Ohjay is doin' the Coco in 2018

Hey all!
 
I know I've failed miserably with maintaining my glogs the past two years but third times the charm, right?
I promise to do much better this year with keeping the glog updated during the season. If I don't, please yell at me or threaten me with aphids (or something) 
 
After reading Blisters amazing coco glogs I wanted to try myself and I've finally had time to do some basic research into this ahead of the upcoming season. (Thanks Blister for the info in your glogs!)
So about a month ago I felt I had enough info to do some shopping:

 
There is of course coco blocks to make 22 litres of coco (but I will need more because I forgot about the sifting).
Coco plugs for trying to germinate in coco.
Nutrients, CalMag and PH adjusters.
PH and EC meters for the nutrient solution.
A reverse osmosis thingy so I have the proper type of water.
Kinda hard to see but there are three fabric pots for the coco grow, 7 litres each (~1.8 gal)
And finally a big water tank and a drip water system (Tropf Blumat).
 
Since coco seems to need a lot of water I decided I had to get some sort of automatic watering system for this. I had a hard time deciding between drip watering and an auto system with bottom-feeding, but eventually decided on the drip watering since I've assumed that coco does not absorb water as well as dirt.
So, not only will the coco be new for me this season, the drip water system will be as well.
 
The plan is to have 3 plants in coco as a sort of test. If I have success, and like whole process, then I'll probably move to an all-coco grow in 2019.
This glog will mainly focus on the coco plants but I will do period updates on my other plants as well since I'll also have 18 plants in dirt. So that's a total of 21 plants and all will be of different varieties as usual.
 
So, what am I growing then?
The list is:


Adjuma
Aji Dulce (Coco)
Murupi Amarela
Trinidad Scorpion Peach
Frontera Sweet
Bonda Ma Jacques
Clavo
Big Jamaican
Elysium Oxide Mustard
CGN 23209
Bahamian Goat Pepper
PI 439416
Westindian Yellow Habanero (Coco)
Santa Lucia Island
Madame Jeanette
White Naga
Goronong
Puerto Rican Yellow
Naga Viper Purple
Trinidad Scorpion Caramel (Coco)
But that's only 20 varieties, what's the final one you ask?
Come back tomorrow for the answer 

 

 

[Ohjay]

I had those spots in the old leaves many times and they also may be a sign of too much watering, but i would not worry too much about anything, if the overall plant looks ok and it produces flowers\pods normally.

I usually get these spots at the end of the season.. so I think it's a nutrient issue, but we'll see. I don't think it will hurt to give the plants some CalMag, quite the opposite.
 

Nice O/W soon be pushing out flowers ... all the best for your coco grown and a fruitful season

Thanks!
I've already had a flower or two but didn't bother with pollination. Want it to grow slightly more first.
 
 

Everything's looking great, best of luck this season

Thanks!

 

[Chilidude]

The mild issues with the leaves is kind of minor point to me, because my season is so short in the first place, but you can try the CalMag stuff it it makes the plant more happy. I was thinking of trying the Bcuzz coco nutrition a+b again indoors, because i have about 1 litre of both in my possession.
 
Once i run out of my supply of floramicro/floramato in about two seasons i will surely move to that stuff, because it is way cheaper and works good too.

 

[Ohjay]

Just a quick update.
Seedlings are doing good and growing well. The ones in coco are slower though, probably because I waited a bit before feeding them.
 

 
Might not be visible but I got two helmet head seedlings and I was a bit carelss removing the seed casing so I accidentally also removes the leaves. Exactly the reason why I plant at least two of each variety. 
 
I'll probably repot the seedlings this weekend, well, at least the ones in dirt.
 
I also planted three more seeds in coco plugs in case one of them does not take. I want 3 coco plants.
Varieties you ask? TMS Caramel, TMS Peach and Not C. Reaper Chocolate.

 

[Chilidude]

Coco plants are always a bit slow to start growing in the beginning, but once they get their roots growing in the coco and start sucking that fertilizer you are giving them, they start growing really fast so hold on to your hat.

 

[Ohjay]

Didn't take long for the new seeds in coco to sprout. This was on thursday:

 
A TMS Peach. Then today I woke up to a new sprout from Not C. Reaper Chocolate:

 
Yesterday it was time for some repotting:

 
Repotted all seedlings that I grow in regular dirt. I also checked on the seeds that hadn't germinated yet and saw tiny hooks on two of them so I repotted those seeds as well. We'll see if they survive:
All done:

 

 
The coco plants will probably be repotted next weekend.
Two questions for you dear reader. Can you repot a coco plug into regular dirt? Since I'll have a "spare" coco plant now I might repot it in dirt and give it away, if it's not too much work.
Second question, is it necessary to remove the outer fabric from the plugs or can you just plant the plug with the fabric intact? I assume the latter, but better safe than sorry.
 
As for the overwintered plant, it's doing absolutely great:

 

 
Should've done it sooner but  I finally got around to setting up some fans for this plant.

 
I usually use a much bigger fan for plants this size but I can't use it without risking to snap the poor seedlings that are on the shelf on the right (out of picture).
But some air flow is better than no air flow.

 

[Chilidude]

You can put that coco coir plug inside a regular soil just fine and dont need to remove the white fabric around it either, because the roots will grow throught it and also that white fabric will compost in time.

 

[Ohjay]

Just a quick update.
 
Had planned to repot the coco plants this weekend but just barely managed to get two in new pots.
Since I'm following the way Blister did his coco grows I wanted to sift the coco to make it more airy. What I hadn't taken into account is that wet coco is quite difficult to sift. Live and learn.
One done:

 
Ended up breaking apart the coco plug as well before repotting to see how developed the roots were.
No picture but they did seem more developed than the dirt plants of the same size.
 
Gonna let the coco dry out now before sifting the rest for the last plant to repot.
 
The overwintered Moruga is doing it's thing and is now pushing out flowers like crazy.
Even have a pod or two forming:

 

[Chilidude]

Adding perlite in the coco does the same thing and this is the first year for me, that i started adding some perlite to my coco mix.

 

[Ohjay]

Adding perlite in the coco does the same thing and this is the first year for me, that i started adding some perlite to my coco mix.

Yeah I figured. I suppose you could also adjust your watering and get similar results.
I'll try it this way this year and maybe do something else the next time.
 
 
I spent some time thinking about those coco plugs, slept, then thought some more and reached the conclusion that I don't like them.
They are too dense and retain too much water.
So I bought some plastic shot glasses today and repotted the last two plants I had in plugs:
 

 
We'll see what happens, if they are happier with a more airy medium and develop roots a bit faster.
I'll keep 'em in those small containers until I see them have a decent root system, then they'll go into bigger pots like their siblings.

 

[Ohjay]

I don't know why I haven't done the overwintering thing before, it's so impressive!
Growing chili:

 
I have 10+ more growing and I bet I'll have even more in a few days. Can't believe I'll have fresh chili in a couple of months 
 
Repotting the two small coco plants seems to have been a brilliant idea. I've had more root growth in the short time they've been in this more airy coco than the time they spent in the plugs (I compare with the other two plants I've already repotted that spent longer time in the plugs):

 
As for coco, the sifting is a nightmare. I finally got around to sifting the rest of the first block I soaked. Out of ~11 litres of coco I got about 4-5 litres of sifted coco(the airy kind).
Soaked the second block today and will start sifting as soon as it dries out a bit.
I like what I'm seeing in terms of results so far, but perhaps using generous amounts of perlite will be less work and still produce similar results. An experiment for another season. 
 
The plants in regular dirt are growing and looking mighty healthy:

 
Still quite a ways away from repotting to their final containers though.

 

[Ohjay]

An update has been long overdue... and here it finally is.
 
Been travelling a lot due to work and have had a couple of scares when I've come home to some very unhappy plants, but so far they've always recuperated nicely.
Have one more trip lined up and then it should hopefully calm down a bit again.
 
The seedlings I repotted from plugs to small containers are very happy and have grown a lot of roots and leaves:

 
But it doesn't seem like they will catch up to the plants in coco that I sowed a couple of weeks earlier:

 
The other plants are very happy, growing a lot and it's getting quite crowded now:

 
Going to repot these into their final containers next weekend.
 
The overwintered Moruga has pretty much stopped flowering now but has about 40 fruits on it. Can't wait for them to ripen:

 

[TrentL]

Man you've got some GREAT looking plants. Well done!
 

 

[Walchit]

Yeah looking good!