New to coco

[Michiganmeds1982]

So i started transitioning from promix to coco and i think i may be having my first issue. I checked the runoff yesterday and found that going in my ph was 6.2 and coming out it was 5.2 so i panicked and did a flush. Today im seeing the runoff coming out about 5.7 and im not sure if that is good or not, its got to be better than 5.2 right?

 

Any help would be great.

[Wild Bill]

Do the plants look healthy? If so don't worry too much about ph fluctuations.

 

[AmishRnot4ganja]

Dust the top of the soil with garden lime and flush it through the pot or dissolve a couple of teaspoons of hydrated lime in a gallon of water and pour one on each pot. In the future mix one cup of dolomitic lime (garden lime) into each cubic foot of coco.

I mix coco and Promix BX 1:1 and add garden lime to the mix. My nutrient water goes in at around pH 6 and comes out the bottom around pH 7. Plants love it.

I actually mix a 3.8 CF bale of Promix with one 5kg (compressed) chunk of coco (to which I add perlite at the rate of 1/3 by volume). To this mixture I add 2 cups of dolomitic lime.

[t-pain]

next water use some epsom salts aka calmag....

[AmishRnot4ganja]

Another thing I found that helped with pH issues was a switch to organic nutes and the use of mycorhizea. Organic nutes plus mycorhizea seems to make the plants less susceptible to pH fluctuations. There seems to be a wider pH range in which they are willing to grow. 

Even with lime in the soil mixture I still have to flush the pots when I transplant into fresh soil mix. I have to run three gallons of high ph water (8 -9) through a two gallon pot to get the pH up to a 6. After that initial flush I never see runoff lower than 6.5 - 7. I think the water activates the lime and keeps the pH within acceptable limits.

[Michiganmeds1982]

So today my ph was 5.8 on most so i think the flush helped. Im also watering more to get more runoff.

[AmishRnot4ganja]

Plants like an occasional flushing. I flush mine when they go from veg to flower and whenever they show signs of over fertilization.

[Michiganmeds1982]

Seems to be working out, today the runoff and ppm seem normal accept  the coco that i mixed castings into, they look good but the coco is acting more lile soil and the ph is staying at 6.5.

Not sure if that is gonna be bad or not but right now they seem to love it. 

Edited November 25, 2017 by Michiganmeds1982

[Michiganmeds1982]

1 hour ago, AmishRnot4ganja said:

Plants like an occasional flushing. I flush mine when they go from veg to flower and whenever they show signs of over fertilization.

I just put up a 4foot by 6 foot flood table last week just for that purpose.

[Michiganmeds1982]

Wondering if anyone has a suggestion for something to put under the fabric pots to raise them up a bit off the table, something cheap?

[bax]

glass or stone upsidedown dinner or serving plate might work depending on your situation.

 

if that would be tall enough for your purpose.

 

Edited November 25, 2017 by bax

[AmishRnot4ganja]

2x4 or 2x2 cut to the length needed will keep them raised enough.