Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

[CanuckGal]

Hero, I wasn't planning on starting a journal until everything was nicely up and running. My first rodeo came extremely naturally, the plants thrived and it was an easy hobby. Unfortunately circumstances caused me to have to shut down on short notice. Luckily, now I am back up and running for the foreseeable future!

But this time around is a lot harder than my first time.

I struggle with some some health issues, but have been lucky enough to have a wonderful friend to help me with my medicine.

I had a friend help be rebuild my closet, and we put up this foam insulation that has foil on the inside on the walls. But it is really hot, so I needed to get another fan in there ASAP. So anyways, my seedling had some heat issues, now the temps are around 90, so much better than before, they do have fresh growth, so I'm going to keep nurturing them and see if I can turn the plants around.

I also decided to try coco, so Im working on adjusting to it, I'm not really sure how to keep it watered, seems to dry out really quick, so I have a reservoir on the bottom with runoff so maybe that's how it works? I haven't been able to find a how to grow with coco, so I'll have to search through some journals to find out more.

And yes I am still using my swamp cooler to help with temps, it really does help, but with the new siding, I don't think it's enough. DIY Swamp Bucket Cooler

So I'm planning on tearing down the foam siding and just put up some mylar on my next payday.

Anyways, here's some pics:

 

[donpaul.p]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

hi, do you think its heat thats caused the plants to suffer or have you been giving to much nutes, they look still alive but try and keep things in check and they should recover ok, im sure someone will jump in and tell you about your growing medium, someone like teSmp or jandre would be the best to ask. i think jandre is like some bud doctor on here, he seems to know pretty much all their is to know, he sure has helped me out and helped plenty of others out, thats why he won member of the month, teSmp is also a great source of info as well, he knows enough to help people and he may know enough to give you some advice on your growing medium, but if you still have problems then id switch to something you know and is easier to maintain, if i could help you i would but its something i dont know about so dont want to give you any bad advice.

sounds like you got a good friend to help you so you have got the help if you need it, we can all give you help and advice on here and get your grow under way and get you growing some nice bud, at least you should be able to see this grow through to the end by the sounds of it,

all i can add is keep the temps in check, dont have the fan blowing on the plants at this stage as it will dry them out really quick, as for how much to water i just dont know, but someone will be over to help soon, if you have been feeding nutes at the lowest stage then id stop till the plants have picked up and just give water, over watering can make the plants turn out like yours but so can under watering and to much heat, i just dont know enough about the medium your using to give you any advice, i might grab a bag tomorrow and give it a go, im not to impressed with my yields so i want to find a way of getting bigger buds, i have wanted to stay away from hydro but the buds im growing just dont get big enough, possibly over watering but im just not sure, im getting nice buds and nice smoke, but its just not as much as i thought id get, but its only my 2nd grow so im hoping for more next time round, as i have got more in flower this time ill be able to do a longer veg and hopefully this will give me good results, if not im going hydro and see how that goes, possibly follow teSmp and go with a hydro scrog, looks like he is getting a nice yield off his so i might follow suit and do a 3ft by 3ft hydro scrog, but until i harvest this i just not sure what i want to do, plus i got more plants to go into flower so wont be doing anything for a few weeks,

my plan is to harvest some plants every 3 weeks, so that means if i dont go with the scrog i have to plant some seeds every 3 weeks, so if i do 3 plants every 3 weeks then that will give me 2 plants to harvest every 3 weeks once its up and running like that, their is so much i want to try like giving plants more than a 24 hour day, so stuff like that i need to think about and ill be running them test along side my next grow, its no different to the person who found glr works, so i may as well try, worse case ill end up with a hermie but it will only be 1 plant so it wont be a huge loss.

 

[CanuckGal]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

I've read that coco is very similar to hydro, as the coco has no nutrients in it, and you control all the Food that you put into a plant. Today it seems like the plant has some new growth, I put my solo cup white widow seedling in my widow sill, so if it's the heat in the box, then the seedling should pup up right away. If its the coco, then everything will stop growing.

Its a tough trial and error, I'm impatient, and honestly, I'm pretty sure these plants are over 2 weeks old, and they are TINY!

 

[CanuckGal]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

here's a few pics from today

 

[donpaul.p]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

plants are suppose to grow quicker in it though so that will be a bonus, im tempted to go hydro but id hate to get caught with a hydro set up, with soil i can play dumb as well as sounding dumb and just say i put the seeds in soil and watered them, but if i go hydro ill need ppm testers and a full hydro set up, so its a lot harder to play down, but the speed of growth is something i could do with, im very tempted to do a scrog, im sure jandre or teSmp will offer you some advice, i just know nothing about it, the problem is you need to keep the ph in check, if your tap water is ph 7 then the bpn nutes when mixed up are perfect for hydro but slightly on the low side for soil grows so i should be using ph up but its not causing to much problem so i have never needed ph up,

 

[teSmp]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Hello.. I think heat is your problem, what were the temps before you got them down to 90F? Because 90 is still to hot When you couple heat with high PPM of nutrients it's going to be easier for them to burn. I know a few people that lower there PPM when they know a heat wave is coming just for this reason. Especially because yours are so young and small. I don't know anything about coco but you do need the pH between 5.5-61 for the plant to take in the nutrients just like hydro. I hate to say it but when heat is a huge problem I think soil plants can handle it better then any type of hydro.. In a coco mix or perlite/vermiculite the medium dries out to quickly with high temps and with something like a DWC you need your reservoir temps below 70F which would never happen with temps that high.

Is there any way you could get the temps down to around 80F?? and do you know how much your feeding them nute was and the pH?

 

[growrook]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Looks like heat Im using coco to for the first time, and im starting to see problems.
From one Canadian to an other good luck

 

[Smokemupm8]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Woh!! That plant needs some sunscreen! Lol.. Sorry to see em baked like that?
Hope they turn around.. Was it nute burn or from lights??
All the best, Smokemup

 

[Smokemupm8]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Same as me DonPaul..
Maybe that coco isnt the best for growing in??? I find a potting mix does well for seedlings without the need to buy specialty stuff, but QUALITY IS RECOMMENDED!
I make a potting mix, pea straw mulch,sand and some Humus soil mixed to gether in equal parts.. Plants grow well in it, all my girls have had terrific root structure and got big, i use a product - Seasol - seaweed extract its great, plants are always healthy..
Anyways hope you get some nice growth soon
Catch ya, SMokem..

 

[QueenTokelove]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Just throw my 2 cents in..I grow with coco and from what I was told you have to keep it moist, you can't let it dry out. I haven't had any problems growing my plants. Check out my journal, you'll see. And it does seem to make the plants grow faster.

 

[Heirloom]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Oh, ouch. Damn Girl, hope you can turn them around! A lot of good advice here so I will just send positive plant healing vibes.

 

[grogreen]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Hey girl, just a question, what made you want to try a medium you are not familiar with? Soiless is probably easiest and most forgiving to work with, have you thought about changing mediums for the sake of keeping your girls alive? I can tell by looking at your setup with a 400 watt in that small space you are going to have a hell of a time trying to keep your temps in check(especially right now using insulation as your reflective material). I assume your using metal halide right now, well when it comes time to flower the HPS gives off nearly twice as much heat as I'm sure you already know. I can see at least three little babies you have started and unless you plan on moving them when they are all growed up, that space is not going to accommodate to three fully grown plants unless you are planning a sea of green grow, but since you are growing from seed I assume that is not your intention. I am able to offer you advice on the subject because I recently went through the same scenario, this is my closet, measures 4ft x 2.5-3ft I quickly realized as my plants matured my space was too small for three plants, that's why with my next grow I plan to only grow 2 plants

 

[donpaul.p]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

hi canuckgal hows you, ill drop you a pm when i finished going through the journals i check in on, are the plants recovering now, from what i have read if your having problems with the temps then id switch back to a soil grow as this is what you know and you did ok with the last grow apart from the early harvest due to what you was going through, clearly the temps are a huge deal with a coco grow and keeping the res temp right as well can be a problem, but if you get it right then the plants will grow quicker than soil, it just depends on where problems your having and if you can keep everything in check.

queentokelove is here and she is growing in coco so im pretty sure she can give you better advice than i can as i have never used coco, all i can pass on is info i have picked up around the site, let us know how the plants are and if they are recovering

 

[QueenTokelove]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Like I said, I never had issues with coco, a proper gator turned me on to it and I have not gone back to soil since. One of the things I like about coco is that if you make a mistake or whatever, it is easier to correct. At least for me it is. I am not a pro with coco but I know I have had way less issues than soil, really next to none. And it seems easier to flush than soil. I am not sure what issues you're having but I'll help if I can.

 

[CanuckGal]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Yea I only expect to have two full grown plants, these are bag seed, so I don't know if it'll be from or not.

I've heard a lot of good things about coco, I've just read about it in passing, but when I found out it was only $10 per bag, I was like pffft, Id be stupid not to! So really I just bought it on a whim while I was shopping for a new pipe lol.

 

[QueenTokelove]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Don't give up on coco yet, lady!!!!

 

[CanuckGal]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Like I said, I never had issues with coco, a proper gator turned me on to it and I have not gone back to soil since. One of the things I like about coco is that if you make a mistake or whatever, it is easier to correct. At least for me it is. I am not a pro with coco but I know I have had way less issues than soil, really next to none. And it seems easier to flush than soil. I am not sure what issues you're having but I'll help if I can.

Thanks for your up, I'm sure I will definitely be picking your brain soon. Right now, I'm pretty sure it's a heat issue, coco really absorbs water and holds it in, so when the top layer was dry, it was bright light brown and looked like it was thirsty, so I watered it without lifting the pot, and I overwatered for a few days, that's why I was really concerned. But I've let it dry, and then flushed the coco today with plain water. So I'm pretty sure I've done everything I need to do to get the coco in optimal condition...

 

[CanuckGal]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Can be cool if the iPad had a better voice recognition. That Way I can garden and blog-at the same time! Well I guess it's not so bad, let's give this a shot

I put perlite in with the coco, -so I hope that will help. They are looking very stunted,2" in two weeks, very small.

I still have a lot of coco, maybe used half a bag, which is filling my 40l Rubbermaid, and I still have a full bag. -I'm sure they don't go bad too quick. I'm just -going to feed them water, no Nutes for about a week, and I'll do low dose Nutes, because as don p pointed out, the American gallon is different from our gallon, so it's definitely possible that they got Nutes burn

*******

Ok enough talking, I'll have to try to teach my iPad, because I had to keep going back to retype what I spoke. Anyways...

I took down the walls and put up Mylar, so hopefully that helps with the heat.

I'd like to take this time to point out what a pain Mylar is to work with lol.

Here's some pics

 

[grogreen]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

Yea I only expect to have two full grown plants, these are bag seed, so I don't know if it'll be from or not.

I've heard a lot of good things about coco, I've just read about it in passing, but when I found out it was only $10 per bag, I was like pffft, Id be stupid not to! So really I just bought it on a whim while I was shopping for a new pipe lol.

Hey Chicka, two plants even seems like it would be too much for that space, what are the dimensions? To me that space looks like it would be perfect for a scrog! You could utilize the entire space and produce some serious buds, two plants in there could get crampy. Just my opinion anyways, maybe the space is actually bigger than it looks in the photos. Lmfao @ while I was shopping for a new pipe, $10 is definitely a good deal though you're right. I guess I'm too old skool to try new things, although I've been tempted to try my hand out at hydro. So your journal title says white widow bag seed, did you just happen to find seeds in some weed you acquired?Just curious how you know its widow if it was bag seed. I'm growing some ww x big bud right now, a little disappointed with it though, not nearly as white as I expected. Nothing like the picture lol false advertisement! How's your little sproutlings doing anyways?

 

[Heirloom]

re: Canuckgal's Struggling 400w Coco Closet Grow

No giving up on coco. I'm thinking I am going to be changing over to it too. I'm playing with Pro-Mix right now and in a month or two maybe coco.

Please don't give up.......pleeeeeease