Ice Cream Coco Hempy Scrog grow

Welcome to my Coco Hempy Scrog grow journal.

I just recently started working with coco coir as a medium. I typically use a 75/25% mix of perlite/vermiculite. I've heard great things about coco so I just had to try it out for myself.
I think the coco will improve the growth rate as well as the smell and taste. Word is that coco will increase the stickiness of the bud compared to perlite/ vermiculite.
Before I use the coco, I "charge" it with a low nute and calmag solution.

I will eventually move up to a 3 gallon hempy bucket about a week before flipping to 12/12 to give the plant some time to recover.
Moving up allows roots to grow during the first couple of weeks of flower before root growth tapers off.

The rez on the bottom allows for less frequent watering.
It's important to water with nutes every feeding, cause even tho it looks like soil grow it really is soiless and should be treated like hydro. When I first transplant, I water every day until the roots hit the rez. You can tell this because growth really takes off.

I water every 1-2 days depending on the plants needs. I tell by weight. If the pot feels about half heavy, I'll feed her. Apparently it's hard to overwater coco. I water until I see it start to runoff.
Coco drains very well so you should see about 10-20% runoff
The great thing about hempys is that once you move up to 3 gallon buckets you can get away with a feeding every couple of days as compared to 1-2 times a day with regular drain to waste.


The scrog

I only have 8 sq ft of area and 5 ft of height to flower so the 400 hps and screen allow for great yields in such a small area. I get 50 watts/ft coverage and my light can get as close as 7-9 inches above the canopy. I found that chicken wire with 2x3" holes work great for this use. I try to keep the screen about 8" above the top of the bucket for easy access for watering. I try to keep the light around 9" above the canopy, raising it as required.

My biggest challenge is the heat. I find that below the canopy the temp stays around 75-78 degrees, but above can get into the mid to high 90's. The rootzone stays fine, but it has to have some effect on the growth.

I either top or lst my plants while in veg and let them bush out as long as I can, then when I put them under the screen, they fill up about 75% of the holes. This allows room for stretch and training so that every 2x3" hole will be filled which a bud.

I have to say that a "carpet" of buds blooming is quite something to see. Not to mention that every bud is getting optimum light exposure.
I remove all little stalks and growth under the canopy, except for the fan leaves. I let them do their job and will fall off when done.
I'm a firm believer in leaving fan leaves alone. You can tuck the big ones under or cut them in half if they're intruding on bud sites.
Removing all the growth below allows for the energy to be utilized in the bud formation.

I am currently running a small perpetual closet grow.

I have a 2'x3'x4' cabinet for vegg.
I use 3- 24" high output t5 23w sunblaster flouros 6500k
And a 150 watt hps as well
For flower I have a 2'x4'x5' homemade grow tent, using an
Emperor 400 watt hps and set up a screen for scrog


My nutes

For veg cycle:

Botanicare ZHO- rhizosphere root inoculant.
B52
Calmag+
Canna coco a + b
Fulvic acid

For flowering I add Gh Koolbloom, Botanicare Sweet raw and finish with Botanicare Ripe

I am trying Millennium coco coir fiber. It looks very clean and low salt content.

Thanks for joining me on my first coco grow. Feel free to share any experiences or knowledge on this type of grow.

Peace
Bmaster

 

I've heard that it works well. I'll probably pick up some PK after I finish my bag oh Koolbloom 2-45-28. Waste not want not at them prices for nutes,lol

 

I recently transplanted two ice cream clones from mini hempy cups into 1 gallon hempy buckets.

Ice cream is a cross between Ingemars White Widow with Bubblegum.
Man the smell in the grow room is like a candy shop when these ladies get going.
The strain is 60/40 sativa/indica

The transplant

I 'charged' the coco with calmag+ and a low nute solution. When I was ready to transplant, I treated the roots directly with 1/4 teaspoon of ZHO microbial root inoculant and placed her in the pot.

My nutes at this point consist of:

10 ml each Canna coco a+b
8 ml b52
5 ml calmag+
20 ml Fulvic acid Per 4 ltr tap water(dechlorinated) pH to 5.8

Besides a little mag deficiency, the girls' transplants were a success.
A little calmag and they were good.

There are a lot of different pheno types of ice cream. I kept two distinctive types: one Sativa leaning that grows very fast and big, the other definitely indica- short bushy girl that produces nice big tight nugs. Both smell and taste like vanilla with a pine skunk undertone.
The buds and sugar leaves turn white with all the trychs they produce. Amazing hash btw

I'll look for some bud shots of their kin

I have to lst the sativa early as it gets out control if I don't. I fimmed the indica
And she'll bush out nice. These girls are @ 15 days veg.

 

I have a few pix of the clones mothers at the point of harvest. I didn't scrog the indica pheno. I wanted to see how she looked naturally at harvest. I had no choice but to lst and scrog the sativa pheno.
Had to 'tame the beast'!!

 

Ya I find that works best for me as well. Allows the roots a chance to grow a nice rootball, then potting up allows for more root growth=plant growth=bud growth. Any more than that is unnecessary Imo.

 

It's time for me to pull a couple clones off the indica pheno.

I'm going to try a new method I've learned from AskEd here on GC. He swears by it and he knows his coco.

This method is a little unorthodox, because you use no domes or baggies, heat pads or cloning gel and it goes directly into the coco.

I prepared my mini hempy cups with perlite up to the drain hole, then filled the rest with 'charged' coco. I had previously added 1/4 teaspoon of ZHO into the coco to get things cooking for a while.

Once I took the two cuttings I prepared the stem and leaves. I'm gonna add cloning gel just for peace of mind.

As soon as I plant them I give them a b52 and distilled water solution. Then stick them under a low watt cfl and that's it.

Then it's just a matter of keeping the coco nice and moist by a little drink every 2-3 days and mist often. Apparently in 11-12 days you should have enough roots to transplant if you want.

We'll see how well this method works. Fingers crossed

eace:

 

Thanks bud

Good luck with them Freeborn. I know, it's a double edged sword with those little bushes. Usually nice big fat nugs off them but a lot of bother keeping the bud sites clear.

I like to lollipop as well. Keep the energy for the big boys up top is my motto. That's why I like scrog.

 

Ya, it's a learning curve for sure, trying to find a happy medium between enough growth after stretch to fill every hole with a bud site, to over vegging and having your scrog outta control.

I usually wait till about 60-70% of holes filled for sativa, 75-80% for indica before I flip. It's all strain dependent.

 

I have to say there might be something to this cloning method. I woke up this morning half expecting my little babies to be slumped in a heap. To my surprise and joy, they were reaching for the sky

Just spraying a couple times a day with b52 water.

Stay tuned

 

I have my fingers crossed,it'd be great if it works. No fuss.

Rapid rooters work awesome as well, great success rate

 

I don't usually transplant into 3 gal buckets this early in veg, but the indica has outgrown the cabinet and I'm not training her, just letting her go.
I wanted to make sure she had time to rebound from the transplant before flipping her to 12/12.

I was surprised how much root growth there was for such a short time. The roots look pretty healthy.

Notice how cleanly the plant comes out of the pot. No fuss, no muss

I filled the bucket with straight perlite up to the hole, then added a couple inches of coco before setting the plant in. I filled the rest with 'charged' coco and fed her with regular nutes.

 

After I noticed the root growth I decided to transplant the sativa into 3 gal buckets as well, since typically the sativa roots grow quicker than the indica on this strain.

Sure enough crazy roots

Anyway, I thought I'd share a couple pics of my Icecream sativa that's 7 weeks into flower. I'll probably let her fatten up for couple weeks before chopping her.

I can't wait, she smells so sweet!!

 

7 days into clone. The cuttings still look healthy and perky, aside from a little browning on some tips. AskEd suggested using low watt 2700k cfl's for cloning to solve that issue. I might try it but only have a 6400k cfl on it now. I want to see how they respond.