Ok. You said you were using soft tap water, which sounded like you’re using water from a softener. Your town’s tap water is 0 ec? Zero? Really? That’s what water run through a 4 or 5 stage r/o unit comes out measuring. That’s lucky for you if your town pumps out absolutely pure water from its water treatment plants.
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One of the world’s best water supplies 
Here are 3 out of my 7 plants. I am using ProMix bx with added perlite, organic nutes from Earth Juice, AN’s root trio, and nftg Persephone’s Palate Demeter’s Destiny. I started feeding nutes at 7 days. I am running my plants under a dimmable quantum board at 155w (and increasing power every other day). Keeping the pH at around 6.4. The #'s are the days from germination.
As you can see, every grow is different. Coco & Promix are similar in that they’re both soil-less, but Promix has different pH needs. Other than that, I’ve seen people treat Promix like coco or soil, depending on their view.
That being said, you don’t need to feed immediately upon germination, because there’s really no root system to absorb the nutrients.
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They look soooooo nice…green and juicy 
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They had pH issues at the beginning b/c I’m learning this new medium, but once I got the pH set, they really started going. The first set of leaves on all of them look awful, b/c of the pH issues.
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@blackthumbbetty - do you count germination from the time the tap root first appears, or when the cotyledons appear?
my plants are about 28 days old (from tap root appearing) and still less than 6cm tall and tiny leaves.
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Hey, you know what else can cause stunting? A calcium deficiency. If your water is basically r/o water, I bet your plants could use some calcium. Not too much, but a small dose via soil drench or via foliar feeding.
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I count it from the time the first single fingered serrated leaves start growing in earnest. The plants in the pics are all in their final 5 gallon homes. They’re about 3"-6" tall.
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That thought had crossed my mind!
I’m hoping that by feeding as per the Canna guide - they’ll get enough calcium (and magnesium) - calmag supplements for coco is a touchy subject
It’s a tricky business because everyone’s water is different!
I’m off to check the calcium levels in Canna A+B
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From the Canna site
When the water used to mix nutrients is very soft, then the concentration of nutrients has to go up or the coco will rob the nutrients and a Calcium deficiency will begin to show. This is exactly due to these issues. With the popularity in Reverse Osmosis systems sky-rocketing, this issue is seen more and more often. Growers plan to use pure water, feed lightly to avoid burn and feed often to keep things pumping. This however is avoidable by adding back some of the original water to buffer the water once more. There is no other very effective cure and the throwing of a Calcium/ Magnesium product at the problem gets worse over time. Adding a higher EC of the nutrients is a better and safer option.
This could be my issue and exactly why no feeding early on has caused my issues.
Maybe.
Hi there, you mentioned first grow. Well you dove right into not using the KISS method and started complicated right off the bat. First off you nute burned your plant, growing in coco for the first time is hard. I would check your PH/PPM pen, throw it away and buy the expensive one. Most people who first start out (so you don’t get frustrated and quit), with Fox Farms Ocean Forest and nutes. The soil is already “ready” ph balanced and nutes release when watering. Then after about 3 weeks you introduce the nutes for the first time at half strength and increase slowly, Feed twice a week by the schedule. As you get a few grows under your belt then start going Pro. Different soils, maybe RO water which is the best because you start out with either zero PPM or close to it and not all the bull crap the city water has it it. PPM is very important, PH is very important, Make double sure they are accurate. I see your seedling stretching, Well two things cause that from what I have experienced, light sucks, or light too high, I know the reccomendations from the manufacturer say one thing but I say hog wash. If you can put your hand over top of plant and it not get hot you are ok, you can control the distance between nodes with the light. I have had to have the light a foot awa
y to stop that stretch , you can also transplant it and put the dirt higher and won’t hurt it. I know every one wants to grow the biggest baddest plant but that comes with years of experience. Also you can over think this, don’t make it harder than it has to be. Get into complication after a few grows and smoking a few buds. Check my grow Journal out, @zparkie2 All Fox Farms and I am happy with now, but I know I will advance maybe some day and buy the 40 dollar bottle of nutrients. This is my first indoor grow with cheap ass blurple lights and Fox Farms got me slowly learning and advancing. Thanks for reading and hope your grows are heavy and successful. second time around my indoor grows got better, Experience is the best teacher.
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One more, 4th indoor grow, FFOF, this is three plants, this pic is 3 weeks so far of 12/12. Good luck. Thx for reading.
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Wake and bake. I’ll probably be philosophical and chatty …
Remember that everyone’s grow habits will be different. From nute brand, to medium type, to lights, to tents…30 growers will give you 30 different methods that produce enjoyable buds, but the one thing they have in common is some type of timing and patience. My methods combine easily 8 different growers I’ve followed from here, youtube and other places which is why I never knock another’s methods. You need to absorb everything and become grower 31 (so to speak).
First, my pic is from Day22 and may have been 4" tall at the time. That girl is long since harvested. I always count from absolute Day 0, the minute the seed first touches water and I try to always type my Day# in my posts.
Second, my feed water is RO with ppms near 20, and the pH is about 6.8. My Tap water is 160 ppm and I forget the pH but it’s a little higher.
Third, I almost went with Coco, but a 45 minute conversation with a grower at Advanced Nutrients changed my mind and I went with ProMix. I get out what I put in.
Now while I like starting from Zero, plants do need the little nutrients which come from tap water and as @blackthumbbetty and the Canna site mention, you may want to add a little Cal-Mag. I use Botanicare and I only add about 1.5 ml to 1 gallon when it’s time to feed.
As for your question: I don’t know why Canna would say that but manufacturers are like growers and are not created equally. As an example, I know first hand that AN messed up their “Beginner” feeding chart about a year ago, which probably caused a lot of people (such as myself) to fry their plants. #ItHappens
I do find it very odd that city water is at zero. Just traveling through the pipes would create some natural leaching. Have you actually checked from your tap with a ppm meter or just their website?
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um, at 7.0 it is not actually, a “Drinking Water”
Thanks for reading and posting everyone! Much appreciated. And yep - each grow is different and each grower is different as well!
I’ll try to answer a few questions…
ph
I’ve got a Bluelab PH pen and a Bluelab EC meter. Both are working. They aren’t Chinese
With an aquarium background, I’ve also got a cupboard full of test tubes and tests for ph, gh/kh, N, P, etc, etc. Everything checks out. I’m pretty confident with my readings.
My tap water registers 0 EC using my Bluelab EC pen. This corresponds to the water supply website. I’m very close to the water supply - only a few miles away. All the pipes from the supply to my house are around 30 years old. It really is some of the purest city water in the world. The water actually comes out of the tap at ph7.2 but if let to sit, falls to ph7.0 after a few hours.
stretch
I’m not sure they are stretching. They are only 5-6cm tall - 2-2.5 inches - I think the tiny leaves make it look like it’s stretched.
Why did I choose coco?
Yep, I dove right it at the deep end (well, someone talked me out of going straight into DWC )
I come from an aquarium background and planted tanks are my thing. I’m familiar with ph, tds, ec, ppm, as well as fertilizer ratios, trace elements, deficiency signs, etc, etc, etc. I also run pressurized CO2 into my fish tanks so I’ve got a fairly decent understanding of water chemistry. For what it’s worth, I have to add the fish tank equivalent of CalMag to my fish tank water as well. It took a long time to connect that fact to growing in coco.
For me, the grow is not only about the end result. This is kinda like a new challenging hobby for me. I like high tech, challenging, complicated things KISS? That’s just not in my vocabulary 
.
I’m going to persist with Coco - it was the challenge I set myself. For better or for worse!
TLDR:
Thanks guys, much appreciated.
Tap water really is EC 0 and PH 7.
I’m a bit OCD
I’m a bit masochistic
Bought some Calmag and will supplement the 2 new seeds.
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I just checked all my water, tap water was over 400 ppm, (comes out of reservoir from lake) all the other water , drinking water, spring water, purified water, and all had some sort of PPM’s , the only water that I tested that had 0 ppm was my distilled water. I looked on line for an American made PPM tester and it looks like everything is made in China. They just package up the high dollar stuff fancier, give you PH solutions you don’t have to mix. PH is funny, I got Apera and It gives me a different PH reading every time I dip it in the water. I found if you don’t wait a few minutes between testing after you dry it off you will get crazy readings.
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Sounds like ur learning. N thats all that matters. Best of luck with the lil ladies… any change?
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