New to COCO, wanna help?

JohnDee said:

Ya, I think you would want perlite in the solo cuops. Even the seedlings prefer a well draining medium.

Jiffy pucks work fine too. Your call...
JD

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I went with your first idea.

I removed coco from cups, rung it out, added perilite and refilled cups.

This is gonna be a learning expierence. I was used to the ffof so it seemed easy lol

Hopefully the learning curve of coco don't beat me down lol

Looking good. Kudos for doing your homework and planning.

To encourage rooting....Its common to let the solos get kinda dry between feedings.....not to the point where they wilt. I can see root status when using clear solos.

TintEastwood said:

Looking good. Kudos for doing your homework and planning.

To encourage rooting....Its common to let the solos get kinda dry between feedings.....not to the point where they wilt. I can see root status when using clear solos.

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i used the wet and dry cycle with soil, soak the pots, not water again until they dried out

Ive seen guys in coco feeding 3-4 times daily, so i assume the coco dries out fairly quick?

diggs99 said:

i used the wet and dry cycle with soil, soak the pots, not water again until they dried out

Ive seen guys in coco feeding 3-4 times daily, so i assume the coco dries out fairly quick?

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As the plant gets larger you will want to water more.
Do not let your coco dry completely.

gr865 said:

As the plant gets larger you will want to water more.
Do not let your coco dry completely.

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Is it safe to assume the early days of sprouting in coco are very similar to soil anyway?

keep watering around the stem as they dry, moving outwards each time?

I expect once the plant gets a few sets of leaves it will start requiring more and more water constantly

diggs99 said:

Ive seen guys in coco feeding 3-4 times daily, so i assume the coco dries out fairly quick?

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Guys that do that are treating coco like a hydro medium. They never let it dry. The drying thing is only for getting roots established.
JD

JohnDee said:

Guys that do that are treating coco like a hydro medium. They never let it dry. The drying thing is only for getting roots established.
JD

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i think thats what id like to do, treat it like hydro after roots are established

feed as often as im able, it seems to show good results.

While rooting...Helps me to get to know the weight of small containers wet vs 'dry'.

I've made the mistake of feeding 4 or 5 times a day before they are well established.

I feed 5 times a day once full steam ahead.

Coco is fun!

You got this!

diggs99 said:

i think thats what id like to do, treat it like hydro after roots are established

feed as often as im able, it seems to show good results.

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Here's a thread to read. He feeds 6 times daily. One thing to keep in mind...it's easy to overfeed. You won't be giving 6 full feeds daily...just 6 smaller feedings. Might be too much to tackle for your first coco grow...
JD

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=300255

JohnDee said:

Here's a thread to read. He feeds 6 times daily. One thing to keep in mind...it's easy to overfeed. You won't be giving 6 full feeds daily...just 6 smaller feedings. Might be too much to tackle for your first coco grow...
JD

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=300255

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jesus h christ, i clicked that link and the first thing i see is that sea of amazingness

wow lol, had to come back to say that before reading any further lol

Post #31 in

JohnDee said:

Here's a thread to read. He feeds 6 times daily. One thing to keep in mind...it's easy to overfeed. You won't be giving 6 full feeds daily...just 6 smaller feedings. Might be too much to tackle for your first coco grow...
JD

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=300255

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Nice thread. No, make that Great thread! Thanks.

Looking to implement some of his techniques in my lil space.....including vpd.

Are you planning on having some form or irrigation? You will not like coco if you don't!
Once the plants get the third set of leaves I am watering the entire cup. After I transplant into what ever size container I water daily, I water at the base of the plants and let the water move our from the plant and just a little more each day. Your should be watering the entire pot within a week. When the roots reach the edges of the pots I begin watering two times a day every 12 hrs. As I stated before use SubCulture and/or Great White, I use both until the root system is very strong and nearing 12/12, then I back off the SubCulture.

as of now they will be hand watered, i plan to setup a pump and drip lines before they get too big(within next couple weeks)

i will run DTW while searching for moms.

Clones are all going in net pots and on ebb and flow tables

diggs99 said:

as of now they will be hand watered, i plan to setup a pump and drip lines before they get too big(within next couple weeks)

i will run DTW while searching for moms.

Clones are all going in net pots and on ebb and flow tables

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For sure automated feeding rules.

Which reminds me...
Arghh. I have trouble keeping my nutrient reservoir around 68 degrees to allow for complete hands off watering. I'm aware of several methods to help temps......but I really need to invest in a chiller.

TintEastwood said:

Post #31 in

Nice thread. No, make that Great thread! Thanks.

Looking to implement some of his techniques in my lil space.....including vpd.

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Me too...would be hard to recreate a grow like that. He's really dialed in and knows his plants well. But the thread is full of interesting ideas that can be borrowd.
JD

JohnDee said:

Me too...would be hard to recreate a grow like that. He's really dialed in and knows his plants well. But the thread is full of interesting ideas that can be borrowd.
JD

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Ya its been a good read so far. Gonna take a while to get through all of it lol

JohnDee said:

I just may switch to Botanicare...

To re-use coco it needs to be rinsed soaked and biffered same as you would with off-brand coco bricks...
JD

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I wasn't aware re-used coco needed buffering and just transplanted... any suggestions? And I just realized I used soft water to rinse the old coco.
Maybe lots of run-off when feeding and add cal-mag? Does rinsing the old coco wash out the cal/mag?

BTW, good thread guys.

TintEastwood said:

While rooting...Helps me to get to know the weight of small containers wet vs 'dry'.

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I'm not good at watering soil, so I cheat... I set them on the scale. But don't forget, they add weight as they grow!

1212ham said:

Maybe lots of run-off when feeding and add cal-mag?

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1212...with second use of coco, you'll probably be OK. I would at least use calmag. This is as much mythology as it is science! lol

The rinsing also washes out the fine coco that's left after cellular degradation of the coco. If you don't wash it out...you end up with K+ excess which can antagpnize other nutes.

So if your grow doesn't go well...now you know why.
JD

9 of 10 sprouted , They are a perky bunch.

Thanks for all the help getting me this far in the coco journey.

When should I consider giving them light doses of nutes?

When I rinsed the coco I never used nutes, just cal mag, not by choice, I just forgot lol.

Should I be adding cal mag to every watering?

Still just using the spray bottle on them yet . Ph water only.