new. I have had good luck with Mills DNA Coco with Cork right out of the bag so I am thinking using that on the flood and drain on the larger scale. That means test it now so my next tent run I was thinking use coco in the flood and drain.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
36 4x8 trays? any media would be a hassel!except water,I dare ya .2000 5 gallon pail rdwc.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Am leaning towards covers for the trays with feet so they wont sag, holes for tiny net pots and then I just let the roots go nuts under the cover and perhaps toss coco root mats in the bottom of the trays too. Thats what I am thinking to minimize work and maximize yields.
 
WillieP

WillieP

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Am leaning towards covers for the trays with feet so they wont sag, holes for tiny net pots and then I just let the roots go nuts under the cover and perhaps toss coco root mats in the bottom of the trays too. Thats what I am thinking to minimize work and maximize yields.
Click to expand...
Renfro,
What did you end up trying? Did you test out the covered trays?
Thanks,
WillieP
 
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