Deficiency using COCO + Led Strips??

Prawn Connery said:

IMO, the biggest mistake people make when switching to coco is to treat it like soil or soilless, and not as a hydroponic media, which is essentially what it is - a mostly inert (decomposition aside) hydroponic media with better buffering and moisture retention. Treat it like hydro and you will get the best results.

View attachment 4236050
The only time I let my coco dry out is right before harvest.

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mix of 50/50 coco and perlite ?

Prawn Connery said:

I'm not sure how you're testing runoff if you are watering without runoff

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Have you ever ran coir the way I am? Have you tried any different techniques using coir?
I am not disagreeing with your general assessment of the use of coir and I would never tell a newer grower to do it my way, but to say it won't work because of salt build-up problems, when I can show you plenty of pic of my grows doing it without problems. Here's a root shot of a 3 month old mother and it's pot fed 400 ppm every other day.

Or shots of healthy plants grown the way I do.

Do these plants look like they have a problem with salt build-up ?
As I said I don't disagree with most of your comments on coir but to say if you don't have run-off you'll experience salt build-up, I think I've proven that with the right nutrient profiles and not overfeeding you can grow in coir with-out run-off.

Rather than critique your grow - it's a constant learning curve for all of us - perhaps you can just explain what the benefit is of watering without runoff? And why there are drip trays in each photo?

In answer to your first question, yes I've tried many different techniques with coco over the past 16 years: everything from ebb-and-flow to recirculating hydro, hand-watering and my current run-to-waste systems.

Sup OP. Ive been runnin Megacrop and coco under led for a while now. its slight mag deficiency imo. ive spoken to megacrop about their lack of mag and they said theyre gonna sort it. i run RO and have to add epsom salts and bump it by 75ppm

i feed 3 times a day in flower, run off very little and never go above 1.1ec. flowering 12 strains like that at the mo, all happy af. works for me.

Mag deficient leaves wont get better

Dave455 said:

mix of 50/50 coco and perlite ?

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Sure. It dries out quicker, but it's also a bit airier than straight coco and can produce excellent results. These plants were grown with a proprietary 70/30 coco/perlite mix:

I set this grow up, but I don't run perlite in my personal grow because I compost my coco after each grow. I also like the added insurance of having a hydro medium that retains a bit of moisture, as it can save crops due to pump or timer failures that may go unnoticed for 2-3 days. Timer failures are not uncommon. In addition to nutrient buffering, coco also provides a good buffer against heat. It's the best compromise, IMO, between soil/soilless and recirculating hydro that can be prone to pythium and other anerobic pathogens if solution temperatures rise about 25C, as they can do in summer. I also use hybrid organic nutrients.

lukio said:

Sup OP. Ive been runnin Megacrop and coco under led for a while now. its slight mag deficiency imo. ive spoken to megacrop about their lack of mag and they said theyre gonna sort it. i run RO and have to add epsom salts and bump it by 75ppm

i feed 3 times a day in flower, run off very little and never go above 1.1ec. flowering 12 strains like that at the mo, all happy af. works for me.

Mag deficient leaves wont get better

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Mg is a mobile nutrient, so leaves can improve, but over time. The problem with a magnesium deficiency is that, by the time you notice it in the leaves, it has already been deficient for some time. Slightly red stems, petiols and new shoots, accompanied by slight slower growth can be a sign.

im4satori said:

did he say hes not getting run off???
I guess I missed that or skimmed it to quickly and thought he said hes getting run off

ya man ^^^ all that

@Prawn Connery
I hadn't gone backward and read your posts or id realized you already covered it

everything he said was absolutely on point....except im a lower EC feeding guy so id not raise the EC if they don't look hungry but I also water frequently and find with frequent watering you can run a lower EC and mitigate the need to flush or salt build ups

and Id consider lower the K IF you cant seem to correct a magnesium def despite extra Epsom

ive seen guys in coco keep adding and adding Epsom and chase magnesium def the entire grow because the K was too high

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Apparently when COCO isn't buffered (mine definitely isn't) it can take a long time for the whole Cation Exchange thing to work it self out. Even if you're feeding Cal & Mag at levels much higher of what you usually feed.

lukio said:

Sup OP. Ive been runnin Megacrop and coco under led for a while now. its slight mag deficiency imo. ive spoken to megacrop about their lack of mag and they said theyre gonna sort it. i run RO and have to add epsom salts and bump it by 75ppm

i feed 3 times a day in flower, run off very little and never go above 1.1ec. flowering 12 strains like that at the mo, all happy af. works for me.

Mag deficient leaves wont get better

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What i'm doing now, is that i basically left the Megacrop dosage the same (~900 ppm or so), and added a little bit of Jacks cal-nit, and a bit of Epsom salt in the order mentioned before...

I've also continued using the foliar magnesium, and they're definitely getting greener, also the new leaves look a tad better, i'll be posting pics tonight if i have the time

I'm not planning on indefinitely increasing the nutrient levels though, if they keep getting better i'll keep this dosage all the way to the end. Unless i notice too much accumulation obviously... I'm also running different strains so they may react differently to nutrient levels

Prawn Connery said:

Mg is a mobile nutrient, so leaves can improve, but over time. The problem with a magnesium deficiency is that, by the time you notice it in the leaves, it has already been deficient for some time. Slightly red stems, petiols and new shoots, accompanied by slight slower growth can be a sign.

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I think we caught this deficiency in time, because i haven't noticed any red stems and they're steadely growing, they seemed to slow down for a day or 2 about a week ago, but now they're just blowing up

Prawn Connery said:

Rather than critique your grow - it's a constant learning curve for all of us - perhaps you can just explain what the benefit is of watering without runoff? And why there are drip trays in each photo?

In answer to your first question, yes I've tried many different techniques with coco over the past 16 years: everything from ebb-and-flow to recirculating hydro, hand-watering and my current run-to-waste systems.

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Like I said, I have no problems with how you grow.
But I have to pay for my water plus run RO so you see wastefulness is not a option for me. Bad enough my RO unit runs a 1 to 1 ratio and with 400 ppm out of the tap I have to run it.
As for the drip trays, safety and a lot of my plants get set on concrete floors as you can see in half the pics. and as such it sucks moisture and heat out of the root zone without a barrier between the pots and the concrete.

Hey guys, thought i should update with this picture from day 21. Since they're all hovering around 7 nodes i thought it was a good time to give them the first topping.

Generally, they're getting healthier and the roots are super white and healthy!

There is still a slight issue in some of the leaves, check in the pics below.

Thanks for the support everyone =]

Prawn Connery said:

Sure. It dries out quicker, but it's also a bit airier than straight coco and can produce excellent results. These plants were grown with a proprietary 70/30 coco/perlite mix:
View attachment 4236310
I set this grow up, but I don't run perlite in my personal grow because I compost my coco after each grow. I also like the added insurance of having a hydro medium that retains a bit of moisture, as it can save crops due to pump or timer failures that may go unnoticed for 2-3 days. Timer failures are not uncommon. In addition to nutrient buffering, coco also provides a good buffer against heat. It's the best compromise, IMO, between soil/soilless and recirculating hydro that can be prone to pythium and other anerobic pathogens if solution temperatures rise about 25C, as they can do in summer. I also use hybrid organic nutrients.

Click to expand...

That is pretty bad ass!!!