Greetings all. I have a question about watering in coco. We transplant our plants from 4x4 soil pots to a 5gal mesh bag of a coco/perlite mix. Once they are transplanted, what is the best way to water them? Should we stick to watering just the root balls until the roots fill the pots, or should we go ahead and start to water them like normal (20% runoff with a dry down period in between)? In the past we would typically transplant from 4x4 into 1gal (both soil) then into the 5gal coco. We would then flush about 1.5-2 gallons of a veg feed once they're in the 5 gals and then allow them to dry out, continuing that through their various stages of growth and feeds. However, we got a new grow consultant in and he prefers to go from 4x4s directly into the 5 gals. while watering them at a rate of about .2-.3 gallons, gradually going up from there, not getting the 20% runoff until about week three of bloom. I'm just curious what your experience is in terms of going from 4x4s into 1 gal before the 5 gal or not, and particularly on watering the new transplants. Thanks! This is my first post!
Don’t let root ball dry up but ya want to Water around root ball so roots search for water. Are you using a root nutrient to encourage root growth?
You should never let your coco dry out by design coco is meant to be fertigated daily at least. You can get away with letting your coco dry and other poor feeding practices many times but you are seriously gambling with severe nutrient burn and or nutrient lockout . Here's a good site for coco growers https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/
We are using the Emerald Harvest line. We use Root Wizard but that’s just beneficial bacteria, not a root growth “nutrient” per se.
I’ve had experience with new transplants (from dirt to coco) appearing to have some lockout. The plants get droopy and turn a yellowish color. Would you recommend flushing the coco from the beginning (with the 20-30% runoff)? Like I said we will typically start full flushes at about week two. I’m still a bit new to the game so I’m still learning what works best, but I’m picking up that that’s going to be a continuous process haha. I just found that site yesterday! Gonna pick through that all up and down, thanks!
I gotta be honest the dirt to coco is strange to me, I know a couple companies make coco/soil mixes. But in my mind they have different ph requirements therefore not the greatest combo. That's just my take on it, I'm in no way an expert on the matter. But I've done a couple runs in coco and growing in a coco perlite mix with coco/cannabis specific nutrients is pretty simple growing as long as you follow the "rules" one of them is to feed every day at least once. Also make sure that your coco is buffered either buy buffered or do it yourself. Don't skip this step. It's all in the site I linked above. Lol I jumped into coco not understand at all what I was getting into, I thought I was going to be able to water less like a soil grow. Boy was I wrong. Oh well I got a handle on it now and love it, you can get some phenomenal growth in coco once you learn how to take full advantage of its capabilities. Sorry for rambling I'm high over here
The deeper we dig the more there is to tell! So we transplant clones into 4x4 pots, let them do their thing for 2-3 weeks then into a 5 gallon mix actually. We do 70% coco fiber and 30% coco soil (coco loco is the brand I think) plus some large grade perlite. We used to do a 100% coco fiber plus perlite mix but we kept experiencing the droopiness and yellowing, so we added some of the coco soil and that seemed to work. After doing some reading though, perhaps the coco we use isn’t buffered and that’s why we’re experiencing those negative effects. We use Aurora Innovations Soul Coco Fiber. I’ll do some digging on that. Thanks for the info! I have like 3 months experience with deep water hydro and about a year and a half with the coco. I guess we have our Moms in soil but they’re in Veg all the time so... So far I love the coco! Will be experimenting with soil in my backyard next grow season.
This site gave me good info about consequences of not buffering, I believe it's the reason I had yellowing/pale leaf response Buffering Coco Coir
That was a nice little article. I like to read the same thing from different sources sometimes it helps me wrap my head around the bigger picture
Thanks! I've reached out to the company that we get our coco from to see how they prepare the product!
If it comes in a bag its usually buffered already, if you get the bricks they usually are not with the exception being Canna coco their bricks are buffered. Its definitely worth asking though if unsure
Thanks for the site info as well. I’m brand new to coco. Always ran soil and ewc teas. I’ll be hanging around a bit if you don’t mind. Definitely be on the other site reading Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum