Osmocote Plus Plant Food: Discuss Its Use With Cannabis Here!

Grower Z said:
Coir Hempy works well. I've run with a hydroton res and am 6 weeks into bloom with a 60/40 coir/perlite hempy buckets with OC+. I've never run perlite only or perlite/vermiculite hempy buckets, so can't comment on a yield comparison.

One way you can gain a healthy attitude against expensive bottles of pre-mixed fertilizer bottles is to use the less expensive options. i.e. CRF and/or WSF.

Don't let them suck you in with fancy marketing!!
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Amen!

I was reading Maximum Yield mag today, over lunch, and I wanted to go out and drop a grand on super duper nutes!

Then, my senses returned and I remembered that there's nothing at all special about super-duper nutes....except the price. But it's so hard to remember that our beloved plants aren't much different than other plants, and there is no logical reason to buy the same raw materials at 39 times the price.

I mean, Bud Candy? I can take what comes out of my horse's ass and impress people. I can also take the alfalfa meal before the horse eats it, and make a tea out of it that will make plants go crazy!

Kushie Kush? Give me a break!

I'll stick with my OC+ or dynamite! When not using those, I'll use my organic soil mix.

My garden is looking real good right now, and I haven't spent a dime on nutes...still working through my first bottle of OC+....lot's more to go.
 
Grower Z said:
Coir Hempy works well. I've run with a hydroton res and am 6 weeks into bloom with a 60/40 coir/perlite hempy buckets with OC+. I've never run perlite only or perlite/vermiculite hempy buckets, so can't comment on a yield comparison.

One way you can gain a healthy attitude against expensive bottles of pre-mixed fertilizer bottles is to use the less expensive options. i.e. CRF and/or WSF.

Don't let them suck you in with fancy marketing!!
Click to expand...

Grower Z, have you had the need to add any calcium or magnesium, or any thing else, for that matter?

:peace:
 
HorseBadortiz said:
Grower Z, have you had the need to add any calcium or magnesium, or any thing else, for that matter?

:peace:
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I was worried about that the first time using OC+ with coir. So the plants that are 6 weeks into bloom, also have some Gypsum mixed into the substrate. However the next group of plants that I have in the 60/40 buckets didn't get the gypsum and I'm not seeing any calcium deficiencies. And the water source also have very little Ca in it.
 
Grower Z said:
I was worried about that the first time using OC+ with coir. So the plants that are 6 weeks into bloom, also have some Gypsum mixed into the substrate. However the next group of plants that I have in the 60/40 buckets didn't get the gypsum and I'm not seeing any calcium deficiencies. And the water source also have very little Ca in it.
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That's encouraging to me. Where do you get gypsum? I've got access to truckloads of sheetrock :)

I've got more questions, too much, just ignore me...

What kind of coco are you using?

Why are you cutting the coco?

How are you installing the OC+?

If you want to answer those, I have more :)

I think I wanna be a coco mon :peace:
 
Gypsum at garden centers and locally owned hardware stores. Never seen it at a Big Box. Gypsum provides Ca and S, but is pH neutral.

There are basically four coir products.

Bcuzz and Canna are like coffee grounds. That is pith.

Cocogro has more long fibers mixed in.

PieceCoir has pith, fibers and chips. Cocotek sells all three grades in brick form.

The fourth would be coco chips all alone. Big chunks - approx. 3/8" to 1/2". Orchid growers supposedly love those.

The pain in the ass part is that some of these will have a salt content. Some people don't rinse Canna and Bcuzz. I buy the bricks at a lower price and don't mind the extra work. Rinse it down to an EC of 0 - 0.2 and than pre-charge the coir, that is after rinsing, pour through an amount of water with fertilizer. This will fill some of the cation exchange sites.

I cut it in the Hempy Bucket because coir holds a decent amount of water. For example - 3' to 3.5' tall plants blooming around a 600w light in 2 gallon buckets with the 60/40 mix have needed water ever two days. After two days the top of the medium is dry and the res. is empty.

I mix the OC+ evenly throughout, but have also topdressed later on. I also have been playing around with amending the OC+ with the occasional hit of water soluble fert. but you have to be careful with that not to overdo it. Once a week, maybe with a Hempy.
 
Grower Z said:
Gypsum at garden centers and locally owned hardware stores. Never seen it at a Big Box. Gypsum provides Ca and S, but is pH neutral.

There are basically four coir products.

Bcuzz and Canna are like coffee grounds. That is pith.

Cocogro has more long fibers mixed in.

PieceCoir has pith, fibers and chips. Cocotek sells all three grades in brick form.

I have the 5k GH Cocotek brick. It was pretty inexpensive. The hydro store guy said I'd better rinse it. I've got OC+ going in this grow, but was thinking of using the canna buffer and canna coco a&b for the upcoming... but if I were to stick with a CRF what would you pre-charge with?



The fourth would be coco chips all alone. Big chunks - approx. 3/8" to 1/2". Orchid growers supposedly love those.

The pain in the ass part is that some of these will have a salt content. Some people don't rinse Canna and Bcuzz. I buy the bricks at a lower price and don't mind the extra work. Rinse it down to an EC of 0 - 0.2 and than pre-charge the coir, that is after rinsing, pour through an amount of water with fertilizer. This will fill some of the cation exchange sites.

I know I'm putting the cart before the horse, but when you prep the coco, what if you can't or don't use it, or all of it, right away... what do you do with that wet mass?

I cut it in the Hempy Bucket because coir holds a decent amount of water. For example - 3' to 3.5' tall plants blooming around a 600w light in 2 gallon buckets with the 60/40 mix have needed water ever two days. After two days the top of the medium is dry and the res. is empty.

So you're wanting more o2 in there? I think I'm going to do a Hempy hempy. Perlite to just above the hole, then coco, and a layer of hydroton on the top to slow dehydration and keep shit from splashing around. I was planning on daily waterings after flipping, but there's some times coming up when I'd be gone for 3 days. I had figured straight coco would hold more h20. I'm doing perlite hempies now, and they could easily go 3 days in a pinch (2' tall 1000w) What do you think?



I mix the OC+ evenly throughout, but have also topdressed later on. I also have been playing around with amending the OC+ with the occasional hit of water soluble fert. but you have to be careful with that not to overdo it. Once a week, maybe with a Hempy.

Do you water in one spot? Just top dress there? What are you thinking of for an amendment?
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This site could use a coco forum, I've had to take road trips to find useable basic stuff, gotta love the internet!

:peace:
 
S/S --
RE: "Gives me more time to stare at my plants . " Yeah; I can't walk by their room w/o going in and staring. When there's no girls around, life is just not the same. That's why I was so upset when I 'burnt' some by screwing-up w/ my 'pre-mix' but like so many of us, I LOVE HAVING THESE GALS AS HOUSEMATES...
 
wonderwill said:
S/S --
RE: "Gives me more time to stare at my plants . " Yeah; I can't walk by their room w/o going in and staring. When there's no girls around, life is just not the same. That's why I was so upset when I 'burnt' some by screwing-up w/ my 'pre-mix' but like so many of us, I LOVE HAVING THESE GALS AS HOUSEMATES...
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The girls next door....
 
HorseBadortiz said:
I'm not exactly qualified (as am matter of fact, I'm not even inexactly qualified!), but then that's never stopped me before :)
:peace:
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Don't let it stop you... we need a spot to discuss it. I have three bricks still in the box they were shipped in... thinking about using it for some clones instead of rapid rooters, but afraid of the Cal / Mag effects.

Back to OC+... I just transplanted four horribly mangled and borg ridden clones to 2.5 gallon Hempy buckets with 3T of OC+ mixed in each - at first they looked worse, like the tips of the leaves were burning, but after leaving them alone for a couple of days, they seem to be rebounding nicely. I might have let the temps get too high - I didn't vent since I was only using six t-8s, and I wanted to let the No Pest Strip do it's work... but that might have dumped too many nutes. Either that or just transplant shock.

I hope to start a 400 watt vertical bare bulb CMH grow with them soon.
 
I have the 5k GH Cocotek brick. It was pretty inexpensive. The hydro store guy said I'd better rinse it. I've got OC+ going in this grow, but was thinking of using the canna buffer and canna coco a&b for the upcoming... but if I were to stick with a CRF what would you pre-charge with?
Click to expand...

Well I have bags of fertilizer lying around, so that would be left up to you.

I know I'm putting the cart before the horse, but when you prep the coco, what if you can't or don't use it, or all of it, right away... what do you do with that wet mass?
Click to expand...

storage bin. leave the top off to let it dry, than cover and save.

I think I'm going to do a Hempy hempy. Perlite to just above the hole, then coco, and a layer of hydroton on the top to slow dehydration and keep shit from splashing around. I was planning on daily waterings after flipping, but there's some times coming up when I'd be gone for 3 days. I had figured straight coco would hold more h20. I'm doing perlite hempies now, and they could easily go 3 days in a pinch (2' tall 1000w) What do you think?
Click to expand...

Hempy's (the person) version of the coir bucket is hydroton in bottom up to the drain hole and plain coir in the rest of the bucket.

I've never used perlite only, but am still surprised you can go 3 days in between waterings.

Do you water in one spot? Just top dress there? What are you thinking of for an amendment?
Click to expand...

No, because I mixed the OC+ almost evenly throughout.
 
OBXGardener said:
Don't let it stop you... we need a spot to discuss it. I have three bricks still in the box they were shipped in... thinking about using it for some clones instead of rapid rooters, but afraid of the Cal / Mag effects.

Back to OC+... I just transplanted four horribly mangled and borg ridden clones to 2.5 gallon Hempy buckets with 3T of OC+ mixed in each - at first they looked worse, like the tips of the leaves were burning, but after leaving them alone for a couple of days, they seem to be rebounding nicely. I might have let the temps get too high - I didn't vent since I was only using six t-8s, and I wanted to let the No Pest Strip do it's work... but that might have dumped too many nutes. Either that or just transplant shock.

I hope to start a 400 watt vertical bare bulb CMH grow with them soon.
Click to expand...

The OC+ will nurse them back to health pronto.
I had a batch of clones that looked pretty ragged, had the borg too. They went right from oasis cubes in hydroton on a flood table to FFOF with OC+.
2 weeks later the leaves are dark green and waxy, with new growth everywhere.....very healthy. Just adding water. Oh....I did pre-treat the soil with my pre-plant and weekly micro mix. But that would not have been necessary.

Due to Irish's grow....which was unusual BEFORE he started with the CRF's....he couldn't get his girls to bloom for weeks on end, really high temps, etc....but due to his grow I'm not discounting the idea that OC+ doesn't work well in really high temps. Certainly it will dump the nutes faster.

However, when it comes to gardens with controlled, stable temps, I KNOW the OC+ works very well. If you're growing in a medium that drains well, you can always leech out the excess nitrogen if that worries you.

Me? I like the extra N...plants require it in order to stay green during the bloom phase. Healthy leaves=healthy buds.

I reject the high P bloom foods.....that's old tradition that has been discounted through modern research.

Just remember, rainwater has lots of nitrogen, and it rains a lot in the tropics....and you can grow some really fine weed in the tropics...12/12 from seed there too.
 
OBXGardener said:
Don't let it stop you... we need a spot to discuss it. I have three bricks still in the box they were shipped in... thinking about using it for some clones instead of rapid rooters, but afraid of the Cal / Mag effects.

It's started, and I think the link is in my signature.

Back to OC+... I just transplanted four horribly mangled and borg ridden clones to 2.5 gallon Hempy buckets with 3T of OC+ mixed in each - at first they looked worse, like the tips of the leaves were burning, but after leaving them alone for a couple of days, they seem to be rebounding nicely. I might have let the temps get too high - I didn't vent since I was only using six t-8s, and I wanted to let the No Pest Strip do it's work... but that might have dumped too many nutes. Either that or just transplant shock.

I hope to start a 400 watt vertical bare bulb CMH grow with them soon.
Click to expand...

Grower Z said:
Well I have bags of fertilizer lying around, so that would be left up to you.



storage bin. leave the top off to let it dry, than cover and save.



Hempy's (the person) version of the coir bucket is hydroton in bottom up to the drain hole and plain coir in the rest of the bucket.

I've never used perlite only, but am still surprised you can go 3 days in between waterings.



No, because I mixed the OC+ almost evenly throughout.

It's good to know some has done OC+ in a coco hempy... Thanks for the info.
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There is a coco thread, if there's any interest... so this one can stay mostly OC+ sorry for the hijack :)

:peace:
 
Grower Z said:
I'm going to be attending in early November a Greenhouse conference and exposition. One of the seminars is on the use of OC+ in the Greenhouse.
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No kidding?
Please promise to come back and share what you learn!

Also, try to attend one of the seminars on the use of Bud Factor X, Kushie Kush, Bud Candy, B-52, and Overdrive in the greenhouse.

If you can't find classes using those, maybe they have one for the House and Garden line? Those are even more expensive than AN.

Or are these professional greenhouse growers not up to speed on "real" nutes?

Sorry about the sarcasm....sort of. :smokin2:

I do think it's funny that cutting edge nutrients for indoor cultivated plants are right in front of us....at very little expense....and yet we always feel drawn to wasting money on pure hype!
 
attn. coco heads:

https://www.ghlinc.com/documents/T_substrat/Substrate_PG_cococoil_EN.pdf

Instructions for the use of coco coir Performa Globalys

2 — Inflation and calcium saturation

The coco are low in calcium. They will therefore fix the calcium in the first input and create deficiencies at the plant for fertilization if calcium saturation is not done before planting. To find a balance and a good nutritional environment for roots, we must take the following 4 steps for the filling:

Irrigate the dry slab with a solution of calcium nitrate of a salinity of 2.5 to 3 mS (1 g Calcium nitrate per litre of water is equivalent to 1.2 ms) The pH should also be adjusted around 5.8 pH. It is also possible to use a complete nutrient solution.​


Galuku Cocopeat

Step 2 Conditioning the Cocopeat (Galuku Coir)
First measure the Electrical Conductivity (EC or CF) of the irrigation water, then measure the run-off water leaving the holes at the base of the bag. When the two measurements are equal the Cocopeat (Galuku Coir) has had sufficient flushing to remove any unwanted impurities.

Step 3 Charging the Cocopeat (Galuku Coir)
Prior to the planting, the media should be charged with full nutrient solution. Recommended nutrient strength for charging is EC of 1.0-1.5 (CF 10 - 15). Charging process can be stopped when the runoff water from the base of the bag matches the irrigation water nutrient strength.​
 
Grower Z said:
attn. coco heads:

https://www.ghlinc.com/documents/T_substrat/Substrate_PG_cococoil_EN.pdf

Instructions for the use of coco coir Performa Globalys

2 — Inflation and calcium saturation

The coco are low in calcium. They will therefore fix the calcium in the first input and create deficiencies at the plant for fertilization if calcium saturation is not done before planting. To find a balance and a good nutritional environment for roots, we must take the following 4 steps for the filling:

Irrigate the dry slab with a solution of calcium nitrate of a salinity of 2.5 to 3 mS (1 g Calcium nitrate per litre of water is equivalent to 1.2 ms) The pH should also be adjusted around 5.8 pH. It is also possible to use a complete nutrient solution.​


Galuku Cocopeat

Step 2 Conditioning the Cocopeat (Galuku Coir)
First measure the Electrical Conductivity (EC or CF) of the irrigation water, then measure the run-off water leaving the holes at the base of the bag. When the two measurements are equal the Cocopeat (Galuku Coir) has had sufficient flushing to remove any unwanted impurities.

Step 3 Charging the Cocopeat (Galuku Coir)
Prior to the planting, the media should be charged with full nutrient solution. Recommended nutrient strength for charging is EC of 1.0-1.5 (CF 10 - 15). Charging process can be stopped when the runoff water from the base of the bag matches the irrigation water nutrient strength.​
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As usual, you bring GREAT info to the table!

Calcium nitrate is cheap enough.....but they'll think you're a terrorist if you buy bags of fertilizer.

What about gypsum? Any ideas?
 
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