Hello fellow virtual friends. I have a question that maybe someone can answer or prove me wrong. I have a coco fiber 25% perlite mix with dolomite lime mixed into it. Put some clones and seedligs into it. Nutrient water (organic iguana juice from AN). Ph up with dropper to 5.8. Needless to say it all went horrible. Everthing is distorted and the grow basically halted. Now since its all organic, i thought maybe that i would grow it like soil, add nutrients, add benefecial bacteriums and pour, by itself the rootzone ph will ajust. Hypothesis was correct but it was too late for the seedlings and are now runts. The clones are growing. They grow now but really slow compared to soil and they dont look like they are getting all the nutrients they need. What can i do? It seems like ph'ing kills all the beneficials to me, rerendering the plant without enough nutrients. Is it safe to assume that i can grow in coco fiber with organics without ph'ing like if it was soil?
I don't know anything about "organic" amendments, but I've been growing in 75% coco and 25% perlite for a few months now. I don't own a pH meter or any pH up/down and haven't had a problem yet. I feed with aqua flakes A and B from house & garden at about half strength, every time I water, and they are watered from the bottom as well (which they love by the way)
Why did you add lime? I would grow in straight coco, and you can't go wrong with as much perlite as you'd like. (up 100% perlite, no coco) Lime is going to make your pH go UP! I would suggest skipping lime, as it's unnecessary in hydroponics. BUT, since you have it, it's good to learn how to live with it until the next grow. You might be able to save this one. Treat it like a soil grow now. pH your water to 5.5, then water your plant thoroughly. Capture all the runoff, and test the pH of your runoff water.... It's likely higher than 5.5. If it's higher than 6.4, you're in trouble. You must adjust the water going into the coco to a lower pH, so when it drains off, it's within range. Shoot for about 5.8 to be safe. This is a pain in the butt, and it's why I prefer to grow hydro rather than soil. But, because you have lime in your coco, your pH at the root zone will change from what you originally mixed up. The purpose of using lime is to adjust soil that's normally too acidic. Coco is naturally neutral, which is what makes it so rad to begin with! Cheers, Past
Flush through your soil with regular water for next 2 waterings then resume with low nute and work ur way up. In coco i dont use ph or any of that b.s. Just aerating my water and keeping it around 6.0 ph sometimes hehehe