So I have a problem. I have plants in coco, roots organic coco palms and flora flex coco that seem to not be growing like the counter parts in soil. I recently started adding
5 ml Biobizz grow
5 ml Calmag
5 ml liquid kelp
As well as microbes. Every other day
What should I do to make them grow like the ones In soil? Do they need more nutrients/watering?
Are you watering every day?
How about pictures in white light? A Support Ticket would be good to fill out too.
COPY/PASTE the below list into your forum post.
Answer these simple questions the best you can.
If you do not know, or do not use something; Just say so; Or post
NA (non applicable)
-What strain, Seed bank, or bag seed (photo or auto)
-Age of plant
-Method: Soil w/salt, Organic soil, Hydroponics, Aquaponics, KNF
-Vessels: Type and capacity of container (fabric, plastic, etc)
-PH and TDS of Water, Solution, runoff (if Applicable)
-PPM/TDS or EC of nutrient solution if applicable
-Method used to measure PH and TDS
-Indoor or Outdoor if indoor, size of grow space
-Light system List brand and wattage/spectrum
-Actual wattage draw of lights
-Current Light Schedule
-Temps; Day, Night
-Humidity; Day, Night
-Ventilation system; Yes, No, Size
-AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier,
-Co2; Yes, No
If growing Hydro some additional questions:
-DWC? RDWC? Autopots? Ebb and Flow? Other?
-Distance of liquid below net pot (DWC)
-Temperature of reservoir
-TDS of nutrient solution
-Amount of air to solution
Always try to upload a clear picture in white light of any issues you may have to allow the community to assist you.
These are photos solfire gardens
18 hrs light bloom spect
Intake and outtake ac infinity
Temp 80 / 35% rh
These are all in 7 gallon pots
The small ones are in coco vs the one in soil.
Straight coco/perlite IMO needs to be at least damp. Coco becomes hydrophobic (won’t hold water) once it’s dried out. Your media is only retaining water in an area probably close to the top. When I work with coco I water a lot more than with soil. They also seem to be a bit slow to start but I attributed it to being winter.
I started these on the New Year’s Day:
They’re only now starting to look like plants.
I recommend in future starting plants in a smaller container and pot up as plant grows. Done right it won’t affect the plant but does allow you to control liquid better. I use a clear Solo for a dome or in this case a top made from another clear tote.
You should be watering/feeding coco enough to get runoff everyday. Putting those babies straight into 7 gallon pots is probably the reason for the slow growth. They’re busy making roots. We in our house like to start babies in solo thenpot up to 1 gallon then to 3 and then maybe 5 depending on the strain. That way the roots are growing and so is plant. I believe you will see some great growth when the roots get developed coco does way better that soil. Also since so big a pot might just want to water in a circle around the plant for a while as roots look for the water they will grow as opposed to the plant damping off maybe. @Hellraiser is responsible for most of what I’ve learned about coco grows and hopefully he can expand on what I’ve said and even adjust my thinking where needed. There are plenty of coco growershere that will chime in pretty soon.
Coco and soil are completely different. If you are trying to treat them the same then you are are killing one or the other.
Coco must remain wet. It needs to be feed daily if not more often. There are no nutrients found in coco so you must begin feeding once the original set of leaves are consumed. Coco interferes with the uptake of nutrients so it needs to be blocked with the use of cal-mag, which needs to be included with every feeding. It also needs enough feeding to produce runoff every day.
Soil needs wet/dry cycles, if you water too often you will kill off the roots. Soil has nutrients so no feeding is necessary until those nutrients are consumed (as measured by tracking runoff ppm). It can take anywhere between 4-8 weeks before needing to feed depending on size of pot and ingredients in soil.
Sounds like you didn’t preload the coco coir , that’s a common beginner mistake. 1st hydration should be a full dose of nutrient water after that you can do water for the 1st week then follow the nutrient schedule
Hey @sallysue one of the problems you have is you dropped the seed into the pot rather then popping the seed and planting into solo cups ,ive tried planting the seed straight into its forever pot and i had problems the plant didnt grow that good ,but now i pop the seed and i put it into a solo cup and grow it in that for the time been until the leaves of the plant are inch to two inches over the side of the solo cup and doing the solo cup it gives ur plant time to get a good root system going before u transplant into there forever homes you should try this method next time but in saying that do you have any seasol power feed or seaweed liquid i would mix three ml in three ltrs of water and feed that to ur plants for the time being it will help promote good root growth it may be what it is needing
I’ve tried to do the transfer of pots and each time I do the roots break off in the cup.
I have liquid seaweed with kelp one has a higher nitrogen level than the other
So do you think I should water dusky with nutrient water? Will that help things?
I believe mine were started New Year’s Day as well. How do you get them out without losing some of the roots. I’ve had plants in cups that I transplanted that k know didn’t grow as much as they should because half the roots were stuck to the cup.
I also loaded the coco with organic top dress nutrients and minerals before I planted but I don’t think it’s working.
Yah i would mix three mls of liquid kelp in five ltrs and water ur plants
They don’t seem to stick to the inside of Solo cups. When I see the first bit of root poke out of a hole I transplant. I see growers leave em in until almost rootbound but roots coiled around themselves need time to sort themselves out and hunt for more soil.
Yeah huge pots and tiny plants make for not the easiest grow experience and be sure to giving those plants in coco nutes as coco has none.
That usually happens when transplanting too early, wait longer so the cup will be full of roots and it’ll never a problem.
Like this, no danger of rootball falling apart here
