@BetrayedSoul Okay no freaking out. What should my watering schedule be? Research says I should keep coco moist. How high should I put the lights?
I appreciate all help! Please let me know anything else I should adjust moving forward.
I would have lights at at least 18. And move up from there as needed.
Shouldnāt you water every day ?
At least once a day at ph 5.8 and water to runoff. Never let coco dry out.
Who is a coco grower that can help ? @repins12 I ask you because you know everyone lol
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@BetrayedSoul Okay sounds good. I moved that light up for sure. Remember, Iām using organic dry amendments, so Iām not sure if I need to be phing the water all the way down to 5.8, I think that might be too low for organic.
Iāve been trying to keep it in the range of 6.5-6.8, usually 6.5 every time. I watched all of Mattās videos on YouTube lol, and thatās where he phs his organic dry amendments. But obviously this girl might want that ph a lil lower.
Lots and lots of research suggests that I shouldnāt be using coco with organic dry amendments. But I didnāt it anyway lol. So here we go. Too late to turn back now!
Thanks for your help!
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I grow in coco and the whole purpose of growing in an inert medium, is you can feed what the plant wants and not have to worry about other stuff interfering because you know exactly what is in it! I vary my ph from 5.5-6.5 because minerals uptake at different phās, with 5.7-5.9 being my sweet spot( where it is most of time)
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Iām sorry I sound so repetitive but I just have to ask. @Holmes are those ph ranges for coco safe to use for an organic dry amendment grow? I donāt use salt nutes, just dr. Earth organic dry amendments, worm castings, mycorrhizae in (cal/mag) buffered coco coir with 25% perlite.
Research indicates (lol Iām such a newb) that we should ph our water differently for coco with organic dry amendments vs. coco with salt nutes. Lmk, I appreciate it!
Happy growing:)
Man I cant find much on it, some people say do not do it, some say it is great? As far as ph goes I would try something in the middle!
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I think @Holmes has it covered but, @CoyoteCody @PremiumBudzBlondie and I think that @Bulldognuts is either using coco or is going to be using coco. I think @imSICKkid is or was using it as well. I can probably think of a few more, in a minute. I seem to have a severe case of the CRS since, I have been feeling a bit under the weather 
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You will want your pH range between 5.8 and 6.0 for coco
You dont need to necessarily water everday but should water atleast every 3 days. You never want your coco to dry out as many issues will accure. Best way to tell is fill the same size pot with dry coco , get a feeling for that weight, now do the same right after you water one of your plants. This way you will know what fully watered and dry feels like. Once you lift the pot and its more on the dry side than the watered side you will want to water again. It varies from strain to strain and plant to plant along with stage to stage as how often you should water, so i feel thats why knowing what the weight difference is, is the best way. Also yes the sweet spot for coco seems to be 5.8-6.0 for pH. Also with coco yes everytime you water or feed you will want to do it until you get 10% runoff. This ensures you will be keeping the root zone close to the pH and EC that your putting in because theres no build up. Because coco is an inert medium that typical will run with a cal/mag deficiency unless properly prepared it isnt advised to run dry amendments in coco from what I gather. My recommedation would be to pH water to 5.8 and flush it , then start over. Just my recommedation and opinion.
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Okay great. Thanks for the advice everybody. Next watering I will ph water to around 5.8. The light has already been moved to about 20in above the highest nodes of the plant. And itās made a big difference already.
I will post a pic tomorrow and update on watering.
Happy growing
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Organic dry amendment auto flower grow in coco update. Hereās how she looks today.
I think sheās looking a lot better. Still not completely out of the woods I think, but better. Watered at ph 6.0 last but plan on moving that slightly lower if necessary.
Thanks everyone!
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This guy?
He seems to do great growing organic in coco medium using the soil PH levels like you had been doing only somewhat lower than you had been getting early in your post of close to 7. One thing I might suggest is to brew teas on a regular basis to keep the critter population in the medium going strong.
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Okay! Brewing teas sound fun. I just slowly need to start gathering the amendments. And the air stones. And the tea bags lol.
@Skydiver What should the correct runoff ph be for this grow? Iām starting to water ph at 6.0 on the advice of others. Last I checked the runoff was at 6.9. Itās interesting, I think something is neutralizing the ph for this grow, but I didnāt add lime.
I tried using a bag but donāt anymore. Depending on how I apply the mix Iāll just use it as as tossing in the worm poo and unsulphered molasses with water and bubble (this is most basic recipe) in bucketā¦no bag. Using watering can no straining using my liquid transfer pump I strain but If I use my sprayer I will filter from bucket to another bucket using one of those big kitchen wire strainers I had around. There are many recipes out there for teas and many pre made mixesā¦I use boogie brew premix. The left over solids I add to the top soil or into another soil container Iām reusing later.
Well based on the video I watched of Mr Canuck grows he keeps his Ph like it was a soil and not coco which most here recommend being around 5.8 or so while soil is 6.5 or so. Not sure if this difference is when running chemical nutrients as opposed to organic nutrients with a good population of bacteria/fungi/etc doing the heavy lifting like in living soils.
Whatās your water source and what are those numbers? PH and PPM
Looks like you could do some clean up under the skirt and interior to open her up and that will also lower her demands a bit.
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@Skydiver My water source is straight from the tap. I let it sit at least a day of course. The ph is about 7.8 and ppm is around 300.
Now Iām phing around 6-6.2 and water till sheās full. At least every other watering I like to check the ph and ppm of runoff. Since i have organic dry amendments, itās simple. I just water when she needs it. Butā¦
Since I have an organic dry amendment grow, would something like an organic compost tea concentrate work? Or should this only be used for salt nute feeds? Iāll post a pic below. I havenāt used it yet, but thought it could help? It says itās organic, but I just donāt know about using compost tea concentrate in an organic dry amendment grow. Will it negatively effect the plant?
Thanks for your help!
Iām sure it will work assuming itās organic as stated on front. Donāt know what ingredients are in there but just follow the directions. If you want to save yourself some money down the road it would be cheaper to source the materials and make your own as needed and then you also donāt have all that plastic trash and youāll get that āI made thatā feeling.
I use organic dry amendments all the time in conjunction with compost teas etc. the teas add critters to the soil profileā¦bacteria fungi etc via the brew as they grow in it while brewing and then when you water that in the critters eat the amendments and poop out plant available food that the plants can use.
When using salt based chemical fertilizers they donāt play nice with critters (kill them) so that bottled stuff you have should be fine. Just make sure you smell it making sure itās not a bad smell but earthy etc.
That tap isnāt too bad as far as ppm. What do you use to lower the PH? Hopefully itās critter friendly like citric acid from grocery store.
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@Skydiver I forgot to say, yeah those are the videos lol. Heās very helpful.
I ph down with the general hydroponics brand. Phosphoric acid. I can only assume thatās bad for my organic grow huh. Did you say citric acid will be a good replacement?
Iāll probably try out the tea if Iām not too nervous and let you know how it goes. I figure if sheās doing fine, not to mess with her too much.
I took a before and after pic for defoliation. I tried my best not to take too many leaves, just the ones i thought she could do without. Iām afraid to strip too many. Itās probably hard to even tell. The way I trained her, sheās very wide and not very tall at all.
Iām super appreciate of all the help and advice and just general conversation lol
Yea I ditched the ph down chemical crap when I started growing as I realized it wasnāt critter friendly. Simple citric acid at grocery store $6 for a bottle and only need about 1/4 of a 1/4 Tsp to drop ph of a gallon from 8 down to 6.5 or soā¦lasts forever and is cheap and critter friendly.
Just keep her trimmed up so the bud tops are exposed and there is no leaf on leaf action and those down under that donāt get much/any light I remove. You did very light defoliation from the pile you showed.
Youāll become more confident as you go and grow
Happy to help
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Just a quick update. Sheās doing pretty well. Tied down her branches some more. Trying to keep her canopy as even as possible. I also took off another handful of leaves. Checked her runoff last watering (ph to 6.1) and it was 6.85. Itās going down, but still high. Hanging in there though.Basically been taking all of your advice!
Happy growing.
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Okay yāall, need your help again!
I top dressed 4 days ago with 2 tbsp dr earth 4-6-3, 4 tbsp 3-9-4, 4 tbsp seabird guano, 1 tbsp epsom salt. Almost 1 cup Worm castings. Watered ph 6.1-6.3. Was planning on this being the last feed for her.
I now have some curling leaves (I read this somewhere before, some sort of deficiency?). Itās definitely on new growth. After I watered the second time post-top dressing with those dry amendments, the ph of the runoff was 7.1! Ahhhh I wonder whatās bringing up the ph? Could it be the seabird guano?? I know thatās way too high. Probably creating nuts lockout. Next watering, Iām going to ph my water to 5.6-5.8. I have pics below to show.
Also new, was using Epsom salts. Read a lot about it, some good some bad, but decided to try it. I read sulfate will bring ph down but weāll see. Maybe thatās causing it.
Overall though, I think sheās hanging in there and growing very well.
Youāre thoughts on how I should proceed are appreciated!!
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