The Captain's guide to Bunnings coco growing

[Captain goodvibes]

Honestly, I have never grown in coco outdoors but cant see why it wouldnt work as well if not better than soil as long as strict attention is paid to PH of watering. I think theres a few people on this forum growing in coco outdoors getting great results.

 

[Ossi Ossi]

Honestly, I have never grown in coco outdoors but cant see why it wouldnt work as well if not better than soil as long as strict attention is paid to PH of watering. I think theres a few people on this forum growing in coco outdoors getting great results.

I grew 4 northern lights auto outside in coir and perlite and they loved it

 

[Trustyrusty]

Thanks Capt’n, thanks Ossi.

I’ve decided to plant the germinated seeds in coir - the one below - as the Osmocote seedling mix at Bunnings has fertiliser in it. I might add some perlite to the coir- necessary?

I figure established seedlings can handle a bit of pre-added fertiliser, so I plan to transplant the seedlings into Osmocote Tomato, Vegetable and Herb Premium Planting Mix (also see below) and follow the Captains advice (in Which soil to get from Bunnings thread) on careful fertilising with Nitrosol then Powerfeed. As a newbie I think its safer to plant in soil rather than rely entirely on my feeding regime to support the plants.

 

[Trustyrusty]

Having said all that, the seeds* haven’t even arrived yet!!

* Bubblegum and Alpine Star CBD, both feminised)

 

[Ossi Ossi]

Having said all that, the seeds* haven’t even arrived yet!!

* Bubblegum and Alpine Star CBD, both feminised)

I think you have made good choices
And we no what good choices bring"SUCCESS"

 

[Captain goodvibes]

Thanks Capt’n, thanks Ossi.

I’ve decided to plant the germinated seeds in coir - the one below - as the Osmocote seedling mix at Bunnings has fertiliser in it. I might add some perlite to the coir- necessary?

I figure established seedlings can handle a bit of pre-added fertiliser, so I plan to transplant the seedlings into Osmocote Tomato, Vegetable and Herb Premium Planting Mix (also see below) and follow the Captains advice (in Which soil to get from Bunnings thread) on careful fertilising with Nitrosol then Powerfeed. As a newbie I think its safer to plant in soil rather than rely entirely on my feeding regime to support the plants.

be great if you keep us updated, we are learning from each other here.

 

[Trustyrusty]

be great if you keep us updated, we are learning from each other here.

Sure, happy to

 

[Mad Flavour]

I'm currently soaking the Bunnings coco in PH balanced water with cal mag, then in go some clones
As someone asked above - mix in some perlite with the coco? It does seem to drain super well on its own!
Also, for the initial clones / seedlings, I have a veg tent that has the option of a smaller quantum LED or a 400W batwing.. it's still a bit cold so I'm thinking use the batwing MH bulb for warmth until they are established?

 

[Ossi Ossi]

I'm currently soaking the Bunnings coco in PH balanced water with cal mag, then in go some clones
As someone asked above - mix in some perlite with the coco? It does seem to drain super well on its own!
Also, for the initial clones / seedlings, I have a veg tent that has the option of a smaller quantum LED or a 400W batwing.. it's still a bit cold so I'm thinking use the batwing MH bulb for warmth until they are established?

I have just spent 2 days rinsing 90 litres of Coco with water
Should I now soak some cal mag and nitrosol
What amounts of these do I soak in the Coco ????

 

[Mad Flavour]

After that first water flush, I put 30L of coco into a 50L plastic tub, filled the rest with ph balanced water and the calmag teaspoon. I'll be draining it tomorrow

 

[Ossi Ossi]

Yea I have 90 ltrs Coco of which I flushed salts a yuckies out over 2 days
Now I have 100 ltr tub of pH 6 water
With 4 MLS to 5 ltrs =80 MLS + teaspoon of calmag
10 ltrs of perlite and 10 ltrs of vermiculite
As in pic,,,,,,planting girls today woohoo

 

[Ossi Ossi]

First, my setup. I use lights and fabric pots I sourced of Ebay. I have 2 grow chambers .6 x .8 metres side by side with a shared ventilation system. 8 inch exhaust fan sourced from Ebay.
Do not buy a cheap fan with a metal casing, they run too hot and may overheat your grow space.
Lights are 1 LED 240 watt quantum board colour temp 3600 for veg. 1 CMH 315 Watt 3000 colour temp for flowering. Having now been convinced of the efficacy of the LED quantum boards I will be replacing the CMH with another LED Quantum very soon, more than likely with a 480 watt. These Quantums are terrific, they can be dialled up or down with the dimmer, run very quiet and little heat.
Now, fabric pots. I learnt about these from this forum which I am grateful for, I also grow vegetables and fruit trees and fabric pots just beat everything no matter what you are growing. Use them.

What you need from Bunnings.
1. Coco, do not buy the added fertiliser variety, careful, they look very similar and you will need to read the labels carefully.
2. PH testing kit, PH up or down (depending on your PH tap water). My own tap water is very alkiline so I only need PH down.
3. eco flo dolomite- (cal Mag supplement)
4. Nitrosol.(for veg)
5. Power feed (for flower, red or pink bottle, both have similar nute profiles)
6. Small piece of shadecloth.
Important for coco, always, always ,PH balance your water, you want it around the 6 range.
Now, wash your coco throroughly through the shadecloth, rinse water through it till it runs clear, may take a while. Very important to do this as coco has a naturally high salt content. You are also getting rid of the fine particles in the coco which are detrimental.
Take a teaspoon of your cal mag supplement, mix it with Ph balanced water and soak the coco with it in a bucket for 24 hours. This will buffer the coco and avoid cal mag deficency through your grow.
You will need to have your plants sitting on something which can drain through, I have mine sitting on a metal grille I bought from Bunnings and they drain through to buckets underneath.
Whichever way you have germinated your seedlings ( I use the paper towel method) then plant tail down in the coco a couple of mm below the surface.
At this stage I just use a spray bottle with PH balanced water to keep the top of the coco moist.
Your seedling should pop its head up within a couple of days and show you their first set of leaves. Do not fertilise at this stage, furthermore do not over water, coco will retain water for an extensive time. What we want here is for the plant within the first few weeks to make a good root system, while many people say you cant over water coco from my experience that applies to mature plants not seedlings. Over watering early seedlings in coco will stunt them, every couple of days with water only is generally enough for seedlings, gradually increase the watering frquency as the plant gets older working your way up to 3 or 4 times a day when
flowering, always water till it drains through.
Commence nutrient watering about 4 or 5 days after the seedlings pop their heads up, 5 ml of Nitrosol to 4 litres of water every couple of days.
After around 2 weeks I increase this to 10 Ml to 4 litres of water and gradually increase to 20 ml up to when I flip.
After I flip them I add powerfeed but subtract Nitrosol, so I will start the flowering with 15 ml of Nitrosol to 5 Ml of powerfeed in 4 litres ph balanced water.
Over the next few weeks I gradually decrease the nitrosol and increase the powerfeed till near the end of the flowering I am only using a Powerfeed nute mix.
Your plant will probably love it at this time if you bump up the mix to 25 or 30 ml to 4 litres.
So the basics of this regime are that the plant wants lots of nitrogen for vegging and lots of phosphorous and potassium for flowering but is quite sensitive to to over fertilising.
.Just like most vegetables like tomatoes. if I wanted to grow great tomatoes I would and have followed the same plan. All this is from experience. The other thing is, look at your plants as much as you can and observe, you will get a feel of when they are suffering and will know what not to do.
Nitrosol and Powerfeed are also made from natural ingredients like organic blood and bone, fish meal, seaweed etc. You cant beat this trace element profile with any artifically created hydro nutes. The secret is in learning how to use these natural fertilisers as hydro nutes. And I can tell you they work just fine indoors and outdoors. I grew outdoors in soil (not pots, in the ground) for years using these same nutrients.
Hope all this makes sense. Feel free to message me about this.

Good morning NP
I have followed your instructionsalmost to a T.
However as pics indicate my girls are now 7 days old and been under CFLs only 24 watts,lucky because I was about to turn the Mars on (high up of coarse) maybe 1.2 mtrd off canopy,however I had several members discouraged it
2 Questions
1. If I turn the 600 watt on and had a frame at 50% shade cloth above the girls would that be a gradual way to introduce the big light
2. I am using Bunnings coir,perlite and vermiculite all soaked cleaned of salts soaked 90 ltrs block in 80 mills nitrosol,1 teaspoon calmag overnight and that is what they are in now and look so dark green and pretty , your ideas have worked this far
Actually 3 Rd Question is ,any advantage of putting a hand full of clayballs in thru the mix when I pot up to 25 litre tubs

 

[Captain goodvibes]

Hi mate, give them the big light, as long as the light isnt close enough to fry them with heat they should be fine. I personally wouldnt worry about the clayballs, your coco/perlite mix will do the job just fine.

 

[Ossi Ossi]

I guessed that,it's just another thing to deal with I guess,I have 10 lyres of clay balls that's all
Cheers for your advice
The light is going on
24 inches off canopy bbe ok????

 

[Captain goodvibes]

Hi mate, its the heat that fries seedlings or plants, but yeah 24 inches sounds about right. Stick your hand under it just above the top of the plants, if it feels too warm raise the lights.

 

[Aussie Evelyn]

Hey Captain,
First of all, thank you for an amazing guide! I just received some grand daddy purple seeds and am keen to try your method (complete noob to growing).

What do you mean in when you "flip them"?

 

[Captain goodvibes]

Hi Evelyn, flipping means changing the light hours to 12 on 12 off , this normally will trigger the flowering phase. Of course if you are growing outside you will have little control over this.

 

[Mad Flavour]

So far I'm finding coco a bit of a challenge with getting seedlings and clones - about half have died in the last 3 weeks. What I have noticed is the coco drains well but still stays very moist. Maybe some mould forming on the seedling bases. I've tried turning on a MH bulb as well as my Quantam LED for more heat but this seems to have fried more seedlings / clones and still the coco stays moist the whole time. They are tiny containers too.
I am now trying more air flow, back to just LED and less humidity in the veg tent to see if the remaining ones (about 4 clones and 3 seedlings) respond better.
I'm reading a few people advising coco growers: 'Choose a good mild starting mix...or rockwool and let the plant grow to 4 or 5 nodes. Then transplant into coco'

 

[Mad Flavour]

So I'm heading into week 8 and the progress is so slow. Following this guide to the letter.. As previously mentioned I'm in a 1 x 1m veg tent with a little 100W Samsung Quntam LED plus a 400W batwing MH (I've only tried the MH during colder nights as a help for temps, but my issues of slow growth and brown tips persist with our without both or one light on).
I've also got the brown tip on some of them, but all of them on the same feed and coco mix so this adds to the confusion.
Shouldn't I be close to flipping to flower this far in?

Any advice? Try 'proper' nutes?

 

[Ossi Ossi]

Howdy MF
As I am still an early grower
Into my third grow in 50 %Coco 25% 25% vermiculite
Veg - Nitrosol and mallasses 20 ml to 5 litres.
Flower- Powerfeed only 2 MLS to the litre.
Unknown Strain
Bed time 8 am till 8 pm then Daytime
it allows me to tend in morning feed
i am only feeding once a day 700 MLS
about 150 MLS run off.
Ph 5.8-6.2 consistently
Run off ATM is 7 so little bit of work to get it down again
Day temps 22-25
nights 15-18 ish.
Soaked coco, perlite, vermiculite for 24 hours and put thru a siv and got all the salt and shit out and left with a very nice medium,I then added again adding 40Mills of Nitrosol and 20mills of Eco Dolamite and soaked again for 24 hours....then drained and have 4 successful Girls now at 42 days of veg
And now Day 20 of flower.

Ok,as for your girls
In my opinion I think they are not happy Jan.
Is your PH spot on
Do U check runoff if so is it in range
Overwatered ?
Root Issues ?
Nute Burn ?
Wow 8 weeks
My suggestion is post it
And you will get your answers from real pros not little old me,420 is packed full of advice bro
Hope it all works out for you
Cheers bro