coco systems

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dougfresh

Active Member
I picked up a brick of coco gro from botanicare. I've grown hydro top feed recirculating drip systems with hydroton rocks as my media in the past. What is the best system to grow with coco? I know a top feed system works good but should I recirculate the nutrient solution or should I drain to waste? How is everyone else feeding their coco systems? By hand or automatic systems?
 
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UserFriendly

New Member
Drain-to-waste is going to be your bread and butter; just keep the run-off to a minimum and you're as good as it gets.

P.S. Anyone that is hand-watering is doing so only because they haven't yet setup the drip. ;-)
 
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dougfresh

Active Member
If I ran clones in small 1/2 gallon pots in coco and switch them to 12/12 as soon as they root how often would I need to water and for how long every day.
 
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UserFriendly

New Member
dougfresh said:
If I ran clones in small 1/2 gallon pots in coco and switch them to 12/12 as soon as they root how often would I need to water and for how long every day.
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There are different grades of coco that require different schedules. The finest grades of pith would need 15 minutes every other day or two, coir could go every other day or once a day, and chunky will need it 2 or 3 times a day.
 
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UserFriendly

New Member
curious.george said:
it seem like there would be a big use of nutes, I mean doesn't DTW cost a lot.
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Why should it be more expensive than any other method?

You water just long enough to saturate the coco, but any responsible grower is going to keep runoff to a minimum. No need to pump nutrient into the sewer. Just because it's called DTW doesn't mean you couldn't catch the runoff and recycle to the outdoors. It's really just another way of saying "non-recirculating".

Who's to say you couldn't premix a super-soil and just drip water? It doesn't need to be very complicated or wasteful; you just have to understand what you're trying to accomplish and see how the pieces fit together. Besides.... even in a recirculating system, you'll have to dump the res at some point.

Keep it simple.

EckoSky said:
Only have to water every other day.
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It also depends on the size of the plant compared to the container. Treat it like soil (watering schedule) and you'll be fine. ;-)
 
TheFaceMelter

TheFaceMelter

Active Member
I have a drip system with some plants in coco, and some plants just rockwool and rocks..In my opinion the coco just doesn't let the roots develop as much.
 
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TheFaceMelter said:
I have a drip system with some plants in coco, and some plants just rockwool and rocks..In my opinion the coco just doesn't let the roots develop as much.
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You're most likely watering too much.

Anyway, COCOed plants don't need as much root because of all the air at said rootball. It's the same thing with hydroton..... don't have it, don't need it. The roots from my MGMC grows are huge compared to coco, but the coco just flat out whips that ass.
 
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dougfresh

Active Member
Do i need two reservoirs one with the fresh nutes and then one that fills up with the runoff. could I just use saucers underneath my pots. I dont have a ton of height to work with so I'm trying to see if I can run an auto water system without having to place the res underneath the pots. Thanks for all the advice everyone especially userfriendly
 
codwalop

codwalop

Active Member
just saucers is fine, pot sitting in a small saucer, then that sitting in a bigger saucer will give you some buffer as well..

you will need a timer that does minutes...
 
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