Lazy Man Wants to Use Coco....

I like things to be simple, but I want to use coco coir. I will take the time to pre-soak the coco in a strong calmag solution to prep it, but after that I don’t want to measure anything except the ph of the water. Do any of you growers use Jack’s Classic 20-20-20 fertilizer to grow weed in coco? I really want to just use the 1tbs plastic cup that comes in the tub and eyeball about 1/3 or 1/2 to get the strength of the fertilizer about right, set the ph around 6 and water the plants. Do any of you guys take this lazy approach to growing in coco?

If your lazy dont go coco. It needs daily love atleast thats my understanding

How will you eyeball through the whole process? 1 scoop in 5 gal is around.3 ec. 3 scoops is .8 . I only know cause ive been experimenting this run w classic trip 20

bam0813 said:

How will you eyeball through the whole process? 1 scoop in 5 gal is around.3 ec. 3 scoops is .8 . I only know cause ive been experimenting this run w classic trip 20

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Hypothetically, if I started out at 1/4 strength and watered 1 quart per plant and the plants responded well, then I would up the strength (slightly) when the plants needed more water, say 2 quarts per plant. How could such a process cause problems?

Most quality bagged coco comes pre charged with calcium nitrate. If you want to use a one part nutrient, I'd go with Maxibloom, but if you really want to use the Jack's, then I'd still use an ec meter to test the EC of the scoop you want to use per gallon. Once you know how much to add to get to your target EC, then you can just use the scoop...or better yet, a scale....and it will be easy and accurate to mix up your nutes.

Rurumo said:

Most quality bagged coco comes pre charged with calcium nitrate. If you want to use a one part nutrient, I'd go with Maxibloom, but if you really want to use the Jack's, then I'd still use an ec meter to test the EC of the scoop you want to use per gallon. Once you know how much to add to get to your target EC, then you can just use the scoop...or better yet, a scale....and it will be easy and accurate to mix up your nutes.

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@Rurumo That sounds reasonable. Should I just add the ppm of the water to the ppm of the nutes? For example, if the ppm of the tap water is 300ppm and my target nutrient ppm is 800, should I just set the target ppm to 1100? I have to use tap water.

Buds N Brew said:

I like things to be simple, but I want to use coco coir. I will take the time to pre-soak the coco in a strong calmag solution to prep it, but after that I don’t want to measure anything except the ph of the water. Do any of you growers use Jack’s Classic 20-20-20 fertilizer to grow weed in coco? I really want to just use the 1tbs plastic cup that comes in the tub and eyeball about 1/3 or 1/2 to get the strength of the fertilizer about right, set the ph around 6 and water the plants. Do any of you guys take this lazy approach to growing in coco?

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Sounds like you want to use soil.

If you want to be lazy then coco is far from the right choice of medium unless you have an automated feeding system and waste drain.

I don't really measure my EC or PH in coco anymore, but that's only because I have multiple coco grows under my belt which I did religiously measure. Now I know exactly what ratio of Jacks 321 the plants like, and how much ph adjusters are needed to be in range. Sometimes I will measure anyway, but last few times I did check, I was right on target.

My 2 cents is you should make a decision on if you are gonna be to lazy to fertigate the way coco should be.If you can/plan to go automated ok,move on to your nute questions.Hand watering coco(ask me how i know)is a chore,can't be lazy as a hand waterer<<kewl word.But if things get dry to often you're not going to like coco more than likely.

Shit! Forgot to water,thanks for the reminder.Lol I just mix 30ml A ,30 B pinch of epsom and half an eye dropper of ph down.I have a line on my pail.

If ya want real easy get a sip with some good soil and your set.My main are sips, I dabble in coco just for fun.But dam remember to feed them twice a day isnt easy.Good luck.

It’s easier to remember that you don’t have to remember to hand feed them lol.

Just empty runoff every other day or 3 lol and refill the reservoir once a week.

I think promix is your "happy medium", no pun intended.

Coco can be super simple if you setup a simple irrigation setup.

I'd stick with pre-charged coco, meaning you transplant and water in. No prep required. I'd also stick with Jacks 5-12-26. Think I might be a life with Jacks... it's just so good.

2klude said:

I think promix is your "happy medium", no pun intended.

Coco can be super simple if you setup a simple irrigation setup.

I'd stick with pre-charged coco, meaning you transplant and water in. No prep required. I'd also stick with Jacks 5-12-26. Think I might be a life with Jacks... it's just so good.

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Coco is meant to be fertigated often, not watered in.

For a 1 part you really can't beat MaxiBloom.

For an easy no daily watering in coco with no dealing with runoff, timers, pumps, etc... Blumats are great. Some can't seem to get their groove down using them but others wonder why they didn't use them sooner. Gravity fed. All you need is a reservoir higher than the pots and once you get them set you just keep the reservoir from running dry. Size of the reservoir determines how often you have to mix nutrients. If you're lazy there's really no better option with coco other than a capillary mat system.

Top photo is what a Blumat is. Bottom photo are plants grown in coco with Blumats.

PJ Diaz said:

I don't really measure my EC or PH in coco anymore, but that's only because I have multiple coco grows under my belt which I did religiously measure. Now I know exactly what ratio of Jacks 321 the plants like, and how much ph adjusters are needed to be in range. Sometimes I will measure anyway, but last few times I did check, I was right on target.

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This is where I would eventually like to be. I think for this (outdoor) grow, I'll stick with FFOF and some worm castings. Nice and simple.

Buds N Brew said:

This is where I would eventually like to be. I think for this (outdoor) grow, I'll stick with FFOF and some worm castings. Nice and simple.

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If you want to save a little money, use the Pro Mix that Menards carries, it cost me $13 a bail for last years outdoor run.
And my plants didn't care one bit, I will reuse last years that's still in the boxes, I'll just add a bit of amendments, and away we go.
IMO, the "cheap" $13 a bag Pro Mix did just as good as FFOF, and was half the price.

Kgrim said:

If you want to save a little money, use the Pro Mix that Menards carries, it cost me $13 a bail for last years outdoor run.
And my plants didn't care one bit, I will reuse last years that's still in the boxes, I'll just add a bit of amendments, and away we go.
IMO, the "cheap" $13 a bag Pro Mix did just as good as FFOF, and was half the price.

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Thanks @Kgrim. I'm all for saving a buck.

For jacks run their RO formula with RO and their Tap formula for tap, for optimal results run their bloom & finish formulas per their feed chart and include their Epsom salt. I use their veg formula for veg & clones and it works fine. I just keep it around 1.6 EC to not burn the new plants. Epsom Salts is a must unfortunately or you'll see yellowing, especially with LED in my personal experience..

Not so much of a "1 part" after all.

Autopots or a capillary set up are ideal for busy growers they're almost maintance free you only need to keep a reservoir filled.

Buds N Brew said:

I like things to be simple, but I want to use coco coir. I will take the time to pre-soak the coco in a strong calmag solution to prep it, but after that I don’t want to measure anything except the ph of the water. Do any of you growers use Jack’s Classic 20-20-20 fertilizer to grow weed in coco? I really want to just use the 1tbs plastic cup that comes in the tub and eyeball about 1/3 or 1/2 to get the strength of the fertilizer about right, set the ph around 6 and water the plants. Do any of you guys take this lazy approach to growing in coco?

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Your solution is Earth Dust.
3/1-Coco/perlite
Sprinkle on the earth dust.
Water.
Bloom comes, sprinkle some more and continue watering.
12 plants - 50$
Reuse medium.