So here's my Northern Lights project. First timer here btw . She's been in the coco just at 21 days now. She was germed in the coco and broke ground after about 48 hours. Slow but steady growth since. I am using an unknown coco coir brand I purchased off Amazon. I looked but it really does just say Cocopeat Coco Coir and was shipped in 5 clear plastic bricks with no name brand attached. For nutes I am using Fox Farms Trio for hydro. After doing more reading around concerning coco-specific nutes I have purchased some Canna A&B and just waiting for it to get here before I switch off of the FF trio. I'm curious what you guys think regarding it's size for it being 3 weeks old. It seems pretty small in comparison to other grows I've seen on here. I have watered with ph'd distilled water only when the top inch of coco was dry and started nutes at 1/4 strength for the first week and half strength at the start of the 3rd week like the FF guide suggested. She's been steady green the whole time, only slight issue I noticed was some very slight burn on the tips of the lowest hanging leaves once I increased to 1/2 strength nutes. ph has been between 5.5 -6.0 at all times. I transplanted from a 1L pot to the 3G root pouch a few days ago. She seems to really like it and has introduced lots of new growth since the transition (i also started half strength nutes during this time). I am running about 75% coco mixed with 25% perlite and the bottom 1.5 inch of the root pouch with straight perlite for extra drainage. She is sitting under 4 45w full spectrum CFL's in aluminum domes with a light fan blowing over her. Very gentle breeze, didn't want to stress her out. Any feedback welcome, I think she's looking good but concerned with her slow growth. I'm thinking my nameless coco might be the problem. My next grow will be in a good quality well tested coco. (I know the temp looks a little high at 84 but it will come down to around 78-80 when I turn the fan back on, turned it off for the pics. Also, the pen is in there for reference)
mate nice looking plants but u have something going on there im new to coco but grown in soil for years and u either have a heat issue or mg issue not to worry u but keep a close eye on it as that could be why its slow
I'm seeing canoeing leaves which can be caused from several things and may be a sign of heat stress. I think your temps are on the high side @80* but, not that bad...I would get a fan blowing on the plant to move and help cool the air. I think you could be trapping a lot of heat and stale air at the root zone with the plant in that bucket, plus those root pouch bags can cause mildew if not given good air circulation. The main purpose of those bags is for getting more oxygen to the root zone. Distilled water is ok for establishing roots but you need some minerals(cal/mag/iron)especially when using coco. You should consider using a cal/mag supplement with iron or use tap water before you start having those dreaded issues. If your tap water has high ppm you can dilute with the distilled or filtered water to get a desirable ppm of around 200. If you are changing to canna nutes, they base and test there nutes using tap water @ 200ppm and that's where you will get the best results with canna. It's hard to over water with coco because it drains so well. Under watering is more of a concern in coco and letting the soil dry and getting a build up of salts leading to nute burn. A lot of growers water everyday, especially with older plants with larger root system with a 20-30& runoff to avoid this, plus hand watering also draws oxygen to the roots which is good.... I've never used the coco your talking about but, in the future would check the ppm and rinse until it is 100ppm or lower before using. Most of the top brands canna, cocogro etc are ready from the start....
Thanks for the advice. I took the root bag out and set it so it's all by itself now. Added two fans and got the temp down to high 70's. Probably pick up some cal/mag in a few days. We'll see how it goes. Just so I'm clear, cola, we're you saying to use tap water with the canna ab Or will distilled be fine?
^^ I'm saying, canna makes their fertilizer to work with tap water @ 200ppm....The reason for that is tap water has calcium and the main problem using coco has always been cal/mag issues...Not to say it won't work otherwise. There are a lot of growers here that use canna products and can help you through....I will say, canna is coco specific and most likely a more stable product than your fox farms... Nice job raising your seedling.... I'm sure you will notice a difference with the changes you made over the next week or, so...
Oh ok gotcha - my tap comes out pretty high on the ph scale so i'll play with it once the Canna A&B comes in and see how she responds. She may be missing that calcium/iron that the distilled wouldn't have. After measuring the plant, she has doubled in size in just under 4 days since upping to half strength nutes. She's about 3'' tall and 5'' all around, not really spreading out but staying very compacted and bushy-like. I picked up some epsom salt to throw in for her next watering as well. Going to start her on 1tsp/gallon for regular feedings/watering per some other threads i've read. Now once my Canna AB arrives should I go ahead and dial it back a little for the transition from different brands or should it be fine to continue at half strength? I was gonna give her another week before upping to full strength since I had just transplanted into the 3G pouch.
Be careful with upping nutes. A 1/4 to 1/2 dose is huge at this stage. Always appoach in baby steps and don't try to outwit mother nature.....The only reason your not seeing ill effects now is because your plants are in a good deal of coco. In the future it is best to leave them in small containers and just concentrate on building roots...The growth will come If your plants are a nice color green and showing no signs of toxicity and deficiencies don't try and fix it...I would wait for the canna nutes and follow their directions.... EDIT: When you make changes to your grow it may take a week or so, before you see any noticeable results of the changes. If you don't see results move to the next step... You may have a mag issue but, wait and be sure the changes you made help before trying to fix it...Your plant is not going to take a dive in the mean time so, be patient Just for the record a tsp of epsom salt is way to much...More like a 1/4- tsp per gallon dissolved in warm water. If you do have a mag deficiency it would be best to foilar feed for faster results. tothehead knows what he is talking about and uses canna...
Thanks for the recommendation. The canna should be here this week. I'll post some pics once I get a few uses out of it.
I switched off the distilled water to ph'd tap in preparation for the canna. I'm gonna run tap w/ the canna and see how she does.
Found the rhizo on Amazon. .5ml for $18. Is this something I would add just in the short term to get the plant back up to speed or do you apply that throughout the life of the grow? My new leaves are coming up like crazy but still "canoeing"
its not something you "cant live without", but you have to remember...... if everything is super healthy below ground, eg. roots/rootzone, everything will most likely be super healthy above ground, eg. the plant the marine algae and bacteria that rhizo is comprised of makes roots explode, at least in my personal experience w/ it
Pic updates. She seems to really like being out of the pot now and enjoying the extra breeze. Can't wait to get those Canna nutes going.
Got a question if anyone's still checking up on me. Tell me if I have this right: If i'm using tap water - not necessary to add Cal/Mag If i'm using distilled water - add Cal/Mag y/n? I started with distilled for the first 3 weeks of the grow because I researched that using tap contained too much chlorine. I know now after reading that it has necessary things like iron and calcium so I'm planning on using this once my Canna A&B arrives. I've been reading this forum for weeks now and haven't seen anyone mention chlorine in tap being an issue. I ordered some Cal/Mag+ and Canna Rhizo at the same time but now i'm curious if running Cal/Mag with tap would be overkill.
If you let tap water set in a bucket for 24 hours or, aerate for 4 hours the chlorine will dissipate making it safe for plant use.... Chlorine is actually a nutrient and in some studies has shown to be beneficial to some vegetable plants, mainly the tomatto. Trust me that MJ is not one of those plants you want to feed chlorine . It's not going to kill your plant overnight but, continual use will show ill effects. The ideal tap water for plants is one with less than 2-300 ppm. Tap water contains the minerals calcium and iron and I believe mag. This would be beneficial to use with coco but, you still may need to supplement with a cal/mag if deficiencies arise. The benefit of using ro water and adding cal/mag is you have more control of what goes in the water than depending on a water municipality....
Yes the first bit. No the second. Cannabis nutrients were first fomulated based on tomato feeds. The tomato and cannabis are very similar nutritionally. Chlorine is a plant nutrient and unless there are excessive amounts in your tap water then it should be added along with all the other nutrients in the bottle. Tomato's a fruit btw