First Time growing in coco-coir, need help. Having problems :(

Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
Hello RIU community,

So this grow I decided to grow in coco for a change and have done a fair bit of reading about it before I started.
So I have 1x Paradise delahaze and 1x Auto Purple, both feminised seeds. I was only going to do one plant this grow but kind of ended up with 2 :P. I started the Paradise delahaze on the 12th of February and the Auto purple on the 16th of feb. I'm growing in a 1.2m x 1.2m x 2.0m grow tent with 600w HPS lighting. Temperatures stay around 25•c-28•c (45F-50.4F) and 40%-50% humidity. I'm using Dutch Master Gold range nutes and also adding bloom Cal/mag every few weeks. Yesterday I added some "Gogo juice" which is a bottle of beneficial bacterias, kelp, seaweed and fish. The "Gogo juice" is meant to help with heat/frost stress so I gave it a go on a low dose. I'm also Phing my water to 5.8Ph when watering. I have been feeding in low doses because I'm having so much trouble with these two plants, they are growing very slowly and drinking slowly :(. Recommended strength for the Dutch Masters Gold range is 8ml per Litre of water and I have Been feeding with 2.5ml nutes per Litre... With 200-300ppm. This is my first time growing in coco coir and also using Dutch masters gold range.
Anyway so here's my problem/problems.

Paradise delahaze:
She's growing at a very slow rate.
Older leaves are clawing downwards.
Leaves feel drier than they should be.
She did have some leaves cupping inwards but they have seems to sort them selves out.
Leaves are a mixture of light green and dark green.
Looks a bit droopy.
Old leaves going from a darkish green to a goldy colour.

Here's a couple of photos of her -
image.jpeg image.jpeg
image.jpeg image.jpeg


Auto purple:
Small leaves, not sure if this is a problem or it's the strain.
Side edges of leaves cupping inwards.
Slow growth and slow drinker, although drinks a bit faster than the Paradise delahaze.

Auto Purple photos -
image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg

If I have left out any information for you guys please let me know and bit embarrassed of this grow at the moment so hoping to get things back on track. Thanks to everyone in advance for taking time to read this thread and help me out :) all comments and advice is highly appreciated!! Thanks again RIU community!! :)
 
T

TassieConvict

Active Member
How often are you watering? When i was growing in a coco/perlite mix i initially had problems adjusting to how much longer it held moisture than previous soil grows
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
TassieConvict said:
How often are you watering? When i was growing in a coco/perlite mix i initially had problems adjusting to how much longer it held moisture than previous soil grows
Click to expand...
Hi TassieConvict thanks for such a quick reply!! Ok well I started off watering daily, because when I was doing my research before I purchased the coco-coir most of what I read was people saying you must treat it as hydro and do not treat it as soil. From what I read and understood was to water 1-2 times daily. Anyway me watering daily didn't last to long because I suddenly noticed my plants droopy and over watered so now I'm water every 2-3 days depending on pot weight. I also read with a good 50%coco and 50% perlite mix it's near impossible to overwater as long as your pots have good drainage. But yeah I'm just not sure I also thought when the coco is watered it has about 30% oxygen still in the medium which allows the plants to breath :/.
 
T

TassieConvict

Active Member
Hi Mate, sorry for the late reply ive been at work. I was told the same thing with coco initially - that i couldnt overwater it... however i managed to lol. Your watering schedule now seems pretty good tbh, that was about what mine worked out to being. I used a moisture/ph probe to tell when to water, and watered once it got right into the red "dry" bit... other than that ive got not much experience with other deficiencies etc so hopefully someone else can chime in ifthey think its something else... I used the dutch master gold range too (well the two part veg and flower nutes anyway), and had pretty good results from them, so im hoping things go well for you too.

EDIT: Are you adjusting the ph before or after adding the nutes to the water?
 
Bbcchance

Bbcchance

Well-Known Member
Add a 1/4 tea spoon of Epsom salts to your next gallon of water, should help, I also use coco, and if your nutes aren't coco specific then you tend to need to add magnesium to the mix, coco loves to hold it out on your plants
 
Craig1969SS

Craig1969SS

Well-Known Member
For as big as those pots are yes you are watering too often. With 1-2 gal pots you can water often and daily but those look like 5 gal? Your ppm should be close to the top..i.e. 600ppm-800ppm by now. Believe it or not the ppm u have is far too low. They are failing to thrive. To get the runoff u need you'll need to run a gallon through those pots. Pinch of Epsom salt in the solution never hurt anyone. Give it a shot. Next time go with straight botanicare coco.., that will give you the 30% O2 you mentioned
 
researching

researching

Well-Known Member
You should be using the cal-mag everytime you water. Not every few weeks. That may start to help. For some reason coco can be a little tricky to get the hang of for some. Once you get it figured out you will love it. Your ph is good, and your ppm range is good, I think the cal-mag is where you are out of whack for the moment. Its hard to give them too much cal-mag as long as you are giving it at recommended amounts. You dont dilute your cal-mag like you might with fertilizers. Always give it at recommended strength. Best of luck.
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
TassieConvict said:
Hi Mate, sorry for the late reply ive been at work. I was told the same thing with coco initially - that i couldnt overwater it... however i managed to lol. Your watering schedule now seems pretty good tbh, that was about what mine worked out to being. I used a moisture/ph probe to tell when to water, and watered once it got right into the red "dry" bit... other than that ive got not much experience with other deficiencies etc so hopefully someone else can chime in ifthey think its something else... I used the dutch master gold range too (well the two part veg and flower nutes anyway), and had pretty good results from them, so im hoping things go well for you too.

EDIT: Are you adjusting the ph before or after adding the nutes to the water?
Click to expand...
No problem at all, I just appreciate your time :) I adjust the ph after adding nutes. Thanks again for your help!!
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
Bbcchance said:
Add a 1/4 tea spoon of Epsom salts to your next gallon of water, should help, I also use coco, and if your nutes aren't coco specific then you tend to need to add magnesium to the mix, coco loves to hold it out on your plants
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I don't have Epsom salts so I'll purchase that today might need to do it online though. So I mighten have it for a few days but will definitely get into it n grab some! Thanks so much for your help bbcchance! :)
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
Craig1969SS said:
For as big as those pots are yes you are watering too often. With 1-2 gal pots you can water often and daily but those look like 5 gal? Your ppm should be close to the top..i.e. 600ppm-800ppm by now. Believe it or not the ppm u have is far too low. They are failing to thrive. To get the runoff u need you'll need to run a gallon through those pots. Pinch of Epsom salt in the solution never hurt anyone. Give it a shot. Next time go with straight botanicare coco.., that will give you the 30% O2 you mentioned
Click to expand...
The pots don't actually say how big they are but I think their 5 gal too, ok so I'll up my nutes next feed and slow down on watering. I'll water when pots are light. Will purchase some Epsom salts too. I will also cut the juice out, I only used it once. Thanks so much Craig1969ss for your input!
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
researching said:
You should be using the cal-mag everytime you water. Not every few weeks. That may start to help. For some reason coco can be a little tricky to get the hang of for some. Once you get it figured out you will love it. Your ph is good, and your ppm range is good, I think the cal-mag is where you are out of whack for the moment. Its hard to give them too much cal-mag as long as you are giving it at recommended amounts. You dont dilute your cal-mag like you might with fertilizers. Always give it at recommended strength. Best of luck.
Click to expand...
Oh right, I will start using cal/mag every feeding it's recommended at 1ml/1L and that's what I have been doing but like I said only every 2-3 weeks. Thanks for your help researching!!
 
Craig1969SS

Craig1969SS

Well-Known Member
Bbcchance said:
If you are using cal mag you don't need the Epsom salt, Epsom salt is magnesium
Click to expand...
I think it's another molecular dynamic..and of course size matters as they say. Your nutrients will have ca/mg already. more calcium than magnesium. The better available mg in Epsom plus sulfur favors efficient ca absorption. No need for more calcium you see as bottle cal/mag has a reactive nitrogen element to it. It raises the ppm by 100 or more. Epsom doesn't. Not arguing here just pointing out
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
Bbcchance said:
If you are using cal mag you don't need the Epsom salt, Epsom salt is magnesium
Click to expand...
Craig1969SS said:
I think it's another molecular dynamic..and of course size matters as they say. Your nutrients will have ca/mg already. more calcium than magnesium. The better available mg in Epsom plus sulfur favors efficient ca absorption. No need for more calcium you see as bottle cal/mag has a reactive nitrogen element to it. It raises the ppm by 100 or more. Epsom doesn't. Not arguing here just pointing out
Click to expand...
Well I have gone out and purchased Dolomite lime and Epsom salts. Can you add cal/mag and Epsom salts or is that to much mag? :/ sorry about silly questions guys this is why I posted in newbie thread! Thanks for staying patient and trying to help me get to the bottom of this I really appreciate it!
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
So after a bit more reading and research I have come to think my problem could possibly be a potassium deficiency. With the stems turning purple, leaves a bit drier than normal, vains on leaves look a bit yellow, brown spots, old leaves yellowing first and the mixture of dark green and light green leaves. So today i watered the two plants with sulphate of potash and cal/mag. 16g sulphate of potash, recommended strength was 20g per 8L. 8ml cal/mag recommended is 1ml/1l so I stuck to that.

Hoping this fixes my problem :/.
 
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