Coco Question

[Wild Bill]

I've always grown either outdoors or in deep water. Thought I'd give coco a try just to check it out.

 

So far it seems like slower growth and smaller plants.

 

Normally I put them into flower when they are 18" to 24" tall and they stretch another 1' to 2' feet depending on the strain.

 

My current coco grow is in a 2 gallon pot. I put it into flower when it was around 12" and it only stretched another couple inches.

 

Is this normal growth in this medium or could it be because of the small pot size?

[trichcycler]

will coco support growth with water only even for a couple weeks?   what do you feed it?

[t-pain]

are you measuring ph and all that fun stuff?

 

some coco has salts , some do not. it can be rinsed extra for mmj too.

 

did you get the big coco brick or are you using bagged coco ?

[trichcycler]

man, I think I know possible reason why my coco failed. buffered? salt build up? I should have done my homework.

so why would one go for coco over hydroton for instance to save the finicky ways?

[Wild Bill]

I used bricked coco and rinsed well to remove any salts or other contaminates that might have been in it. Nutes are DynaGro that I use in hydro. Other than the gnats (I just applied diatomaceous earth to get rid of them) everything looks good.

The plant is green and vigorous, it just grows slowly and stayed small. There's no sign of salts or nute residue like you see on houseplants with old soil.

 

The reason for trying coco is to be able to go out of town for a few days without worrying about watering.

 

Some strains in hydro will suck up a gallon a day and short of using large reservoirs or setting up an automatic watering system there's not many options. Trying to keep things simple so coco looked like a good option.

 

If I used a smaller pot wouldn't that cause even less increase in size?

[Wild Bill]

Perhaps too much moisture is the problem, but other than the growth rate it seems healthy. Actually a little better than hydro.

 

There doesn't seem to be any cal/mag deficiency problems so I don't think buffering is the problem.

 

Regardless of how this first plant turns out I'm going to keep a parallel coco grow going till I get it right. It never hurts to have another tool in the box.

[t-pain]

see zap, it goes against everything a dirt grower knows about smaller pots = smaller plants.

 

so coco is completely different than dirt in that regard?

 

the dynagrow has coco or dirt instructions on it , and you are following those? or are you using hydro nutes in a coco grow? (yes, i am being annoyingly specific)

 

ok, one more silly billy question. is this a clone or from seed? are we sure that the seed just isnt a crummy seed? alternatively, maybe the pheno or strain doesnt like coco?

 

did you tip her upside down and check under the skirt to see if shes rootbound or too moist? that would answer the pot size question probably.

[trichcycler]

I'm thinking about the plant size. In hydro a quart cup could grow a tree(with roots trailing) but in dirt a quart cup supports a small plant. I believe that WB is indeed growing "hydro"-soilless/basal salts so this makes sense to me.

I use 2gallon pots now with soil and the height can vary depending on how much head space that area has, from 3 feet to 6 feet. I prefer the shorter even bonsai approach personally, but trees are pretty cool to see indoors too.

[Highlander]

I've always grown either outdoors or in deep water. Thought I'd give coco a try just to check it out.

 

So far it seems like slower growth and smaller plants.

 

Normally I put them into flower when they are 18" to 24" tall and they stretch another 1' to 2' feet depending on the strain.

 

My current coco grow is in a 2 gallon pot. I put it into flower when it was around 12" and it only stretched another couple inches.

 

Is this normal growth in this medium or could it be because of the small pot size?

 

Based on my experience, you'll have a hard time satisfying yourself with another growing method once you have run a dialed-in DWC grow for a few harvests.  I've tried multiple methods of hydro, soil, and soil less, and nothing has compared to DWC.  I'm not saying that DWC is the best method, but it is the best for me.  I like  to go a few days without worrying about things and possibly without even checking on the plants at all.  A couple of years ago I was gearing-up for a vacation and thought I had everything nailed-down, but there was a little bit of water on the floor.  I didn't have  the time to try to track down a leak and hoped it was just condensation off the outside of the buckets.  When I got home about 4 1/2 days later, my buckets were just about completely empty - with just about an inch of liquid left in each (standing below the tube that connects each bucket).  So it was obvious that the system had been leaking.  (Later, I found a cracked bucket).  I don't know how long it took for the system to drain down to the bottom, but I have to believe that the plants had only about an inch of water for 2-3 days.  They were all FINE.

 

I also like the ease of diagnosing issues - or the lack of need to do so.  See a few plants looking a bit cross-eyed?  Recalibrate  the meters, drain the system, flush with plain water, then refill with a new batch of solution.  Simple and effective with no guesswork.  When  things are going smoothly, I can go 2-3 weeks between nute solution change-outs.

 

I realize that I'm not answering your question at all, but I'm simply offering that if you're anything like me, you might be spoiled by the ease of a DWC grow, and it might be that messing around with some other method is just going to seem like too much work.

[Restorium2]

Based on my experience, you'll have a hard time satisfying yourself with another growing method once you have run a dialed-in DWC grow for a few harvests.  I've tried multiple methods of hydro, soil, and soil less, and nothing has compared to DWC.  I'm not saying that DWC is the best method, but it is the best for me.  I like  to go a few days without worrying about things and possibly without even checking on the plants at all.  A couple of years ago I was gearing-up for a vacation and thought I had everything nailed-down, but there was a little bit of water on the floor.  I didn't have  the time to try to track down a leak and hoped it was just condensation off the outside of the buckets.  When I got home about 4 1/2 days later, my buckets were just about completely empty - with just about an inch of liquid left in each (standing below the tube that connects each bucket).  So it was obvious that the system had been leaking.  (Later, I found a cracked bucket).  I don't know how long it took for the system to drain down to the bottom, but I have to believe that the plants had only about an inch of water for 2-3 days.  They were all FINE.

 

I also like the ease of diagnosing issues - or the lack of need to do so.  See a few plants looking a bit cross-eyed?  Recalibrate  the meters, drain the system, flush with plain water, then refill with a new batch of solution.  Simple and effective with no guesswork.  When  things are going smoothly, I can go 2-3 weeks between nute solution change-outs.

 

I realize that I'm not answering your question at all, but I'm simply offering that if you're anything like me, you might be spoiled by the ease of a DWC grow, and it might be that messing around with some other method is just going to seem like too much work.

You can automate a DWC and go away for two weeks easily. You can also automate your dirt grow watering system and go away for even longer. 

Edited November 18, 2014 by Restorium2

[Highlander]

You can automate a DWC and go away for two weeks easily. You can also automate your dirt grow watering system and go away for even longer. 

 

Back in 2010 I left my DWC for 12 days - imagine the stress.  I raised the flower lights about a foot, had 100 gallons of nutes plumbed to a float switch, and called it good.  Once I got home I had plants growing into the lights and being scorched by heat, but a few hours of work got everything in-line and I really didn't miss a beat.  But then again, I get stressed leaving home no matter what - worried about maybe the roof leaking, the sump pump crapping out, a tree falling on the house, and more.  Turns out that the plants seem to do just just fine on their own.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Highlander

[HerbalRx]

well boys my experience over the last few years with coco w=has been a wild ride but I think I have a method that works bigger pots bigger plant for sure I like 3footx 3 12 in deep with weekly flushes be fore a weekly feed the key to coco is to run it as close to hydro as possible meaning due to it soil retention capabilities you have to keep the root zone pristine or suffer slow growth the cleaner the better usually if I pull my plants after flower and the roots are white to translucent then I can expect high yield with no pumps