Coco-Hydroton watering confusion

W

winterwhisper

New Member
I have about 50/50 mix of coco and hydroton in a passive hydro system ( 2 inch reservoir) and 5 gal plastic buckets. I've read the mutiple posts and seen the vids about watering which mainly seem to give the advice of watering every day to 3-5 times week. Insert finger up to knuckle see if it's dry etc. I insert my finger and it's always wet as well as my moisture meter showing wetness. It looks like I'm watering about once a week! They say you can't drown in coco but I'm not experiencing the same dryness as others. I use 2 lower power led lights and one set of 6 cfls so not a lot of heat produced. I'm fighting a battle of yellowing leaves but no real problem with droopiness. I don't want to run the risk of root/stem root and loose all my crop. what is the real indicator for the need to water?
 
You must allow the coco to dry out between waterings for best results. contrary to alot of what i read, mostly by inexperienced growers (under 10 or 12 grows), you shouldnt keep coco wet or damp. so stop feeding until ot dries out. Ofcourse not so dry that the plants go limp but pots should be light to lift and light coloured coco. then feed enough so that coco is just dry 24 hours later. or do 2 or 3 very small feeds daily.

I only ever feed once per day in coco and i know i will blow 99.9% of coco growers out the water. I must have grown 15000 plants in coco now, i lost count years ago.

My perpetual journal has alot of coco stuff in if you want to check it.
 
thanks cultivator for your reply but in your response lies the problem. How is the physics of your coco where it can dry out in a day and mine takes 4-5 days to dry out watering it with only about 4 cups of water per 5 gallon bucket? Any mine is mixed with hydroton yet which I believe is supposed to make it even lighter.why is the drying out of your coc faster than mine? I'll take a look at your grow and see if I can see why. Maybe because I don't use a fan in my grow?
 
it is most likely environmental. high humidity. or poor root structure. just allow the coco to just dry then water. but ideally you need to be feeding daily. so allow to dry a little then add less nutes until you get to the point of daily waterings.
 
Cultivator said:
it is most likely environmental. high humidity. or poor root structure. just allow the coco to just dry then water. but ideally you need to be feeding daily. so allow to dry a little then add less nutes until you get to the point of daily waterings.
Click to expand...

so you must be watering/feeding daily just very small amounts. About how much per 5 gallon are you running daily?
 
Ps my grow also didn't have a fan running in/on it nor do I have humidity as my tent has an open top. The only thing i can think of is the amount of heat that may be emmitted from lights on the various grows. I have only 2 Galaxy led lights boxes and one homemade cfl fixture. Not a lot of heat that may help dry out soil.
 
i put 3litres daily through 5gal pots but my environment is spot on and roots are well rooted. with leds your room should be running around 85f.
 
Cultivator said:
i put 3litres daily through 5gal pots but my environment is spot on and roots are well rooted. with leds your room should be running around 85f.
Click to expand...

3lts daily per plant or in total? how many plants are you running? One one of your other posts I saw where you were watering about every 4 days.
 
3 litres every day. only time i water less than daily is when plants are very small in little pots. I am running about 600 plants in coco right now.

I have a journal up with a small 2.9x2.9 tent with coco plants in 5 gal pots. You better of flicking through that to see how i do it. i usually only use 12 litre pots which take 1litre per day or just over. the 5 gal pots are taking 3litres each daily now.
 
Cultivator said:
3 litres every day. only time i water less than daily is when plants are very small in little pots. I am running about 600 plants in coco right now.

I have a journal up with a small 2.9x2.9 tent with coco plants in 5 gal pots. You better of flicking through that to see how i do it. i usually only use 12 litre pots which take 1litre per day or just over. the 5 gal pots are taking 3litres each daily now.
Click to expand...

3 litres a day! Well your certainly can't be drying out in between waterings. I'll risk and with a couple of plants and see how the more frequent waterings will do. thanks for all the advise!
 
I've been running 75/25% coco/perlite, and 3 liters is about what one of my flowering plants take daily... I usually get some runoff that is pulled back up overnight.... If i don't get runoff, i water a little more next time till i do.... I've been growing in coco/perlite in the summer, for years, because of the heat....
Happy to say i finely got a chiller for this summers heat, so i'm switching back to my modified waterfarms.... Waterfarms rule... I've got two WFs going now, looking to break a gpw on each.. that would be a first for me...
 
my plants dry out within 24hours on 3litres per day. I only ever feed them so that they are ready again the next day. whenever ive kept coco wet ive got root problems. The way i do it works, you only have to look at my most recent journal to see the results.
 
Living in the UK i'm sure you have a firm grasp on what wet means.... As far as dry, well i know dry and i suspect your idea of dry is what i would call slightly damp... My plants never get past the damp stage before i water.....
Also i'm curious as to how adding hydroton to coco brings anything to the growing mix... Perlite, i think i get....
From now on i'll only be keeping a mother, for clones, in coco/perlite...... Mostly because it's better for the plant in the long run....
RDWC with few waterfarms in scrog is where i've finely settled in... A scrog screened waterfarm and a 315w lec and you've got your gpw grow.... In 100 days if it's a fast indica clone.....
If your growing for yourself, [not you Cultivator] Give up your dirt, give up your coco, come on in, the waters fine...
 
im from the uk mate and my coco dries out. so not sure what you mean mate? I also never got the 60/40 mix with hydroton, it brings zero to the table and i can prove it. but i agree on the hydro front, although i do live coco also.
 
i dont understand mate? dry is dry no? what happens in doors is not what happens outdoors. if we were growing outdoors then theres a diff. But indoors where we create the environment? indoor we are all the same unless you dont control any aspect of environment.
 
not at all. thats not how its meant to come across.
 
I've been growing in coco for six some years. I water every day. I used to have the issues you have when I treated coco like soil and didn't feed/water daily.

When doing hempy style, which it seems you are, the res keeps the coco very saturated. But the 50 perfect hydroton should help with that.

I get best results with feed/water daily with flood to drain.

I use a drip system that waters three times a day.

However, when the plants are young, I only water/feed once a day with just enough to keep the rook wool moist. The roolwool that the plant is in that is inside the coco, which is inside the pot.

It works for me. I get huge yields. No plant issues.
 

Similar threads

gr0w
Watering coco
2 3
Replies
52
Views
20K
nickeluring
nickeluring
H
Hand watering Hydroton
Replies
5
Views
2K
Hasnain
H
Pinktiger777
Using coco coir, perlite and hydroton in ebb and flow
Replies
14
Views
3K
COOTERBROWN
C
P
Coco - Automatic watering systems - Simple - Cheap
Replies
9
Views
20K
Luluthia
L
G
How Often Should I Water In Coco?
2
Replies
24
Views
78K
SmokingWings
SmokingWings
Back
Top Bottom