SmokzAlot - K.I.S.S. My CoCo and OC+

SmokzAlot

SmokzAlot

New Member
Never done a journal and lets see if I can pull this off.

All this chatter with OC+ got my attention. I've read all the threads and working my way through them again. Great threads! So I decided to have my own OC+ trials. I have leaned towards conventional gardening all along, with industry standard performance ferts. I have used Shultz with good success in soil gardening. I am resistant to marketing hype when all we hope to do is duplicate nature at its best. Anyway her I am doing some legwork and first hand experience with a new substrate (coco) and OC+. I am ready for the ride.

Indoor grow in myGrowRoom
Seeds - Choice bagseed
Day temps 80F
Night as of late 68F
RH avg 45-50%
Veg light is 4 each 4' T8's on 16 hour cycle
Flower will be under 600w digital HPS/MH setup
Pot size will vary, will be hempy and passive reservoir with Canna coco

Currently have 9 seedlings in hempy 16oz cup. Perlite on the bottom the rest is straight coco. NO wash or load in this application. Fert application was 1/4 teaspoon of OC+ 1 inch deep during prep. Seedling receiving RO water with 1tsp epsom per gal ph'ed to 5.8. Two seedlings after one week got a surface application of another 1/4 tsp. We will see how it goes from there. They are approaching 2 weeks and look good.

I am prepping the next stage as I go. Transplant will be into two different systems more or less. First is a passive reservoir. 2.5 gal pots with 2" of Hydroton and then fill with coco. I have flushed it once with a ph and nuted hard water from my well. Loaded with natural cal/mag at over 400ppm. Extremely alkaline so I am adding RO to my plan. The second system will more than likely be a 5 gal hempy with coco. All running with OC+. I have been a soil guy but this has put the bug in me so let's roll with it.


Little piggies all in a row, did you Notice the hempy hole?
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Topped with Hydroton and top dressing of OC+
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2.5 gal pots being prepped as well
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Re: SmokzAlot - K.I.S.S. myCoCo and OC+

All seeds were started in a moist paper towel in a zip lock bag for about 3 days. Of the 9 sprouts, 4 were started in perlite and the rest soil. The hardiest were the soil starts. The best roots was perlite. No nutes of any kind till in hempy cups. Straight RO with epsom added. Ph'd to 5.8
 
Re: SmokzAlot - K.I.S.S. myCoCo and OC+

Today was water day for the little piggies. Poured till they p'd their little cups.

Current base water values:
RO to WW
2.5gal to 1gal
7.2ph 111ppm

The WW was 456ppm and ph8.2 @ last check. Alkaline as well.
I want some of those minerals. Probably back the WW off a bit more as it goes. Looking for that sweet spot for K.I.S.S, water and grow with OC+.

amendments made:
ph down to 5.8
3 tsp H2o2
2 tbsp Molasses

Looking Good from here...
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Re: SmokzAlot - K.I.S.S. myCoCo and OC+

Things are moving right along with OC+, Nothing but water every other day, soon to be daily. As you can see we have some clear champions, but to early to tell just yet. Keeping the lights within 3"-4". Temps and RH consistent. No plans of any more molasses for a while. Thought it may help setup a friendly environment for starts.

Getting a little crowded in here.
blucups.jpg


I love the marbled leaves. This is the runt.
marble1.jpg
 
This morning's visit revealed more explosive growth. Had to water 3 little piggies again. At the rate they are progressing I will be transplanting to a larger and final container soon. I just happen to have 3 coco pots ready to rock. Still running same water minus epsom and molasses. Going to see if my RO and WW mix will meet the cal/mag requirements. Can't get much easier than this. Water and Grow!

OC+ :adore: has these little piggies sayin' Weeeeeeeee! Weeeeeee!

The question still remains, can they make it all the way home? On their own?

I will apply molasses again once in full flower. No other planned nutrient type additions. I think my temps are reasonable that the OC+ should release at a good consistent rate. This is based on DocBud's extensive research not my own. A quick tip of the hat to DB for sharing his work. I am sure there are some strong sativa genes in this crop somewhere, so we will have to see if they finish well on the longer run. 12-14 weeks is not unusual. Lat run I did was 12 on the sativa dominants.

Go OC+ Go :cheer:
 
R2MNot said:
Looks nice my friend...what does the molasses do for you in hydro?
Click to expand...

I look at the molasses kind of like an energy drink for cannabis. Sugars and carbs for the most. My rational at this time is for the micros and microbe possibilities in the coco medium, which contains none. My goal is to provide vital nutes for the sprouts, by making them readily available. At this point you might say I primed the medium.

As far as straight up hydro with a working res and such, I cant offer much more. I am a soil guy just now venturing into new mediums. I see how it can slime a res real easy. I mixed up a small res (3 gal) and dropped an air stone in it. In 3 days the stone had a complete covering of semi-clear slime on it.
 
Time for significant updates.

Plants are looking great. Had one runt that looked a little N starved so I gave it a shot low dose. It has caught up with the others. It was quite pale in comparison.

Here is the group shot from 1/11
blucups.jpg


This morning's duty was transplanting. I now have 4 in CoCo with 1 1/2" of Hydroton in the bottom. Those will be a passive res system, 2 1/2 gal pots sitting in kitty litter pans. 2 are now in 1 1/2 gal 100% Perlite hempy, and 3 in 1 1/2 gal 100% CoCo hempy. Each application of OC+ was at the rate of 1TBSP per gal of medium. OC+ was applied to the top 2" of each pot as they were filled. I noticed right off with the chunky perlite all one needs to do is disperse OC+ over the top and shake the pot a bit. It will filter down quickly into the medium.

All pots were fully watered with 100% Well Water. I wanted that heavy shot of minerals. 3 of the pots were pre watered with nutes the rest are straight unwashed Canna CoCo. Runoff has been very clean so far in this grow concerning the Unwashed CoCo in the original hempy cups.

Back to the grow table:
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HH sorry I missed your question.
Price was about $23 a bag for Canna Coco

Things are looking good for the most part. You may notice in the group shot, just a touch of what appears to be a cal/mag issue. (back right) One leaf at this time at the bottom on two specimens in 2.5gal CoCo pots. The 2.5's are also the hardiest of the group already reaching 6 nodes and beyond. Should be able to sex them soon. They do appear to have a fair amount of Indica in them. Good strong looking main stems and plenty of new growth. I added some epsom to the water today. Not quite sure if it will suffice. I am thinking I may need to water more frequently. Being a soil guy I am used to dry periods so to speak. In short I am thinking I may need to wash the roots with nutes (OC+) more frequently due the fact it is Coco and not soil. Also to have more runoff in the process. I don't believe the root has reached the res yet. Does that make sense guys?

now for the show:
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I forgot to add I doubled the veg lighting today. As I work my way towards a perpetual grow I already need more square feet of light on the table. Upgraded to 8 each, 48" T8's. 2950lu per bulb = 23600lu @ 4100k. I will probably germinate another crop in 2 weeks. I may push these to flower at that time.

Also working on another project I hope to use during this grow. A DIY fogging cloner. Looks sweet!

So nice to be retired and enjoying it all. Visiting the garden daily and consoling with the plants. Thanking them for all the hard work they do. I have learned to not push so hard and let them grow, later reaping the bounty they give up. Besides all that BS it's FUN!

Also cleaned the grow room today. Something that doesn't get talked about much. I like to keep the area free of debris and by products, as well as general house cleaning like dusting fixtures and checking components. About once a month I do a dust and overall check of operational components and electrical connections. Daily just keeping picked about in general and putting everything in its place for ease of use. In my room things can get sprawled out quickly if I don't keep it up. Setting things here and there. Well organized and clean grow is an important part of the environment. I also check for signs of any insect or pest intrusions into my sacred space.

Ahhhh the dirty work. We still havin' FUN?
 
The growth has been explosive in CoCo as you can see. The black container is 2 1/2 gal for size ref. They haven't stopped growing since they first hit the CoCo. I saw no transplant shock. Couldn't say that for the 3 in perlite. I am watering with ph'ed 5.8 water RO/WW mix daily. I have added epsom the last two days nothing more. When I see faint color in the heart of new growth I find Mg to be very beneficial. I attribute this to the medium somewhat.

This makes me wonder... has anyone researched cation exchange and Ph with Coco where Ca/Mg is concerned? Can I have any influence on it?

I see where more frequent watering benefits coco with sort of a flush to the exchange system, kind of like a water softening system regenerates. Thus taking away some of the salts that coco by nature wants to hold on to. Makes sense to me anyway.
 

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