Mandatory drain to waste with coco?

Is is mandatory to drain to waste using smart pots/coco? Or can you use drainage trays and let the pot soak up the runoff. 15-20% runoff with both methods. Want to use the drainage trays to keep more vertical space for bigger plants, but I do have a bunch of left over ebb/flo trays with the res’s i could use if i have to. Thanks for your advice! Much appreciated

Motogurl said:

Is is mandatory to drain to waste using smart pots/coco? Or can you use drainage trays and let the pot soak up the runoff. 15-20% runoff with both methods. Want to use the drainage trays to keep more vertical space for bigger plants, but I do have a bunch of left over ebb/flo trays with the res’s i could use if i have to. Thanks for your advice! Much appreciated

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Please help out!

Motogurl said:

can you use drainage trays and let the pot soak up the runoff.

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you can use a wick idea and insert an absorbent rope in the center of the coco.. that sucks up water and nute from the pot base

good luck

Motogurl said:

Is is mandatory to drain to waste using smart pots/coco? Or can you use drainage trays and let the pot soak up the runoff. 15-20% runoff with both methods. Want to use the drainage trays to keep more vertical space for bigger plants, but I do have a bunch of left over ebb/flo trays with the res’s i could use if i have to. Thanks for your advice! Much appreciated

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You don't want your pots sitting in trays to soak up the runoff. Draining to waste prevents salt buildups in coco. That doesn't happen if your pot is sitting in the runoff and allowed to soak it

Motogurl said:

Please help out!

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You do not want the pots sitting in the runoff. Drain to waste is pretty self explanatory. You're draining to waste which means discarding the runoff. If you allow the pots to sit in the water soaking the nutrient solution back up you will get nutrient salt buildup, the coco will stay too wet, and your plants won't like it.

Weed don't like wet roots

they can drown

and get moldy

probably not much of a suggestion in the winter, but i dump my runoff into a bucket, and use it in the garden outside. no point in just wasting it if theres a use for it. you just have to make sure you water with the hose a little, too, for pretty much the same reason, don't want the salts to build up too much

but yeah, coco pretty much requires drain to waste, if you try to treat it like soil, it won't work well

Pick one or the other and stay commited. Plant size smaller than a foot top feed. Autopots subfertigate. 2 inches of growstones at the bottom....

Great Thanks for the feedback