I've done a few grows in soil with good results. I'm not really looking to acquire advice on more equipment or nutes. If it's something I don't have thats needed please advise. Just no products that do the same as whats on hand. I've spent plenty on supplies used and ones totally scrapped and never used. I would like to use what I have on hand. I will be using 5 gal paint buckets. Mostly Botanicare coco coir fiber bricks (broken up) and some 15% perilte mixed in. I have a combo of lights 360w total 35,000 lumens mostly hps, some cfl supplemental for flowering, also MH light with 28,000 lumens for veg. My grow space is 28"+ 30" I'm going scrog. Super Critical from Green House seeds is the strain. My nutes ect... GH-Maxigrow, Maxibloom, Koolbloom Botanicare-Sweet, Clearex, Cal-Mag plus (I plan on using clearex only for final flush, and Sweet 1-2 times per grow max) Other items on hand not sure needed? Dolomite lime Epsom salt distilled water hard tap water (I have no idea ppm, tds, ect...) I have root bound clones in small soil cups. I plan on just dropping the root ball soil and all into the coco mix and bury like a soil transplant. I plan to use GH dry nutes soilless mix feeding schedule and some Lucas methods as a start. www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/GH_Feed-Chart.pdf 2nd page has dry nutes soilless mix feeding chart. All advice appreciated. Do I need Dolomite lime in my mix? Do I need to flush between fertilizing? Is runoff enough of a flush with nutes included? Flush with fresh RO and Calmag plus? Anything else you think might help me along please do tell!
I flush with plain RO water every 2-3 weeks to get rid of excess salts. Other than that I usually feed with every watering with zero run off.
Since you have CalMag+, you won't need Epsom Salts. Rather than plant the root ball, soil and all, have you considered washing the soil off the roots durng the transplant. I did it successfully a couple of weeks ago, wth no ill effects. The plant showed no signs of shock and is raging now. Canna recommend watering with 10% runoff with soft water and 20% with hard water, to avoid salt buildup and the need to flush. You're gonna need an EC meter, especially if you have hard water. How hard? You may need to buy an RO filter if it's too dirty. 0.2 EC is soft, 0.4 is normal and 0.6 is hard water.
Hey guys thanks for the response! In my research of coco I may have gotten to excited and bought the stuff before I realized how it works. I would like to water every 4th day maybe 5th doesn't seem coco is good for that. I will use 5 gal pots but still gonna need water much more than every 4th day? If I go with only coco & perilite mix will I need the dolomite lime?
Perlite will only make watering occur more often. If you want to water the least amount possible don't use any perlite. As for watering every 4 days. If your coco stays moist that long you can, but that is pretty unlikely. In full flowering I water every day out of necessity. In my 5 gallon pots they take about 4/5 of a gallon every day. Even if I run 3-4 gallons through they would still be drying off by the next day, and by the 3rd day they would be totally dry.
You might have a slight problem. Maybe a good potting mix and mix in the coco to save wasting it. You won't have a real good result in coco if you water that infrequently. I wonder how water crystals would go in coco, to conserve water? Anyone?
Yeah I like the idea of faster growth. I also like the idea of bigger yields. Honestly watering every day is just to much. I could water every day for one grow maybe but after that it would just get to be to much trouble. I'm the only one who knows about my grow. Watering every day just seems like I would have to ask for help watering at some point. I'm not willing to do that so I'm going to stick with the soil. I would love to grow bigger faster in a mix that most don't use or know about. Even if I don't ever tell anyone about my grow I would still like to be on the cutting edge of growth and yield. Watering everyday just doesn't fit into my stealth security requirements.
A bit of a shame - I'm loving the results in this 'new-fangled' coco, but if you can't water more often..... Still, as I suggested, just mix the coco in with your soil. Makes a pretty good mix.
Yeah I'm pretty bummed out about not going completely coco. I have 12 bricks of botanicare coco coir on hand also 4 lbs dolomite lime and large bag of perilite. I was thinking I could just get some peat and mix that in with the coco, perilte and lime. I would use mostly peat moss in the mix sadly, but this will work i believe? Mix I'm planning at the moment any help would be appreciated. 3/7 peat moss 2/7 coco coir 1/7 vermiculite 1/7 perilite 1 tbls of dolomite lime per gallon 5 gal paint bucket as pot
It might still dry out a bit too fast. Not sure, though, I've never used peat moss. To be frank, even with a soil mix in pots, I've always needed to water more often than every 4 days for good results. Someone else might be able to help with the peat moss.
I've been using peat based mix for a while now. The only thing I'm unsure of is how the coco will affect the peat mix? Normally I get 5-7 days between waterings at the begining of my grow and 4-3 days towards the end, I'm ok with that. I'm hoping the coco will help get more air in the mix, without drying the soil out much faster.
My limited understanding of the concept, says I'd have a big problem with res temp. I believe it would take some significant work to get a place (near my grow closet) for my water to be stored at the proper temperature. Sadly I like the idea of not bringing soil bags in and out of my place so I have considered?
I won't disagree regarding temp. I hadn't considered it. I know nothing about drip feeding, I'm a dedicated hand waterer.
I dehydrated a brick of Botanicare coir fiber today. I'm coming back to just the coco with vermiculite to help hold water and perilite on top and bottom. This stuff looks like some dope growing medium, I gotta give a one run grow at least! I'm a little discouraged about all the seemingly different info regarding coco on the web. Seems most don't truly agree on anything. I don't wanna sound ungrateful for the info on whatever/whoever coco grow log/list/info thread. They just seem to go in circles with their methods and then by the time a method may or may have been established the so called guru is gone from the thread? Speaking on several growing site's, I'm only a member here. I did get some great ideas and some solid info but nothing to make me feel completely in the know on my upcoming grow. My main question at this point is do I need dolomite lime in my coco only mix?
I havent needed any amendments whatsoever in my pure coco grow...I dont even have perlite or vermaculite in mine...I didnt even charge my coco prior to planting and everything has turned out well so far
Seems most don't use the dolomite lime? What size conainers are you using? How often do you need to water?
I started 3 seeds in 3gallon smart pots and 1 seed in a 6 inch square plastic pot.....I usually water every 3 days. Check out my grow if youre interested, lot of pics and info so you can see how it has progressed thus far
My new plan going all coco coir! This stuff just looks to great to not give a full solid try! I will be using 5 gal paint buckets. Mostly Botanicare coco coir fiber bricks (broken up) with 20% vermiculite mixed in. Bottom layer and top layer perilite. (in my readings it says top layer of rocks or sand prevents some kind of bugs in coco) I have a combo of lights 360w total 35,000 lumens mostly hps, some cfl supplemental for flowering, also MH light with 28,000 lumens for veg. My grow space is 28"+ 30" I'm going scrog. Super Critical from Green House seeds is the strain. My nutes ect... GH-Maxigrow, Maxibloom, Koolbloom Botanicare-Sweet, Clearex, Cal-Mag plus (I plan on using clearex only for final flush) distilled water hard tap water (I have no idea ppm, tds, ect...) I have root bound clones in small soil cups. I plan on just dropping the root ball soil and all into the coco mix and bury like a soil transplant. I plan to use GH dry nutes soilless mix feeding schedule and some Lucas methods as a start. www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/GH_Feed-Chart.pdf 2nd page has dry nutes soilless mix feeding chart. I'm unsure of my watering needs and my feeding needs? I'm going with coco coir 75% vermiculite 20% perilite 5%. I plan on starting with the GH recommended feeding for soilless mix. I'm going to rotate between the calmag the sweet and epsom salts. When I fertilize I'm going to use one of the three supplements calmag, sweet or epsom salts. I'm also going to use RO water to fertilize and just use straight tap on non feeding days. It seems all agree coco can have cal-mag issues. No real solid plan on how to stop this has been found in my readings? I hope to stop the cal-mag issues by covering all the bases mentioned how to control, but never really proven to work. Thats why I'll be using the calmag plus, sweet and epsom salts in a 3 way rotation in my feedings. If i can water with tap between fertilizing I will to cover the base that possibly tap water can help? If feeding is needed every watering I'll still rotate the three supplements and add some tap water in. I'll see if feeding with every watering is needed. I also have a wetting agent I plan on using in the coco mix. I don't plan on watering daily but I will if needed.