Seeds in Organic Coco bed possible?

[SOG420]

Hey guys,
Im trying to dial in my setup and I had a few questions.

Current Setup:
Strain: bagseed (1 in veg and some seedlings)
Area: 18" tall by 12" deep by 30" wide
Medium: an organic blend of coco, humus soil, hydroton and some beneficial micro organisms from biotone seed starter plus
Lighting: 85 watts cfl 6500k
Ventilation: small box fan
Nutes: tablespoon/gallon of molasses and 1 cup alfalfa meal/gallon mixed with aquarium water with nitrates of said water being @ 30 ppm.
PH:6 in 7.5-8 runoff
Temps: 75-82 F
1. In the readers opinion would I be better off in individual pots or bed style for a super small setup <5 plants starting from seed?
2. What organic sources of nitrogen would be a useful addition to tea mixtures?
3.Im leaning towards a bed style grow because of potential horizontal root growth benefits but hesitate as this is a new way to me and I was wondering if pulling a male from a bed would desturb the ladies in same bed?
Thank you for your time.

[polishpollack]

Grow area is much too short, but if that's all you got....
Individual pots would be smarter because if something goes wrong with one, it won't necessarily affect the others.
Worm castings, but not sure if they have enough nitrogen. Pure Blend fert might be good.
You could just cut the male at its base and that would be that. Make sure you use big enough containers for long enough grow in order to get plants to mature and flower. 18 inches isn't enough height.

[Shovelhandle]

I've grown a few plants in windowbox shaped planters before and it works fine. For 18" of height You may want to forgo the veg and go from seed to 12 hours of light. Topping and/or LST will be necessary.

Seedlings don't like or need added fertilizers. Wait until week three unless they show signs (light green).

Earth worm castings is great in tea. Also add a little of the bio-tone.

The pH from the runoff is too high. Where is that from? Did you wash the coco first? You really want to figure this out, now.

No aquarium water for the plants. Put it in a compost pile, if you want to recycle it.

Good growing!

[tlranger]

No aquarium water for the plants. Put it in a compost pile, if you want to recycle it.

Good growing!

Got to bite, what's wrong with aquarium water??

[Shovelhandle]

look back in the archives here in cannabis.com Stinkyattic. It was gone over pretty well. Maybe the info is still here, maybe it disappeared with some of the old stickies. I didn't understand it all but I came away with the idea not to fool with aquarium water, so I never did. Maybe algae or fungus or some other unwelcome life form.

[tlranger]

I'll buy that I quess, if it's a dead system maybe something is wrong. And I understand that high tech means wanting that total control.

[Shovelhandle]

Aquarium Water (http://boards.cannabis.com/organic-growing/121588-fishtank-water.html)

[tlranger]

Read your thread.it was interesting, lots seem to like aquarium water, except this one. But I'll throw something to you.

Am certified water handling specialist, had to pass state tests for the honor. Ran rural water district for 20 years. You people really don't want to know. Filter all your trap water before eating or drinking, drink distilled water if possible. Your bought water is about the money!!! Their regulations look fine, but spend some time in the field, scary. Think Pauly Shore as your water boy, or -!#= even me. Bottom line treat the things you love, special.

Living rain water, works very well for me, and they are goldfish, snails,2 bullheads, and algae in a 700 gal , use an inch of the bottom every couple of days.

[tlranger]

Sorry about the rant, shovelhandle. Between oil,water, and politics. I just tend to:beatdeadhorse:

[SOG420]

Thanks guys,
@Shovelhandle-the coco was washed with about 5 gallon of really hot water ph ed to 6. It is however not entirely just coco. It is burbee seed starting mix which contains small fiber coco, turkey litter, and feathers. Its not the ideal coco but the alternative for my area would be pet store coco bricks.Don't know if this makes any difference in ph runoff.
Also thanks for the info about aquarium water. I read the post by rhizome on that link you posted and it makes sense. Especially the part about aquarium dechlorinator adding salts to a water source with existing salts from the fish.
@tlranger thanks for the info. Think I might invest bottled water for my ladies

[low_rdr]

Turkey poo is LOADED with HOT nitrogen and needs to compost before being used. Raw turkey poo is no good. This could be why your so hot. Also, why feathers? Remember, your eventually going to smoke this. I can't honestly for the life of me think of one good reason to use feathers in a tiny grow. Perlite, sure, wood chips, maybe, feathers? What purpose do the feathers serve?

If there is a nutritional purpose to feathers, someone tell me!!!!

[SOG420]

.. What purpose do the feathers serve?

If there is a nutritional purpose to feathers, someone tell me!!!!

Honestly I have no idea the purpose of the feathers but the ingredients of this mix on burpee's website are listed - Burpee Organic Seed Starting Mix (95% coconut fiber,perlite, humates and fertilizer derived from aerobically composted turkey litter and hydrolyzed feather meal) .06-.03-.03.

I live in an area where the closet grow shop is 2.5 hrs away so the coco I found at lowes was the option I choose. Thanks for ur input

[low_rdr]

hahahaha :)

Okay, the turkey scat their using is composted, not raw.
Feathermeal is ground up feathers and bird remains (not just feathers) giving off a good slow release source of nitrogen. I learned this today, but doesn't sound tasty. Also reports that it smells like dead bird when watered, but quickly dissipates :( All I have to say is EWWWWWWWW :wtf: I'm not smoking that, lol!

6-3-3 Shouldn't be causing any issues though, and should be good for the first 3-4 weeks of veg, unless your going to go straight into 12-12, then you might want to boost your potassium a little.

As for the molasses, make sure you start it slow the 2nd week of flower, then increase to 1tsp per gallon by week 6.
You asked what a good extra boost of nitrogen would be thats organic - I can't share my secret, because it is of course, mine. However, there are plenty of companies out there like scotts (miracle grow) that produce fermented sugar beet molasses, this is terribly high in nitrogen. Now, the true question here is if the fermintation process is actually organic, I'll let you ponder that one.

I'm gonna finish my hash.

[Skihigh]

It's kind of a case of the shits tryin' to grow in a small country town, ain't it.
Might wanna think about sort of a flush to help get some of the ferts out of the grow medium...(If you haven't already)...Might be a dab hot for seedlings.
Can you imagine what it would be like tryin' to get all the feathers out of a bunch of turkey shit? Yuk....What job that would be!!!

[SOG420]

Any body have an opinion as to the ph recommended for when I do flush this plant later today. It is mostly coco coir but I have the medium layered as follows
291029
|| -stem
XXXXXX -small hydroton
oXoXoX - 50% hydroton / 50 % coco based seedling Mix
OOOOO - 100 % Coco Based Seedling Mix
OOOOO
oXoXoX -75 % coco / 25% hydroton mix
XXXXX - 100% hydroton
XXXXX

[low_rdr]

heh... are you growing in a sealed glass jar?

[SOG420]

haha no its a plastic tea pitcher in which i removed to spout for drainage. It was an attempt at a "Hempy" Style grow. I 'm thinking of placing a cover on the outside to encourage root growth.

[tlranger]

Can you imagine what it would be like tryin' to get all the feathers out of a bunch of turkey shit? Yuk....What job that would be!!!

My money says that's why they are there, get rid of trash, wonder what else is there?

[low_rdr]

I'd like to find out why your running so hot. Maybe skip the aquarium water for a round and test the runoff? Aren't most aquariums at 6.2 with constant filtering? I'm not sure how this would effect anything, but I don't have experience with aquarium water, or alfalfa meal - You are of course testing the PH after you add your nutrients, right?

I know that sounds like a silly question, but giong from a ph of 6 to a ph of 8, either means something is seriously wrong with your soil, or you have the magic radiation water. And if you've got an aquarium, I'm doubting your water is radioactive, makes me think of the soil. If your in the middle of BFE and got your soil from a home improvement store, was it in the outdoor section of the home improvement store?

Why do I ask? Because if there is a chance the soil got wet while it was in the bag, it starts to produce all sorts of little nasties, from the mold, which also causes nutes to ferment. This could cause a rapid change in PH.

Test the soil.

[SOG420]

I plan on discontinuing the aquarium water immediately. I just did a little experiment. I tested 4 pH sources just for reference to try and figure this out.
Aquarium water pH was 6.5
Tap Water was 8.2 or 8.3
Alfalfa meal brewed for 5 min brought pH from 8.2 to 6.4
Organic Tea ph is 5.8

My theory is that the alfalfa mixed in with coco as well is influencing pH and the organic tea is leaving deposits that are driving the soil pH down.
So maybe not radioactive soil after all:>
Please inform me if this is incorrect. My plan right now is to flush entire medium. Not sure if the recommended 5.8-6.2 for coco is the correct range to shoot for.
Thanks for ur help figuring this out

[low_rdr]

In my soil grows I always shot for a PH of 6.3, but anything between the 6.1 and 7 range from my knowledge is acceptable.

I never suggested the soil maybe radioactive, and I was more or less throwing it out there as a funny, there are only a few areas that have any sort of radioactive water. Such as certain areas in idaho. So its highly unlikely this is the case.

I'm leaning more towards a hot soil batch than anything. Remember though, if your flushing your soil to balance the PH, your also flushing the nutes in your soil. Which is of course better than nute burn. Also, your idea to cover the clear container for the roots is a good idea, roots don't take well to light.