Hello Everyone I’m new to the forum and new to growing with coco so I’m basically starting over with the everything for this grow. I have a few questions before I officially germinate my Autos I’m going to be running just to make sure I have my tent the way I want it. I’m sure most everyone here has heard of Mr Canucks grow and well I’m a fan. I plan on growing in coco with the Gaia green dry amendments nutrients along with organic worm castings and a perlite mix. Also with a cal mag on the side. I’m curious if anyone here has grown in coco with dry amendments and what there results were? Or if I should use a bottle nutrient like flora grow or fox farm etc. Also I’m gonna be running some pretty cheap viper spectra 300w full spectrum leds. I have two of them in my 4x4x6 is that enough wattage/coverage for running autos in my tent or should I add another or take away one? From the basic rule of thumb I’ve read it’s like 50-75w per sq ft right? Correct me if I’m wrong please and let me know your guys opinions on growing in coco with dry amendments please and thank you.
Ok Thanks
The thing with coco is that it has no nutrient so you give nutrients, once you start running work castings and stuff you start messing with your nutrient load in the medium and thus the ppm read off.
No offense to this Canuck guy but this is the second person to come here asking help about the way he grows, he’s pretty average experienced grower to be honest and he’s got his own method if you want to copy it fly away but anyone paying attention to a feed chart in coco watering with a good environment can grow jsut as good or better then him.
If organic is important to you pick the best affordable organic nutrient, ignore the brand name he is sponsored by he’s just trying to get his free stuff and push sales.
Heck AN is the best on the market probably but do whatever is local and cheap.
Go to your local hydro store and pick whatever is on sale ignore what the guy says he’s a salesman.
I grow with salt based dirt cheap nutrients in coco and no one around here seems to be complaining about the terps or the potency or the color.
It’s experience and environment control way way way more then its nutrients.
If you want worm. Castings and organic and smaller yeilds then you could go soil but I don’t recommend it. Coco is the best to start on but get whatever is cheap, if organic then okay sure. If not get Jack’s or chemgro or any other cheap dry nutrient the stuff in the bottles costs 10x more your paying for water.
Autos grow good if you treat them right even if your using cheap nutrients, control your environment and get a AC infinity T series fan to control that environment so get top quality lights Samsung 301b or 301h, no spider farmers, no mars hydro.
Sry just had enough of Mr Canuck
If this is the right light the draw is 130W and covers 1.5 x 1.5 (truthfully the coverage is for lettuce not a high light plant like cannabis, tomatoes, peppers).
I use two 130W LEDs plus 50W flower bar to cover 2x2 area hung at 18-20". The space is not enclosed so I get a lot of light spill but you get the idea. In my 3x3 tent my base LED is 320W plus 160W of photo boost strips.
You can not grow decent bud with 260W covering 16 sq ft. They can be used for veg but are way under powered for flower. You could do one, maybe two plants in a corner.
If you are going to look at more light, look at something with the newer white light quantum boards. If you have seen any post about lights on this forum you know HLG is a name that comes up most often. Look at the specs for those lights to get a solid baseline. Because of the efficacy of these types of lights, the watts per square foot can be half of what you said. Then buy as close as you can get with the $$ you can spend.
You won’t silly salmon into that auto
Makes that planter look like a 1/2 gal, she’s a beast!
Like @Nicky mentioned, the Canuck style of using coco is suboptimal.
I follow the methods prescribed by cocoforcannabis dot com, which incorporate frequent waterings with soluble nutrients into an inert coir/perlite mix. The results are very good. If you go that route, go all in and follow all steps.
I’m a wee bit concerned about your lights; specifically, I’m concerned you won’t have enough. But people do have success with Vipar lights, and you can always add more as your plants near flowering. FYI, if you don’t hit optimal light levels, all the money you spend on other aspects of the grow delivers a diminished return.
The nutrients you mentioned don’t appear to be soluble hydroponic nutrients. Although I have a hefty investment in Jack’s 321 myself, I’ll say two things in favor of GH bottled nutrients. If you’re getting started, the GH bottles are not very expensive, so for less than $50 you can get your feet wet. The convenience of bottled nutrients is they dissolve a bit faster; I don’t see that mentioned enough. Personally I wait a half hour or more for part B of Jack’s to fully dissolve, but my water is pretty cold.
Welcome to the community ! You can grow weed with the lights you have, But if this is something you plan on continuing .look at the HLG 260 v2 R-Spec XL Two of those lights will rock your 4 by 4 space. Just my thoughts good luck with your new venture.
Is organic a must?
If you want results with any system you need good lights.
HLG are the gold standard but kingbrites are my go to, they are same tech but built by a reputable manufacturer who does Commerical lighting in China.
Thanks man I really appreciate all your info and input and I’m happy you said it that way because I don’t want to follow him to a T but I like the coco n dry amendments route for growing. But so are you suggesting that I run my coco with dry amendments if that’s what I prefer but I should leave out any worm castings @Nicky ? And I would like to stick to a little more of the organic side of growing. And you recommend the Samsung 301h or 301b do 1 of those have enough coverage for my 4x4 or do I need two.
Spider farmer and HLG are entirely comparable… SF is just a bit cheaper, top bin diodes, better driver, with broader spectrums and more red than HLG.
Spider farmer is Chinese knockoff of hlg, with low with more led, how so you know they are top bin diodes? They are put on their own boards to reduce cost but that’s cutting the quality to.
Kingrite is a Commerical. Led manufacturer that does street lights and other industrial stuff.
They also sell knock off HLG’s but they have been ahead of hlg in the reds/uv/ 690nm and 720nm (which is more helpful to photos to reduce time to get into sleep but also helps on the red side for flowering)
Spider farmers are stocked in north America and they have a huge add campaign they are the modern version of mars hydro.
Go to the source, get a better quality light for cheaper.
Kingbrites.
I can’t get you a link it’s against forum rules Google it.
@DefNSmokn don’t get me wrong they work and they are cheaper then HLG’s but kingbrites are more efficient, high quality and lower price.
Ok thanks a lot I’m returning my lights to Amazon this week. It’s funny you brought up the Samsung 301h because my cousin actually just recommended the same thing to me but he said check out pacific lighting company?? Thanks for letting me know about posting links too I didn’t see that
Economy line of Meanwell drivers.
XLg-240h-a/b
Im not seeing this info you are speaking of. Im not trying to create an argument, Kingbrite are great lights, as well as HLG. Im just providing proof of my point that SF is equal quality as HLG. HLG is pulling ahead again by adding more reds and UV now
Have you checked out this company yet? Theirnew & offering good prices at the moment.
No one is arguing! You all be preaching! 
This is how a nubbie such as myself continues to learn. I know next to nothing about lights and bought what was in my price range and not because I new of any name or manufacturer. Therefore, constructive debate like this can be very helpful.
Keep preaching! 
Happy growing! 
Yeah I don’t see you as arguing @DefNSmokn for sure. I have to hit the road but I’ll be back at work later today so may take me a day or two but I will reply to this I just can’t sit here and spend the time right now.
If you can’t wait @ConcreteBudz then I suggest kingbrite, I’ll explain why later but spider farmer will do a decent job just not as good of bang for your buck.
Fair enough dude, stay safe! We will be here when you get situated!