Ase's Perpetual Fun With Coco

[Asesino85]

The title says it all! This will be my journal that is a continuation of everything I am currently doing and how I do it. I welcome everyone to follow along and ask any questions. I grow in coco coir and out of any medium coco seems to have a number of different ways people use it with great results. Ultimately it is my belief that light and environment are the two most important factors in growing. I will outline how I grow in my first couple posts and the equipment I use. Thanks for following along!

My History
I have been growing for basically one full year now. I do not think I am an expert by any means but I am kind of a science guy. I've done a lot of research on growing and been up and down many forums. 420 magazine had the best grow journals and I immediately started reading journals of popular people on here. A friend had convinced me to use soil and off I went! Had a pretty good first grow and immediately wanted to be in more control so I switched to coco coir.

Over the last year I've been able to try almost everything I've wanted to. I've trained by using a SCroG net, supercropping, lst, heavy defoliation, no defoliation. I've done grows with just base nutes, grows with additives and messed around with feed schedules to see how plants reacted. I feel pretty good about growing in coco now and what plants should look like every week along the way and what to feed them. There is always ways to improve or try out but I am confident that I have "my way" now. I'm very excited to get a full grow in from day 1 with the proper equipment and feed. With that being said...

The Equipment
I run two tents. One is for veg stage and one is for flower stage. Sometimes I use the veg tent to flower for a few weeks. It helps be able to run more cycles.

My veg tent is basically my very first setup I bought a year ago. I do not have a carbon filter in it now, otherwise it would be. Right now I have garden veggies in it!

Tent - Apollo Horticulture 48" x 48" x 80" Mylar
Lights - Mars Hydro Reflector Series 96 x2
Fans - Holmes lil blizzard 8" Oscillating Table Fan X2 (one for canopy one at plant level)
Metal racks
Drain Table

My flower tent has a little more power in it. This one is all of my upgrades plus my original air filter. For the area I grow in, this one filter keeps the whole area smelling neutral which is why I don't need to run one in each tent.

Tent - Viviosun 48" x 48" x 80" Mylar
Lights - Mars Hydro Reflector Series 144 x2
Air Filter - iPower Carbon Filter attached to an Apollo Horticulture 6" Inline Fan with built in speed control
Fans - Holmes lil blizzard 8" Oscillating Table Fan X2 (one for canopy one at plant level)
Metal racks
Drain Table

Misc for both tents
Bungee Cords Variety Pack (I love bungee cords, they are very versatile for hanging things)
Apollo Horticulture Grow Light Rope Hanger 1/8" with metal gears x8
Zipties
Viviosun 3 gal smartpots
Envisioned Velcro Straps Variety Pack
Tierra Garden Soft Ties for Gardening
Caliber IV temp/humidity monitor x2
Belkin Surge Protector x2
Black and Decker Wet/Dry Vac - Essential for me because I drain to waste and it makes cleanup so easy! Must have!
5 gal buckets for mixing nutrients and water and a pitcher to water with

I do have a mini dehumidifier, small fan and a 3rd 2'x4' tent for drying but it's as basic as it gets. Still is nice to have to keep the other two tents going all the time. Viewing this as something I would be doing for a long time (I live in a state where it is legal) I have made sure not really skimp on necessary equipment and keep upgrading in mind. I've tried to buy equipment that was not too expensive but quality and interchangeable. I now have everything I want. For what I do, I wont need anything else and I am finally complacent with what I have. If you asked me a year ago if I thought I would have all this I would have laughed. My mindset is one where if I can see where I am headed then I might as well just jump there now and not wait so here we are! Welcome to the fun.

 

[Asesino85]

One of the most frequently asked questions in growing period is about nutrients. You could constantly chase your tail trying to find the right way to use nutrients. In my opinion nutrients are necessary but not as important as environment or light. Both environment and light can change the amount of nutrients your plant needs but the nutrients can't say the same about effecting the other two. It is still important to get the nutrients schedule correct but the hard part is everyones grow area is different, requiring different needs for the plants. Learning about nutrients is something worth doing. It's eye opening. I tried to follow people's schedules and realized I never fully understood what I was giving my plants and at what stages they needed boosts or decreases in certain nutrients.

With that being said I use GH products for now. It's the 3 part series as a base with cal-mag. I run a few additives as well. I might add one or two more to the lineup but am really happy with all these. They are affordable and I get very good results.

Here is my feed schedule. If I decide to veg longer then I will just follow week 5's veg nutrients until ready. With that being said, you have to learn how to read your plants. different strains use different levels of each nutrient. Some of them drink more than others. This is just my rough guide.

I also pre-treat any coco that I use with a soaking of 1-1-1 N-P-K and a PPM of around 350 with cal-mag being about 150. Aways pretreat your coco and soak it. Coco is a medium with nothing in it. If you give your plant nothing it will not like it! This is one of the most common problems when transplanting or even from growing the seed from the beginning. The plant needs calcium and it can't get any unless the coco has some sort of nutes loaded into it. I also sprinkle Great White on the roots when I transplant to help the roots not miss a beat when transplanting and hopefully causing little stress when transplanting.



I water with nutes everyday and I usually mix up 5 gallons each time and then use that to water for a couple days. In the beginning I try to keep the coco relatively damp and not saturated. I am a firm believer that roots want to go exploring and if they are have enough water then they won't. A larger root mass means a larger plant and more bud potential. I run a drain to waste system by hand feeding but I don't always want to see runoff. In the first weeks of veg I get very little runoff ever. As the plants get larger and enter vigorous veg I start to get runoff every few waterings. By the time they are late veg/early flower I am watering twice a day. The first watering I don't want runoff and usually if I give the same amount a while later it will cause just a little runoff. This happens daily, by now the roots have filled the pot and the plant should be focusing on bud swelling.

Once a week I water to runoff of about 30% just to flush out any buildup of salts. I usually will only water once the next day to keep things from over-saturating. You will not kill your plants by overwatering in coco but you can do damage to the roots if they are constantly soaked. The very last week I flush the plants about 7 days before I want to pull them and use Florakleen and ph to 5.8. I measure runoff until it is the same as what is coming out and then from there on out I water as needed with regular, unPH'd water until the end. The Florakleen breaks down any remaining salts and the water flushes them out. By PH'ing to 5.8 it allows the plant to grab anything else it needs before I lock it out with regular water so it can finish.

The best way to determine how much to water is to pick your whole plant up right after you give it a full watering (with some drainage coming out the bottom). Use that as your gauge for how much the plant needs. I like to keep my plants to where they are asking for water a little bit everyday. The pots are usually pretty light when I pick them up. I noticed in my last grow the saturation of roots happened at the bottom of the pots mainly. I am using Hydroton this time to prevent that.

My water is a ppm of 34, which is great. I make beer as well and we are known for having some of the best water. In coco it is essential to always keep cal-mag levels at a certain base. Plants in coco use a lot of both. I fill my 5 gallon bucket with water and then add cal-mag until my PPM is 200. After that I add nutes to hit the PPM for the week using the N-P-K ratios listed in the table. These ratios are based on what the plant needs at given points in the 9 week flower lifecycle.

This is why understanding your nutes is important. The guides on bottles do an OK job of getting a plant to grow minus the fact that you should always cut back 1/2 or 1/3 on what is recommended. Their ratios are also ok but won't produce the best results. The Lucas Formula is the same thing. It's a good idea to learn using these guides but ultimately they aren't ideal. I've combined everything I've read and tried and this is the best for me and what I use.

 

[Asesino85]

Germination and What I'm Growing
I've done all sorts of germination methods and the one that seems to work best for me is the wet paper towel method. I take warm water with a couple drops of rapid start and a paper towel and I soak the towel in it. I then squeeze 85% of the water out and place the seeds in between the layers of paper towel and put in a plastic bag. I then place between two paper plates to keep dark and put on top of my refrigerator or DVR. This keeps the seeds warm.

Once these start to show a taproot of about 1cm then I take a place them in tiny pots with pretreated coco. They go on a warming mat and in a humidity dome which is currently being used for my spring veggies and herbs. Cooking is my other passion and there will be detailed posts about edibles throughout this journal. After the seeds have shown their first real leaves then I will start week 1 of veg. These seeds are all autos. I wanted to do an auto grow and it's good timing for it as I will have photos going a few weeks behind them. I likely won't be doing too many autos, I like the options with photos.

I won't be using my nutrients table exactly as these girls will move at their own pace on when they flower and the likely won't take 5-6 weeks to flower. I am going to try to use the same N-P-K ratios just by judging what I see with the plant. With my little experience I do now know when plants go into different phases of the cycles. It's hard to mess up an auto which is the appeal I suppose but if you want great outcomes you really have to understand what the plant is doing and how much and when to train them.

Here is the lineup this time

Emerald Triangle's Headlights Kush Auto Fem - A combination of our Lemon OG Kush, Original Haze and Northern Lights. It´s a plant not to be messed with, it grows like a privet bush! 70/30 Sativa dominant.

Fast Buds Gorilla Blue Auto Fem - Gorilla Glue is a potent hybrid strain that delivers heavy-handed euphoria and relaxation, leaving you feeling “glued” to the couch. Its chunky, resin-covered buds fill the room with pine and sour aromas inherited from its parent strains, Chem’s Sister, Sour Dubb, and Chocolate Diesel. 50/50 Hybrid Sativa/Indica.

Advanced Seeds Early Widow Auto Fem - Mostly Indica. White Widow selection. Highly resinous. Its smaller size is compensated by the great deal of resin that you can find in its buds.Sweet-and-sour aroma. It intense smell increase during flowering until high levels. Very intense taste. 70/30 Indica dominant.

Bomb Seeds Cherry Bomb Auto Fem - Cherry Bomb Auto feminized cannabis seeds create highly resinous autoflowering plants with a full cherry flavor. Crossing Cherry Bomb with a hand-selected Siberian ruderalis allowed the breeders to maintain the most desirable traits of the mother plant, keeping the distinctive cherry flavor whilst still offering the excellent yield potential and added speed of an autoflowering strain. 50/50 Hybrid Sativa/Indica.

 

[Pennywise]

Coco is the shit!

 

[EastCoastGhost]

Im going to tag along if you don't mind. I am on my first indoor grow and i am using autos. I have 4 white widow autos and 4 thc bomb autos in soil on day 21 I also want to try to grow in coco on my next run ( at least try one or two so i can see how it goes).

 

[EastCoastGhost]

I am exited to see how your ww does in coco. Nice setup by the way. Best of luck to you.✌

 

[Asesino85]

Coco is the shit!

Agreed. So versatile! Beginners can use it and experts can use it. Such a great medium for growing. I do think the most benefit comes when you truly understand nutrients and feeding and the phases of growing, but I'll likely never use anything else. Hopefully this grow I get my automated watering up and running but I don't mind hand feeding. That's the last piece of the grow puzzle for me. Glad to have you along again PW. You've been a consistent follower for a while now!

 

[skoondawg]

Coco is the shit!

My first coco grow and i am absolutely loving what i see so far.

 

[skoondawg]

Definitely gonna pull up a seat here! Already so much ive learnt Thanks for being so giving with all your knowledge man. People like you that make this community great! All the best for this one brother

 

[Pennywise]

Agreed. So versatile! Beginners can use it and experts can use it. Such a great medium for growing. I do think the most benefit comes when you truly understand nutrients and feeding and the phases of growing, but I'll likely never use anything else. Hopefully this grow I get my automated watering up and running but I don't mind hand feeding. That's the last piece of the grow puzzle for me. Glad to have you along again PW. You've been a consistent follower for a while now!

My last grow was a home made top feed on a timer with a 10 gallon rez and i recirculated the runoff. I loved it.

 

[Coloradokid19]

Whats up Ase? These autos that you are popping will be super fun to watch. I haven't ever ran any, I guess I have kind of thought about growing one or two but just don't have the space in my veg tent to still run all of the photo girls I want perpetually. Maybe when my flower room is done in November or December and I have more space then I can do some experimenting with autos.

I also wanted to say I really enjoy how detailed your updates are and how helpful it probably is to many new growers. I need to start getting more detailed in my updates, I'm just a bit lazy a lot lol

 

[Asesino85]

Im going to tag along if you don't mind. I am on my first indoor grow and i am using autos. I have 4 white widow autos and 4 thc bomb autos in soil on day 21 I also want to try to grow in coco on my next run ( at least try one or two so i can see how it goes).

I am exited to see how your ww does in coco. Nice setup by the way. Best of luck to you.✌

Have a seat Mr. Smith. My goal by the end of this first cycle is to explain every important step of the way to make it easy for new growers. There is a lot more experience and good information out there, I just plan to make it easier to understand and read. Hopefully you learn a thing or two and that you'll be a coco believer in no time.

 

[Asesino85]

Definitely gonna pull up a seat here! Already so much ive learnt Thanks for being so giving with all your knowledge man. People like you that make this community great! All the best for this one brother

It's too bad you are a few weeks ahead and not a few weeks behind but I'm keeping a watchful eye over there on yours. I just get nervous that someone will ask for help and I will guide them in the wrong direction (because I've only been doing this a year) so I try not to say too much. I just want good people to succeed. Hopefully this journal helps in doing so!

 

[Asesino85]

Whats up Ase? These autos that you are popping will be super fun to watch. I haven't ever ran any, I guess I have kind of thought about growing one or two but just don't have the space in my veg tent to still run all of the photo girls I want perpetually. Maybe when my flower room is done in November or December and I have more space then I can do some experimenting with autos.

I also wanted to say I really enjoy how detailed your updates are and how helpful it probably is to many new growers. I need to start getting more detailed in my updates, I'm just a bit lazy a lot lol

Thanks CK! Of course this wouldn't be the same without you. Been there since day 1!

I've had people guide other people here for help and I feel kind of bad when I ramble. I also wasn't able to show everything I wanted to because I'd limit my post to every 3-4 days. This time I am just going to post when I want. The informational stuff will be organized so people can get the information concisely and the rambling can happen in-between. As you know, I'm no expert but I feel like this is going to be the journal that I always wanted to make but I was too busy learning to grow. Now I feel pretty good about it so I can write about it better if that makes any sense?

1st grow of our Sophomore years, lets both knock it out of the park.

 

[Asesino85]

When seeds are ready to plant

Well that was quick. I believe I put these in their bags at about 4pm and 21 hours later 2 of the seeds (Headlights, Cherry Bomb) looked like this! The other 2 (Gorilla Glue, Widow) has no taproots but the seed had cracked open a little so I knew the root was coming. I just decided to plant them all now rather then wait for the other 2. They will come out soon.

Some people like to let the root grow longer but if the towel gets a little dry and the root is longer it can snap easier when you pull it off. Just my personal preference but I like them to look just like this. So now it's time to get the coco saturated with a small amount of nutrients. As stated in my feed schedule above, I pretreat the coco to 350 PPMs. I measure out a little more than the containers they are going into for safe measure into a bowl and fill it up with the nutrient mix. I then use a cheap kitchen sifter to run the mix through and using my hand I push down so it strains the water out. This usually leaves the mix damp but not soaking wet.

I make sure to fill the containers all the way to the top and make a hole with a pencil that goes 1/4" down. I sprinkle a tiny pinch of the Great White Mycorrhizae down each hole and then plant the seeds with the taproot facing down. I then lightly cover with coco and into the humidity dome the go! I have a heating mat that I may use if I feel like they need it but the weather has been warming up and I know my tents stay in appropriate ranges. I put them in the humidity dome and into the veg tent they go!

 

[Coloradokid19]

Thanks CK! Of course this wouldn't be the same without you. Been there since day 1!

I've had people guide other people here for help and I feel kind of bad when I ramble. I also wasn't able to show everything I wanted to because I'd limit my post to every 3-4 days. This time I am just going to post when I want. The informational stuff will be organized so people can get the information concisely and the rambling can happen in-between. As you know, I'm no expert but I feel like this is going to be the journal that I always wanted to make but I was too busy learning to grow. Now I feel pretty good about it so I can write about it better if that makes any sense?

1st grow of our Sophomore years, lets both knock it out of the park.

No shame in rambling at all, even in rambling some good information will usually almost always come out as well. I also see what you mean that now that you aren't having to spend as much time experimenting and such that now you can explain your methods to others.

And don't worry, we are gonna kill it this year and hopefully learn way more than we did even in our first year of growing! The learning never stops and I love it!

 

[skoondawg]

It's too bad you are a few weeks ahead and not a few weeks behind but I'm keeping a watchful eye over there on yours. I just get nervous that someone will ask for help and I will guide them in the wrong direction (because I've only been doing this a year) so I try not to say too much. I just want good people to succeed. Hopefully this journal helps in doing so!

Indeed it would have been ideal to be a week or two behind you but alas. At least i have your (and others') watchful eyes on my journal. Hopefully it will all go okay, will read the plants as best as possible! .

 

[Asesino85]

Germination Follow Up

Just a quick check in today and 3 of the 4 girls have sprouted. This part is the hardest for me. I want to rip the seed casing off or dig up the coco and see what's going on. Patience is a huge virtue at this stage. Luckily the 3 you can see all came up fine. So I careful moved coco off the top of the Widow and I did see a seed that was all the way open and a taproot coming out. I'm guessing I will see green leaves popping out tomorrow sometime.

In order of sprouting
1. Headlight - For sure my fastest seed germination this round
2. Cherry Bomb - Not too far behind the Headlights
3. Gorilla Glue - A day or so behind the other two
4. White Widow - Not yet but soon

4/4 on germination so if you are looking for a pretty good way to germinate seeds, take a look at the germination post. I've only ever lost one seed to not germinating and I think it's because it rotted because it was too wet. I haven't watered these at all since planting them. They coco is still moist, no reason to water at this point, plant has everything it needs with the pre-treated coco.

 

[Coloradokid19]

Babies are born!! Im cheering on that little Widow! GO girl GO

 

[Applesauce]

Hey Ase! Nice setup. Love the detail to start us off. New to the community here and currently doing my first grow. I'm doing soil but have become more and more interested in coco for my next run. Hope you don't mind if I tag along and learn a little more. Also, those metal racks are genius! I've been trying to figure a better solution than just barricading my runoff with numerous towels. Now I'll actually use my shop vac too!