New Coco grower with drain question...

For the past few years I have been growing DWC, but due to heat issues as of late I was forced to move my entire grow to my crawl space. Being that its under the house and there is no drain or ez way to do bucket changes weekly I am changing my game plan. So I have settled on moving everything over to coco.

I've done some reading on it and think I know what I'm getting into. However my one question, this far, is; Do I let the run-off stay in the saucer thats under the pot stay in there so it will wick back into the pot? Or does this run-off need to be removed?

Thank you!

From what I have read, it is much healthier and cleaner to get rid of run off. I just switched to dtw with coco as well.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

Hey im going to move thread to dtw
better info there and coco users.

.....yeah, drain to WASTE is just that..., from all that I've heard and read... I just switched myself and couldn't be more happy. My reason for switching was heat as well....but I couldn't even imagine switching back now. I imagine there must be a way to reuse the 'waste' but how'd you know what was being used the most by the plant? I am still hand watering, pita, but it's so cool knowing you have fresh going in each time, everything that could be needed. I haven't found it to be any more expensive even having a good 15-20% runoff each time. I did switch from all Canna Nutes to botanicare cns17 nutes however. Easy one part, with a few added things at different times....lots of nute schedules, as well as teas(if you run that way).....Hellraiser, I believe I follow something of his somewhere, thinking in the teas--->which I did give up with the switch to coco.....so far.... But to answer your question, I'd be very surprised to see anyone that agrees with letting your runoff 'wick' back up to the plant, as part of the plan........peace, gman

Talked to the hydro store guy and he pretty much said the same thing. But he said to leave the run-off overnight on plants that are flowering as they will most likely wick it up overnight due to heavy eating. Anyone agree with this?

Thank you for the replies thus far...

NeWcS said:

Talked to the hydro store guy and he pretty much said the same thing. But he said to leave the run-off overnight on plants that are flowering as they will most likely wick it up overnight due to heavy eating. Anyone agree with this?

Thank you for the replies thus far...

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I do not agree with this run off is just that, its needed to keep salts from building up!
fresh nutes everytime = lush banging plants

Staying on the topic of coco; Does anyone cut their coco with anything to allow for longer watering periods?

Thanks for all the input

NeWcS said:

Staying on the topic of coco; Does anyone cut their coco with anything to allow for longer watering periods?

Thanks for all the input

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Coco's pretty high retention itself. If mixed, it's usually cut with perlite to add drainage/air, allowing for more frequent watering.

Water your plants and remove your runoff as soon as you've finished watering (you don't need much run-off - maybe 10 per cent of what goes in). Wick systems don't work that well with coco in my experience, as nutrient build-up happens quickly without regular flushing.

I've never added anything to coco - you shouldn't need to, as it's water retention-vs-drainage qualities are just fine. If you want to prolong watering, get a bigger pot. But coco shouldn't be allowed to dry too much, either. It is not as good a buffer as soil and can burn plants if you constantly dry out your pots.

How about watering? Was thinking about getting a 13gal tote and mixing up 10 gallons at a time and using a pond pump to water the plants. Is this what most people find the easiest way to water?

I don't have a very high ceiling and draining mass amounts of run-off would not work.

You can, but you really need something to collect the runoff, otherwise you might end up flooding the place while you're not there. If you don't have enough room for gravity-feed runoff, there is another option . . .

This is part of my set-up. If you look closely you can see it's a pot-within-a-pot system, where the green pots (with drainage holes) hold the coco and sit inside the black pots, which collect the runoff and then pipe it outside through a simple garden hose. You can see the individual garden hoses coming off the black pots in this pic (they go into one long drainage hose outside).

Using a similar system - pot-within-a-pot - you can attach a small pond pump to the drainage hose (if you have more than one pot, you can link the drainage hoses together with Y, T and + sections into one runoff hose, like I've done) and hook it to the same timer as the feed pump.

What happens then is the feed pump pumps nutrient into the pots, while the drainage pump pumps the runoff back into a bucket or tote bag, where you can collect it at your leisure and dispose of it.

Am I correct in assuming you don't have enough head height to fit a bucket or tray underneath the pots for gravity drainage? If so, you can place the pots on the ground and the drainage pump should solve your problem, as it acts like a feed pump - just in reverse.

The beauty of the pot-within-pot system is that a small amount of runoff will collect in the bottom of the catchment pots (black pots in this photo) and act as an emergency reservoir if your main res runs out of nutrient. The roots will simply tap down into the catchment pot and live off the runoff until you top up the main res.

Sorry I don't have a better picture on hand, but I'm sure you can see what I mean.

thanks PC! I think I am going to just collect the run off with a hand pump and store it in something and dump it weekly or when ever its manageable.

And on to another coco question; Does anyone put a 'top' layer of clay/lava rock/growstones/gnatnix.? Like a 'ground covering'?
I've done this w/ hempy buckets and it seems to help for a more even watering. It also seemed to help with keeping the medium moist for a little longer. Thoughts?

I transplanted two plants yesterday from DWC to coco. I just popped the 6in net pot out of the bucket lid and and buried it in coco. Had a pretty good afro of roots that were baby butt white. Checking on them today they look pretty good.

Thanks for all the input \m/

NeWcS said:

And on to another coco question; Does anyone put a 'top' layer of clay/lava rock/growstones/gnatnix.? Like a 'ground covering'?
I've done this w/ hempy buckets and it seems to help for a more even watering. It also seemed to help with keeping the medium moist for a little longer. Thoughts?

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Any thoughts on this? Or should I start a new thread?

Yeah some do, some don't. It might help spread out the water but coco wicks decently enough that I don't consider it a huge problem. Go ahead though if you want!

Just my 2pence worth , it's my 4 grow in coco, using canna / hesi nutes, I water once a day untill a small run off ocures , not 10, 20 %, just chucking nutes away otherwise ! If you're not over feeding its good , I er on the side of treating it more like soil than hydro, I'm having best results yet !,
Oh, & I use air pots, so there's no wick to suck up any run off as the bottom is a few inches off the tray.

That's true. You don't need much runoff at all. Indeed, when I'm vegging I generally give one dose of nutrients to 2-3 doses of plain water, because I hand-water and it's not automated like my flowering set-up. When I feed plain water, I don't always have run off. But obviously you do need to have some runoff at some point to flush the build-up of nutrient out of your coco.

Sometimes your plant tells you this itself, as you start getting nitrogen burn on the tips of the leaves, or a few spots here and there from phosphorous build-up. Then it's time to flush the entire pot with a very weak nutrient solution (1/4 strength). Generally, though, regular runoff will prevent this happening in the first place . . .

As for your top layer, highocaine is dead on. Fungus gnats can be a problem in coco, so something like Gnat Nix or a layer of diatomaceous earth wouldn't hurt, if that's what you're worried about.

NeWcS said:

For the past few years I have been growing DWC, but due to heat issues as of late I was forced to move my entire grow to my crawl space. Being that its under the house and there is no drain or ez way to do bucket changes weekly I am changing my game plan. So I have settled on moving everything over to coco.

I've done some reading on it and think I know what I'm getting into. However my one question, this far, is; Do I let the run-off stay in the saucer thats under the pot stay in there so it will wick back into the pot? Or does this run-off need to be removed?

Thank you!

Click to expand...

For sure dump it as soon as possible ,may have salts depends how much run off u give them

Thanks to Prawn Connery's suggestion I am going to do a bucket in bucket system, kinda the same way with my own twist.

With that said; Since I will have some standing water would it be advised to use mosquito dunks?

I also have some questions about watering. I am reading anything from 2xday to every 2 to 3 days. What is the norm for say 1 and 2 gal pots?

If hand watering, you can get away with every couple of days or so, trying not to let the coco dry out too much in-between (but you will have to use less nutrient, as the more water evaporates, the higher the concentration of salt build-up in the root zone).

If automated, you can water six times a day or more - but drainage is the key. My system is automated - I water 4-6 times every 12-hour cycle - but my system is designed to emulate a recirculating hydro system, where each fresh batch of nutrient solution displaces the old and introduces more oxygen to the root zone.

Oxygen is introduced a number of ways: there is oxygen dissolved in the nutrient solution (as in any aerated hydro system), while the physical act of watering also draws fresh air down with it - while displacing "old" air in the root zone - as the nutrient wicks into the coco. The third way is when the plant feeds, drawing up moisture which draws more air down into the pot through displacement. Then there's evaporation in-between waterings, which does the same.

In my experience, the more you water coco, the better your results. You cannot overwater coco if you are constantly watering it to begin with, because it works on the same principle as hydroponics - flushing old anaerobic nutrient solution with new, aerated nutrient solution. Coco IS hydroponics, and should be treated as such. However, it also has some similar properties to soil, so you can get away with watering it less - but growth will not be as fast (just like the difference between hydro and soil grows).