Who Let The Dogs Out? Chem Comparison Grow!

Emilya said:
just when you have to start tracking ppm :)
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lol ... I get my soil grow all fixed up with your help ... and then the day after I'm .... blah blah blah ... coco this ... coco that ...

I'm like my dog ... happily walking along and then ... Squirrel!!! :)

​
 
Old Salt said:
Coco is usually used in a drain to waste hydroponics system. Here are some tips:
  • Don't go in with any preconceived notions.
  • Find a journal from someone using the same nutrients as you plan to use and read it carefully.
  • Check the PPM of your tap water, if you use nutrients that are affected by it. For example General Hydroponics has two versions of Flora Micro, one for hard water, and one for not so hard water.
  • I highly recommend NOT checking the PPM of your nutrient solutions, or your run off. Instead carefully measure out your nutrients and water. The PPM of your solution will be where it needs to be for the concentration of nutrients that you added. PPM of the run off can get very high, just like with soil. Bits of coco will break off and find their way into the run off.
  • NEVER mix more than seven days worth of your nutrient solutions.
  • DO check the pH of each of your nutrient solutions, and adjust it when you first mix it. Then forget all about it. Use a pH meter with a minimum accuracy of ±0.05 pH, and precision of ±0.01 pH.
  • When you can, add automatic watering. Coco works really well with two or more waterings per day from late veg to harvest. One of my tents needs it three times per day.
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As always ... extremely helpful!!!

After my initial research ... I will track down some journals.

Alright ... I will just track ppm as a matter of record.

I will track pH and modify for veg/bloom.

I may setup automatic watering once I have hand feeding under control ... this will help when we go away for the weekend.

Thanks again my friend!
 
The Bard said:
I really like coco. I grew a lot of orchids in that medium in the past, so I knew a bit about it. Of course cannabis is a different story, but similar principles.

There is some debate, but I think it is generally agreed, that you can't over-water in coco, at least once the plants are past the seedling stage. But you can definitely underwater - need to keep the medium moist all the time. Otherwise, the salts in the nutes can dry out and burn the roots. You can also get dry pockets that are hard to re-moisten if it dries out.

Personally, I really liked the combination of coco and fabric pots. Lots of air getting to the roots, even with the moist coco. I water once per day from late seedling through early bloom. Then several times a day through harvest.

You'll hear some people say, and I agree, to treat coco like hydro. Since coco is completely inert (no nutes or anything else beneficial) you need to provide everything that the plant needs. pH like hydro, with the numbers you mentioned. Start with a lower pH in the early stages, and then towards the higher end of the scale in flower. But let the pH "bounce around" from one watering to the next, so that different are available.

Once you are getting ready to start, let us know. Lots of folks happy to help with any questions you have as you get going.
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I'm feeling pretty confident now ... and it is time to widen my growing skills, ... so I will head out to the garden center and get a bag of coco today.

I will set up a new grow journal for the coco Chemdawg today or tomorrow.

Thanks again!
 
The Bard said:
As always, Mr. Salt added a bunch of valuable information.

One thing that I don't think either of us mentioned is the importance of cal//mag. Even if you charge the coco prior to planting, it will still be a calcium hog, especially when paired with LEDs. I had to add cal/mag at every single watering otherwise the leaves would show deficiencies really quick.
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Interesting ... I actually treat calmag as a base nute and apply with every feed ... so far so good!

I think I originally picked that bit of info up from a YouTube Cannabeard video.

ty
 
Old Salt said:
I use CALiMAGic as part of all my nutrient solutions from seed to harvest. I never use plain water, nutrients are added every time. Currently I'm at 35% of everything I use, except for the CALiMAGic. That's at 45%. The strength of nutrients required depends on the strain, light, nutrients used, and water source.
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Super ... that I didn't know. I will be prepared to adjust accordingly ... but still start at 25%.
 
Pennywise said:
I've used tap water in coco for 3 years, I've not seen an advantage to RO
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It all depends on what you have for tap water. I'd use tap water, except it has more than ten times the allowable arsenic in it. It's also extremely hard. Since I have the RO anyway, I use it for my plants as well.
 
SQl2kGuy said:
Nice! I will read @Barney86 's thread now ... I am pretty sure making the transition from soil to coco should be straight forward.

I am expecting to pre-soak with CalMag, water daily at a quarter nutes, check feed/run-off pH and ppm, pH between 5.8 and 6.3.

I can use all the other skills I have developped so far.

Just gotta figure out the water now.

I was told soil buffers tap water ... I'm hoping tap water won't be too much of an issue with coco.

Thanks for the help amigo!
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As I've been tagged in I'll offer my opinion mate :)

I say absolutely nothing other than tap water in the Coco to start with.
That way you know it's a blank canvas.

Weed plants need absolutely nothing other than water for the first 5 days if it comes from a tap.
The cotylidon .. cotilydon.. cotyledon.. nope don't know how to spell it but the first 2 baby leaves that come out will provide it with everything it needs to start off.
That is their purpose and they should be used for it.

Your water is surprisingly enough mostly cal and mag so you might find, like myself, that you don't even need it for veg phase.

There's a lot of bro science behind ye old calmag thing.
Apparently growing in Coco makes you need more.
Apparently growing with blurples makes you need loads of it..
Yet here I am.
IMG_20190528_192828.jpg
There's 6 plants in 3 separate media there and I never needed any calmag untill just after then.

I find just before I flip to 12/12 I get iron Def so I use calmag+ (Ca/Mg/Fe/N) to treat it.
If they don't ask for it they don't want it so giving them it can cause problems.

Give them calmag when they dont want it and one over powers the other (can't remember which) and causes it to look like you have deficits of the other so you'll add more and then it can get confusing.

The only thing I don't like about this site is people's obsession with calmag.

On groweedeasylikeatwat.com they all think everything is TMV.

On grassshitty, which is mostly UK guys theyre all anti auto thinking they're pussy weak and shit yielders.

The UK 420 site is just full of arseholes.

Here, because a lot of the big hitters have shit tap water so need to run reverse osmosis water, everyone else thinks they need calmag too.

Then they add too much which blocks one of them out etc etc etc.
 
Barney86 said:
As I've been tagged in I'll offer my opinion mate :)

I say absolutely nothing other than tap water in the Coco to start with.
That way you know it's a blank canvas.

Weed plants need absolutely nothing other than water for the first 5 days if it comes from a tap.
The cotylidon .. cotilydon.. cotyledon.. nope don't know how to spell it but the first 2 baby leaves that come out will provide it with everything it needs to start off.
That is their purpose and they should be used for it.

Your water is surprisingly enough mostly cal and mag so you might find, like myself, that you don't even need it for veg phase.

There's a lot of bro science behind ye old calmag thing.
Apparently growing in Coco makes you need more.
Apparently growing with blurples makes you need loads of it..
Yet here I am.
IMG_20190528_192828.jpg
There's 6 plants in 3 separate media there and I never needed any calmag untill just after then.

I find just before I flip to 12/12 I get iron Def so I use calmag+ (Ca/Mg/Fe/N) to treat it.
If they don't ask for it they don't want it so giving them it can cause problems.

Give them calmag when they dont want it and one over powers the other (can't remember which) and causes it to look like you have deficits of the other so you'll add more and then it can get confusing.

The only thing I don't like about this site is people's obsession with calmag.

On groweedeasylikeatwat.com they all think everything is TMV.

On grassshitty, which is mostly UK guys theyre all anti auto thinking they're pussy weak and shit yielders.

The UK 420 site is just full of arseholes.

Here, because a lot of the big hitters have shit tap water so need to run reverse osmosis water, everyone else thinks they need calmag too.

Then they add too much which blocks one of them out etc etc etc.




Well that all depends really.
Are you aware of who I am?
Cos if not then that ringer certainly went over your head.
Your reflexes need some tuning up I think ; )
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Exactly! It doesn't matter what you grow in, you must listen to your plants. They will tell you what they need. The big hitters here have gone through many grows to fine tune everything for THEIR growing conditions. You can use what they do as a general guide, but will need to consult your plants to tune it to your grow.
 
Pennywise said:
I've used tap water in coco for 3 years, I've not seen an advantage to RO
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This!
:thumb:

Gotta adapt to your growing conditions. I'm thankful i can squeak by with tap water too.
 
Where I am my tap water is very good.
The first time I had magnesium deficiency was when we transplanted outdoors and we didn't use tap water because of rain. Since we have been so dry, watering by the hose has my girls happy. I am making so of Emilya's cal/mag to keep on hand just in case we start getting rain. Lol
 
I read the annual water report. I also, check the website for our water. I have gone as far as having a conversation with the director of our water treatment facility.
After working at a hazardous waste testing laboratory, you learn, know your water and how it is cared for. That's 1 of the reasons we bought our house here.
Did you know many treatment plants already do RO? Then the retreat to match the age and type of pipes used as to not cause corrosions.
 
My plants love the tap also seems like, here lately the ppm have been running 350 and that’s the highest they’ve ever been. It normally runs 150-200 so I’m not sure what’s going on but my plants don’t seems to mind the rise in the taps ppm.✌️
 
Old Salt said:
It all depends on what you have for tap water. I'd use tap water, except it has more than ten times the allowable arsenic in it. It's also extremely hard. Since I have the RO anyway, I use it for my plants as well.
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Eh?? Your tap water is full of arsenic?
That sounds healthy lol
 
Barney86 said:
Eh?? Your tap water is full of arsenic?
That sounds healthy lol
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The 100 GPD RO is for drinking, cooking, and the plants. That drops the arsenic level to less than 50% of the allowable level. To drop it further I'd have to increase the rejection ratio from 3:1 to 5:1. My well does not produce enough water for that. Because we only use about 7 GPD from the RO, it takes 28 gallons per day from the well.

Next year I plan on collecting rain water, and the waste from the RO to flush toilets, wash dishes and clothes. That will reduce the load on the well. A pair of 330 gal (1250 liter) IBCs should do the trick. One inch of rain will get me around 1590l / 420gal. I should get that over three weeks of the driest time of year. Adding the 440 gallons (1665 l ) I'd recover from the RO waste line will give me an extra 40 gallons or 150l of water per day.
 
Old Salt said:
It all depends on what you have for tap water. I'd use tap water, except it has more than ten times the allowable arsenic in it. It's also extremely hard. Since I have the RO anyway, I use it for my plants as well.
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Hi, @oldsalt ... that makes perfect sense from everything I have read. In @InTheShed 's report, the high alkalinity of tap water and the type of Nitrogen in nutrients, can drive up the acidity of my soil.

Since you have RO ... it's good for the plants.

I just started using tap water, and if the plants don't do well, then I will get an RO system.

Are you, @oldsalt, and @InTheShed joining the Chemdawg grow?
 
SQl2kGuy said:
Hi, @oldsalt ... that makes perfect sense from everything I have read. In @InTheShed 's report, the high alkalinity of tap water and the type of Nitrogen in nutrients, can drive up the acidity of my soil.

Since you have RO ... it's good for the plants.

I just started using tap water, and if the plants don't do well, then I will get an RO system.

Are you, @oldsalt, and @InTheShed joining the Chemdawg grow?
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I'll know by the end of the month. I need to make some decisions. If I get plenty of seed from the Candida, I'm flipping between growing out my clones and joining in. If I don't get enough seed, I'll need to grow out the Candida clones.
 
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