This actually sounds like what I have been envisioning. So, when ppm hits that # +/- you begin with nutes & calmag.
Anything other than water until?
And water to runoff every watering?
Excuse my ignorance. With P4P Soil instructions were not to water to runoff.
So I always felt a bit in the dark with that route. And later in the grow it seemed like nutrient substance perhaps diminished.
Anyway, your formula sounds good
When I do start to feed them Around week 5 I give them 1/4 strength nutes to see how they like it. Water with nutes then next time water with Cal-Mag I usually go 2 or 3 days between watering. By the time there 5 weeks old you should be watering to 20% runoff and checking the PH and the PPM/TDS.
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Oh Iāve got some youtubing to do myself lol
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My next run ima do only ocean forest in flowe stage and keep them in happy 1 gal until transplant to 7 gal, my goal is an only water formula , weāll see if it works
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Iāve grown in the Happy Frog but prefer FFās Coco Loco. Water only daily for 4-5 weeks. Then you can feed daily in coco versus soil.
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Yea, monitoring ppm/tds is something Iāve got to educate myself with. Didnāt do any of that with Superb Soil. I was pretty annal with water ph, but that was about all I watched for.
Cocoloco. So this is coco with added fertilizer?
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It is coco with bat guano, worm castings, kelp meal, oyster shell and dolomite lime are the main ingredients that your plant will thrive on. It also contains enough NPK and calcium to last you to preflower on autos (week 4ish to week 5ish. This where the advantage of coco comes into play with daily watering at 5.9-6.5 and feeding nutrients when that time comes. After the seedling stage and week 1 or the 3rd week above ground is when I start watering to run off. This will prevent any minerals/salts from building up in the root zone creating lock out which is where they are not taking in any nutrients through theyāre roots. Soil is different and can retain water leaving the grow to be fed or watered at infrequent times. Iāve grown in both and switched back to coco at the persistence of @AfgVet and so glad I did. My mentor on here as well 
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Hey, thank you for taking the time for that informative explanation! This is interesting. Man, Iāve got a lot to consider.
Thanks again for your response.
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Tough decision, a lot of soil and coco growers on here
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Itās the soil vs coco battle about to kick off 
. Coco for the win
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I may have stirred the pot Sis, but yes Coco for the win and thank you again for sending me back to coco! No where near the issues I had growing in soil, love feeding daily to run off. Thanks again Sis
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You do make a strong caseā¦ 
So, anything else added to CocoLoco in pot, or 100%?
Water to runoff after about 3 weeks, and begin feeding when ppm calls for nutes?
Feed to runoff?
Feeding every day?
YouTube, here I come!
In my only 2 grows in soil my biggest concerns were when to water, how much and were the girls getting all they needed. What youāre describing sounds like those concerns will be taken care of.
And again, FF trio for nutes?
If I can wrap my head around this I think itās for meā¦
Thanks for any and all advice! 
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My pleasure Brother, youāll find this community is very generous with theyāre knowledge and only want to see folks succeed. I had a tremendous amount of help and my 1st indoor grow wasā¦letās say less than desirable. The watering daily during early seedling and daily feeding have so many benefits. I would not use the FF trio, I have and a lot of peeps have and still do. Itās notorious for minerals and salts building up in the root zone, they even recommend flushing monthly. This can craYe issues and with coco to run off daily thereās no chance of that happening. I switched to Jacks line of nutrients. 321 line first then switched to jacks for tap water. Itās amazing! Iāll tag you on my grow if you would like to see some progress pics
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Yea, please tag. Cool. Thanks!
And yes, my previous experience with this forum was top shelf. Everyone was generous with their support & suggestions.
The challenges I had as a complete beginner was from so many philosophies & tactics. I got lost in it all - especially since I was using the P4P kit & Soil.
But I did learn a bunch in spite of my lack of experience.
Iāll be harvesting my current session tomorrow. After that & clean up Iām going to start getting things in place for this next experience.
I look forward to watching your grow!
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You can layer your soil from less organic to more organic and get great results, put a layer of your strong soil on the bottom layer about 2 inches deep but "Never Pack Your Soil ; Only 3 or 4 Floor Taps , than in the middle put your Happy Frog 
and tap it and than top it off with Coco and as the roots grows , they will grow into the soil and not burn and you can control the ph much easier and find your dirt buffering range after watering and feeding, so learn how to feed by ppm and not just bottle instruction or mls or teaspoons , used your nutrient ppm reading for each plant stage and keep it consistent and easy as pie . I wrote a thread on super soil grows and how I layered my dirt to just a watering schedule for the entire grow I only adjusted ph and ppm thatās it and I feed nutrients from the drain pan Only in Organics soils and plain ph water from the top to feed additives and boosters to the micro life Only and the nutrient to the roots from the drain pan which if you learn that , you really will love the simplicity on what Iāve learn from my methods and strategies from many many years of experience legal and illegal but I say do a wicking system and layer your soil are you can build it before you plant them in it are top feed once a month to keep your dirt living to grow monsters real easily just donāt over water your plants . Many think just because the plants in a 3 gallon , you water with a full gallon each time is not really a good watering strategy , so basically you mimicking the auto pots manually kind of by adding to the drain pans whenever the plants wicks it all up and try to keep the top 2 inches of your soil dry the entire grow and you will be smooth sailing 
if you can figure out what all Iām saying , take my quirks and put in a system that works for you and walla youāll be hand cramping in about 5.5 months too
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Thank you for this info. And man, thereās a lot to take in.
When layering the soils - letās just use ffof & ffhf for example - so, a few inches deep at bottom of the OF, then HF and then coco?
Iām sorry, but my only experience with coco was with what came with P4P kit. It was mixed with the Superb Soil. Is it the same with your instructions - HF & coco blended, or layered as well? How much of each?
And, I have no comprehension of utilizing ppm of soil or runoff. Iām going to have to educate myself with this regardless of medium
Any suggestions where to acquire some beginner info on this?
Honestly, my only 2 grows have been with Superb Soil with little involvement other than obvious necessities. I went this route to see if I was truly interested in growing. My focus was just trying to keep them alive & happy.
So now, I do want to grow. And Iām going with a single plant so I can focus more on the details and science of my endeavor.
I did communing with my plants. They center me. And I want to be a better ātenderā for them. They deserve my best efforts. 
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@Willum donāt over think it 
, just get started and follow the basics very cautiously .
If you are in doubt do a slurry test on your soils and find the ph readings 
, if you not comfortable are donāt know how to buffer those ranges yet , you can always do a plain ph flushing through the soil once you get the pot filled and usually a few times prepping you can get your ph more balanced before you put your seeds in but you risk losing most of your starting micro life.
If my opinion , try to read the bags ingredients and try to get a reading refresher on the micro life and how to keep it living and than do a dry run for 3 days with lights fans everything and get your Temps and humidity dial in and you ready to dive in , the only way to learn this trade is by doing it and learning from the right and wrongs but if you learn to read the plants and not just try to force them to grow but allow them plenty of time to grow, a lot of waiting and patience but itās so hard when you donāt know whatās next , accept by doing it and once you learn EC or ppm and how to read your plants growth stages , you ll will be teaching me and out growing me for sure like 80 % of them here.
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Greetings!
Hope a direct message is ok. I have some questions and want to keep answers and suggestions simplified - in numbersā¦
So, I have set up my tent for this next grow and conditions have been consistent for a few days and ready to go.
I have decided to go with cocoloco thanks to your advice. I am going with a single Amnesia Haze auto in a 3gal fabric pot.
As I mentioned, I have no experience and very little understanding of EC and PPM.
Yesterday I filled a pot with the medium and watered it to approx 20% runoff as a practice run.
Tap water de chlorinated- 1 gal
EC:449
PPM:235
PH:7.8
I adjusted PH to 6.5
EC:485
PPM:246
Runoff
PH: 5.3
EC:7720
PPM: 3500
So I donāt even know how to evaluate these numbers. And are they even accurate, or am I doing the process incorrectly?
Sorry for so many questions.
Would you be willing to help me get my head around this?
I have other questions regarding the coco but I wonāt slurry-blast you with them until you give the go-ahead.
Again, sorry for all of these inquiries. Iāve been reading what I can and viewing too.
My learning model is more suited to visual instruction which makes this a challenge at times.
Thanks in advance for any assistance, insight or suggestions.
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Sorry for the delay brother, Iāve been down a week with the Flue. To practice with amended medium checking numbers before you get started is a great idea. Hereās how I learned and with the help of some great cultivators on here. The best way to check you mediums TDS and PH is with a slurry test. Take equal amounts of soil and distilled water, 1/4 cup each works and stir and dissolve. A good 18-24 rest period is recommended. Strain through a coffee filter and test. For TDS/PPMS most use the 500 scale (total dissolved solids/parts per million) of the solution. This will tell you how much nutrients are in the solution. Iāve had coco loco come out 850-1100 and that good. EC and TDS go hand in hand. Easy conversion is PPMs x 2 will give you your EC (electrical conductivity) frequent fertigation is the key to coco and keeping a schedule of the plants growth stage to how much to feed is super easy. Hope some of this helped, I drop my seeds right in coco loco after sprouting tails and have never had a problem. I water only for 3 weeks increasing the amount and start watering to run off around week 4 preflower with autos. Good time to check your run off numbers to adjust for adding nutrients to now start a routine feeding schedule
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