mojo's Basic Coco Grow Plan - a work in progress, lol

Specialkay said:
Awesome, thanks for the help mojo.

One more question for you, if you don't mind. I've hand watered in coco bags up till now, but I'mlooking to add a bit of automation to it. Would you say that a dripp drain to waste system is better, or a recirculating drip system would be better?

My only concern is with the run-off being of higher nute concentration than the original watering concentration. If it's recirculating, wouldn't it just increase the nute concentration with each watering? Maybe I'm not understanding something though.
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Nope, you're not missin a thing... I prefer a recirculating system cause I can re-use the runoff instead of flushin all those returning ferts down the drain. But you're right about the return jackin with the ec in your reservoir. I adjust my reservoir's ec to just under what I want the plants to eat at so that by the time it rises at the end of the water cycle, It's where I want it to be... I tend my res twice daily, before each water cycle so it will stay where I want it... A recirculating system isn't a 'fire and forget' procedure - it's gotta be watched - but it saves on nutes...

If you go with a drain to waste system, your res will stay more where you put it because it's not getting the runoff - BUT, a drain to waste system still needs to be checked every three or so days cause the ec will rise and the pH will fluctuate even in premixed ferts - AND you will need to be more in tune with your runoff and make sure you only feed/water to a 10%-15% runoff to conserve what's in the res.

ph2 said:
fucking awesome read, Im doing coco as well,Im using bio canna,and was worried about it not being just for coco ,but no problems yet.they seem to love it.Im taking this sailboat ride nice and slow. thanks mojo:pl:
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I use Canna and they're specifically designed for coco coir... you may have no issues with a fert that isn't designed for coco but then again, you may run into deficiencies as coco doesn't impart anything nutritionally to the grow. The ferts designed for use in coco provide trace elements and mobile elements - iron, copper - shit like that, when used with tap water... you may need to supplement what you're using with some other stuff to give the plants what they need... never used what you're using so I can't really tell ya for sure...
 
Thanks tricky... yeah, the possibilities are endless on how to grow in this stuff... I recommend growers just find their groove and stick with it till it needs adjusting...
 
Thanks for the thread mojo.I have been researching the concept of using coco for quite sometime and you just made it so much easier.Thanks again.
 
sure thing... one thing about it, no matter how you intend to use it, somebody here's done it that way and can offer tips... I think I may be one of the few left pretty much doin it the basic way using the simplest, paint by numbers two part scenario... most here seem to have taken it to new levels and here I sit, happy as a pig in slop with what I'm getting, lol... I don't have anything to compare it against though cause I've used coco and the two part from day one when I started growing indoors... I've done things like going to a recirc system so I can have easier control and watering work load, than when I was hand watering... but I still just use the two part canna stuff... good luck on your growing...
 
I have notice other use different types of nutes and setups as well as coco combinations but I really like the basics in your thread.It gives me a great starting point for what I want to accomplish.
 
cool, that's exactly what I intended with this thread - to just give people a starting point - then if you decide you want to go another direction with it, go for it -
 
Great thread mojo, I have a question about watering. You are saying to water everyday to waste? Im not disagreeing with you here but I have tried that and when I do my plants just start to droop and are telling me too much water dude!!! Since you have good luck doing it this way, I trust your judgement I just dont know what I am doing wrong to make the plants droop like that. After backing off on the water the plants all came back to life but it was a scary couple days waiting for them to dry out for sure. Now all is well but I am watering every 3 days or so.
 
Herby said:
Great thread mojo, I have a question about watering. You are saying to water everyday to waste? Im not disagreeing with you here but I have tried that and when I do my plants just start to droop and are telling me too much water dude!!! Since you have good luck doing it this way, I trust your judgement I just dont know what I am doing wrong to make the plants droop like that. After backing off on the water the plants all came back to life but it was a scary couple days waiting for them to dry out for sure. Now all is well but I am watering every 3 days or so.
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You definitely do not need to water everyday that is determined by container and plant size. Best watering indicator ever is your plants ALWAYS! Watch for the slight droop that's time time to water and your plant will be like clockwork very dependable and accurate. Don't let anyone tell you that stresses the plants and is not good because slight stressing is actually good for our plants besides a slight wilt is not stressing the plant to any negative degree. ;)
 
never had a problem with 2 - 7 minute waterings per day cycle... no droop, sag, or bitching from the plants, lol... get some nice yields too... haven't been around here lately but I'm still around... I water like I do to keep the pots right where I want em... just find what works for you in your garden.
 
BTW, Herby. Been thinkin about this one and don't know if this is what's happenin but... when you put the coco in the pots, don't pack it down. If you do, the coco won't drain at its best. I give my pots a couple of taps on the floor when they're half full and another couple when the coco's at the rim of the pot. I always place and empty 4" pot in them as I fill them so that when I take that out, the hole's the perfect shape to receive the seedling as that's the size pot I use to germinate and veg em to their 5-7 internode size before I transplant and put them into flower... as I place each seedling in its final flower pot, I kick on my pump, take one of the feed hoses and saturate the surface and the rest of the pot till I get runoff. By doin it this way, I know that the plant's roots aren't gonna suffer due to a lack of moisture in the coco surrounding them while I finish transplanting the rest of them... If I'm transplanting clones - no nutes in that water for 24 hours, half strength nutes for the next day or two, then full adult strength from then on out. That helps to not stall out the plants for me... If transplanting seedlings - just water with the same strength you've had em at while at the seedling stage... I run my clones straight out of the cloner and they're tiny, so I kinda want to baby the roots for a bit... Make sense?..

Like I said, I don't know if you're packin it too tight or not but I don't know of any reason other than that that the coco wouldn't drain well enough that you would pick up signs of over-watering... just a thought...
 
Very interesting Mojo. Thanks for taking the time to put this data and information up for all to see.
I definitely plucked some new info and things to back up another experienced Coco growers thoughts.

Kudos buddy :peace:
 
nice read mojo ...have you any explanation to why when vegging on dif light cycles the plants are reacting in such dramatic ways with regards to the yeild? I use 24/0 on veg and on moms and never experimneted to be honest to see any diff in change..im very curious to here your thoughts..thanks in advance

you might remember me from hg if ya still the same mojo, maybe not lol ..rings a bell (kilobyter)

Lighting Schedule

We did a lot of experiments with light times a few years back using known sativa and sativa dominant clone lines.

With Vegging under HID lights.

20/4 produced the sturdiest growth and the most bulk. Best final yield, taken as 100%
22/2 Less of both growth and bulk. Yield 88%
18/6 Sturdier than 22/2 but slightly less bulk. Yield 87%
24/0 Much lighter in all aspects than 18/6. Yield 79%
16/8 The weediest plants. Yield 67%
 
what a great read.
here's stupid question #436:
I have gallons of GH Fora series nutes. I know you stated Canna nutes should be used. What would the problems be using the GH nutes? I have sent emails to General Hydroponics on what their recommendations would be. You ph the nute solutions the same as you would hydro, right? I would assume that as long as you didn't overfeed or feed with every watering, the salt buildup would be minimal.
damn, i don't want to sound like a newb, this sucks. LOL

thanks for any insight on this

peace
 
I knew this thread was here some place and eureka! Although hidden by its self in the sticky section it took a couple of days to get my eyes to filter it in : )

I really needed this thread to get some clarification to what I was doing and why and what I need to be doing when growing in coco and again to as why!

Gonna do some printing of this thread and head off to bed and do some reading before lights out!

Thx again mojo for the write up!
 
I've been kinda outa touch for a while and haven't been keeping up with any of my online stuff - Sorry to anybody who needed an answer quick like... I'm gonna go ahead and answer just in case it'll help anybody. :D

kilo said:
nice read mojo ...have you any explanation to why when vegging on dif light cycles the plants are reacting in such dramatic ways with regards to the yeild? I use 24/0 on veg and on moms and never experimneted to be honest to see any diff in change..im very curious to here your thoughts..thanks in advance

you might remember me from hg if ya still the same mojo, maybe not lol ..rings a bell (kilobyter)

Lighting Schedule

We did a lot of experiments with light times a few years back using known sativa and sativa dominant clone lines.

With Vegging under HID lights.

20/4 produced the sturdiest growth and the most bulk. Best final yield, taken as 100%
22/2 Less of both growth and bulk. Yield 88%
18/6 Sturdier than 22/2 but slightly less bulk. Yield 87%
24/0 Much lighter in all aspects than 18/6. Yield 79%
16/8 The weediest plants. Yield 67%
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I've no real clue as to why it works better but in looking at other people's grows, it does. I've vegged at 20/4 forever and always had excellent yields. I've never tried another schedule but from what I've read and seen over the years, growers using 18/6 and 24/0 don't get the yields I do even when growing the same strains.

Guymandude said:
what a great read.
here's stupid question #436:
I have gallons of GH Fora series nutes. I know you stated Canna nutes should be used. What would the problems be using the GH nutes? I have sent emails to General Hydroponics on what their recommendations would be. You ph the nute solutions the same as you would hydro, right? I would assume that as long as you didn't overfeed or feed with every watering, the salt buildup would be minimal.
damn, i don't want to sound like a newb, this sucks. LOL

thanks for any insight on this

peace
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Use whatever you've got but stay close to the grow and if you see anything you don't like, change it before it gets outa hand. Honestly, I can't think of an easier way to grow weed than this - using just my two part and RO water...

BCW1 said:
I knew this thread was here some place and eureka! Although hidden by its self in the sticky section it took a couple of days to get my eyes to filter it in : )

I really needed this thread to get some clarification to what I was doing and why and what I need to be doing when growing in coco and again to as why!

Gonna do some printing of this thread and head off to bed and do some reading before lights out!

Thx again mojo for the write up!
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Glad you found it useful, man... have fun!
 
I don't really have any tips- sprouting in coco so far has been really easy for me. I usually start in Rapid Rooters now, but I still sometimes sprout in straight coco. I start in beer cups and create a miniature dome for each cup by placing a smaller (like 8 ounce) clear plastic cup on top of the coco. As soon as the seed sprouts above the surface, I remove the smaller cup and they're off. I feed very low (like 1/8-1/4 strength) until they're 3-4 internodes.

And I'll say it again: Roots Excel is worth the money.
 
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