First coco grow. Using Roots Organics Coco. Did Ann the washing and buffering. On a 12/12 water cycle. Coco seems VERY wet. I read it should be fine due to coco and O2 gaps etc. I just sprouted and I’m very small fan of seeding bags. is it normal for the medium to gel so we?
Show pics of your setup / environment
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It’s a run of the mill home setup. 2x4 tent, S6 exhaust fan, circ fans, humidifier (I’m in the desert) HLG lights. Can post more details, but (and absolutely no offense meant) this is more of a “is coco like this” question. I kinda excepted it to run much more dry that this. I think is because I come from a soil past. But expected to come home from work today 12 hrs later and find drier medium.
No environmental reasons from my perspective. Have nothing but the light running and it’s at 70F and 50% RH.
Have had them them domed but removed this evening. Again we are talking about 24hr old sprouts. So more of a general coco growing question
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For seedlings, in coco, you don’t have to necessarily keep it wet. But once they really start vegging, after getting settled in, it’s important to keep coco pretty moist. Daily feedings to runoff.
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Copy. I am skipping tonight’s watering and I’ll see how it feels in the am.
I was gonna explain how I do it but someone else does a much better job than I ever could. Spend some time on the cocoforcannabis website and you’ll get up to speed on growing in coco quickly. Tons of information on there for every aspect of growing in coco.
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I was just wondering what your set up looks like so I could decipher watering habits 
usually you want to keep coco wet but when they’re seedlings you don’t water as often as you could make your seedlings waterlogged, also depends on temps a bit
Currently in my own and buffering my own as well.
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Thx mate. Read through that side a couple times now. I guess I was just expecting the medium to lose the moisture. It is what it is. I’ll work though it.
Appreciate the response.
Gotcha. Thanks for the info. Shitty pic but you can see have small seeding pots elevated in solo cups. Just light on. Just checked and it looks like one is about to break through. So might just be my lack of experience and misconceptions of what coco would be like.
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Roots puts out quite a few coco mix products. Which one?
I use a 70/30 maybe 60/40 canna coco and perlite mix. I start with coco bricks and mix my own. Nothing else is added.
When I first put the germinated seed in the mix I wet it down. Not soaking or dripping through but more than just damp. I put the pot under a humidity dome and don’t touch it for a couple days. When the top of the coco has turned a lighter color I add 20 -30ml of water. As the seedling grows I increase the amount which is about every other day.
5 days from sprouting
Before watering
I use a 10x20 seedling tray with dome. The dome keeps temp and humidity in a good range
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@Borderryan22, @beardless, let me jump in here for a quick question.
This is my first time in coco alone, and am starting some small plants that will go in my first AutoPots. I seem to be having a hard time adjusting to the pale color of the plants in coco. I have found that scratching a little worm castings into the surface of the coco gives the plants a much greener color. Am I causing any problems by doing this?
They just want more nitrogen, I think by adding worm castings you’re removing the effectiveness of the coco, since it’s more of a soil consistency. Also, I’m pretty sure it takes around 2 weeks for worm castings to start working.
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I need more coco, and will pick some up today. If time I will pre charge the coco with full strength nutrients, instead of 1/2 strength as last time. I am only using less than a teaspoon of castings in the top of a solo cup, and I can see a big difference in just a day or two.
I just didn’t think that one would start out feeding in coco heavier than starting out in a hydro grow. But apparently this not the case, you may need to start out hot and heavy.
Besides charging the coco with full strength Jacks I start feeding when I plant the germinated seed. I start at 300 - 400 ppm
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I’m like @beardless: I start Jack’s at around 400 ppm once plant is transplanted. Very spare with the watering until plant fills out it’s final home then coco remains damp to wet until harvest. I’m using autopots as well.
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The people at my local HTG, talked me into this coco perlite blend, and assured me that it will work great with an AutoPot. Not sure why I have some doubts, maybe it is because he said that AutoPot recommends it.
Anyone use this or know anything about it?
Royal Gold Tupur Fertilizer Mix
Royal Gold Tupur was designed with the idea of feeding your plant as much and often as possible. Though not your typical 70/30 coco perlite blend, it is a blank slate to create your own high-performance feeding regimen. As a coco fiber-based soilless medium, it requires high levels of calcium and magnesium to unlock its true potential. With an astounding balance of oxygen and water holding capacities, Tupur can be watered up to 1-6 times a day! This makes it an ideal choice for automated watering systems, especially drip (drain to waste or recirculating), Ebb and Flow. Even deep water culture and aquaponics thrive in this unique and versatile blend. Yet it still excels in hand-watered container gardens, with organic OR conventional feeding programs. This versatility has been key in Tupur quickly becoming a household name for cultivation experts and enthusiasts from coast to coast.
Instructions:
Tupur is a soil-less high porosity mix that allows the gardener to control the total nutrient application. Tupur can be used in conventional; and hydroponic style gardens and in containers of all types. Feed 1 to 6 times a day depending on the size of your container and the size of your plant. Use your favorite complete hydroponic or organic fertilizer at the suggested application rate. Decrease the fertilizer rate by 1/3 to 1/2 if there is no runoff.
Ingredients:
35-45% coco fiber, aged forest materials, perlite, basalt.
Not really a fan of that part. I think a straight coco/perlite is your best bet.
Be sure to set your pot (I use 3 gallon fabric pots) with a 2" layer of Hydroton.
First time I’ve heard of this.
Those were my concerns as well, and they just kinda danced around the answer about what aged forest products are.
I think if no one can tell something good from experience about Tupur. I will order a two pack of 70/30 Fox Farm coco from GGM since I need some nutrients also. This will get the free shipping at above $75, and their prices really smokes the local shop when shipping is free.
I ordered the four pack of the 3.7 gallon AutoPots. Thought that the four individual set ups would be more flexible.
I also ordered the new AutoPot Air Bases. These are a new plastic base that you set on top of the root control disk, and it lets you skip the stones in the bottom of the container. They also make a round version of these.
I want to say that I ordered the Air Bases, a filter, and a couple cut off valves from AutoPot USA, this was the best online service ever. Shipped two hours after order was placed, and package was in my mailbox in two days.
If these are air domes, I’ve used them and the bottom half of the pot is supposed to be Hydroton. I don’t think I’d run coco all the way to the bottom of the pots for fear of too much moisture wicking up. I ran the plastic pots with air domes but didn’t like running a big air pump so went to fabric pots with better results.
That was a 10 oz plant.
It is new from AutoPot, and is made to work with the air dome or without it. It comes with a blank off plug for the center if not using the air dome. The instructions tells you to pack the little cylinders that is in the base with the medium, and this insures that the solution will wick up. Maybe an improvement on how it wicks up the solution, not sure since I have never used one.
I also have used a diy 5 gallon bucket with air injection,(not an air dome), using perlite to cover the air outlet, and soil with perlite. My last grow of a one plant in a 2x3 using the diy bucket gave me 12 ounces. It was not near as petty as your plant thought. But I kinda have come to not mind ugly very much.
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