I need some help figuring out exactly what nutes I'll need. Here is what I'm going to run: RO water Botanicare brick coco 25% perlite mixed in (not sure which brand yet?) 3.4g air pots Top feed watering system (not sure how or what system exactly if anyone can suggest that'd be great. I've read that blumats is a really good system but some people also had problems with it) So what nutes are needed? I know you normally have to run Cal/Mag+ When using RO, but do any of these coco specific A&B nutes such as Canna coco and H&G coco already have added cal/mag in their coco mix? I understand that the Cal/mag PLUS by Botanicare has the addiction of iron, so it would be beneficial in using this nute, but if Canna coco A & B has higher levels of cal/mag then adding cal/mag + would cause issues with cation exchange. So what's the verdict with Canna coco A&B when using it with Botanicare coco and RO water? I've also read that Botanicare using a bad pesticide in their cal/mag solution, is this true and if so what would be a better brand of cal/mag+ ? Also, at what point is Epsom salt figured into this equation? If I don't use cal/mag+ or regardless if I do run it or not I must run Epsom? And I've seen people mention Mykos is great for coco, what is this mad how does it help? Thanks.
i use RO and maxibloom on a drip system with botanicare cocogro. search on google or whatever you use for "pico's drip system". its a really great, basic drip system design that can be built to whatever specs you need. dont get blumats, their not all their cracked up to be. i personally dont use ca/mg. there is enough ca/mg in maxibloom to keep MOST plants satisfied. i guess it wouldnt be bad to have some on hand in case you needed it. i have calmag+ on hand if needed. no need to run epsom imo. mykos is a great product. i wont run without it. check out xtreme gardenings website and it will tell you everything you need to know about it.
Hey man I run the cns17 coco soil 2 part I had 1 issue with cal def but it settled its self out but I dont run a system I hand water but I havent used any cal mag and my girls look fine now a few flowering and a bunch vegginh thats just my input
There are just too many ways to come at this. My suggestion is to find a coco specific nutrient system and supplement it with elements it is lacking in as the grow progresses. Most all of them will work, but for what it is worth maybe consider buying American? Botanicare, General Hydroponics, Aurora Innovations, Humboldt Nutrients and Cutting Edge Solutions will have everything you need to produce very fine cannabis. Working with them helps keep the money you spend in our economy, rather than sending it off to Holland. Although, I do make an exception for DynaGrow's Pro-Tekt Potassium Silicate. This stuff is CRUCIAL! Some products that I swear by are: General Organics BioWeed - Sea kelp extract. Use at low volume (suggest full strength is 2.5ml/gallon anyway, do not exceed!!!) as it does contain some sodium from the extraction process. Helps build huge roots. General Organics BioRoot - Very inexpensive and effective organic system that helps roots do their job. 1-1-1 profile makes it very useful for the first few weeks. Botanicare Liquid Karma - Dunno what is in the stuff but it works as advertised. It is a bit pricey, I know, but when I grow with it I get an easy 20% more just because the plants are happier throughout the entire grow. Highly recommended to new growers. 8-10ml/gallon until day 30 of flowering. Taper off. Botanicare CNS17 Coco/Soil Grow, Bloom, and Ripe - My favorite coco base nutrient system. Two part systems are over rated and more difficult than they should be. This stuff is cheap and very effective on its own. Botanicare Hydroplex - My favorite P K booster at 0-10-6 just 2ml per gallon boosts both Phosphorus and Potassium by 20 to 30ppm, a really great kick for those elements. And at $18 for a quart it lasts quite a long time. 1-2ml makes a big difference. Cutting Edge Solutions Micro - This is a replacement for Cal-Mag Plus. It contains two kinds of chelated iron, lots of other goodies, and has a much higher concentration of Calcium and Nitrogen for the same price as the lesser Botanicare product. Again, 1-2ml is all that is required to balance the RO water. Cutting Edge Soltuions Uncle John's Blend - Resin enhancer and Potassium supplement. At 10ml/gallon it adds ~40ppm of Potassium (maybe a 25% increase to 200ppm total) and it really makes for some yummy bud. Sweeteners will make all your phenotypes taste the same while this enhancer brings out the maximum of her potential. Humboldt Nutrients FlavorFul - A Fulvic Acid acts as an organic chelator. Derived from Humic acid, the fulvic acid molecules are smaller and better suited to hydroponics. I use this product as a pH down and to help the roots uptake nutrients. I also include it clear to the flushing stage at up to 10ml per gallon. Great stuff in coco for bringing out extra flavor and depth to your bud. And... the DynaGrow Pro-Tekt - Silicon is so under rated in the growing world for what it does. I use it as a pH up balancer and at a volume of at least 3ml/gallon. Also something that can boost potassium a little and works clear up until the flush. Another something to add is Root's Organics Oregonism. This is a Myco/Tricho concoction (organic fungus and bacteria that help break down food into a size the roots can take up through osmosis). The spongy structure of coco fiber provides a wonderful habitat for organics and you can utilize these in a kind of quasi-organic-hydro sort of system with great results. Personally I use the Root's Organics Soilless Coco Mix now instead of the Botanicare blocks. I covered this a little earlier but yes, Cal-Mag Plus is required in RO water systems when using Canna Coco A+B due to a lack of iron in their base system. There are options available to people though, and I suggest you take a look at one of the many "Micro" supplements to act as your source of additional elements. The "pesticide" you are referring to is EDTA. It is a chelator (a molecule that helps keep something like iron from reacting with other free elements like oxygen). Chelators help allow an element get into a plant and get used efficiently but they also have an adverse effect on the cell walls of the microorganisms living in the soil. They become weak and over time break down. Unfortunately there is little you can do about it in growing. If you're going to try to go organic plus chelators then you are going to need to continuously supplement your micro-fauna. Epsom Salt is important to balance Magnesium in a cation rich environment of Calcium and Potassium retained in the coco. Coco will mature over time with high feedings of Calcium and as the plant ages the requirements for Calcium decreases while the need for magnesium increases. So, it is better to supplement calcium and magnesium separately. Use Epsom salt at 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water. This is a 10 to 20ppm boost to the element and could double what is in your solution already. I like to keep Magnesium around 1/2 of Calcium and 1/5 of Potassium beginning around the 5th week of life. If you ever see a Magnesium deficiency creeping up you can make a foliar spray of a pinch of Epsom Salt in a liter spray bottle with a drop of biodegradable dish soap, like Ivory, as a surfactant. Spray the underside of the leaves as the lights come on and this should help stop any damage up top while you resolve the issues down below. The last thing I wanted to talk about because you didn't seem very concerned about it is runoff. Runoff is pretty important in coco and to be honest I hardly have a clue how people grow without it. Low nutrient levels maybe, I dunno, but the way I suggest to everyone is to always get 1/3 of what you add to drain out the bottom and to alternate full strength and half strength feedings every other day. Wait until your root system fills your container before flowering too. You don't want to transplant and flip them. Give them 2-3 weeks to fill out the roots completely in the container and they will hit flowering running hard. Best of luck. An EC/pH/temp meter will REALLY help you out!
The liquid karma has a bit of fulvic acid, yucca for a wetting agent along with traces of NPK, which at first seems nothing special until I noticed that it's minerals are derived from kelp extract. Read up on it... the stuff is kinda like alfalfa tea; it's rocket fuel for your plants, and probably not as stinky as making the alfalfa AACT. Here's some quick notes on the benefits of kelp: "The role of kelp in agriculture dates back thousands of years, and has been an integral part of coastal farming. It can be said with honesty that kelp is the most effective additive next to quality fertilizer. The kelp that has the most importance for our needs is a kelp that grows in the cold Canadian waters of the Atlantic Ocean, it is called Ascophyllum Nodosum. There are many kelps that have great benefits for agriculture but this particular kelp has the gold medal. Ascophyllum is harvested by collecting from either the rocky shores or using a type of dredge or seine to catch it. It is then washed with fresh water to rid it of excess sea salt and then it is dried and powdered. It is very important that they harvest it at just the right time to ensure that the cytokinin levels are at their peak (cytokinins are growth hormones responsible for cell division in plants). Kelp contains many wonderful things such as over 70 minerals and trace elements, growth hormones, vitamins, enzymes, and proteins. It has been proven that kelp or what is in kelp can accelerate growth, increase fruiting and flowering, provide resistance to disease, insects and frost. There are a couple of things that are important in regards to the benefits of kelp and how they work. The first one is all of the trace elements and minerals which are aided by a carbohydrate mannitol that chelates or makes available certain minerals. One of the problems of modern farming is enabling the plant to take up all of the nutrients to complete a healthy life cycle. Chelates are very important in allowing plants to take up certain essential elements. What researchers have discovered is that with so many trace elements and minerals as well as vitamins and enzymes not to mention growth hormones, kelp aids in building and or supporting the plants natural immune system. If you can keep a plants immune system high it will have the ability to resist disease, insects, frost, and drought. The second important and perhaps the most important aspect of kelp is the growth hormones. Kelp contains ample quantities of auxins, gibberellins, and cytokinins. All growth hormones play a part in how a plant functions, and are more accurately called growth regulators. Kelp has very high amounts of a particular hormone, cytokinin. Cytokinins are responsible for cell division, cell enlargement, differentiation of cells, development of chloroplasts as well as a delay in aging." Simply Hydroponics - Benefits of Kelp
Ok, I appreciate everyone's help, lets go back through a few things now. I really don't want to waste time & energy using any snake oils & only want to focus on what will help increase yields & the overall health of the plants (which generally equals more yields) I don't want to use 30 different things, but want to focus on using a handful of them that have specific benefits so I don't get overwhelmed. So SCMC, I assume you suggest to use SOME of those nutes, not all of them correct? 1) The Botanicare Liquid Karma is highly revered among growers from my reading & it does sound quite interesting since it helps increase yields by almost 20%. It seems from what Piratech says that it is a Kelp extract. So it seems that the Liquid Karma & G.O. Bioweed both have Kelp extract in it, so only needing to pick one of these, I figure go with the Liquid Karma. Piratech also said this is a Fulvic acid, so that is another added bonus and takes place of the Humboldts Flavorful. But would Roots Organics Trinity be a better choice over Liquid Karma? From my understanding the Trinity has a growth catalyst, microbe catalyst, carb booster, and increases aromas and flavors. Thoughts? 2) The Botanicare CNS17 also seems to be widely used & suggested by many growers of coco. As I understand it, this is a 3 part system, Grow, Bloom & Ripe? I've read where some people suggest not even using Bloom, just ripe. Thoughts on that? 3) Resin Enchancers - I def want to use something like this. You & others suggested Uncle John's Blend but I've seen others also suggest Snow Storm Ultra & Biocanna Bioboost Accelerator - how do these other 2 compare to Uncle John's? 4) Cal-mag Plus - You said Cutting Edge Solutions is better than Botanicare's Cal/Mag Plus, so I will go with Cutting edge. 5) DynaGrow Pro-Tekt - I've also read that silicon does really help in plant & bud growth & even though I don't understand quite how, I would also want to include this in the blend of nutes I use. In addition to the 5 nutes listed above and Epsom salt, I still need to use Canna Coco A&B correct? 6) Root's Organics vs. Botanicare blocks - Roots Organic was the original one I was going to go with, but I like the idea of the blocks since they are easy to ship & you get a lot in a block. What makes Roots Organics better than Botanicare? Does the Roots Organics blend come with this Myco/Tricho concoction already blended in, or is it still something that must be added in? I would also want to use Myco regardless of what coco blend I use, it sounds very beneficial. I've also read that Great White is another kind of Myco & may be an even better choice? One last thing for now, I've read people using Blackstrap Molasses to help increase bud density, would this also be something great to add into my cauldron of spices?
1) We don't really know what is in Liquid Karma. Yes, there's some Chemical Extracted Kelp hormones, Yucca, and Fulvic acid, but there's also B-Vitamins, Amino-Acids, and likely several unlisted ingredients because... Let's face it... Botanicare doesn't list everything on the bottle. I use the BioWeed because it goes through a different extraction process and has a different composition as the Liquid Karma. Also, the BioWeed extract being separate from a fulvic acid supplement allows me to run Kelp during veg and Fulvic during late flower, but without having to run both at the same time throughout the grow. I had been using Liquid Karma for a while and I can definitely say there is no comparison to the results you get in the root zone from the BioWeed. I would consider Liquid Karma more of a fulvic acid than anything although FlavorFul is about 1/2 the price and for $12/quart I just keep it around anyway. Typically I am cutting out the LK by day 40 of bloom, sometimes earlier, so I need a non-kelp infused fulvic acid for that period. I don't know much about Trinity from Root's Organics, as I haven't used it personally or interacted with anyone else who has, but it doesn't sound like bad stuff. Definitely worth a comparison but I am not usually big into Carb boosting, catalysts, or enzymes. I'll keep my eye out for this product and I will see what I can learn about it. 2) Yes, lots of people have started using CNS17 over the last year and it is becoming more common at hydroponic stores (store owners make very little money on the product so they usually won't carry it and instead suggest a more expensive Dutch company with a better profit margin). Technically, it is considered a 1-part nutrient despite there being different bottles for different growth stages. A 3-part nutrient system is typically a Grow-Micro-Bloom system like General Hydroponics, Cutting Edge Solutions, or Advanced Nutrients carry. Really, just semantics though. You can call CNS17 a 3-parter if you'd like. I have read about people who do that too. I think in the ways that Grow+Ripe would work, just running the Bloom would work fine too (similar to KISS). Even the Hydroponic formula, 2-2-5 plus some Cal-Mag Plus to balance the formula for coco would work fine. There are a lot of ways to go about it but ultimately each item costs about the same per ml so regardless of purchasing all three, just Grow and Ripe, or just Bloom... You will still use the same number of milliliters of "CNS17" over the course of the grow. With the cost of the entire system being so low I don't think it'd hurt to have all three on hand and then to decide how you're going to use them (if you feel the directed use is incomplete). 3) Snow Storm Ultra didn't do shit for me. Uncle John's Blend blew me out of the water. That's all I really can say about it. I also use BioCanna BioBoost Accelerator in a foliar spray application. This helps keep the cost down and increases the effect of the product. In my foliar spray I also include a pinch of Epsom, a surfactant, some fulvic acid, the UJB, and in the future I would like to try out Dutch Master's Liquid Light Gold as well. At $75 per Liter the Boost Accelerator is not cheap but using it at 2ml/L in a foliar spray helps it last a loooong time. I recommend it if you're looking to start foliar spraying, or you have spare cash. 4) Cool. 5) Good choice on the silicon. I am learning more about it myself. I know that the plant uses silicon in the cellular walls to support them. When using Silicon I notice a definite "toughness" in my leaves. They are just stronger, thicker, and heartier. Another talented grower on another site claims that the residual silicon also assists in the burning temperature of the weed when smoked, resulting in better combustion. Some cool stuff and there just isn't much science available on it yet. CNS17 Coco/Soil replaces Canna Coco A+B as your primary source of Macro-Elements. You can choose to leave it in or cut it out. What I did when I still had some Canna around was use 4ml of A+B and another 8-10ml of Ripe. The Nitrogen dominant A+B needs some kind of PK boost and the 1-5-4 Ripe (I think that's the numbers... could be 1-6-5) really helped balance out the system for later into flowering with the combination of hydroplex in there as well. I doubt I would bother with all that again (you should have seen the 10-product predictive ppm spreadsheet I had to use) but the results were pretty good. The choice is yours, lots of options, and if you have the Canna Coco A+B already then I'd just use it up with some Ripe, and skip on the Grow or Bloom until next time around. 6) When it comes to shipping the compressed blocks are definitely the way to go. The Roots Organics coco mix is an organic mixture with some really cool stuff included in it already. Glacial Rock dust, azomite, kelp meal, some perlite, and a bunch of other fun organics. It is also precharged with myco and tricho so you're good to go right out of the bag. I still supplement the organics, and Great White is popular because it is water soluble. There are a lot of products around, one called "Mykos" is really popular in the gardening community also. I think that what makes the RO Coco Mix superior to straight coco are the intangibles. The organics, the trace elements and minerals, and the unlisted ingredients. Coco by itself, I think, requires some amending to produce the best weed possible. For what it is worth the Roots Organics Coco Mix is the primary constituent of Subcool's Super Soil. If that guy notices a flavor difference from this media and I do too... There's got to be something to the stuff which allows for better results. Another nice thing about the RO mix is that it contains plenty of organic food for you babies to munch on for the first few weeks of life, saving you the hassle of doing much mixing or pampering of seedlings. I have even mixed botanicare brick with RO Coco Mix with good results too. Honestly, I think that any grower worth their salt should be able to use anything to produce fine herb. The RO Mix just makes it less of a process. I use a lot of products. I understand how they all fit together and I work with calculated ppm's in a trusted media. Some people prefer the KISS method but I find that KISS only gets a person so far. To each their own, every method has advantages and disadvantages, so ultimately it is up to the individual gardener to determine how they want their garden to grow. My way is not the best way (I know this because one day I will improve on it) so I welcome and encourage your changes and your ideas to what I have laid out. Good luck!
I appreciate the detailed responses. I also seen you responded on the other site, we might as well just keep the conversation going on this one. Speaking of Trinity, why aren't you big on Carb boosting, catalysts or enzymes? I'll have to read a bit more about the Trinity vs. Liquid Karma to see what benefits one has over the other. Either way, one of the two sounds like a must. I may also throw in the Bioweed since I can continue running kelp through the entire grow. You mentioned using LK till day 40 but then switching to Flavorful for just Fulvic acid, but also running Bioweed for kelp. But if LK is both a fulvic acid & kelp mixture why stop it at day 40 instead of just using it the entire grow if you're supplementing kelp or fulvic acid at various time throughout the grow anyways? (sorry, I'm a newb, just trying to make sense of this) I will go with Botanicare's Grow, Ripe & Bloom. Might as well if using 3 will show improvements over using just 2 of them. I'm not at the foliar spray application level yet (even though it's not hard, I need to focus on learning on to grow in general, this may be something I add on in the very near future once I get situated. I will for sure run the Uncle John's Blend though - do they sell this at most Hydro stores? I have 1 by me, but was thinking of ordering a lot of stuff online since it's usually cheaper & a bit more low key. I haven't bought any nutes yet, so I won't bother with Canna A&B & just focus on the CNS17 line of Grow, Ripe & Bloom. The Roots Organic mix does seem really really nice. I'll check my local hydro store to see if they have it (it's just called Roots Organic Coco mix correct? Or is there anything specific I need to look for?) If they don't have it I'll just order it online. I want to run the Roots Organic Oregonism or Great white for sure, I do like how Great White is able to be added right to the res & even though it's more expensive, it seems to last longer. Need to read a bit more though to see which one I would prefer. What about the Blackstrap Molasses for adding to bud density? What other benefits does it bring to the table?
Btw once we finalize the nuts list, I'll want to go into more detail about runoff and how to setup the hydro system. And I do plan on getting good quality PPM/EC & PH meters when I start out. I will be running a 600W bare bulb setup vertically hung in a circle of plants. 6 plants around the blb spaced accordingly.
Carb boosting has resulted in a kind of sugary flavor across all my strains and it detracts from the natural flavors a little. I used to do it in the past but I think that carbs belong more in a pure organic environment. Catalysts I am not so sure about. Sounds like growth hormones and I do get plenty of those in the auxins, gibberellins, and cytokinens in the kelp extracts. Depends on how they define what a "growth catalyst" is. Enzymes were something I bought into early in my growing career but I never saw something to indicate to me that they made anything of a difference. I understand how they are supposed to work... but the actual results of their use don't seem to matter much in coco. Perhaps in DWC enzymes have a little more use. I think you misunderstood me. I discontinue the kelp extract around the end of the first week of the transition to flowering. Sometimes as late as end of the second week for longer flowering periods or stretchier strains. I will run Fulvic acid beginning in late veg and run it clear through to the end of flowering. I use Liquid karma more of mid-veg to mid-flower. You don't want to use kelp extracts deep into flowering. The growth hormones interfere with flower development. I can't say for sure if your hydro store will carry Cutting Edge Solutions but I am pretty sure Hydroponic Systems - Hydroponics, Advanced Nutrients, Grow Lights, and all the supplies for your home garden and grow room needs. will have most everything you're looking for. I shop there, Hydroponics | Hydroponic Supplies, Grow Lights, Grow Bulbs and Hydroponics - Plantlighting Hydroponics & Grow Lights, and eHydroponics.com - The Most Trusted Name in Hydroponics. Between all those you should be able to find everything you need. For what it is worth, CES makes an organic version of Uncle John's Blend with Carbs called Sugaree. I haven't used the stuff myself but I have read it works as well. Maybe that is something which would suit you better. The guy at the store should know what you're talking about. Roots Organics makes a few different blends, what you are looking for is the "Soilless Coco Mix" it comes in a kind of brownish-red colored bag. You don't want the one with peat moss that comes in a green bag. Both of the Great White and Oregonism XL are going to run you a pretty penny. Some other options to explore are General Hydroponics Subculture-M and Subculture-B. Humboldt Nutrients has a few things too. I'd ask the guy at the hydro store for some input on what is popular in your area. Just be wary, Hydro store employees usually know jack shit and often give bad advice. Oh, and I don't mess with molasses. What I have read about it seems inconclusive. A comparison grow journal I had seen done with Boost Accelerator versus Molasses was pretty convincing. I think there are more important things to be concerned about but I doubt that it'd hurt if you want the stuff.
Man looks like we are going to run very similar grows all around! How long have you been going bare bulb? Have you seen increased yields this way? How much are you pulling per plant dry? How do you water? I'm hoping to set up something automatic to feed 2-3 times a day so plants can really uptake as much nutes as possible to get huge. (im going to respond to you last big post shortly, still just digesting the info)
I have been doing bare bulb for about a year now. I run an 1000w Enhanced Spectrum Eye Sunlux HPS (same as the hortilux) and a 400w Enhanced Spectrum Digilux MH stacked. I have noticed a yield increase. Nothing dramatic yet because I always seem to find a way to f^ck something up. Per plant is about 3 ounces, some only 2 ounces, some 4 ounces. I do have a few tricks for my next grow to get my harvests heavier. I feel like with the right sort of training and a Hempy system I could be pulling twice what I am already. I top feed by hand, the simple way. I have tried multiple daily feedings and have found it to be overkill. Once per day to a mature root system has worked best for myself. I put these folding tables in my 5x5 tent to get the plants off the ground. Then I siphon the runoff from the drain trays with 1/2" tubing. Runoff is important in my grow room so I am always a slave to the watering. If I weren't going to do Coco hempy buckets then I would be looking into getting a ebb/flow drain tray for my tent because watering by hand and setting up the siphon for each plant, measuring the runoff EC, and cleaning up, all takes me about an hour per day. Having a large drain pan would probably cut the time in half. Automated waterings is probably something I won't get into with coco.
What kind & size of pots/buckets are you running now? What makes you think a hempy bucket system will help increase yield over your current setup? How many plants are you running around that bulb? Do you rotate them every day? I am going to do 3.4g airpots, probably around 6-7 around the bare 600w bulb. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to incorporate SCROG into this grow to help train solar leaves & help support the branches when buds get heavier and most SCROG concepts are just a flat screen over top. This clearly wouldn't work with our type of setup. Then I remembered good old tomato plant cages. I think they will be perfect for this kind of a setup. I even stumbled across these: Tomato Cages | Buy from Gardener's Supply But the footprint might be too large to fit into the 3.4g airpots, so the normal tomato cages are probably best for this setup. I haven't figured out how I want to water them yet. I was & still am highly considering the Blumats. I just don't know what would be best & easiest for a 6-7 plant setup. Watering by hand with a grow this size isn't hard, unless I wanted to incorporate multiple feedings per day.
This is actually even better than the standard tomato cages since it allows for much more support: Time for Tomato Cages | California 2 Puerto Rico But I can see how it would make it a bit harder to prune the lower part of the plant, so going with the regular ones might still be best as it allows more access to the main stem & easier for handwatering..
If you look close at the second picture I posted you will see they are scrogged and just entering flowering. I used Grow Through Plant Supports to act as individual screens for each plant and trained them the best utilize the casting distance of my bulbs. I run my "legal" six plants. I do not rotate them. I have found that the more a plant is jostled and moved the less it produces. Leaving my plants as still and alone as possible has given me the best results. Anticipating crowding is important for this. I am between grows right now, working out some logistics, and biding my time. I find that for a 40 day Veg and 60 day Flower that 2 gallons of coco is plenty of media to result in a 2.5-3 foot tall plant yielding 3 or 4 ounces (maybe more if you're dialed). Coco is not like soil and when I work with about 3 gallons of coco I find that my root systems just don't have the time they need to really fill in the entire planter. A completely mature root system in two gallons will consume a greater percentage of the retained solution from the container resulting in faster wet to dry periods and better aeration of the media. Big planters and frequent waterings of immature root systems can cause issues in coco! But if you cut down the size of the planter to a reasonable amount for the media of choice the amount of time to develop a root system that can fill the space is lessened to what I consider to be the right amount of time. 10 Liters of coco mix is about my limit per plant for SmartPots. It is this concept of low coco volume, high feeding frequency, that is leading me towards a coco mix that includes a great deal of aeration and requires regular daily feedings. After working in several planter sizes with several brands of I have learned a few things. Firstly, cutting coco with perlite and/or GrowStones improves root heath and plant performance in most cases. Secondly, the better the aeration and the healthier the root system the more often the plant can be fed and the larger it will grow. A lower coco volume also reduces the "ambient" food available in the media that will build up because it is not near a root. This also decreases the volume of runoff required, as a 2 gallon container can only hold so much. It is more of a feeling than anything, experience that is hard to put into words, that makes me come to think that the heaviest harvests with the best flavors and potency for me will come from a combination of these three things (assuming the environment is dialed): 1) The Hempy Buckets with the GrowStones and an organically inoculated Coco mix Using 3 gallon buckets a hole is drilled about 2cm up from the bottom of the bucket, this reservoir of nutrients feeds the root system throughout the day. The bottom 40% of the bucket will be GrowStones. Then I will fill the upper 40% with Root's Organics Soilless Coco Mix. This leaves about 20% unused space because I am not trying to grow monsters in my reasonably sized tent. Coco Hempy has a proven record on other forums for producing mind-blowing results in short periods of time. 2) Specific training to utilize the Vertical lighting in order to build larger colas. The plants are topped and trained to produce a "menorah" appearance with 4 primary branches. Excess branches/popcorn sites are removed and the 4 spires face the vertical lighting. I am doing this to allow the plants to focus their energy into the strongest stems and to build fewer very large colas rather than more smaller colas. The idea is to pull 50-60 grams per cola on average, and off of 6 plants that's a total of 1200-1440 (around 1gpw). I find growing big colas to just be easier for me to do and scrogging to be more work than I want to put in. 3) An Organic nutrient system I can still manage the ppm calculations on with Silicon. Based around the entire General Organics lineup of BioThrive Grow 4-3-3, BioThrive Bloom 2-4-4, BioRoot 1-1-1, BioWeed 0.2-0-0.3, BioBud 0.5-0.1-1, BioMarine 2-3-1, and CaMg+ 5% Ca 1%Mg. Rather than going with the Diamond Black Humic Acid I will use Humboldt Nutrients FlavorFul Fulvic Acid. I will use the organic supplement Ancient Forest as an inoculate. I am also including Cutting Edge Solutions Uncle John's Blend 0-0-2, Botanicare Liquid Karma 0.1-0.1-0.5, and Dyna-Grow Pro-Tekt 0-0-2. I really hope to get started on my grow sometime soon, but as of right now I am thinking probably not until March... Lame... Which is why I live vicariously through you.
Hmm, you've given me a lot to think about. I've seen the second pic, but if you have better pictures of your SCROG setup, that would be awesome. I am still thinking of getting the 3.4g Airpots for a couple of reasons, 1) they're at a really great price right now 2) I was going to grow the plants taller than 3ft I've called my LGS & they don't have the Roots Organic Coco mix. I looked at all of the websites & the only one I think that sells it is this one, but it's not in a brownish/red bag, but a blue one? eHydroponics They also have pretty much all of the chemicals I want to get too. Shipping is going to be a bitch if I get all of that & it's going to be a huge box lol. Is it ok to order so much of grow supplies at one time from a place like that? Don't want to raise any red flags... How many 3.4g Airpots will 1 bag fill? I figure I'll have around 8 Airpots. Maybe 3 bags? What do you think about using about using tomato cages? I think they would work for my application... Also, what benefits does using a tent provide? We have an entire spare bedroom, maybe 8x10 give or take & can utilize the entire room to our benefit. We were thinking of just dropping the 600W bare bulb right in the middle of the room and circle the light with 6-7 clones/plants. So I didn't really think a tent was needed? Also what kind of Epsom salt is the best? I think I've seen reference to gardening/horticultural specific Epsom salt? And I'm not sure if I want to run the Uncle John's Blend or Sugaree, is Sugaree exactly the same just with more carbs? The Uncle John's sounds pretty amazing, so I would want to go that route & would probably only go with Sugaree if it is exactly the same with just the addition of carbs to add more sweetness.
I will get back to you soon. Roots Organics Coco Mix - 1.5 cu ft | Growing Mediums For what it is worth this is the stuff I am talking about. Just get compressed coco and probably add in a little perlite or, even better, GrowStones. Only run like 10L in each container and you'll need 80L of media. A total of 3.0cuft should leave you with a little extra. tothehead is dead on, more than 3 gallons of coco in an air pot is over kill indoors unless you're growing some seriouso trees. 10 liters is a good middle ground, more than 2 gallons, but not much more.