1400w Psuedo-Hydro-Organic Coco mix: Nirvana Ice and my Element Zero

Shwagbag said:

I don't know how I've been missing this. Looking good. How is the Coco? Looks interesting, are they about ready for water in the latest pics?

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Hey Shwagbag, sorry it's taken me so long to get back to the thread. They were indeed about due for a water and feeding as up until this point they hadn't gotten much in the way of nutrition.

I have fed them on the 2nd, the 4th, and today the 6th. I'm at about 36 hours between waterings right now and will be stepping it up to one per day on the 8th and 9th. The solution I am using is 1.1ec and contains, per gallon, approximately: 5ml Canna Coco A+B, 3ml Cal-Mag Plus, 6ml Liquid Karma, and 3-4ml Pro-Tekt.

I am having a hard time picking a starting day. All of the plants were above ground and established by Feb. 17th, but some had been above ground since the 14th.... Depending on how you carve it my plants ages are from around 20 to 17 days old. Just shy of 3 weeks but more than 2.5 weeks. This puts them firmly in early vegetative life and no longer seedling stage.

The last watering/feeding that I will be doing on March 9th will be a root drench with solution containing a Kelp extract, General Hydroponics BioWeed, as well as the extract composite Liquid Karma and 1ml of Pro-Tekt. The pH will be balanced a little higher, at 6.0pH, as I am moving into Roots Organic Coco Mix the following afternoon. I am doing this to test these products effect on root building and stress reduction after a transplanting which will be happening around 3:00pm to 5:00pm on March 10th. The Roots Organic mix I am transplanting to will be flushed before hand to reduce the EC and then I will charge it slightly with 2ml/gallon of Cal-Mag Plus and 10ml/Gallon of Liquid Karma.

I will also be foliar feeding with a similar solution (including surfactant and 25ppm Epsom) to decrease stretching and enhance the production of rooting hormones.

Flowering begins March 14th/15th and I want to keep my media EC in check as I enter flowering. The utilization of organics during this period is essential for the transitional phase. The focus for me will be on the root zone as they fill the 2 gallon planters before I increase the overall EC with some bloom supplements.

What exactly does the pro-tekt do? Does this increase stem strength to support buds?

Nice update, looking forward to pics when you have them ready.

Shwagbag said:

What exactly does the pro-tekt do? Does this increase stem strength to support buds?

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Pro-Tekt is a potassium silicate supplement. It also raises the pH of my solution (not as useful right now).

A good percentage of the fibers of plants is silicon. This supplement provides that element in abundance as well as bringing in a touch more Potassium. I find that pure Canna A+B runs a little shy on potassium earlier in veg so these are used to balance the npk ratio.

Silicon has a variety of jobs in the plant. Electrically it has the same valence as Carbon (+/-4) and the plant uses it a bit like carbon to construct the fibers of the plant. Think of silicon in plants like Carbon in Iron. You add the carbon in the iron to make a stronger substance, Steel. In this case I'm supplementing silicon to my plants to build stronger fibers. This helps over time as the plants can mobilize more water and nutrition. It also benefits the natural immune functions of plants.

Dyna-Gro knows what's up.

Rock on, nice explanation. This is on my list per the recommendation of Riddleme. I'm going to start using some dyna-gro products and get away from the fox farm nutes and soils.

5 days can make a difference.



The Nirvana Ice:


And the Element Zero:


Sorry for being like an hour late with this.

Nice. Subbed and interested in the Nirvana Ice Good luck with it Snow

Impressive Snow. How long do you leave them in the cups? Healthy looking plants.

I have never grown in party cups before so I am not entirely sure how long I should be leaving these in there. I'm thinking one more week would be too long. It is getting kinda crowded as it is already and I don't want the roots to circle the cups that badly.

They are on the 6th/7th/8th nodes right now so I know I need to do it soon.

I could transplant on Tuesday but I'll probably wait until Thursday before moving into the 2 gallon mixture. I just got everything ready to go tonight. I am going to flush the planters tomorrow to get the mix at the right EC and moisture level for the transplant.

I'll throw up another update for sure when I get the 5x5 setup.

I am wondering how to get my system setup to be most efficient...
The 1000w HPS is in a reflector at the ceiling of the tent, dead center. My plan is to use a vertically mounted, uncovered, MH bulb in the center of the tent a foot or so off the top of the table (plant level). The 8 plants I select will be placed around the outside of the area surrounding the central bulb. The problem is that the horizontally mounted HPS is shining most of the 1000w worth of energy where there isn't a plant to grow.

My plan right now is to take a wing reflector and bend it out and shape it so that I can use the socket for the 400w vertical bulb and the reflector part to bounce the horizontal 1000w HPS light out from the center of the area and towards the plants.

I'm thinking of maybe getting one of those light spreaders as the only other option. Gotta figure it out sometime in the next 2 weeks probably, once I get them sexed.

Looking really good! Will def be following this thread, and your bud porn is awesome!!

Looking great man!

Thank you for all the support everyone. This grow is going pretty well and I'm feeling good about the earlier methods.

After checking the roots on one of the average aged plants I've decided I need to begin transplanting sooner than later.

The media I am using is less Roots Organic than I'd intended because I have 16 smartpots and each needed about 2.5 gallons of media. The plan was to use all the grow stones I had but it just wasn't enough. I had to add another gallon of coco or so per planter.

The final mixture is now about 45% coco, 35% Roots Organic, and 20% grow stones. It drains REALLY well in these SmartPots. I'm planning on feeding frequently and I'm thinking about adding a drip system or Blumats at some point.

Since I need to transplant soon I did some runoff of my planters. The solution I am using per gallon is 3ml A+B, 1ml Cal-Mag Plus, 3ml Liquid Karma, balanced to 5.9pH and 0.75ec. The planters needed 1 gallon of solution for saturation, everything else after than is run off. The first gallon of run off was around 1.45ec. The second gallon around 1.3ec. The third gallon came in around 0.9ec. As a result I was able to flush only 6 planters because I needed ~3.5 gallons per planter and only had so much clean water on hand. I am hoping to transplant tomorrow afternoon (40 fresh gallons off-gassing now) after getting the rest of the planters flushed.

I also just rearranged the entire grow room and need to redo the ventilation in anticipation of the warmer spring and summer so there's a lot of work for me in the grow room tomorrow if I want to get this shit transplanted at the right time. I still need a day to do the sea kelp extract root drench, and I procrastinate, so we'll see. I'm probably transplanting sometime in the next 48 hours though. Hopefully inside of 24.

What is your target runoff for the transplant? You kept flushing to reduce your nutrient content? I like the sounds of that soil mix. After the issues I had with my last grow am am really leaning towards something neutral, I'm still using the FFOF since I had 2 bags left.

Shwagbag said:

What is your target runoff for the transplant? You kept flushing to reduce your nutrient content? I like the sounds of that soil mix. After the issues I had with my last grow am am really leaning towards something neutral, I'm still using the FFOF since I had 2 bags left.

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My target run off for the media I am transplanting into is under 1.0ec when using a 0.75ec solution (within 25%).

I have been using a 1.1ec solution to feed the plants in the party cups so having about the same media EC will allow for a smooth transition to the bigger planter. It will be a while before I can really begin feeding and watering the media on a regular basis again so getting it clean and balanced beforehand is crucial to getting the transplanted roots to fill out the media and grow healthy and fast.

After the transplanting, and until March 17th, I'll be using 3ml of A+B, 3ml of Cal-Mag Plus, 10ml of Liquid Karma, and 3ml of Pro-Tekt for a final solution of around 1.0ec. I'll definitely be in 12/12 come March 17th, so then I switch up the ratios again. I'll cover that when I get there.

I found FFOF to not be bad stuff, but you can do better, I think BioCanna BioTerra and Roots Organic Coco Mix are way better.

Using so much additional coco fiber and grow stones reduces the nutrient profile of the mixture obtained from the Roots Organic mix in my media. This will allow me to let the organics to do their work during the first three weeks or so after transplanting while the roots establish. Then, once the organics are mostly depleted I can begin treating the media more like regular coco and increase my EC when in mid-Bloom.

In my head it all works out great

Here's a picture from tonight. Growing in leaps and bounds right now.

Looking good Snow Crash.
I will be awaiting the transplant pics. I have a feeling that I will be learning a lot from this grow.

B e a utiful!

I want to bone them.

Okay... Things have been tumultuous the last few days.

Starting on the 8th I finished flushing the rest of my coco and the transplanting began. During this time the light period needed changing, and I hadn't quite finished the ventilation, so CFL bulbs had been placed to keep the photo-period regulated.

After the transplant I had left one of the "windows" on the tent open and it looks like something got in there. Several of my plants nearest that window are nibbled on. I'm not sure if it was something that hijacked its way in on the Roots Organic or if it was my kitten just being hooligans.

Either way, several of my plants are missing a leaf or two and the new grow on about 3 plants looks like it got fimmed. Not part of the plan... but what can I do now?

Then, shortly after snapping these photos I'm removing the cfl bulbs and out of effing nowhere the clamp part of the light just breaks off and the bulb goes crashing down on top of a plant. Just epic fail all over. So that plant just got topped and super cropped by accident. At this rate, before I know it a spider is going to break into the tent and set up an unintended scrog for me.

Still, not a big deal. I have plenty of other healthy plants, only 5 of 18 are "injured."

Here are some pictures of the damage:


And here's the setup at the moment. I am still working on getting everything cleaned up but it's cruising alright thus far. A little new growth even in just 2 days. I figure it'll take 2 more days before I see much improvement on the healthy plants.

Those look good man. I have also seen similar leaf damage in my flower box, what do you think would cause that? I haven't seen anything in there or any evidence of critters. I did find a weird looking spider in there but exterminated his ass.

At this rate, before I know it a spider is going to break into the tent and set up an unintended scrog for me.

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ROFL This made me laugh out loud! Sounds like you have some good luck right now you should buy a lotto ticket!

Subbed for sure!