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

Biggchong

Biggchong

Well-Known Member
Grow4you said:
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 -
View attachment 3637064 View attachment 3637065
View attachment 3637066 View attachment 3637067


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 -
View attachment 3637068 View attachment 3637069 View attachment 3637070

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!! :)
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I'm growing Delahaze, 3 to be exact. They are the most vigorous ladies in my garden. I have pictures on IG if u want to peep.
 
BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
I have grown coco for years and love it, but it does take some fine tuning as its a bit different from pure hydro and far better than soil (personal opinion)

Synopsis:
you pH is spot on, your ppm is too low, Humidity for the plant sizes in the pic could benefit at a 60%RH but no lower than 50%, Don't worry about Epsom salt if your using Cal/Mag, but use Cal/Mag with every feed. Don't mix Organics and Synthetic nutes (it doesnt hurt plant, but your wasting your time and money). Pics look like they are a little Nitrogen deficient, but lack of Calcium could be causing Nitrogen to be locked out. Purple stems usually indicate a Mag deficiency.

Nothing was mentioned about your fresh air exchange, what your air intake and exhaust is, any circulation fans etc etc etc
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
BAMS said:
I have grown coco for years and love it, but it does take some fine tuning as its a bit different from pure hydro and far better than soil (personal opinion)

Synopsis:
you pH is spot on, your ppm is too low, Humidity for the plant sizes in the pic could benefit at a 60%RH but no lower than 50%, Don't worry about Epsom salt if your using Cal/Mag, but use Cal/Mag with every feed. Don't mix Organics and Synthetic nutes (it doesnt hurt plant, but your wasting your time and money). Pics look like they are a little Nitrogen deficient, but lack of Calcium could be causing Nitrogen to be locked out. Purple stems usually indicate a Mag deficiency.

Nothing was mentioned about your fresh air exchange, what your air intake and exhaust is, any circulation fans etc etc etc
Click to expand...

Great thanks for the help! My next feeding I will up my nutes and continue feeding cal/mag every feeding instead of every few feedings. Could too low ppm/Nutrients cause my deficiencies I was wondering? Cause maybe that could be my problem. Sorry about that totally forgot about my airflow... I currently have a 18' circulating fan in there blowing across the plants and one industrial fan cooling the light which seems to be working great this grow. I do still need to purchase a carbon filtered exhaust fan though. But air flow doesn't seem to be a problem in my opinion.
Thanks for chiming in BAMS i really appreciate it!! Cheers
 
BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
little confused on your industrial fan description, obviously your using an air sealed light unit and the industrial fan is cooling the light. is that sucking cool air from OUTSIDE the tent and running it across the light and blowing the hot air OUTSIDE the tent, or are you sucking/pulling the air from INSIDE the tent and exhausting it OUTSIDE the tent?
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
BAMS said:
little confused on your industrial fan description, obviously your using an air sealed light unit and the industrial fan is cooling the light. is that sucking cool air from OUTSIDE the tent and running it across the light and blowing the hot air OUTSIDE the tent, or are you sucking/pulling the air from INSIDE the tent and exhausting it OUTSIDE the tent?
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Sorry about that BAMS I am pulling the air from inside the tent and exhausting it outside the tent until I get my exhaust. :/
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
Here's a couple more photos of the Paradise delahaze. As you can see the older leaves are discolouring and going gold/brown/black/dark green/yellow it's almost like a rainbow but not a very pretty one :(. Really want to get on top of this and get her back on track!! So if anyone can think of the problem or anything to try please let me know! All comments and opinions are very much appreciated! Cheers ;)
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BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
No worries so you have some FAE then, If your not doing now then I would put the industrial fan on the same timer as the light. This will allow CO2 to accumulate during the lights out as CO2 is heavier than O2 during the lights out period the CO2 will concentrate down at the bottom of the tent and be ready to be used up by the plants as soon as the lights turn back on. Coco starves plants of needed Calcium so the use of a Cal/mag is a must at every watering.

Now for the part that will cause arguing, this is solely what I do and it works for me and I get impressive yields, but I have seen other sites and blogs that argue this method:
I used to run a zero to waste drip system, meaning very short burst of feeding/watering over many times during the day (some thirsty blooms would get 6 to 7 feeds a day). I only moved to my current system, Auto-Pots because I run a perpetual grow of various strains and having too many timers timing each pot was becoming annoying and if I needed my wife to help while I was away it would literally become the biggest cluster fuck anyone could imagine.
So I opted for Auto-Pots which I fill up the res with a base nutrient solution plus Cal/mag, and hand feed any additives that I see necessary, I was originally against Auto-Pots as I felt that there was not a long enough dry time for the root zone, until I experimented with Geo-Pots on the Auto-Pot system and with my trial run I was happy and replaced everything. So this means my plants feed at their own desire, then when they run out of solution the coco media dries up slightly causing the roots to breech the Geo-Pot and in turn will air prune the root tips causing lateral branching of the roots (ie more roots), also being cloth instead of plastic I find that my root zone stays cooler and the roots are happier.

The reason I'm explaining my set up is because It might show that coco is a little more forgiving with over watering. I know some have mentioned that they were told coco cant be over watered and that is not entirely true, its just more forgiving if you do. Its not like you can sit your pot with coco in a tub and just cover it with water and walk away and expect a live plant the next day....just will not happen.
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
BAMS said:
No worries so you have some FAE then, If your not doing now then I would put the industrial fan on the same timer as the light. This will allow CO2 to accumulate during the lights out as CO2 is heavier than O2 during the lights out period the CO2 will concentrate down at the bottom of the tent and be ready to be used up by the plants as soon as the lights turn back on. Coco starves plants of needed Calcium so the use of a Cal/mag is a must at every watering.

Now for the part that will cause arguing, this is solely what I do and it works for me and I get impressive yields, but I have seen other sites and blogs that argue this method:
I used to run a zero to waste drip system, meaning very short burst of feeding/watering over many times during the day (some thirsty blooms would get 6 to 7 feeds a day). I only moved to my current system, Auto-Pots because I run a perpetual grow of various strains and having too many timers timing each pot was becoming annoying and if I needed my wife to help while I was away it would literally become the biggest cluster fuck anyone could imagine.
So I opted for Auto-Pots which I fill up the res with a base nutrient solution plus Cal/mag, and hand feed any additives that I see necessary, I was originally against Auto-Pots as I felt that there was not a long enough dry time for the root zone, until I experimented with Geo-Pots on the Auto-Pot system and with my trial run I was happy and replaced everything. So this means my plants feed at their own desire, then when they run out of solution the coco media dries up slightly causing the roots to breech the Geo-Pot and in turn will air prune the root tips causing lateral branching of the roots (ie more roots), also being cloth instead of plastic I find that my root zone stays cooler and the roots are happier.

The reason I'm explaining my set up is because It might show that coco is a little more forgiving with over watering. I know some have mentioned that they were told coco cant be over watered and that is not entirely true, its just more forgiving if you do. Its not like you can sit your pot with coco in a tub and just cover it with water and walk away and expect a live plant the next day....just will not happen.
Click to expand...
Ok great I'll put the fan on same timer as light, easily done. With what you say makes a lot of sense to me not sure if this is the solution to my problem but I'm sure it will definitely help. I do like the sound of your setup now it seems like a sensible n fairly easy setup. Thanks again BAMS your feedback is very much appreciated!!
 
BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
I think bottom line you plants are just telling you they want more.....without actually seeing your set up and the plants first hand it hard to be 100%. But at end of day when in coco and hydro set ups, your plants can talk to you within minutes of something not quite right as opposed to soil where if a situation is not up to scratch your plant takes a little longer to tell you and visa versa, when you rectify a problem your plant will not thank you for it until way later...All the best with you situation and I hope coco gives you a fun run as I had when I switched from "true hydro" over to coco
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
BAMS said:
I think bottom line you plants are just telling you they want more.....without actually seeing your set up and the plants first hand it hard to be 100%. But at end of day when in coco and hydro set ups, your plants can talk to you within minutes of something not quite right as opposed to soil where if a situation is not up to scratch your plant takes a little longer to tell you and visa versa, when you rectify a problem your plant will not thank you for it until way later...All the best with you situation and I hope coco gives you a fun run as I had when I switched from "true hydro" over to coco
Click to expand...
Thanks again for you help BAMS.
 
Grow4you

Grow4you

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone, sorry I have not been active the last couple weeks been quite busy.
Today I had a bit of spare time so I thought I'd just update this thread for anyone whose interested. Pretty much got things back on track and the plants look reasonable good. So I flipped the girls the other day(6th April) as my auto started to go into preflowering, so I flipped the light cycle to put my Paradise Delahaze into flowering even though I think she could of stayed in veg for a bit longer and my Auto Purple is quite stretched but apart from that I think their doing not to bad. Here are some photos for you guys to check out. Tell me what you think all opions and comments are much appreciated cheers RUI community :)!

Paradise delahaze:
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Auto Purple:
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fresh14

fresh14

Member
I was reading somewhere that if your using epsom salts you shouldn't be using dolomite lime with it? Check it out before adding both.
 
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