Hey guys! I want to update everyone on my current grow. As you know I am the unquestioned king of Coco Coir failure. Not a title I was looking to acquire. I have failed miserably attempting to grow in Coco Coir. My seedlings never get past a week. After one week I have 3 seedlings that just never grow. I know what the cycle is supposed to look like from watching my buddies grows. I’m not in the same ballpark in spite of having the same players. This time they only reached about an inch in height. The cotyledons opened and the leaves spread. Plant done growing. Zero growth after the first two days. Same as the previous 4 grows.
“How can you fail five times in a row bro? Come on! You need to change something up. Talk to other Coco growers…”
Between my buddies and this thread we are all baffled. I had my buddies, successful Coco Growers, watch and verify my process. Everything identical down to my environment which is better than theirs. No change.
All I can do is laugh at myself at this point.
My buddy doesn’t understand. I don’t understand either. I have made changes based on this forum and my buddies to do things the same as others who have no problem with the medium. Nope. No change.
Instead of the 1200w light I bought a seedling 100w light to start
I used Air Pots
I washed the Mothers Earth Coco Perlite mix BEFORE planting
I watered to runoff before planting and spray each morning. I water every two days lightly to keep the soil moist.
I always PH to 6
In spite of these known staples I still fail. Armed qith this knowledge I have to conclude one of two things.
A. Perhaps I do not understand Coco Coir as I thought I did and completely misconstrued the concepts in which to grow therin.
B. There is something in my environment I am unaware of that casue me to grow very small healthy looking plants that never grow in Coco Coir
That said, there will be a sixth and final attempt. It will not be in Coco Coir. I give up on the medium I was so enthused to work with. I no longer believe in it. This grow will be done in soil. That presents another huge problem. I’ve never grown anything a day in my life in soil. No odea how to manage it. So this effectively put me in the same space as Coco Coir having to learn how to manage the medium.
The other thing that concerns me is that I jave no point of reference. No experience to draw from with Soil. So while kinda enthused I’m also frustrated and terified of the unknown. I jave other buddies that grow in soil. I’ll reach out to them and post the results of the attempt. Should I fail out a sixth time I’ll know I do not have the intrinsic talent necessary to be a grower and I can happily move on with my life.
Thanks for all the support. I really do appreciate you all.
Until I got to the end of your post, I was going to say, just do soil… So now that you’ve come to that conclusion, it’s pretty simple. Get Fox Farm Happy Frog for soil. Plant your seeds directly into their final pot. Now, the next question is, do you want to go the organic route, or use nutrients? (jacks123, Fox Farm Trio, etc etc)
The soil alone will keep your plants happy and fed for about 4 weeks.
I would start with 60 watts for first 2-3 weeks until your seedlings grow roots and get established.
No need to water for the first 2 weeks.
Moisten your coco with your nutrients for every new batch.
Just cover your solo cups with a dome. And spray the dome twice a day for 2 weeks.
Usually number one killer of seedlings is over water.
Sounds like that maybe your case.
You will het some more experienced folks with some more knowledge.
Good luck
Agree with @Sincitytoker . I would add watering in a circle about 6” around the plant base to get the roots spreading out searching for water/nutrients
@Aiconic I feel your pain - well. I feel your utter loss for what to do. I was gifted a soil plant immediately after investing loads into a hydroponic setup (my seedlings also look wimpy beyond reason, but they are putting ALL their energy into developing roots so I guess that’s normal).
I can suggest a few things that I had to do abruptly without ever wanting to: Invest in some Captain Jack’s Dead Bug and neem oil now. Pests WILL show their face because good nutritious soil and a healthy plant make for a great bug snack.
Get a soil PH meter - I got a remarkably cheap one from Amazon that checks my light, moisture and PH in a very archaic way - if I planned to grow in soil in the future I’d spend an extra few bucks and just get a good meter.
Be ready to stare at your plant and wonder what it’s doing and catastrophize everything. I’m not sure why I feel like that’s unique to soil but in hydro I can check readings and sort of know (wrong reservoir temp, ph, not enough nutrients, etc) but soil involves watering or not watering, flushing, etc etc.
If you don’t already have it, I understand CalMag and silica are helpful - probably regardless of medium, but I guess CalMag isn’t supplied in most soils or maybe just not for long enough to keep your plant happy without eventual supplementation.
Others with experience rather than disdain for soil growing will chime in to give real advice.
Thanks OW. Appreciate the feedback. I have FoxFarm concentrated nutes. However, I am not averse to organic nutes or any other change at this point. I AM LOSING so change has to be good. I am leaving everything I thought I understood about growing and flushing it down the toilet. The worst part is now I can’t trust my own judgement. That puts me in a really bad spot.
Whatever I learn now will be directly related to soil. I’ve got some catching up to do. My greatest concern is bugs. A pain in the ass. That’s one huge reason Coco is a great choice for anyone that understands it well enough. No bugs to manage.
No reason to be spraying - seriously, new growers should be banned from having spray bottles, that constant spraying every day is not needed or good for the seedling. All ya gotta do is water the medium when needed.
Did not see any nutes being used, coco has none in it, best to start feeding right away in coco.
Good luck with soil and do your future plants a favor and put away the spray bottle.
Therein lies the confusion. Some growers say the polar opposite. Both approaches work. Being new I have no idea which side to choose or if choosing a side is even necessary.
Did you have them in a dome / did you happen to use the same spray bottle and spray the inside with the water / cal mag… which may then have dripped back onto the seedlings even if you didn’t spray them directly?
Do you have any pics of your set-up that you can share? Something is amiss here.
100% agree with @Hellraiser, whichever way you move forward, ditch the spray bottle.
Thanks Budz. Yes. I have an EC tool. Never used it. Never got to the point it became necessary with Coco. We’ll see how it goes. Gonna let these seedlings live another day or two and then can them if no change. They look good but I sincerely have no idea what to think at this point. I can’t tell what’s right or wrong anymore.
Some growers are wrong LOL. It’s a fact that seedlings do not need to be sprayed. I’ve never sprayed a seedling (or used a dome) in over 30 years of indoor growing and have successful harvest after successful harvest.
When you don’t know which side to choose, look at the growers results, mine are here for all to look at, my last 4 or 5 grows are all documented here in this forum in detail along with my methods and the results.
When you start your soil grow, try following my methods for watering and you’ll be off and running in no time, always works for me and works for the many new growers that follow my methods and now have their own successful harvest after successful harvest.
I went with cultivation nations 70/30 mix well see what happens. I got a cheap amazon light for seedling stage hoping it’ll be a little easier on it. It’s a Bruce Banner auto from ILGM so that should help
