media Coco advice

dan5505

dan5505

This is my first try at growing in coco.  The first picture is the day I transplanted this Reaper from a soil solo cup.  The second picture is today, 10 days after transplant.  I fed it the day I transplanted using the mix below per gallon of RO water and have not touched it since.  The leaves are starting to curl upwards and turning a lighter shade of green.  Its in an 8" pot.  Do you think its retaining too much water or am I not feeding it enough?
 
GH Micro:  1 tsp
GH Grow:  1/2 tsp
GH Bloom:  1 tsp
Cal-Mag Plus:  1/2 tsp
Epsom Salt:  1/4 tsp
 
End PH was 5.65 so I did not adjust it.
 

 
 
Did you wash the coco after purchasing? I know coco holds lots of potassium and salts. If it is not rinsed many times possibly, you can have nutrient lock outs. I'm not familiar with your nutrients, I use dyna grow with some plants.
What strength did you feed them?
 
Lovepeppers said:
Did you wash the coco after purchasing? I know coco holds lots of potassium and salts. If it is not rinsed many times possibly, you can have nutrient lock outs. I'm not familiar with your nutrients, I use dyna grow with some plants.
What strength did you feed them?
Click to expand...
 
I did wash it, but probably not the proper way.  I saturated the coco in a bucket with my nutrient solution, let it sit for a while, then squeezed out as much liquid as I could.  I thought this might help pre-charge it.  Next time I expand more, I will use plain water and measure the PPM runoff.  So, it is possible I still have residual salts.  Maybe I should flush it?  Is it possible to over water in coco?  I fed it using full strength at the ratio's listed above.  
 
What brand of coco are you using?

It's a bit yellow and it is starting to curl upwards, but overall not bad. The coco does look dry. How often are you feeding?

I've had good luck with GH Flora series, though all I use is 6ml micro + 9ml bloom. PH to 5.7 and I'm good to go. This works out to about 700ppm and can be used throughout the year.

EDIT: Is it possible to overwater? Well there's a can of worms.

From what I've read, there's two schools of thought on this. Some say yes. Others say no because coco will only hold onto so much water. The rest will drain from the bottom. That said my experience is that it seems to be dependant on your conditions. Under ideal conditions - warm, adequate light and proportionate plant to pot size - you can water multiple times a day without concern. For example, I'm able to water 3-4 times a day during the peak of the summer days, or when I have a firmly established root ball. The coco always stays moist.

At the same time, I've found that smaller plants in cooler temperatures getting frequent waterings tends to lead to mold/algae forming on the surface because the moisture isn't being used fast enough and or isn't evaporating. I keep my house fairly cool at night

Light intensity also seems to affect the plants ability to use nutrients, though I can't quantify in this in any meaningful way. It is something I have read about and hopefully others with more experience can chime in on this.

Neil
 
Blister said:
What brand of coco are you using?

It's a bit yellow and it is starting to curl upwards, but overall not bad. The coco does look dry. How often are you feeding?

I've had good luck with GH Flora series, though all I use is 6ml micro + 9ml bloom. PH to 5.7 and I'm good to go. This works out to about 700ppm and can be used throughout the year.

Neil
Click to expand...
I think you were right, coco was too dry. I just now flushed it with a quart of RO and followed up with a cup of nutrients. Thats the first time ive fed it since transplant 10 days ago. How often do you feed?

Im using Roots coco.
http://www.planetnatural.com/product/coco-peat/

The nutrient ratios above put me between 600 and 700 ppm. I chose the concentration and ph based on some of your previous posts ive read. Thanks!
 
You're right in the zone for ppm. Given what I can see in the picture, you can definitely water more often than every 10 days. I tend to go more by weight of the pot than anything. Preference being to water at the point where the pot is about half the weight of a freshly watered plant. You will get a feel for it after you pick up your pots multiple times.

It's different in the height of summer. I can water multiple times a day when the plant is in the heat, intense summer sun, and is a mature plant with full root ball.


Neil
 
dan5505 said:
 
I did wash it, but probably not the proper way.  I saturated the coco in a bucket with my nutrient solution, let it sit for a while, then squeezed out as much liquid as I could.  I thought this might help pre-charge it.  Next time I expand more, I will use plain water and measure the PPM runoff.  So, it is possible I still have residual salts.  Maybe I should flush it?  Is it possible to over water in coco?  I fed it using full strength at the ratio's listed above.  
Click to expand...
I'm sure you are already aware that coco is considered hydro, so you have to feed it with every watering and always feed with 15 percent runoff. IMHO, I would feed at full strength then go to half to quarter strength every watering once plants look healthy green. If they seem to start declining again, I would bump it up in strength. With the pics of your plant it doesn't seem locked out. Maybe you have not fed as many times as required. Do some test on 1 plant, so one move won't mess up all your plants.
When I tried coco, I mixed in perlite, like Juanita's suggested, it did dry out quicker, (more feeding).
It required way more maintenance for 100+ plants so I went back to promix.

Coco is tricky, more of getting it down. It's different than soil. Some love it or hate it.

I hope you figure it out and have a bountiful 2016!
 
Flushing with RO is a big no in coir, you're upsetting the balance of nutrients in cation exchange sites and removing the nutrient solution available to roots.

If you feel you have to flush, use a weaker (0.5ish EC) solution.

Only bricks need to be flushed and charged (as a general rule).

Check out the manixbotanix website for a good run down on do' sand don'ts.

The coir subforum on ICmag is worth a read.

Blister's on point.

Hope you enjoy. It's not for everyone but if used correctly produces better than almost anything else (short of pure hydroponics).
 
miguelovic said:
Flushing with RO is a big no in coir, you're upsetting the balance of nutrients in cation exchange sites and removing the nutrient solution available to roots.

If you feel you have to flush, use a weaker (0.5ish EC) solution.

Only bricks need to be flushed and charged (as a general rule).

Check out the manixbotanix website for a good run down on do' sand don'ts.

The coir subforum on ICmag is worth a read.

Blister's on point.

Hope you enjoy. It's not for everyone but if used correctly produces better than almost anything else (short of pure hydroponics).
Click to expand...
 
 
Awesome, thanks for the advice.  I'm not sure why I was under the impression that I needed to flush every few feedings.  I must have mixed coco up with soil.
 
Color seems to be coming back with more regular feedings.
 
 
It's starting to green up nicely.

Flushing is another debated item with coco. One side says that you need to flush ever few weeks or for a few weeks before final harvest. The other side says that you don't have to flush at all as long as you're getting sufficient run off and are using a mild/reasonable strength nutrient solution.

So far I haven't really pushed my solution past 700ppm for any sustained period. I had run a few waterings around 900-1000ppm but hadn't really noticed any benefit from it.

In my limited experience with coco so far, the only time I've really flushed my pots was after I started seeing burnt leaf tips.

Neil
 
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