1st coco grow need info on Nutrition schedule

Discussion in 'Coco Coir' started by beachbum616, Dec 22, 2010.

  1. hey guys, i've been growing in total a little over a year, about 5 harvest and im learning alot along the way. i started off in FFOF soil.. then made the switch to soilless mix which i actually liked alot. due to low cost, low maintenance and i was getting about 2oz per plant. i recently made the switch to coco mainly because i've heard great things.

    i am still trying to dial in my nutrients and could use some help.

    typically with the soil and soilless mix i would water or feed once per week which is about how long it took for the medium to dry.

    should i be doing this the same way with coco? ive heard some people are watering or feeding twice per day or every other day...

    i have to be honest.. my coco plants dont look as good as my soilless plants..

    should i water them between feedings like i did with soil.. why or why not..

    im a bit confused, what are some general rules? thanks!

    fyi... im using the coco-modified lucas formula.
     
  2. I am on my first coco grow coming from soil. I have found that my coco needs more frequent waterings than soil. I use the weight method to determine when they need water and right now I'm watering every 2 days, 1 gal in a 3 gallon air pot. I believe my air pots have a lot to do with needing more waterings. I can go 3 days but the leaves will get a little droopy on some of the bigger plants. You can't really overwater using coco I have found.
     
  3. thx for the reply... my coco actually never ever seems to dry out. im using sunleaves CoCo block (fine) from HTG

    in fact its alot heavier then soilless mix

    what abou the feeding vs watering?

    do u give plain water in between nutrient feedings?
     
  4. I feed everytime I water, atleast for the most part. When they are getting established, I water (feed) every day. After the are looking really green and healthy I back off and water about every other day when the coco dries out some. If they happen to get too green I will only put 5 to 10ml of calmag per gal instead of the entire nute regiment.
     
  5. I agree with wesside.

    Early on in life the plants don't get fed as often. Maybe every 3-4 days until they are established. Then it becomes much more frequent.

    When the coco begins to go from saturated to dry in under 48 hours is when I start incorporating waterings. This keeps you from feeding daily with nutrient solution but keeps the plants plenty happy on the residual buffer of elements left over in the coco from an earlier feeding.

    This usually coincides with the beginning of flowering for most people. Continuing to feed, feed, feed, with a lot of solution, basically every day, is going to create a build up in the media, forcing you to flush.

    But, if you toss in a watering between feedings with some run off this will help decrease the chances of over feeding. Won't solve the problem outright (knowing your plants is what does that) but it will help you.

    In a 3 gallon smart pot you should be feeding/watering at least every other day once the roots fill the media. Earlier on you can let the coco go almost dry before watering again.
     

  6. This is exactly how I water and feed. I have been feeding a heavy dose of nutes once a week and just PH'd water with maybe Bud Candy or Molasses every 2 two days in between. Now that I'm at week 5 in flowering, I'm only to give PH'd water with molasses until the end.
     
  7. Nice info in this thread. My 3 gallon pots seem to take forever to dry up, so I don't know if I'm going to be giving it any waterings.. Should I try force a watering once in a while?
     
  8. You don't have to treat coco like soil. You can water when the coco is still moist. The spongey structure of the coco peat holds an exorbitant amount of oxygen.

    If your root system is healthy and fills the media then you can "force" a watering as often as twice a day. Most people do once a day or once every other day. Some people lift the container to water when it weighs about half as much.
     
  9. Should I be watering at all though? What is the purpose of watering, besides keeping the media moist? Is it ok to water the plant w/ nutrients everytime?
     
  10. #10 heaphyhigh, Dec 23, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 23, 2010
    I feed with every watering, this provides a consistant fresh balance of nutrients throughout the medium. Just make sure you have at least 10% runoff each time to prevent salt buildup. The downside to this is the extra effort required and more nutes are wasted.
     
  11. This is my first grow in coco and my second grow in total. I water 1/2 gallon per plant everyday with 1/8 strength nutes. They are in 3 gallon pots. I used to give 5ml of calmag but my plants became super green so I cut back to no calmag. I think my tap-water has enough calcium in it to sustain it for a while. Personally I am loving the coco experience because I like to care, if not over-care, for my plants and it seems like you cannot screw it up.
    Water, Don't water, mix it with soil, use a drip system, add organic amendments, use hydroponic based nutes, and the list goes on and on. I love this shit.
    :smoke:
     

  12. You're so right! Coco is the tinkerers dream. I can't stop messing with my plants and have yet to screw them up. For instance, I'm now on week 5 of flowering and I just stopped feeding chemical nutes(CNS17 Bloom). I'm only using my tap water from a well which has a TDS of 138 so there's plenty of minerals in it. Instead of Bud Candy, I'm now adding only unsulphured molasses. My coco was also mixed with Marine Cuisine and bat guano along with dolomite lime. I'm assuming that is still feeding the plants slowly as well.
     
  13. #13 zizou21, Dec 24, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 24, 2010
    could you explain how this works exactly?

    Do you work your way up to full strength nutes? Or is that excessive for marijuana? Do they really need 8-10ml of A and B per gallon?
     
  14. #14 heaphyhigh, Dec 24, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 24, 2010
    Well simply water/feed until you have 10% of the nute solution running off the bottom of pot. So if you water with 2L, then you should see at least 200ml of runoff. Your need to experiment with the amount of water going in to match the 10% comming out, too much and its a waste.

    This runoff is like a mini flush each time you water/feed and allows for even concentration of nutes throughout the pot. Without runoff, alot of salt can be trapped in the areas between roots or at bottom of pot. I believe allowing for runoff each time means you can more safely crank up the PPM without over doing it.
     
  15. ah ok this is what I was wondering about. Thank you friend :smoke:

    What do you guys think is 10% runoff for 3 gallon pot? About 3/4th of a gallon?
     
  16. I haven't upped my nutes yet. 1/8 strength nutes for me is 2.5ml per gallon. When I get more into flowering I will up to 5ml every 3rd or 4th day and see how that goes.
    :smoke:
     
  17. im in my 5th week of flower too. I have not watered my plants with plain water for a while now, I always use water AND molasses. I just do it because I know the coir needs the extra cal,iron and MG, also the plant grows substantially with it... so why not? There are minor rusted burns though, I think I am feeding too little! But there are also some leaves that seem to have nute burn(happens when I use the foxfarm nutes) so that is why feed moderately. Currently I am feeding it 4 cups of water which is 2 pints or one quart. This is every 2 or 3 days. Read my blog for more info on my grow! so my question is, should I feed it more than a quart? In between days I feed it one cup of water and molasses.
     
  18. This is my first time growing I'm also using cocogro an I have calmag and nector for the gods which includes medusas magic, Gaia mania, Zeus juice, Herculean harvest and Olympus up. My seedling is a week in as far as veg goes I'm completly lost on how to use nutrients can someone please send me some guidance thank you.
     
  19.  
     

    This is some quality knowledge right here ^^^.....  Same feeding/watering schedule.  Read your plants.  Coco is relatively impossible to over water.   Every 48 hrs here.  If it dries out too much and you are feeding full on,  the nutrients will crystallize into salts, which is bad for roots and will prevent them from up take of nutrients...  (salt buildup -> root burn -> lockout = nutrient deficiencies)  Hence the watering to 10% runoff.  Helps flush any built up salts in the medium.  
     
  20. I feed everytime I water. I water when they need it. Not really sure how else to explain it. 
     
    At the end of veg and in flower so far it's been every other day. When they are smaller, I just did it when the pots got lighters. 
     
    Here is what I have been feeding them in 3 gallon pots.
     
    6 ML GH Flora Micro, 9 ML GH Flora Bloom, TSP of Epsom Salt. PH'd to 5.5 in veg, 5.8 in flower. 
     
    Never had more healthy plants. 
     

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