Sounds like you found a good grow combo, the flora line is good because it damn nears buffers itself to the right ph range, and with coco you just have to be close. Botanicare CNS series is like that, at full strength in RO the ph comes out right on the money, that's Cadillac Topping is the way to go IMO, I get the most quality fat buds like that. I usually top the stalk at 3rd or 4th leafset, then top the resulting two branches after their 2nd leafsets. Doesn't stall the grow much at all (especially in coco), and I get a half dozen or so nice cola type buds. On your nutes, 6 gals is quantity to me LOL I thought you were only dealing with one or two plants. But nute mixes won't sour, just keep the mix away from light is all otherwise some algae could start growing. I didn't know hempy moved to coco, that just made my day I used to use perlite/vermiculite back in the day like hempy's first buckets, but I really didn't like the vermiculite too much. Perlite is damn near perfect though, but coco is still king for soiless in my book.
Not sure if it's ok to post a link from another grow site but here's Hempy's coco thread: Coco Hempy style. - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums. I'll remove if I've broken any rules or regs...
Another question: What about Marine Cuisine caught your eye? Is there something unique about this fert.? Take it easy!
What a great read, thanks for the link spoom! I have one plant going through that will use nutes so I will most likely try his 5 gal bucket there The ingredients caught my eye, damn close to what I create except I use no earthworm castings. And to be honest, I've been looking for an easier way for people to grow in coco. If I can point to an easily sourced fertilizer, without a lot of complicated measurements, then I think there may be some happy growers in the near future. I don't know if I'd call this unique, but I have not seen this combination of quality ingredients at all, and I think it's perfect for MJ and I haven't seen anyone try this with coco.
WEEK 4 Wed - Transplanted to 3 gal, watered in with 32 oz Base RO + 20 ml Maxicrop, topped all 6 branches @ 2nd/3rd nodes Fri - 16 oz RO Sat - Took pictures (below) Aunt Peg continues to progress nicely. She's 28 days from breaking ground today and she's been in 12/12 for a week now. By next Saturday's update she should have some preflowers. Last week she had damaged leaf tips I believe it's burning as I put 3 times the amount of Marine Cuisine as recommended No big deal, it was with just one layer of leaves oddly enough. The gnats have been really bad lately so I put a layer of perlite up top, it's kept them away Her new growth does not have the fucked up tips so looks like all is well for now. She's a little light in the centers but I'm not too worried about that. Let's wind the clock back a few days to Wednesday just before her transplant. You can see her new shoots have the strange tips. No biggy as I normally top at this point anyways. She has 6 branches, all of them were topped after the 2nd set of branches. New flower mix: 2 gal - coco coir 2 tbsp - Marine Cuisine 4 tbsp - Indonesian Bat Guano 2 tbsp - Dolomitic Limestone - pelletized (to compensate for coco's calcium issue) 2 tbsp - Epsom salt (magnesium supply)
Hey Ed I have a quick question for the coco guru. With this mixture are you going to do a flush at any point? I don't mean at the end when you are close to harvest. Thanks in advance.
Hmmm good question man... I don't expect to flush anytime for maintenance resons. I'm only giving her the Marine Mix for transplant and we'll see how long it lasts. I'll be happy for 4 weeks (she's still pretty hot as it is). The rest of the time she'll get bat guano which doesn't leave enough salts to be flushed, as I understand. So yet another time saver here, I don't see a need to flush until the end, right I welcome any and all thoughts as I'm learning along the way here
howdy ed I have been thinking about this too. I was advised by my friend who works at a hydro shop to flush every 4 weeks to get rid of the salts. I am using the botanicare pure blend bloom with hydroplex, aquashield, and calmag (maybe they are high in salts?). You probably won't have to flush though if you are not adding any nutrients. Do you feed with any added nutrients to your water?? Or do you just let the mix handle all that?
Yeah I'm of the 4 week flush belief myself when using bottled nutes or fertilizers, a lot of the elements are sourced from mineral salts so that gets left behind and jacks with the uptake. Pure Blend is mostly organic though so it may not be as bad, but flushes are good regardless. The only thing 'm adding to the water is epsom salt to harden the water a bit and a drop or two of Superthrive. For flowering I plan to give her bat guano every 2 weeks and Maxicrop every two weeks (alternating). On paper it should supply the basics as long as the nitrogen doesn't run out too soon. We'll see LOL Edit: She's looking really really good BTW, I'm anxious to post Saturday's pics!
WEEK 5 Sun - 32 oz Base RO Wed - 32 oz Base RO Fri - 32 oz Base RO & Took pictures (below) Growth has been fantastic, she's so happy and really starting to take off. I have been so impressed with this Marine Cuisine that I'm starting to send a lot more plants down the line with it, it's a champ for vegging for sure. I've yet to cut a leaf - even the damaged ones are still there. I haven't seen a pistil yet here at 12 days of flowering, but it should be any day now. More importantly, she is showing no signs of deficiencies, I give high marks for the veg stage - this stuff has made my life a little easier to get things started. Here she is in the flower space with her cell mates.
New flower mix: 2 gal - coco coir 2 tbsp - Marine Cuisine 4 tbsp - Indonesian Bat Guano 2 tbsp - Dolomite Lime (to compensate for coco's calcium issue) 2 tbsp - Epsom salt (magnesium supply) Thanks Ed for all your great work.Quick question.What was the ratio for perlite in this mix?
COCO MIX For vegging we will us a 1 gallon pot 1 gal coco fiber coir + 2 oz perlite 3 tbsp Marine Cuisine 2 tbsp Epsom salt (some extra magnesium) For flowering, probably bat guano, we'll see when we get there. Howdy Ed.Is there pellitized lime in this mix?Do you have a base mix for your coco medium like your base mix for RO,if you do I would be thrilled to know?
Ah good eye my friend! Thank you, I was a bit sloppy in my recipes LOL OK I updated the top recipe there, and will correct the entries (tomorrow...). I do have a base coco mix, but it's really really loose. Normally I like 25%-50% perlite vs coco, but with amendments like this I've been cutting down on the perlite to less than 25%, just enough to air it up some but leave plenty of coco to work with the fertilizers. I didn't use lime with the veg mix because I had so much Marine Cuisine which has crab meal and lot of calcium already so I held of until flowering mix. I was adding epsom, but I have changed my mind on that since then LOL LumperDawg gave me a tip on calcium level needing to be higher than magnesium, so I've eliminated epsom from my mixes now - but I did use it here. Ah well, she'll be fine So, base coco for me is some perlite and 1-2 tbsp dolomite limestone per gallon of coco (it has both calcium & magnesium). This is plenty to grow with nutes or ready for organic amendments.
Thanks Ed for answering my questions.I sure do appreciate being able to come to this city and reference your materials.Keep up the great work. Much love, Me
Still using epsom in the Base RO water, but I'm not adding it to my coco mixes anymore. The dolomitic limestone supplies good magnesium so that should be enough for the medium.
Well everyone, some good news and some bad. First off, the good news is that that this is one ofthe healthiest plants I've ever raised, the Marine Cuisine has impressed me to no end, these pics were actually taken last Tuesday (been busy ). The bad news is Aunt Peg came up positive in a random nut check, we have a male here I don't see any pistils anywhere so we're not talking hermie that I can tell. And yes this is a feminized seed. Ah well, my first male from a fem seed, bound to happen I suppose. Uncle Peg is outside on my patio while i think this over.
You have my condolences, Ed. G13 Labs is one of the breeders that I've seen disparaged by some of the hardliners in the Seed Banks forum. I don't recall if it was Outdo0rGrower or lessismore, but someone didn't think highly of them. I like to keep my ear to the ground over there. I highly recommend Outdo0rGrower's writings. The entertainment factor alone makes him worth the read. And anyone that irascible who hasn't been banned must know what he's talking about. How about that for logic? Outside is where he belongs. Tied up in a large, green plastic bag and sitting at the curb. If you have a breeding itch, Skunk #1 is one good place to start, I imagine, but not a feminized seed that turned out male. I'm guessing that right now you are just searching for acceptance and once you have achieved it, you'll strangle that plant. Besides, do we really need another variation of Skunk #1? If I thought we did, and I wanted to breed, which I don't, then I might start here. This has been a very successful grow. Your beautiful, healthy, sweaty male has demonstrated the utility of Fox Farm Marine Cuisine, which is what you set out to determine. Well done.