Damsel indistress - Coco concerns - new grow

Hi ,

I'm new here and was hoping you clever growers could give me some advice on my first coco grow.

I previously grew NFT until the dreaded pythium monster hit :mad:and so decided, out of necessity, to switch to coco.

I have 5 white widow feminized seeds - all sprouted uniformly and seemed ok. But now, 15 days on from germination, they are to my mind extremely small -about 3 inches high and on their 3rd set of leaves. But they look 'bonsai' if you know what I mean, and there is no visible growth.

Thing is, this is exactly how the seedlings grew in NFT when they were affected by pythium/root rot.

I've sterilized the grow room twice with bleach solution, pots and all watering/measuring tools are new and have been sterilized and are washed and sterilized after each use. The room is clean and spacious and empty apart from the plants, lots of mylar for reflection etc.

The set up is:

Canna Coco and nutes - I'm following the canna nute schedule ( Canna start, Rhizo, Trichoderma)
Using bottled water
Plants are in 9" wide pots
440w lamp
Grow room , not tent, plenty of air movement etc.
Temps steady in the low 20's

To be honest , I can't work out how often to feed with coco - do you let it dry out or feed daily. So far I've watered with the recommend nute mix three times since germination. Two of the smaller plants have roots coming out of the holes at the bottom of the pots which suggests growth, but why no leaf growth?

I just can't believe that pythium is so bad in our growing envirnoment that it would hit us again , but this slow growth is indicative of it , isn't it?
I've literally done everything to prevent it !!!!
Please help!!!!!!

I have pics but the files are too big apparently. If anyone couyld tell me how to compress/upload them, it would be great

Thanks

x

def need pics, to make them smaller open them in paint and resize them by pixels to about 3/4 of their original....you can recheck how big they are after and resize them again if they are still too big.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mal420xl

def need pics, to make them smaller open them in paint and resize them by pixels to about 3/4 of their original....you can recheck how big they are after and resize them again if they are still too big.

---

Thanks!

Attachment 291336Attachment 291337Attachment 291338Attachment 291335

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mal420xl

def need pics, to make them smaller open them in paint and resize them by pixels to about 3/4 of their original....you can recheck how big they are after and resize them again if they are still too big.

---

Thanks!

Attachment 291336Attachment 291337Attachment 291338Attachment 291335


The lighting is a bit off, but the babies are quite green.

Also, just checked and roots are coming out of the bottom of all pots.

well that would explain slow growth, repot them and that will take care of the roots binding. thats all i see goin on. natural light would make it easier to see their color but they ok. maybe a lil dry?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mal420xl

well that would explain slow growth, repot them and that will take care of the roots binding. thats all i see goin on. natural light would make it easier to see their color but they ok. maybe a lil dry?

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The pots are 9" - I don't get why the roots seem to be growing but not the leaves?

I have just watered them again - I really don't get how you are supposed to water coco. Do I water every day, or do I leave it dry out a bit? Can't seam to find any consisent advice about this as people seem to confuse it with soil. Do I treat it like soil, or do I treat it like rockwool in the NFT ?

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http://boards.cannabis.com/search.ph...865&pp=&page=4

It's interesting that you're seeing roots out the bottom already. If you transplant, you probably should go with large containers, to minimize the need to do it again. 5 gallon buckets or bigger. I'm guessing that coco is a good substrate to use when using the canna brand. Not that you couldn't use potting soil, but if Canna provides everything needed, then coco should be fine. please take photos in white light next time so we can see the leaf color better. I've never used coco so can't say if the root growth and slow plant growth are due to the coco or what, but usually plants grow root more because they are looking for water. If coco doesn't hold water to well, which is the reason why potting soil uses perlite, the maybe more water is necessary. Roots also need some dry cycle to come in contact with oxygen. this is another reason why perlite is used in potting soil, to create small air pockets. I'm not sure that straight coco is best. You might consider using a potting soil at transplant. Roots brand, foxfarm, promix, happy frog seems to be a good one. They all have their own ferts to them, so be careful how much fert you add if you switch to a soil. Also, you probably won't find a schedule to feed. Sometimes the fert makers don't tell you how often to use the product and let the grower figure that out. If it seems like water runs through quickly and the coco dries quickly, it's probably too quick and you should switch to a potting soil. I think pythium is water-based infection, so perhaps if you use distilled water you won't have anymore trouble with it.