This is my first grow and I am growing in coco mixed with some perlite. Its been 2 weeks now since I planted the seeds.
I managed to find 2 different kinds of coco coir both locally produced here in Asia but I made a rookie mistake and did not wash and buffer my coco.
Both coco looked clean and fresh so planted 2 seeds using one type of coco and one seed using the other type of coco.
The first two of my plants look light green and are turning yellow it seems. They also growing slow and I think all those are signs of not enough nutrients being fed.
Yesterday I gave the first nutrient feeding with 500 PPM and PH 5.8 and the run off came 1500 PPM :0 The plants look like they need need nutrients yet the run off PPM is so high? What could it be?
Where as the one plant in the other coco is looking green and healthy n is also growing fast yet the run off PPM of that coco was even worse at around 5500PPM after a 500PPM feeding.
I am so confused please guys need some help from experienced growers ??? I dont want my plants to die
Solutions I found online have been mixed some suggest I do a flush with RO or Distilled water to bring down the PPM some suggest to keep feeding at around 500PPM and the run off PPM will eventually lower. While some say to just all out forget the PPM and not worry about it. Its all so confusing?
My setup: 600w HPS, General Hydroponics Trio Flora and GH Cal Mag. 7 gallon Fabric Pots (One seed in a plastic cup)
I did check the PH of the run off and it stays pretty much the same as the PH going in. So its not that. Just surprised why my run off PPM is so high and why the plant aint dying cuz of it.
The ppm can only be coming from two sources. What is in the water / feed or what was originally in the coco. Any ppm variation above what is going has to be sourced to the coco. I do not grow in coco so take this for what it is worth. Given the age of the plants, I would not be inclined to flood them with a flush. Logically, as you continue to water / feed them the additional stuff causing the high ppm will naturally wash out.
As to color variation, I would not be overly concerned. I currently have 3 AK47 seedlings. One was almost gray in color. After a week + it is still a lighter color than the other two but has out grown them.
Hey seriously thank you for taking out the time to reply and for the reassurance.
So u would suggest I just keep feeding them their normal 500PPM nutrient feeding?
I just did another nutrient feeding a few hours ago and the PPM run off this time was even higher , around 7000PPM
I think the problem is my coco, i should have washed and buffered it before using it. Can I still transplant them to another container considering two of them are already in their final container?
2 things. If they are autoflower, I would not transplant. If photo, as long as you are certain you will not damage the roots significantly, you can transplant. Photos have more time to recover than autos. I would not be surprised if vegetative growth is delayed temporarily while the roots recover and reset. The root ball should be fairly small so I would try to take root and surrounding coco. This would minimize root damage.
Let me tag @Nicky who uses coco and may have a different, more experience based recommendation.
Yes they are photos and I have already started cleaning and buffering some new coco.
I am overthinking maybe but the coco surrounding the root ball, won’t it creat problems in the new coco?
And what about the 3rd plant? Should I transplant that one too even though it is growing so well and looks happy even though PPM levels are through the roof?
How about I do not transplant the two plants in the final containers (one of which looks happy) and only transplant the one in the cup to new cleaner coco? This way I will also have my answer if the coco was the issue?
And yes please tag as many people as u know, can use all the help.
I add coco to my soil mix. I have a block of coco soaking in ph 6.4 water with 7.5 ml of calmag per gallon.
The small amount that would be in the root ball will be insignificant to a large pot with fresh coco.
Some time you have trust your eyes. No problem leaving the healthy looking one alone.
Flush it until ppm are the same as your water (going to take a while, hopefully you are in fabric pots or flushing is a nightmare)
Then PH your water and give it your feed amount and run it through until run off PH and ppm are the same as going in. Then you will be good just don’t water until pots are light to pick up again.
Next time washed coco or wash it prior to planting
I ended up transplanting the two slow growing plants to new washed n buffered coco. The run off PPM is still slightly higher but only by 50PPM so lets see how long they take to recover from the transplant.
Although the PH is still higher then what goes in. Going in was 5.9 PH coming out was 7.2. I reckon the PH levels will level out after a few waterings?
Did you feed? Or is that coco empty of everything other than the water tds + the little bit of residual around their old coco, that wasn’t washed, around their roots?
If you didn’t feed keep flushing as I’m not sure why you wouldn’t flush more if your PH is still out of wack , if you fed then that sucks… 7.2 is way to high in my book.
5.8-6.2 run off or I suspect you’ll have issues.
Also feed when it’s all done.
@Nicky no I did not feed the transplanted plants just been watering plain PH’d water which has a PPM of 150. One plant had a run off of 200PPM and one of 250PPM which is fine I guess?
The PH was high so you saying I keep flushing the plant with Ph’d water until Ph run off is the same as going in? Won’t too much flushing drown the roots since the plant is so young?
That’s the issue of messing up when you first start.
The plants are so small I don’t see it being a huge issue because the amount of coco that you transplanted is less than half a solo cup?
Normally it’s impossible to over water in a fabric pot if you don’t spent more than like 24 hours flushing non stop. Small plants with virtually no roots like yours may die with to much flushing or to heavy of flushing because they are so small the force of the water being poured in is a larger concern then keeping the media wet for less than 24 hours.
250ppm is acceptable, you cna only feed you Gomes like yours a max of like 400 ppm (cal mag included) I think so it’s doable to still have space to provide nutrients.
Your plants will need food so follow your feed chart.
Yes the transplanted plants had very few roots and was exactly half a cup of coco. Maybe I damaged the roots of the one that seems to be dying.
And good idea, when the lights turn on I will feed the two transplanted planted plants a feeding till 400PPM.
I ran into problems otherwise it is time to start proper feedings as I planted them 13th August.
Hope they bounce back after the feeding.
What are ur thoughts about the healthy growing 3rd plant? It is still in the unwashed and unbuffered coco and last PPM run off was around 5000PPM, but is still growing so well? Should i just keep watering with PH’d water of PPM 150 till the run off PPM drops or just keep feeding it nurtients?
So weird how the plant is still growing so well with such insane PPM levels.
Sry I missed your reply for a bit.
I would transplant the first plant you’ll never be able to feed it with 5k run off and it’s all salt it won’t last long.
Keep babying the others but be ready to soak more seeds unfortunately =(
Hey guys please i need help! The PH in my domestic water at home is 7.5 , so i added 5 ml per gallon PK booster because the plant is in the flowering stage so i measured the ppm it mentioned 1100 so it’s good but the PH when i added the PK booster droped to 5.20 so i added some baking soda to raised the PH up it works and i get the result i want 6.0 PH but the PPM raised to 1700 when i added baking soda !!! So how can i adjust the PH level (6.0) while i want my PPM level to stay the same (1100) ?? NOTE: in my country we dont have Ph down and PH up thats why im using baking soda !!!
The baking soda is being added to the ppm level. Ignore the numbers after it’s been added. Hard water has a lot off ppm by itself. You take your baseline reading, say 500. You don’t include the 500 with the nutrients added. Hopefully I clarified. @Malikss
Welcome!
