starting seeds in coco nightmare(part 2:the nightmare continues)

ebenezerfagglegold said:

I haven't gotten past the first watering on any seed. Either water or feed only once them either dampen off or mold or stunt. Then when they finally look like they've had it, I get down to see how the roots looked and it looks like they only rooted for a day or two and that's it. I'm doing a lot better using jiffy pellets but I'm afraid that's only temporary because those roots are going to be all up in that coco sooner or later.

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Personally I think you need to rinse the coco really well with Luke warm water then soak in a deficiency calmag solution for about 24 hours before use.


Or try and get a better brand of coco.


Also I think your pot size for the seedlings is a little too big.




Try using your jiffy pucks and precharge the coco like I mentioned.


What are the NPK of your nutes.

Ideally in coco you need something with higher N than P and K, lower K than N and P, as coco has a tendency to create K as time goes on.
You need around 5% Ca and around 2-3% Mg.

All the other nutrients should be ok at usual %'s.



J

all i do with coco is add water then mix it 50/50 with soil mix, never had an issue. the two help buffer each other, I guess. It's great for seedlings.

AirAnt said:

all i do with coco is add water then mix it 50/50 with soil mix, never had an issue. the two help buffer each other, I guess. It's great for seedlings.

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You're using it as a soil ammendment and not on its own so the buffering capacity from the soil will help.

The OP is using it just mixed with perlite.

That's where his issues are as its unbuffered.





J

jondamon said:

You're using it as a soil ammendment and not on its own so the buffering capacity from the soil will help.

The OP is using it just mixed with perlite.

That's where his issues are as its unbuffered.





J

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well no shit. My advice was being to mix it with soil as a buffer. why make things more complicated? your seeds come with a 'Pure Coco ONLY' sticker on them or something?

i find it muuuuuch safer starting seeds in rapid rooters, then they go into small party cups of lets say...promix. Then they go into coco. I've been growing in coco, since the day it hit the scene, and I still loose some sprouts starting in coco. I gave up!

Aeroknow said:

i find it muuuuuch safer starting seeds in rapid rooters, then they go into small party cups of lets say...promix. Then they go into coco. I've been growing in coco, since the day it hit the scene, and I still loose some sprouts starting in coco. I gave up!

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thank you very much. that's what i'm talking about, seems to make sense because they'd develop a decent root system then. thanks!

Here's a shot of my 3 day old seedlings.

Straight coco from COCOGREEN I've just used plain water no pH'ing.

Next watering in about 2 days will see me start nutes.

Notice the size of my initial starting pots compared to yours ?

I do this under a 400w MH.

J

ebenezerfagglegold said:

thank you very much. that's what i'm talking about, seems to make sense because they'd develop a decent root system then. thanks!

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ebenezerfagglegold said:

yep this stuff says it was harvested in india. I have two bricks of general hydro coco tek that I haven't opened yet. That stuff says it is a 'low salinity' mix of three different types of coco. I read through the amazon reviews of the 'nature's footprint' stuff I'm using now and it turns out there are some negative reviews saying that you do indeed have to wash this particular brand thoroughly before use, a step that seems unnecessary with the coco tek, maybe I'll have a different result there.

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I have lost 4 NL seedlings to damping off in Cocotek coir and it makes me want to pull my hair out. 80/20 Coco to perlite and they grew fine for probably 3 days and then just stopped and a day or two later fell over under their own weight.

Did you ever solve your issues? I'm fixing to give up on Coco before I burn through $50 in seeds. Planning on trying the Fox farm regime for my next round of seedlings.

i start em in 6 oz. cup of promix then into coco...lost 1 to many cracking in coco. i just can't get a feel for it.

Here are my seedlings again a few days later.


They were given plain water twice and now receiving 0.6EC of my 2 part base nute.

Watering approx every 2 days at present.

When watering is required daily in their current cups they'll be transplanted into larger pots. Around 5L.

Then into final 18L pots.

Only when going into 5L and 18L do I mix my coco with perlite. 80/20.

My germination and subsequent vegging is being done under 400w MH.



J

Deputydank said:

I have lost 4 NL seedlings to damping off in Cocotek coir and it makes me want to pull my hair out. 80/20 Coco to perlite and they grew fine for probably 3 days and then just stopped and a day or two later fell over under their own weight.

Did you ever solve your issues? I'm fixing to give up on Coco before I burn through $50 in seeds. Planning on trying the Fox farm regime for my next round of seedlings.

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I have 3 that I started in jiffy pellets left that are doing OKay, but the oldest one is starting to look bad. Probably as the roots get really deep in the coco they are doing that damping off thing again. I think this is my last try with coco this way. Next I'll try adding some soil to it.

Ive used coco blocks and some of it is very saline,it needs a really good rinse out.
Ive lost seedlings in the past by not rinsing out enough.
Im gonna start using the bagged stuff.
GL.

i think I got the coco problem figured out, though I cheated a little bit. I've gotten myself to 100% success when I start them in rockwool or a peat pellet and wash the coco in the bathtub with like 5 gallons on hot water. here's where we're at now in the pics. Ive started 4 more in a 40%coco, 50% foxfarm ocean forest, 10-20% perlite. No problems at all with them, but I do seem to find the 100%coco/perlite easier to deal with. Its easier to tell when they need water/nutes and so far I've had 0 pests with the coco only