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Ignite's Indoor Coco Grow 2015

Hey all!  I've been very busy over the last few weeks working on my indoor "grow lab" and getting a new round of indoor plants started.  I wanted to start this GLog earlier but just didn't have the time to resize, upload, and post all of the pictures I have been taking.  I finally was able to get caught up with everything and decided to go ahead and start this thing. 
 
Overview
 
I have the capacity to grow about 35-40 plants indoors using hydroponics.  A very good friend of mine owns a grow shop in town which means that I get to grow about 25 of the plants in his shop as a display for customers and to use as a test bed for new nutrient lines.  I'll be growing the remaining 10 to 15 plants at my place.  All of my plants are superhots except for a few Aleppos that I threw in for good measure.
 
Setup
 
I grow in a 75% coco / 25% coarse perlite mix.  The coco I use is buffered and is more of a pith than a coarse or chunk variety.  I run a top drip system and everything is drain to waste with 10% runoff.  I currently have 4 setups and each consists of a 4x4 flood table, 40 gallon reservoir, 5x5 grow tent, 1 6 inch inline fan, and 1 LEC 630W (not LED) grow light.  Light Emitting Ceramic (LEC) lights are much more effcient than standard HPS/MH setups and are dual spectrum setups.  Each 630W light is equivalent to a 1000W HPS, without the heat and electrical costs.
 
I'm currently using General Hydroponics FloraNova and Canna Coco nutrients.  I'll switching a third table to Nectar for the Gods once they arrive from the manufacturer.
 
Grow List
 
-  Borg 9
-  Chocolate Bhutlah
-  Yellow Lava
-  Red Lava
-  Chocolate Lava
-  Chocolate Brainstrain (Brazilian)
-  Red Brazilian Ghost
-  Brown BBG7
-  Kraken Scorpion
-  BBM
-  Caramel Moruga
-  Satan Strain Moruga
-  BOC
-  Aleppo
 
Updates and Progress
 
I germinate all of my seeds in rockwool.  I've used horticubes, rapid rooters, peat pellets, etc...and I just seem to get better results with rockwool than anything else.  I planted anywhere from 3 to 6 of each seed and hoped for the best the last week of October.
 
rockwool.jpg

 
By November 11, the plants had sprouted and we starting grow very fast.  I hand water my coco plants about every other day until they have an established root system.  The key is to keep the coco moist at all times, not soaking, but moist. 
 
Group_New.jpg

 
Once the root system is established and I can really start feeding the plants it's time for them to seperate into different tents.  Here is a quick shot showing how big they're starting to get in a short amount of time.  I like to put a layer of hydroton on top of the coco when they're small because it helps from the coco "washing out" when I'm watering.  It's easy to remove once it's time for their permanent homes.
 
group_Small.jpg

 
Yellow Lava
 
YellowLava_Small.jpg

 
Borg 9 with a slight calcium issue
 
Borg9_Small.jpg

 
I ran into a calcium issue at about 4 weeks because I simply wasn't feeding them enough.  I was worried about ramping them up too quickly.  I normally start at a 1/8 solution and move up, but by 3 weeks they needed to be on an EC around 1.8 and I was giving them at most around 1.2.  Once I upped the nutrients and feedings they started to take off again.
 
group_Medium.jpg

 
They're now in the 2 gallon smart pots where they'll stay.  I was in progress of re-doing the drip system when that picture was taken so I'm sorry for lack of spaghetti lines and drippers.  I'm going to make a video one of these days.
 
Here's the Aleppo at 6 weeks from seed
 
Aleppo_Medium.jpg

 
The runt of the Yellow Lavas
 
YellowLava_Medium.jpg

 
Kraken Scorpion
 
Kraken_Medium.jpg

 
Thanks for looking and stay tuned for updates and videos.  The rate they're growing is amazing at this point and I hope I can keep this GLog up to date in a proper fashion.  Please don't hesitate to ask any questions.
 
 
 
looking purty "runt" yellow lava lol
 
LOL, it's not really a runt.  It's the smallest and most compact of my 3 yellow lavas so my wife named it the runt.  The stem on that plant is thicker than a kindergarten pencil.
 
 
queequeg152 said:
where did you get those white spacers under your containers? are those troffer diffusers?
 
I ordered those from US Plastics a while back, but you can get light diffusers from Home Depot or Lowes that do the same thing.  I use them to allow airflow underneath the cloth pots in order for the root pruning to really work.  
 
Thanks for the interest guys.  I'll take some more pictures tonight of the actual hydro setup so that people can see how I'm doing things. 
 
Those babies looking good there buddy! Like the grids under the root pots. Thats one hell of an idea. I was looking at those same type of grids but it was just to make a drying rack. Awesome!
 
I'll definitely keep an eye on this one! I started dabbling in coir last season and had pretty good results. I have a 180w LED that seemed to perform quite well. Never heard of an LEC before. I'll have to Google it.

I'd really like to run a drip system. Seems to supercharge the growth over hand watering. Maybe I'll see what I can do this season. I'm really limited for space though.

Neil
 
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