the more I read, the more I seem to get confused. Some say I need to flush it first, some say don't flush. Some say calimag Before seeds. What would you recommend? I'm just using rapid rooters, placing them in solo cups with my coco/perlite mix.
Most recommend flushing coco with RO water out just in case there are salts still present in the coco, and if you're using GH nutes for example, you would then "pre-charge" the coco with 1/4 strength nutes. So like 1MG Cal-mag/ 1.5mg floranova/ 2.25mg bloom
I don't know of any coco nowadays that requires flushing out salts. Some coco already comes pre-charged and others require it. I let it sit in a bucket with 1/4 strength nutes pH'd to 6.0 for a few hours to pre-charge - other people use a calmag solution to pre-charge. I would suggest a 50/50 coco/perlite mix for your solo cups and feed 1/4 strength nutes daily to run off. Good luck.
I'm growing auto strain, and was planning on using this schedule, as recommended by an article (very new to all of this). http://www.growweedeasy.com/sites/growweedeasy.com/files/coco-coir-flora-series-schedule.pdf
So when you say 1/4 strength nutes what should I put in if I'm using that feeding schedule and nutes?
I didn't look at the feeding schedule but whatever the full strength is that they give for vegetative state you can probably cut it down to a quarter
Check out h3ad formula. You only need cal mag, micro, and bloom 1mg mag, 1.5 micro, and 2.25 bloom would be 1/4 strength
You can follow that schedule without a problem or you can use the Lucas Formula for coco like smguffer suggested in the above post. Full strength is 6ml micro and 9ml bloom. The only thing I don't agree with in the growweedeasy feeding schedule is using plain water every other time. I feed every time - everyday. I would not grow autos for your first grow if I were you. Good luck.
Thank you both for your help! Why do you not recommend growing autos for first grow? I guess I was under the impression that they would be easier.
They are not easier if you're a beginner. The life of an auto is short and uncontrollable, and they require a perfect grow from start to finish with no interruptions in the growth cycle due to deficiencies or other problems. Any problem will result in a poor yield. They are either for experienced growers or very lucky beginners. Good luck.
auto's are on their own time line, you do not control when they go into flower. so say you make some mistakes early on (very easy to do for a first time coco grower) and your plant is very small 5-6 weeks into the grow.. that auto is going to go into flower whether you're ready for it to go into flower or not... it's entirely possible 5-6 weeks into your first grow that the auto is only 5-6" tall, simply because you're learning and making lots of mistakes, and if that's the case you might only get like a quarter oz off the plant. if you have a photoperiod plant, you can literally make lots of mistakes, stunt the plant's growth .. and learn over the course of 2-3 months before you finally get comfortable with what you're doing, get the plant to the size you want it, then YOU decide when it goes to flower.
Hmm - that's not what I wanted to hear. I'm beginning to find that there are a lot of mixed opinions and suggestions with this hobby lol. So it's highly recommended that I ditch the plan for autos.. bummer.. I guess I either need to research much more, or get photo seeds.
Doing more research regarding autos won't change the fact that they require a perfect grow from start to finish. My advice - get photo seeds.
you're definitely going to want to do a few plants before you give auto's a shot. it's hard to kill a plant if you have just a basic understanding of what you're doing .. but the likelyhood of you having a perfect or near perfect run your first run is nearly zero... which means autos are not the route to go. i'd get at least 2-3 plants under your belt before you give auto's a shot.
I will take the advice you're both suggesting and start some photo seeds. What's a good starter strand off the top of your head?