Question With Coco Coir.......

This is the second time I have tried to grow in Coco. the first time I didn't have great results so I scraped that and went with Promix I had good results. Now I tried Coco again grotek Coco mixed. The grow shop keeps pushing this stuff on me instead of ProMix.

I used it again and I have added dolomite Lime as a buffer tested the coco it was at 7ph I put my seeds in and after 1 to 2 weeks from sprout.

The first set of leaves has already gone yellow and they look stunted as shit. ill try and get a picture later tonight. I don't understand there must be somthing I am missing with Coco vs ProMix. I am trying my hardest not to over water. I don't think I am as I have been using my moisture tester and sticking my finger in the pot. Its pretty dry. and wet when I water em. but the plant does still drop right over. looking like what it would with over watering. The leaves arn't dry though they have moisture in them.

What should my Ph of water im giving to these plants be at? They are too young for Nutes so its just water and superthrive right now. I figured just below 7Ph correct say 6.5 to 6.8?

Damm Coco, Im thinking of just scraping these little fuks and starting again with ProMix, and telling my grow shop that I will not be buying that shit again. They promised me that with this preMixed coco I would not have to add anything but Dolomite Lime.

http://www.grotek.net/products/guide...code=cocoearth

thats the stuff its Mixed in the Bag it feels like it has sand added to it and I can see Varmiculite and perlite.. They push it so hard on me. and worst thing they dont sell proMix im forced to buy it at Canadian Tire, So its not BX its just plain Jain ProMix Potting soil. which for the most part worked out fairly well with some added Perlite. Its says its nothing more than PeatMoss and 25% Perlit and Varmiculite.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Is there somthing more to know about Coco? Its so easy for me to get here in the city. the store is basically right beside my apt. thats why i tried it again. Plus i thought with another grow under my belt I would be able to make it happen this time around.

thanks in advance

kd

Heres what the sad asses look like...

one sorta looks like it standing up... Look how yellow they are. I have only given them water and superthrive.

I almost wanna trash em and start again..


kd

.

I'm thinking time to give them some nutes very carefully, since they're not getting any at all from the coco.
They may be eating their lower leaves to survive.
Plus, they look overheated?

.

Well temps are between 25-30 and 40% humidity. There just a few weeks old nutrients? seems like a good way to make things worse for my newbie grower ass.

what Ph should my water be at if the Coco. is around 6.8 to 7ph? its all i can think of..

hmm ohh would a neem soil spray hurt them at this young age? I did it when they were taking a break from light. Im super concerned about bugs. but perhaps that hurt them.

kd

kd

hmm i was at a grow shop today and they were also saying good tings about that coco shit. She said thats all they use in europe and down under. but she wasn't pushy at all. but what she did say is that the biggest difference between it and soil is that you NEED to use 1 more fert. a Mg and calcium fert. i'm not saying tahts what you got but maybe read about it.

as i read your post i was thinking heat stress and i would say you have too much of a change. 20 is too low and 30 is a little too high. I keep mine at 79 F which is 26. Maybe try to smooth that out.

is your light to hot for them. What kind is it
also, the shit she had was a compressed brick (like a big peat pellet) and it was 100% coco so i dont know what you got. she said it didn't need perlite (which is bad for the environment) she was pushing (not really, just always telling me about) the green options, which I liked

From what I understand is that with the Brick you need to addd some perlite or somthing to get some air in their. She suggested Hydroton rocks cuz you can reuse em. Another fellow told me 25% perlite and 75% coco In the brick style will do me fine as well. I went twith the pre ready bag to avoid adding perlite and other stuff. Regardless brick or Bag you have to add some dolomite lIme for a buffer to bring the coco up to 7ph. From what she says anyways.

My lights are Cfls perhaps I was pushing them but putting them 1 or 1.5 inches from the light at this small age. I have moved them down to atleat 2 to 3 inches.

My water is Ph 7 out of Tap I have been Ph downing it to about 6.5 to 6.8Ph I thought this was a smart moove but perhaps not?

Thanks
Kd

Dammm Coco.... Damm sales Women....

lol :)

.

Well, I dunno. Your PH is correct. Is there any bark in the coco? That makes it acidic, i think. Thanks for warning me though, coco was going to be my next project as I inch towards hydros...

.

maybe try an organic nitrogen based fert like fish emulsions or bat guano.. mine is only 5-1-1 and wont burn.. just a suggestion.. your first one looks kinda like overwatered maybe..

About 5 days ago I thought the same thing. Overwatering. SO I let them dry right out. and watered again. I am going to take one of them and not water it for a while and see what happens.

I am also thinking of taking one and watering it with even lower Ph'ed water to see if that changes anything. Makes these weak asses experimental plants.

Perhaps its was because the half gallon. pots were totally soaked when i planted the germinated seeds.

Perhaps that set them off rioght away.

Can over watering make them go yellow like that? It seems that they doo look like they need some nitrogen. I have some Botanicare Pure Grow I could mix it at like 1/8 strength and water it down from that even.

I could try and rpot them in some ProMix this weekend? Or scrap them and start again with some new seeds and some promix.

hmmm decisions decisions....

ahhh damm work is calling can't they see I have plants to attend to.

hahah

kd

.

Well, I boobed my clone transplants, which made them take 2 weeks to get growing, so I lost almost a week there.
I burnt them on the second and third day, and being a little panicky, I thought they may have been burned by the nutes in the soil too, so I flushed new soil like mad in 3 new pots and transplanted again.

Since they were only small clones though, it took forever for that flushing to dry out, almost a week, in which time I couldn't apply any nutes to the clones, as they began their 3rd week of existence off the mother plant.

They stopped growing, and began to decay and yellow from the bottom up from general nute deficiency, as the minimal new growth began to eat it's oldest matter.

I began to rather vainly foliage feed finally, while waiting for the soil to dry out, then watering very small amounts with nutes just around the stem, and the change was completely obvious in just 2 days.

.

i use coco with good results

ph range 5.8 - 6.5 max mines 5.9 - 6.1 allways

start your seeds in root riot cubes and just add root juice to the water

then when they go in the coco mix theyre ready for 1/8th strenth nutes

i add perlite and hydroloclia to bulk my mix up but its not imperative

allways use coco nutes eg: canna coco/ monkey juice

cannazym or similar is needed to reuse your coco

heres a pic of my t44 grown in coco and the root riot cubes

Do you add Dolomite Lime to your mix?

or you just leave it. Mine was at Ph 6 when I tested before adding the lime. technically shouldn't this be an ok PH as long as I Ph my water everytime and flush the coco every month or so?

perhaps its the lime thats making the plants yellow so Badly.

thanks for the tips, I would really like to use Coco as its so easy to get for me. But I am still new so proMix may be better untill I get more grows under my belt.

kd

I've been using coco with acceptable results, but I've mix it with perlite, wormcastings, and cal mag, then later watered with guano tea. I did spout one seed in a coco boss block that was just pure coco, and it got like your plants, but the others were fine.

Yes it appears that Coco, May be a little advanced for me. It bugs me cuz I was re assured so many times that I don't have to worrie about this and that with coco.

perhaps I will keep these going and see what happens try some stuff but definitly not put any more money into them. with nutes and stuff.

Instead put some money into some new seeds. and Some ProMix.

get back to the Basics...

unless somone can thing of something else to mayeb try with just Ph water and anything else I might already have.

thanks guys

kd

no dont add lime no need

a soilless mix wants a ph of around 6

coco is the simpliest way to grow if you use canna coco nutes u cannot get i wrong
i only got a ec/ ph meter last week when i check everything was exactly as it said in the canna grow chart

but with the clone food ad alittle ph down as 2ml nutes+root juice = 7.5 ph 1.3ec

4ml nutes+1.75ml cannazym = 6.1ph 2.1ec

Thanks for all the info guys...

perhaps its is my buffer (Dolomite Lime) that is causing this problem.

because Im Phing my water to lower than 7 perhaps this is causing the coco and Lime to react to strong. I believe the inital reason theytold me to add lime was so that when I use my city Tap water Ph7 It will match up.

So perhaps lowering my ph was a bad idea since I have added Lime.

I think illtake one plant and only add Ph 7 water and the other two continue to add Ph Downed water.

and I may try and give a tiny I mean super tiny bit of Botanicare Pure grow nutes.

the grow store near me doesn't carry the CANNA line of products they carry GrowTek products. not to sure of the differences but Ither way its not working well for me.

I have som other ideas and I think ill be going back to proMix for a bit untill I can get my hands on some Humas and compost. I have a secert source who has lead me on to this medium, Humas/Cow manuare/perlite.... and thats it... In Toronto don't know where Illfind that shit tho...

canadian tire has proMix potting soil and sunshine 4 Mix. So does the TheHerbCollective store on younge st. they carry CANNA too im gonna go in and talk to them as well. See if groTek is garbage or somthing.

thanks for everythign guys. Illpost some picts if they turn around.

kd

I talked to a new grower today. I got some seed from him asw well.

Toronto420SeedBank
Located in Kensinton Market. Downtown Toronto

http://www.happygirl.ca/tsb_Toronto_Seed_Company.htm

I got some new seeds that look very nice and Ripe. Nice and dark in colour. And more importantly I told him about this little Coco vs. proMix problem I had been having.

he basically broke it down very easily for me. Why use diffrent shit than commercial growers. he said landscapers use ProMix for grass beds cuz they can't get acces to water other than Tap water. ProMix was designed to be used with Tap water. He said with Coco you have to add nutes all the way through the grow even as a seedling. cuz the coir doesn't hold any nutrients at all. I wish the grow shop told me that. Ohh well they just lost my business whenever I can make the extra trip to another store instead.

I will be adding nutes to those sad looking plants tonight and seeing what happens Il;l keep Ya'll posted.

From now on its ProMix untill I can geta good number of grows uner my belt. The nice fellow broke it down so easy for me plus has a guide online. that has some very good ideas in it. Check It out...

http://www.happygirl.ca/learn_to_grow.htm

He said growing should not be hard. he said If its hard your doing too much. Which i semi agree with but I understand his thoughts on gorwing.

He said growing for me uis a business with the seed bank so It can't be hard for me. I have to make it easy he said.

Makes sense...

kd