Sorry I missed that out. I ran 6L of water through. Oh man, this is gonna be tough. Thanks for the help Mick!
Hey mick, I've recently germinated an autofem pineapple express and the sprout looks abit odd. The growth seems to be somewhat slow too.. Currently day 4 from sprouting out of the medium. Seed was germinated directly in a coco plug/pellet (presoaked in 1/4 strength kelp extract). Moved the plug into a small pot to prevent the plug from drying out as I removed it from the humidity dome. Started with one 24w cool daylight light bulb. Currently running two 24w cool daylight light.bulb. Yesterday i watered the plug and surrounding coco with 1/4 strength nute (400ppm) and I noticed burnt tips of the serrated leafs. Currently just watering with 180ppm nutes around the plug to encourage the seedling's roots to branch out. Temps are ranging from 24°C to 27°C Humidity is about 60% Any idea why the plant looks like it's twisted rather than the usual look of a "m" structure? Also any idea why it burnt despite using 1/4 strength?
Sorry brother, but I'm no expert in diagnosing plant problems. You didn't mention the pH - what is the pH going in and coming out? 1/4 strength nutes will vary depending on the nutrients you use - if 1/4 strength is 400ppm with the nutes you use - it's too high - stay in that 180 range for now. I always check the pH in and out first - twisting leaves is a sign of a pH problem. Did you pre-charge your coco or was it already buffered? Sorry I couldn't be more help. Good luck.
Yes pH in 6.0, pH out 6.2 Yes, my coco was precharged. Will the coco be off if it was precharged one week ago ? Thank you for your response tho. What's your advice with using pH-Ed tap water for the first week?
Your pH is ok - assuming your meter is calibrated and accurate. I don't use plain pH'd water, but some people do without problems. Sorry I can't be of more help - but I have no experience with your starter plugs, your nutes, or kelp extract. Good luck.
Mick, I'm curious if you ever just feed plain PH water from time to time. I have read about nutrient build up in coco, but have yet to see it.
I never feed plain water. If you feed to run off each time you shouldn't get salt build up - I've never had it. If I have to adjust the pH of the root zone, I use 1/4 strength nutes to flush. Some people flush occasionally, and that's not a bad thing.
I watered to run off yesterday just to flush the soil. I'm trying to fix a PH problem hopefully this will work.
I'm growing with coco (indoors and outdoors currently). Ive only done one two successful grows with coco (first one was a pain in the ass, wasnt using coco specific nutrients.) In my countless hours of research, ive found some causes for salt build up (im sure theres more than what im about to list). One of them is, you let your coco dry out. This causes the nutrients to "lock on/lock up" in the coco resulting in salt buildup. Another is, when giving too much nutrient to the plant so it causes salt build up (i.e you give a plant 700 ppms when it really needs say, 400). The one you mentioned is not feeding until runoff. All of thes situations can be fixed with flushing at 300pm until what goes in comes out (NEVER use plain/tap/RO/distilled etc., because they cause osmotic stress in the root zone.) So, I feed until runoff EVERY watering (more than 30% most of the time) and when I check runoff ppm/ec sometimes its higher than what I feed with. I hate the thought "if it aint broke dont fix it" when it comes to growing. If I feed without checking runoff, im sure it would lead to burn(I have slight burn on one auto) So, either im leting it dry out too much (yes, but I dont let my coco dry out much, it stays moist), overfeeding (yes, sometimes, but when I find the sweet spot, runoff rises again next feed (sometimes)which leads me to it getting dry), or not enough runoff(NO, I overdue the runoff part). So, Mick, my fellow grower, I would like your input. Thanks in advance!
How often are you feeding? I feed twice a day in flower, so there's no way it ever comes close to drying out. I don't own a ppm meter and have never tested it going in or coming out. The only thing I test is pH. I agree that letting coco dry out can cause salt build up, as well as not feeding to run off. I wouldn't know about feeding too strong a nutrient solution causing salt build up - I don't over feed. Not sure if that helped.
It didnt but thanks for the reply. They are fed 4 times a day sometimes 5 (both outdoors and indoors). I replied in another thread that phing runoff is "misguiding". I read somewhere that the plant feeds on the nutrients and this causes the ph to swing up and down. True PH, of media, can be found with much accurate results with a slurry test. Anyway, off to do more research on buildup elswhere, cheers!
If you are getting burn, reduce your feeding frequency. I only feed twice a day in Flower as well. Three times for those in final two weeks before flush. You can also add drip clean to your nutrients, and always feed to runoff of 20% or more. Don’t use too big of pots, as this can cause salt buildup from unused nutes.
I always check ppm after I noticed the burn. I heard something about drip clean not working cant remember what it was (I dont know if youre familiar with Don Juan Matus' "Coco Tree's" thread. Thats where I read it somewhere).More feedings in smaller doses I remember that now. Thanks for the big pot tip btw.
There’s far more coco growers that use drip clean than not. It’s cheap. I’m on the same quart bottle for three cycles and still have over half left. But if you consistently feed to 20% runoff, you should be fine. I just prefer to stay ahead of deficiency and salt buildup. It’s funny, almost everything you’ve read, I can contradict from experience. My girls are happy
Its funny now that I think about it, my indoor plants are not having excess ppms (other than the times I clearly overfed them a little) like the ones outdoors. And I have only flushed once indoors to get rid of the excess stated before. I dont know. Im still going through my check list of things to do.
My first coco grow. Never worried about ph coming out only 5.8 ph going in. At the end of this plants cycle I upped it to 5.9-6.4 (still not checking runoff ph only runoff ppm/ec). I guess we can agree to disagree. Ps sorry for jacking thread for a bit Mick. *Its still coco related
DJM uses tap water and claims that the chlorine keeps his drippers clean and he doesn't bubble his water but it gets aerated by the pump during feeding. I think he fed up to 6x a day and never DTW and said at the end he was around 900ppm for runoff. Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
I just finished rereading the "coco trees" thread again (only DJM's posts). He says chlorine keeps his pipes, and drippers "sanitized (as in free of pathogens and bacteria)." Nowhere does he say that chlorine keeps his pipes and drippers "clean (from saltbuild up is what I think youre getting at)." He says that drip clean is used by people, and his words VERBATIM, "DC[Drip Clean] is just a bandage for improper feeding, watering techniques and monitering ..." Ive followed his program on not letting the coco dry out and keeping it wet/moist all the time and I have no burn, by saltbuild up, anymore. EDIT: And "Never DTW" bro, did you even read the "coco trees" thread. Stop spreading misinformation and ruining DJM's reputation. While he has done a "no DTW" he mainly does "DTW."