My First Journal, Kanno 26: I Will Grow 6 Critical Plants From Royal Queen Seeds

[Farmer Reading]

Several of the major designer soils have some coco in them to help with water retention. My general rule is if a medium is 70% coco, then it is run as coco, and if it is 70% soil and organics, then I run it as soil.

Yeah, run between five and 20 percent Coco in my blends depending upon the availability of coco. Occasionally, I'll get lucky and one of the garden centers will have it on sale in order to make room for more inventory.

I like to soak coco in water for a few weeks or a month then put it in with my living soil pile or final blend. Seems to work well in heating up the soil, especially with horse manure.

 

[Kanno26]

Yeah, run between five and 20 percent Coco in my blends depending upon the availability of coco. Occasionally, I'll get lucky and one of the garden centers will have it on sale in order to make room for more inventory.

I like to soak coco in water for a few weeks or a month then put it in with my living soil pile or final blend. Seems to work well in heating up the soil, especially with horse manure.

Hi, thanks for peeking @Farmer Reading and thank you for the tip it sounds interesting but I have nowhere to soak for such a time. Don't have a tip yet?

 

[Bill284]

One more thing @ Bill284, I checked the girls yesterday and they were still wet and today after work I went to see the girls and they were all completely dry can it have any effect in the future? Thanks for the reply.

Hey @Kanno26 if they can empty the little pots in a day the roots have filled the pot.
If they can empty the pot in a day it's time to uppot them.
Do your best to keep them wet in the meantime, they will be ok.
Just keep feeding them

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Kanno26]

Hey @Kanno26 if they can empty the little pots in a day the roots have filled the pot.
If they can empty the pot in a day it's time to uppot them.
Do your best to keep them wet in the meantime, they will be ok.
Just keep feeding them

Stay safe
Bill

Thanks @Bill284 for the encouraging news I will try to keep them wet before I push them

 

[Jon]

Hi Kanno - checking out your girls. I notice they all look like turtles hiding inside their shells in this latest picture. I'm very curious about this. Never really seen the way they look before. Like they're shielding themselves. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Verbalist]

One more thing @ Bill284, I checked the girls yesterday and they were still wet and today after work I went to see the girls and they were all completely dry can it have any effect in the future? Thanks for the reply.

Hi Kanno.
Thats what happens with coco, as it needs to be moist all the time. Small pots (that sized plants has already filled the entire root space) and roots has absorbed every drop of the water from the medium and the plant starts to wilt. Thats not ditto at all. Damages the roots and bad damage enough can stunt the growth.

First of all you need to up-pot them into larger containers.
Also as I read the previous convo regarding coco, soil, coco-soil mix or neither… If its your first time grow and you would feel more comfortable using soil, as it is more forgiving and generally easier and/or easiest medium to take care of - you can up-pot those small coco rootballs into soil if you want to. That shouldn’t cause any problem as those pots were very small ones.

If you decide to use coco, then use coco. Don’t make coco based soil mixes. If you’re using soil, then you can mix up like 2/10 or 1/10 coco for the better aeration etc.
Premade soils pH are usually buffered somewhere between 6-6.7pH and if mixed into coco that causes pH problems. Soil mixes also contain the micronutrients that plant needs, but raw coco does not. Coco is an inert medium. And thats A, first why you have to feed them micros and second you have to keep an eye on the pH when using coco.
As the soil acts like a buffer and makes nutrients available for the roots - but when using coco, you’ve to do it yourself. Thats why you need to maintain stable 5.8-6.2pH

Perlite/Vermiculite can be mixed into coco for better aeration, holds moisture and warmth.

 

[Jon]

Hi Kanno.
Thats what happens with coco, as it needs to be moist all the time. Small pots (that sized plants has already filled the entire root space) and roots has absorbed every drop of the water from the medium and the plant starts to wilt. Thats not ditto at all. Damages the roots and bad damage enough can stunt the growth.

First of all you need to up-pot them into larger containers.
Also as I read the previous convo regarding coco, soil, coco-soil mix or neither… If its your first time grow and you would feel more comfortable using soil, as it is more forgiving and generally easier and/or easiest medium to take care of - you can up-pot those small coco rootballs into soil if you want to. That shouldn’t cause any problem as those pots were very small ones.

If you decide to use coco, then use coco. Don’t make coco based soil mixes. If you’re using soil, then you can mix up like 2/10 or 1/10 coco for the better aeration etc.
Premade soils pH are usually buffered somewhere between 6-6.7pH and if mixed into coco that causes pH problems. Soil mixes also contain the micronutrients that plant needs, but raw coco does not. Coco is an inert medium. And thats A, first why you have to feed them micros and second you have to keep an eye on the pH when using coco.
As the soil acts like a buffer and makes nutrients available for the roots - but when using coco, you’ve to do it yourself. Thats why you need to maintain stable 5.8-6.2pH

Perlite/Vermiculite can be mixed into coco for better aeration, holds moisture and warmth.

Awesome Verbalist. Do you think this:

Small pots (that sized plants has already filled the entire root space) and roots has absorbed every drop of the water from the medium and the plant starts to wilt.

is why they have that shielding themselves look? Is that wilting from too small a pot for where his roots are?

 

[Verbalist]

Awesome Verbalist. Do you think this:

Small pots (that sized plants has already filled the entire root space) and roots has absorbed every drop of the water from the medium and the plant starts to wilt.

is why they have that shielding themselves look? Is that wilting from too small a pot for where his roots are?

There might be two factors.
1st I think is that the coco has dried enough and thus that the plant is wilting. Small pots and that sized plants will snort everything out of it quickly.
And 2nd, yes, could be unhappy roots in such small containers. They wont get root bound anytime soon, thats not a worry tho. But it doesn’t have to be root bound to cause some serious problems with plants overall health.
Can’t remember the exact broscience how plants act in a limited root space, but this could be typical.

 

[Kanno26]

Greetings @Verbalist, thanks for the advice so do you think it would be better to put them in the ground with perlite now? Personally, I don't really like coconut, but I thought I had no choice when I started in it. I have no experience with coconut and I have at least a little bit of soil, maybe I would be safer to have them in the ground. What do you think?

 

[Bill284]

Greetings @Verbalist, thanks for the advice so do you think it would be better to put them in the ground with perlite now? Personally, I don't really like coconut, but I thought I had no choice when I started in it. I have no experience with coconut and I have at least a little bit of soil, maybe I would be safer to have them in the ground. What do you think?

Hey @Kanno26 how are you this morning.
As I mentioned yesterday they need a bigger container.
You can choose either one.
Soil or coco in the big pot.
Just pic one and give the roots somewhere to go.
Uppot now into one or the other you choose soil or coco.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Kanno26]

Hey @Kanno26 how are you this morning.
As I mentioned yesterday they need a bigger container.
You can choose either one.
Soil or coco in the big pot.
Just pic one and give the roots somewhere to go.
Uppot now into one or the other you choose soil or coco.

Stay safe
Bill

Hi @Bill284, I also wish you good morning, today I will put them in a bigger grunt and maybe I'll take some good photos and how are you?

 

[Bill284]

Hi @Bill284, I also wish you good morning, today I will put them in a bigger grunt and maybe I'll take some good photos and how are you?

Thank you.
I'm a little rough truthfully.
Health issues, but I'll be fine thanks.
Are you using cloth pots for them next?

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Verbalist]

so do you think it would be better to put them in the ground with perlite now?

Yes you can up-pot your plants from coco to soil as Bill adviced. And you could mix perlite in soil. Don’t know which one is the better, both has own advantages and disadvantages.

I personally would give the first try for the soil as the beginner. Good soil will take care of the roots and you don’t have to worry about the pH.

And if you decide to use soil, I’d advise to get just slightly pre-fertilized one. Theyre more airy than ”hot clay mixes” as they contain less Potassium.
When using soil you want to aim for a spesific watering routines ”wet/dry cycles”. Lighter soil mixes usually contain sand and peat making the soil looser and more airy.

But pick one, like today. your plants being unhappy in those small pots.

 

[Kanno26]

Thank you.
I'm a little rough truthfully.
Health issues, but I'll be fine thanks.
Are you using cloth pots for them next?

Stay safe
Bill

So maybe everything will be fine @Bill284, I only have plastic 11 liter flower pots so far. And things are better or they have some advantages, I've been thinking about them for a while

 

[Kanno26]

Today I transplant them into 11 liter pots and I have a substrate with perlite ready and it is pre-fertilized for 14 days, as I do so I will send photos plus the root ball, thank you all for the advice guys

 

[Kanno26]

Hi fellow growers, today I transplanted the girls into 11 liter pots with perlite soil and poured them with silicon with a pH of 5.8 and I added the remaining four light strips and they run at 75% so maybe they will do well below are some photos of the substrate, root ball, girls before transplanting and after transplanting. Thanks for the insight and for the advice

 

[Kanno26]

 

[Nortonnabis]

4 questions:
-What is that yellow dang deal hanging from the light?
-Is that a typical amount of roots in a small pot before up potting?
-Is that potting soil with those NPK numbers?
-How old do you think Jane is on the cover?

 

[Jon]

Hi fellow growers, today I transplanted the girls into 11 liter pots with perlite soil and poured them with silicon with a pH of 5.8 and I added the remaining four light strips and they run at 75% so maybe they will do well below are some photos of the substrate, root ball, girls before transplanting and after transplanting. Thanks for the insight and for the advice

Hi Kanno - You have a very clean setup, bravo. And the plants are certainly going to be happier in those larger vessels. I don't know what your plan is from here. Are these intended as their final homes? Or do you intend to up pot them again into larger pots? To be honest, I'm not sure these are going to get done what you want, not even three gallon pots. Depends on the goal. Something to consider, if you have yet to decide, would be to take maybe the best three of the five after another couple weeks, or even when they'd be ready to transplant to say, a five gallon (call it a 20L) pot, and cull it down to the best three in bigger pots and let them get bigger. It's one idea. Also, those pots do have holes in the bottom of course, right? You do get runoff out of them?

Personally I think you'd do better with fewer plants in bigger pots, preferably cloth. Just me. In any event, Verbalist was correct once again, they are not rootbound. In fact, to my eye, they look pretty sweet and a nice start to the next step. Just wondering, other than the plants getting droopy and such, how did you decide when/if it was time to up pot?

Nice clean job on the transplanting, again bravo.

 

[Kanno26]

Ahoj @Jon, @Nortonnabis, děkuji, že jsi se podíval na první otázku, ta žlutá věc je teploměr s vlhkoměrem a mám ho naměřeno na 40 cm od rostlin, abyste měli světla v ideální vzdálenosti. Druhá otázka - kořeny jsou myslím tak akorát a rostliny to vypily za jeden den. Třetí dotaz - jedná se o půdu s perlitem předhnojenou na 14 dní. Čtvrtá otázka - netuším, jak je stará, ale mladí útočí a k vašim dotazům @Jon, hrnce mají odtoky a plánuji je v nich nechat až do konce. Měl jsem je v posledním porostu a podařilo se mi v nich dodělat 4 rostliny Hulkberry, tak to asi nechám. A pro další růst si mohu pořídit větší látkové květináče a zajímá mě @Jon jakou výhodu mají látkové květináče oproti plastovým? Bohužel teď nemám peníze na nákup nových květináčů a děkuji za pochvalu tohoto způsobu přesazování, který jsem zde sledoval z @dick23rk ,