Is this concerning? First time grower!

[JohnBlazr]

Yeah, then the curved and stippled leaves are most likely the calmag. Did you 24 hr buffer soak your coco in calmag. I feel like sometimes I still run into calmag issues even when I did that. Thats why I started adding epsom and gypsum to the coco straight up before I pot em now.

Good luck. They're gonna be fine. You got your eyes on em and they look hardy aside from the small issue.

Happy Growing

24 hr buffer soak ?

 

[Ponky]

People like to soak the coir for a while before using it.

When to Rinse or Buffer Coco Coir

If you are reading this, you probably already know what coco coir is, and what it means to be “buffered.” If you were simply intrigued by the title (and who wouldn’t be?) the 30 second answers are as…

www.botanicare.com

 

[JohnBlazr]

People like to soak the coir for a while before using it.

When to Rinse or Buffer Coco Coir

If you are reading this, you probably already know what coco coir is, and what it means to be “buffered.” If you were simply intrigued by the title (and who wouldn’t be?) the 30 second answers are as…

www.botanicare.com

I did not

 

[Ponky]

You m

I did not

You may have low calcium and high potassium. Or no effect. So you need to monitor for signs of calcium deficiency first. I personally don't use coco. I don't trust round fruits and vegetables.

 

[Panicalum]

Coco requires lower pH. Between 5.5 and 6.0

 

[Bullmark69]

If the grower is growing in coco loco he’s not really growing in traditional coco.
It’s going to act like soil and require care accordingly.
It is amended already…..so nothing heavy too early. It’s also buffered 6.3-6.8

 

[JohnBlazr]

If the grower is growing in coco loco he’s not really growing in traditional coco.
It’s going to act like soil and require care accordingly.
It is amended already…..so nothing heavy too early. It’s also buffered 6.3-6.8

I’ve come to find out bushdoctor coco loko is not “coco” but a “coco potting mix”

 

[Bullmark69]

I’ve come to find out bushdoctor coco loko is not “coco” but a “coco potting mix”

I have a friend who has great success with it. He amends it with dry organics, top dressed twice (beginning of flower and again midway through), and has harvested some impressive plants.

 

[JohnBlazr]

Today’s update:

 

[Bullmark69]

The plants look fine…..better than most who are seeking advice.
I read back through the post and caught up. I observe a few things that I’ll address.
For the record, I’m no indoor expert or expert at all….but did grow for many yrs outside (yrs ago) and jumped back into growing, indoors specifically, a few yrs back. I’ve learned more than I thought I could retain and have managed to complete quite a few successful runs that are usually without any issues. So take my advice as a friendly farmer who wants to help, but won’t be offended if you disagree or seek another opinion. Here goes:
1. Maybe I missed it, but I don’t see any specifics on how you are feeding or plan to feed the plants. Happy Frog (HF) and Coco Loco (CL) are both pre-amended at a level to take a plant to about where your largest are currently. If you plan to feed synthetic bottled nutes then I’m not your man, as I’m a 100% organic.
I found that sprinkling a few dry ingredients onto the top of the medium (usually once a month or so) and watering has been far less volatile, more predictable and led to healthier plants. One sure fire way to drive your grow into the problem zone (lockout, ph issues, deficiencies, toxicities, etc) is to have a dozen bottles of different liquid synthetic nutes to juggle.
So if you are debating on what and how to feed your plants, I would toss every bottle of liquid synthetic BS in the trash, with the exception of cal mag, maybe an enzyme, and some sort of Silica option.
Fox Farms has made a mint by selling 50 different concoctions and creating a feeding schedule that calls for all of them. Most all overlap and are unnecessary.
What’s worse is they even have their own flushing agent that is needed periodically throughout the grow. Basically it’s another profit built in a schedule that purposely over does it with the synthetic nutes, which causes a salt build up and the problems that ensue……so of course you’ll have to flush away all the excess to reset your medium. Amazing.
Anyway, sorry to ramble but my point is you don’t need 14 different sources of the same thing to grow healthy vibrant plants.
2. How many of these plants do you intend to flower to finish in the current 4x8 tent?
A lot of folks don’t realize the amount of space needed and that a fixed area will only support and yield so much.
I only grow a few plants at a time because my space is 2.5’ x 6’, with an 8’ ceiling height. My last grow started with just 2….one hermied a week into flower and I ended up with only one. It had plenty of room and produced way more than I had ever gotten from a single plant.
The grow before last was 3 plants and it was wall to wall….close to downright crowded. I attached pics of both grows in the latter stages of flower.
If you flower each plant in a 5 gal pot, you may be able to accommodate 10-12 MAX.
You may be able to squeeze a few more into the mix, but your overall yield will not increase…..imo.
This all assumes you have enough light to flower a 4’x8’ space….:.::which is probably in the 800W range…..give or take.
3. Your plants look fine. A random blotchy leaf or a discolored tip here and there is nothing to fret over or make any drastic changes.
During Veg try to keep your temp and RH in decent window according to the VLD charts.
If your humidity is too low juxtaposed w/ your temps, the plant will basically feed too heavily……the opposite is true w/ the reverse.
If you can get your RH to 60% and keep the temps in the upper 70F’s, the plants should thrive.
If you are undecided on how to feed them, let it be known and I can give you a simple and inexpensive laundry list, with a schedule that is anything but complicated.
Take care and good luck

 

[Bullmark69]

 

[JohnBlazr]

The plants look fine…..better than most who are seeking advice.
I read back through the post and caught up. I observe a few things that I’ll address.
For the record, I’m no indoor expert or expert at all….but did grow for many yrs outside (yrs ago) and jumped back into growing, indoors specifically, a few yrs back. I’ve learned more than I thought I could retain and have managed to complete quite a few successful runs that are usually without any issues. So take my advice as a friendly farmer who wants to help, but won’t be offended if you disagree or seek another opinion. Here goes:
1. Maybe I missed it, but I don’t see any specifics on how you are feeding or plan to feed the plants. Happy Frog (HF) and Coco Loco (CL) are both pre-amended at a level to take a plant to about where your largest are currently. If you plan to feed synthetic bottled nutes then I’m not your man, as I’m a 100% organic.
I found that sprinkling a few dry ingredients onto the top of the medium (usually once a month or so) and watering has been far less volatile, more predictable and led to healthier plants. One sure fire way to drive your grow into the problem zone (lockout, ph issues, deficiencies, toxicities, etc) is to have a dozen bottles of different liquid synthetic nutes to juggle.
So if you are debating on what and how to feed your plants, I would toss every bottle of liquid synthetic BS in the trash, with the exception of cal mag, maybe an enzyme, and some sort of Silica option.
Fox Farms has made a mint by selling 50 different concoctions and creating a feeding schedule that calls for all of them. Most all overlap and are unnecessary.
What’s worse is they even have their own flushing agent that is needed periodically throughout the grow. Basically it’s another profit built in a schedule that purposely over does it with the synthetic nutes, which causes a salt build up and the problems that ensue……so of course you’ll have to flush away all the excess to reset your medium. Amazing.
Anyway, sorry to ramble but my point is you don’t need 14 different sources of the same thing to grow healthy vibrant plants.
2. How many of these plants do you intend to flower to finish in the current 4x8 tent?
A lot of folks don’t realize the amount of space needed and that a fixed area will only support and yield so much.
I only grow a few plants at a time because my space is 2.5’ x 6’, with an 8’ ceiling height. My last grow started with just 2….one hermied a week into flower and I ended up with only one. It had plenty of room and produced way more than I had ever gotten from a single plant.
The grow before last was 3 plants and it was wall to wall….close to downright crowded. I attached pics of both grows in the latter stages of flower.
If you flower each plant in a 5 gal pot, you may be able to accommodate 10-12 MAX.
You may be able to squeeze a few more into the mix, but your overall yield will not increase…..imo.
This all assumes you have enough light to flower a 4’x8’ space….:.::which is probably in the 800W range…..give or take.
3. Your plants look fine. A random blotchy leaf or a discolored tip here and there is nothing to fret over or make any drastic changes.
During Veg try to keep your temp and RH in decent window according to the VLD charts.
If your humidity is too low juxtaposed w/ your temps, the plant will basically feed too heavily……the opposite is true w/ the reverse.
If you can get your RH to 60% and keep the temps in the upper 70F’s, the plants should thrive.
If you are undecided on how to feed them, let it be known and I can give you a simple and inexpensive laundry list, with a schedule that is anything but complicated.
Take care and good luck

Thanks dude, excellent info in there I really appreciate it.
3 days ago I administered the first feeding (biocanna) veg all in one with ph balencing. I only fed it a little bit, and a small application of calmag. I’ll post an update in a couple hours when the lights turn on. Thanks for the reply man!

 

[JohnBlazr]

10-12 is exactly what I’m shooting for, I figure I’d have a few runts or problems along the way so I’ll pick the winners close to the end if I have to.

 

[Bullmark69]

Nice….you’re on the right track for sure.
I’ll look up BioCanna and check it out. Is it an organic product ? Not that it matters.
Over time I’ve been surprised at how little it actually takes to grow nice plants.
I attached a chart that has helped me a lot.
It shows the specific timeframes during flower that your main nutrients are needed….in summary:
*Cut back, but don’t eliminate, N as the buds start to form….they still use a lot of N those first 2-3 weeks after the flip. You never want to completely cut out N.
*Week 3/4 boost the P
*Week 4/5 boost P and K
Try to keep them well fed and green until the very end.
One more thing…..I would highly recommend getting some ReCharge or a similar microbial catalyst. Growing in soil or coco loco will be very dependent on the microbial environment thriving.
A regular watering w/ ReCharge, which is what I use, or some other sort of microbial boosting tea, will ensure the proper up-taking of nutrients and regulate everything.
I use it until the last 3-4 weeks of the grow.

 

[LittleRoundTopFlowers]

If the grower is growing in coco loco he’s not really growing in traditional coco.
It’s going to act like soil and require care accordingly.
It is amended already…..so nothing heavy too early. It’s also buffered 6.3-6.8

Thanks for the correction. I dont grow in coco loco. I get the cheaper stuff and rinse and buffer... but thats a pain in the ass when do larger grows so if you know anywhere to get it on the cheap, please lmk. Im in LA

 

[LittleRoundTopFlowers]

The plants look fine…..better than most who are seeking advice.
I read back through the post and caught up. I observe a few things that I’ll address.
For the record, I’m no indoor expert or expert at all….but did grow for many yrs outside (yrs ago) and jumped back into growing, indoors specifically, a few yrs back. I’ve learned more than I thought I could retain and have managed to complete quite a few successful runs that are usually without any issues. So take my advice as a friendly farmer who wants to help, but won’t be offended if you disagree or seek another opinion. Here goes:
1. Maybe I missed it, but I don’t see any specifics on how you are feeding or plan to feed the plants. Happy Frog (HF) and Coco Loco (CL) are both pre-amended at a level to take a plant to about where your largest are currently. If you plan to feed synthetic bottled nutes then I’m not your man, as I’m a 100% organic.
I found that sprinkling a few dry ingredients onto the top of the medium (usually once a month or so) and watering has been far less volatile, more predictable and led to healthier plants. One sure fire way to drive your grow into the problem zone (lockout, ph issues, deficiencies, toxicities, etc) is to have a dozen bottles of different liquid synthetic nutes to juggle.
So if you are debating on what and how to feed your plants, I would toss every bottle of liquid synthetic BS in the trash, with the exception of cal mag, maybe an enzyme, and some sort of Silica option.
Fox Farms has made a mint by selling 50 different concoctions and creating a feeding schedule that calls for all of them. Most all overlap and are unnecessary.
What’s worse is they even have their own flushing agent that is needed periodically throughout the grow. Basically it’s another profit built in a schedule that purposely over does it with the synthetic nutes, which causes a salt build up and the problems that ensue……so of course you’ll have to flush away all the excess to reset your medium. Amazing.
Anyway, sorry to ramble but my point is you don’t need 14 different sources of the same thing to grow healthy vibrant plants.
2. How many of these plants do you intend to flower to finish in the current 4x8 tent?
A lot of folks don’t realize the amount of space needed and that a fixed area will only support and yield so much.
I only grow a few plants at a time because my space is 2.5’ x 6’, with an 8’ ceiling height. My last grow started with just 2….one hermied a week into flower and I ended up with only one. It had plenty of room and produced way more than I had ever gotten from a single plant.
The grow before last was 3 plants and it was wall to wall….close to downright crowded. I attached pics of both grows in the latter stages of flower.
If you flower each plant in a 5 gal pot, you may be able to accommodate 10-12 MAX.
You may be able to squeeze a few more into the mix, but your overall yield will not increase…..imo.
This all assumes you have enough light to flower a 4’x8’ space….:.::which is probably in the 800W range…..give or take.
3. Your plants look fine. A random blotchy leaf or a discolored tip here and there is nothing to fret over or make any drastic changes.
During Veg try to keep your temp and RH in decent window according to the VLD charts.
If your humidity is too low juxtaposed w/ your temps, the plant will basically feed too heavily……the opposite is true w/ the reverse.
If you can get your RH to 60% and keep the temps in the upper 70F’s, the plants should thrive.
If you are undecided on how to feed them, let it be known and I can give you a simple and inexpensive laundry list, with a schedule that is anything but complicated.
Take care and good luck

Please provide said laundry list. Ive been through three nute lines Fox Farm, Humboldt Secret and FOOP -- they all work, but I'd rather do it myself if possible and keep it simpler. I do grow in coco which might effect your nute schedule. Idk if I just missed what medium you grow in, but anyway, much appreciated and happy growing

 

[PopPop67]

I have bought and used a few myself

I now use General Hydroponics trio flora.
I use it because one it cost less two I don't have to keep buying amendments to it. Three it does not nute lock my medium no salt buildup works with any medium or in Hydroponics grow PopPop

 

[Bullmark69]

Please provide said laundry list. Ive been through three nute lines Fox Farm, Humboldt Secret and FOOP -- they all work, but I'd rather do it myself if possible and keep it simpler. I do grow in coco which might effect your nute schedule. Idk if I just missed what medium you grow in, but anyway, much appreciated and happy growing

My apologies ahead of time for such a long response. There is no short way to give details that I feel are pertinent.
I grow in coco….Fox farms 70/30 to be exact. It’s buffered and already has a fair amount of perlite (supposedly 30%) mixed in. I do mix in an additional small amount of larger chunk perlite (about 2 cups for 5 gal container) and the same amount of rice hulls.
This style of grow, organically amended coco, is not the most popular, draws an inordinate amount of criticism/skepticism, and apparently has been unsuccessful for a fair amount of growers. Why? I cannot figure out and it’s been, by far, the most stable & problem free method, of the different ones I’ve tried.
Several yrs ago, others made comments about trying to be like Mr. Canuck by using dry amendments and coco. At the time I had no idea who the hell Mr. Canuck even was. But I looked and found his vids on YouTube and finally understood their point…but I digress.
The truth is I was looking for a medium that had no nutrients mixed in, so that I could control exactly what went in.
I had grown quite a bit outside but that was many years ago and I realized that I was extremely lucky back then and needed to educate myself to be successful indoors. At the time I had no idea what coco was….much less how to grow in it.
At first I punted the idea of using coco, because of the way most growers use it.
It’s highly productive and there are some growers on this site that produce some truly amazing plants using coco and traditional bottled nutes. I didn’t want to have to provide the high level of maintenance & upkeep though. Watering daily or, in some instances, multiple times per day was quite a commitment. Measuring the ppm/ec of what’s going in and the runoff, strictly controlling the ph, etc etc. I simply don’t have time to provide that much time to a side hobby.
I had grown (indoors) in soil and gotten decent results but decided to basically treat coco much like soil, but with me adding in exactly what I wanted.
I loved the idea of pre-mixing my medium and giving only water when it’s needed.
It was the perfect combo of control and low maintenance…….so far it’s worked out as planned.
Sorry for the preamble but it’s good to know where someone is coming from.
As for the laundry list, I’d keep it simple and tweek it after you have a basis to draw from.
I usually start off in a solo cup with coco and EWC. Once they are about 2 weeks old I’ll move to 1 gal pots of my amended mix. They’ll stay there for about 3 weeks give or take and then move to the final 5 gal w/ the same mix.
I’ve added and subtracted this and that over time, but the following is tried and true. You can pre mix it as far ahead of time as you like….the thing I do is water the mix…..water it and mix it some more.
I make sure the entire medium is very moist when I transplant. Anyway here goes:
Measurements are per gallon of coco…
—3 cups of EWC,
—1/2 to 1 cup perlite….if you’re using Fox farms 70/30. If using straight coco you’ll def want to add more.
—1/2 to 1 cup rice hulls,
—3 tbsp Gaia Green 4-4-4 or any all purpose organic w/ ratios geared for the veg stage. There are quite a few good all purpose dry organic options.
— 1 tbsp basalt or rock dust…..I use Gaia Green brand basalt.
—1.5 tbsp myco…..there are several brands of “myco”……I use dynamyco, this is your microbial catalyst.
— 1 tbsp insect frass
— 1 tbsp kelp meal
You could stop there and be just fine. Some would argue the insect frass and/or kelp is overlap and not needed….they’re not wrong, but I’ve seen better results with them.
Normally I’ll transplant into 5gal pots and flip to 12/12 about 3 weeks later. I’ll adjust my top dressing accordingly if I flip earlier or later.
Assuming about 3 weeks in the 5 gal then flip, I’ll wait about 2 weeks after flip, so 5 weeks after moving to 5 gal and give my first top dress. It’s simple, doesn’t take long and u know exactly what you’re putting in.
FIRST TOP DRESS for a 5 gal pot
— 2 tbsp 4-4-4 Gaia Green….or whatever you used initially.
— 3 tbsp 2-8-4 Gaia Green. This is GG’s flower stage mix. Again, you don’t have to use GG, but it should be a flowering mix w/ an NPK ratio somewhere in the 1-4-2 range…..so a 3-12-6 or 5-20-10……and just follow the directions on the label.
— 1/2 to 1 cup EWC.
That’s it for top dress 1. Just mix it all up, kinda work it into the top layer and water.
I will generally do another top dress about 4 weeks after the first.
For top dress 2, I simply replace the 2 tbsp of 4-4-4 with more 2-8-4…..so that would be 5 tbsp of 2-8-4.
As the plant moves through flower it will require less N and more P&K.
I also add bone meal and langebeinite but it’s not absolutely essential. I can give more info if you want.
The only other points of discussion would watering, cal mag and the use of either ReCharge or some sort of organic tea.
I use Recharge from week 3 of veg through week 7 of flower. Once every week and a half or so……like clockwork. The plants respond well and it’s easy to give.
As for watering, I use tap water. I let it sit out a day or 2 to gas off the chlorine. I use organic ph lowering drops to ph to 6.0.
I’ve been told various things about this….that it’s coco so it needs to be 5.8-6.2…….that it should be inline with a soil grow, so 6.0-6.8……and my personal favorite, that ph doesn’t matter in an organic grow.
Regardless, my tap is very high, near 8.0, so I’ve settled in at 6.0 and the plants give me no trouble.
As for how to water, I try to make sure the medium is always moist….and I try to water to the point of runoff but stop just shy. I don’t wanna leach out my amendments. I’ll occasionally get a few oz of runoff but I try not to.
It’s important to water very slowly. I recommend “coco wet” or some other wetting agent….even a drop of Dawn works fine. But you really need to water at a snail’s pace. Saturate the top and walk away…..wait at least 10 min before giving more. If u think you’re watering slow enough, give it a few more min.
I’ve given water and thought I could give more only to have runoff start dripping out a good 10 min after I poured it on.
In veg, I usually water thoroughly every 3/4 days. Once flowering starts its every other day for the most part.
One last thing……I’ll sometimes have to give the tiniest bit of cal mag. Never more than about 2ml per gallon. But your tap may provide it just fine. The plant will let u know if it needs it.
Again, sorry for such a long response, but I think I covered most everything.
Lemme know if you need any other info.

 

[LittleRoundTopFlowers]

My apologies ahead of time for such a long response. There is no short way to give details that I feel are pertinent.
I grow in coco….Fox farms 70/30 to be exact. It’s buffered and already has a fair amount of perlite (supposedly 30%) mixed in. I do mix in an additional small amount of larger chunk perlite (about 2 cups for 5 gal container) and the same amount of rice hulls.
This style of grow, organically amended coco, is not the most popular, draws an inordinate amount of criticism/skepticism, and apparently has been unsuccessful for a fair amount of growers. Why? I cannot figure out and it’s been, by far, the most stable & problem free method, of the different ones I’ve tried.
Several yrs ago, others made comments about trying to be like Mr. Canuck by using dry amendments and coco. At the time I had no idea who the hell Mr. Canuck even was. But I looked and found his vids on YouTube and finally understood their point…but I digress.
The truth is I was looking for a medium that had no nutrients mixed in, so that I could control exactly what went in.
I had grown quite a bit outside but that was many years ago and I realized that I was extremely lucky back then and needed to educate myself to be successful indoors. At the time I had no idea what coco was….much less how to grow in it.
At first I punted the idea of using coco, because of the way most growers use it.
It’s highly productive and there are some growers on this site that produce some truly amazing plants using coco and traditional bottled nutes. I didn’t want to have to provide the high level of maintenance & upkeep though. Watering daily or, in some instances, multiple times per day was quite a commitment. Measuring the ppm/ec of what’s going in and the runoff, strictly controlling the ph, etc etc. I simply don’t have time to provide that much time to a side hobby.
I had grown (indoors) in soil and gotten decent results but decided to basically treat coco much like soil, but with me adding in exactly what I wanted.
I loved the idea of pre-mixing my medium and giving only water when it’s needed.
It was the perfect combo of control and low maintenance…….so far it’s worked out as planned.
Sorry for the preamble but it’s good to know where someone is coming from.
As for the laundry list, I’d keep it simple and tweek it after you have a basis to draw from.
I usually start off in a solo cup with coco and EWC. Once they are about 2 weeks old I’ll move to 1 gal pots of my amended mix. They’ll stay there for about 3 weeks give or take and then move to the final 5 gal w/ the same mix.
I’ve added and subtracted this and that over time, but the following is tried and true. You can pre mix it as far ahead of time as you like….the thing I do is water the mix…..water it and mix it some more.
I make sure the entire medium is very moist when I transplant. Anyway here goes:
Measurements are per gallon of coco…
—3 cups of EWC,
—1/2 to 1 cup perlite….if you’re using Fox farms 70/30. If using straight coco you’ll def want to add more.
—1/2 to 1 cup rice hulls,
—3 tbsp Gaia Green 4-4-4 or any all purpose organic w/ ratios geared for the veg stage. There are quite a few good all purpose dry organic options.
— 1 tbsp basalt or rock dust…..I use Gaia Green brand basalt.
—1.5 tbsp myco…..there are several brands of “myco”……I use dynamyco, this is your microbial catalyst.
— 1 tbsp insect frass
— 1 tbsp kelp meal
You could stop there and be just fine. Some would argue the insect frass and/or kelp is overlap and not needed….they’re not wrong, but I’ve seen better results with them.
Normally I’ll transplant into 5gal pots and flip to 12/12 about 3 weeks later. I’ll adjust my top dressing accordingly if I flip earlier or later.
Assuming about 3 weeks in the 5 gal then flip, I’ll wait about 2 weeks after flip, so 5 weeks after moving to 5 gal and give my first top dress. It’s simple, doesn’t take long and u know exactly what you’re putting in.
FIRST TOP DRESS for a 5 gal pot
— 2 tbsp 4-4-4 Gaia Green….or whatever you used initially.
— 3 tbsp 2-8-4 Gaia Green. This is GG’s flower stage mix. Again, you don’t have to use GG, but it should be a flowering mix w/ an NPK ratio somewhere in the 1-4-2 range…..so a 3-12-6 or 5-20-10……and just follow the directions on the label.
— 1/2 to 1 cup EWC.
That’s it for top dress 1. Just mix it all up, kinda work it into the top layer and water.
I will generally do another top dress about 4 weeks after the first.
For top dress 2, I simply replace the 2 tbsp of 4-4-4 with more 2-8-4…..so that would be 5 tbsp of 2-8-4.
As the plant moves through flower it will require less N and more P&K.
I also add bone meal and langebeinite but it’s not absolutely essential. I can give more info if you want.
The only other points of discussion would watering, cal mag and the use of either ReCharge or some sort of organic tea.
I use Recharge from week 3 of veg through week 7 of flower. Once every week and a half or so……like clockwork. The plants respond well and it’s easy to give.
As for watering, I use tap water. I let it sit out a day or 2 to gas off the chlorine. I use organic ph lowering drops to ph to 6.0.
I’ve been told various things about this….that it’s coco so it needs to be 5.8-6.2…….that it should be inline with a soil grow, so 6.0-6.8……and my personal favorite, that ph doesn’t matter in an organic grow.
Regardless, my tap is very high, near 8.0, so I’ve settled in at 6.0 and the plants give me no trouble.
As for how to water, I try to make sure the medium is always moist….and I try to water to the point of runoff but stop just shy. I don’t wanna leach out my amendments. I’ll occasionally get a few oz of runoff but I try not to.
It’s important to water very slowly. I recommend “coco wet” or some other wetting agent….even a drop of Dawn works fine. But you really need to water at a snail’s pace. Saturate the top and walk away…..wait at least 10 min before giving more. If u think you’re watering slow enough, give it a few more min.
I’ve given water and thought I could give more only to have runoff start dripping out a good 10 min after I poured it on.
In veg, I usually water thoroughly every 3/4 days. Once flowering starts its every other day for the most part.
One last thing……I’ll sometimes have to give the tiniest bit of cal mag. Never more than about 2ml per gallon. But your tap may provide it just fine. The plant will let u know if it needs it.
Again, sorry for such a long response, but I think I covered most everything.
Lemme know if you need any other info.

YOOO! thank you for this. It's amazing. I'm exhausted from my current grow which is in the harvest stage, but the next crop I run, I'm definitely gonna try something closer to your schedule. The only think I might try to change cause I grow in cloth pots is just going straight from the solos to the 5gal like I like to do. But that's amazing to run coco without needing to water to run off to prevent salt build-up. If it produces the same results you've really simplified the game my friend.

Happy Growing!

 

[Budclarkson]

My apologies ahead of time for such a long response. There is no short way to give details that I feel are pertinent.
I grow in coco….Fox farms 70/30 to be exact. It’s buffered and already has a fair amount of perlite (supposedly 30%) mixed in. I do mix in an additional small amount of larger chunk perlite (about 2 cups for 5 gal container) and the same amount of rice hulls.
This style of grow, organically amended coco, is not the most popular, draws an inordinate amount of criticism/skepticism, and apparently has been unsuccessful for a fair amount of growers. Why? I cannot figure out and it’s been, by far, the most stable & problem free method, of the different ones I’ve tried.
Several yrs ago, others made comments about trying to be like Mr. Canuck by using dry amendments and coco. At the time I had no idea who the hell Mr. Canuck even was. But I looked and found his vids on YouTube and finally understood their point…but I digress.
The truth is I was looking for a medium that had no nutrients mixed in, so that I could control exactly what went in.
I had grown quite a bit outside but that was many years ago and I realized that I was extremely lucky back then and needed to educate myself to be successful indoors. At the time I had no idea what coco was….much less how to grow in it.
At first I punted the idea of using coco, because of the way most growers use it.
It’s highly productive and there are some growers on this site that produce some truly amazing plants using coco and traditional bottled nutes. I didn’t want to have to provide the high level of maintenance & upkeep though. Watering daily or, in some instances, multiple times per day was quite a commitment. Measuring the ppm/ec of what’s going in and the runoff, strictly controlling the ph, etc etc. I simply don’t have time to provide that much time to a side hobby.
I had grown (indoors) in soil and gotten decent results but decided to basically treat coco much like soil, but with me adding in exactly what I wanted.
I loved the idea of pre-mixing my medium and giving only water when it’s needed.
It was the perfect combo of control and low maintenance…….so far it’s worked out as planned.
Sorry for the preamble but it’s good to know where someone is coming from.
As for the laundry list, I’d keep it simple and tweek it after you have a basis to draw from.
I usually start off in a solo cup with coco and EWC. Once they are about 2 weeks old I’ll move to 1 gal pots of my amended mix. They’ll stay there for about 3 weeks give or take and then move to the final 5 gal w/ the same mix.
I’ve added and subtracted this and that over time, but the following is tried and true. You can pre mix it as far ahead of time as you like….the thing I do is water the mix…..water it and mix it some more.
I make sure the entire medium is very moist when I transplant. Anyway here goes:
Measurements are per gallon of coco…
—3 cups of EWC,
—1/2 to 1 cup perlite….if you’re using Fox farms 70/30. If using straight coco you’ll def want to add more.
—1/2 to 1 cup rice hulls,
—3 tbsp Gaia Green 4-4-4 or any all purpose organic w/ ratios geared for the veg stage. There are quite a few good all purpose dry organic options.
— 1 tbsp basalt or rock dust…..I use Gaia Green brand basalt.
—1.5 tbsp myco…..there are several brands of “myco”……I use dynamyco, this is your microbial catalyst.
— 1 tbsp insect frass
— 1 tbsp kelp meal
You could stop there and be just fine. Some would argue the insect frass and/or kelp is overlap and not needed….they’re not wrong, but I’ve seen better results with them.
Normally I’ll transplant into 5gal pots and flip to 12/12 about 3 weeks later. I’ll adjust my top dressing accordingly if I flip earlier or later.
Assuming about 3 weeks in the 5 gal then flip, I’ll wait about 2 weeks after flip, so 5 weeks after moving to 5 gal and give my first top dress. It’s simple, doesn’t take long and u know exactly what you’re putting in.
FIRST TOP DRESS for a 5 gal pot
— 2 tbsp 4-4-4 Gaia Green….or whatever you used initially.
— 3 tbsp 2-8-4 Gaia Green. This is GG’s flower stage mix. Again, you don’t have to use GG, but it should be a flowering mix w/ an NPK ratio somewhere in the 1-4-2 range…..so a 3-12-6 or 5-20-10……and just follow the directions on the label.
— 1/2 to 1 cup EWC.
That’s it for top dress 1. Just mix it all up, kinda work it into the top layer and water.
I will generally do another top dress about 4 weeks after the first.
For top dress 2, I simply replace the 2 tbsp of 4-4-4 with more 2-8-4…..so that would be 5 tbsp of 2-8-4.
As the plant moves through flower it will require less N and more P&K.
I also add bone meal and langebeinite but it’s not absolutely essential. I can give more info if you want.
The only other points of discussion would watering, cal mag and the use of either ReCharge or some sort of organic tea.
I use Recharge from week 3 of veg through week 7 of flower. Once every week and a half or so……like clockwork. The plants respond well and it’s easy to give.
As for watering, I use tap water. I let it sit out a day or 2 to gas off the chlorine. I use organic ph lowering drops to ph to 6.0.
I’ve been told various things about this….that it’s coco so it needs to be 5.8-6.2…….that it should be inline with a soil grow, so 6.0-6.8……and my personal favorite, that ph doesn’t matter in an organic grow.
Regardless, my tap is very high, near 8.0, so I’ve settled in at 6.0 and the plants give me no trouble.
As for how to water, I try to make sure the medium is always moist….and I try to water to the point of runoff but stop just shy. I don’t wanna leach out my amendments. I’ll occasionally get a few oz of runoff but I try not to.
It’s important to water very slowly. I recommend “coco wet” or some other wetting agent….even a drop of Dawn works fine. But you really need to water at a snail’s pace. Saturate the top and walk away…..wait at least 10 min before giving more. If u think you’re watering slow enough, give it a few more min.
I’ve given water and thought I could give more only to have runoff start dripping out a good 10 min after I poured it on.
In veg, I usually water thoroughly every 3/4 days. Once flowering starts its every other day for the most part.
One last thing……I’ll sometimes have to give the tiniest bit of cal mag. Never more than about 2ml per gallon. But your tap may provide it just fine. The plant will let u know if it needs it.
Again, sorry for such a long response, but I think I covered most everything.
Lemme know if you need any other info.

Thanks for detailing tour process. What exactly is FF 70/30 thought?

Thinking about going with the FF Coco Loco again and adding 10% Ocean Forst and a little Perlite.

I dont really want to wait around 10minutes though to water a bunch of plants a 2nd time. That sounds like pure coco, no?