Grow Mediums After two grows using FF, wanting to switch to Roots Organic. How do you like them?

[ItzSticky]

Once I fill my pots with the coco mix, I generally just water in my water with calmag and get the pot moist. In the meantime, I put my seed in a shot glass of water and let it soak overnight. In the morning, put my seed directly in the pot and cover it with soil and a dome and most seeds generally break ground in about 72 hours. I no longer transplant, use root cubes, jiffy pellets, etc. I feel like it’s an unnecessary step. You can transplant, I’ve done it many times with no bad effects. But for me, there’s no longer much point unless I’m growing a ton of plants. But if you’re new to it, you can balls it up. I also don’t really like cubes, rapid rooters, pellets, etc. YMMV and all that. But I would recommend going straight into your final pot.

Okay, so sounds like you prep the soil before dropping in seeds? Then water again once seeds are dropped?

 

[GreenBean]

Okay, so sounds like you prep the soil before dropping in seeds? Then water again once seeds are dropped?

It’ll depend on how moist the soil is. If it’s pretty moist I’ll just put the seed in and monitor when it should get a little water, next. If your coco is soaking wet, you can stick it in the tent for a day or two two before you put the seed in. Let some of that moisture evaporate.

 

[durbanpoisoner]

I like @GreenBean 's method and do something similar but I used the peat pellet for my coco grow. Since it was my first grow I wanted to be sure everything started so I was concerned starting directly in coco but I would start it in there next time. I actually think the peat pellets are a lil too moist. Either way, I do the same kind of germination technique. I soak them in water (with a lil rhizotonic) and then plant them the next day. I don't wait for them to pop. Soak and plant.

I am still stunned by the growth in coco. It's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger and I'm getting a little scared that I'm going to run out of vertical room. But not the worst problem to have in the end. Dial in your nutes and you just get perfection. It shows you whether it likes it or doesn't like it immediately so you can adjust the next day and can flush the medium if needed. I like the quick reaction versus soil.

 

[GreenBean]

My only reasoning with not liking peat pellets, etc. is that I have seen them choke the roots on other plants. I've used them in the past on regular gardening stuff and seen stunted growth. And when I pulled the plant out you could see the strangulation. I stopped using them for my veggie garden a good while ago. It didn't happen with every plant, but surely with some. And if you do use them, it's always best to remove the netting that holds them together which can be tricky-ish.

As far as the vertical growth, I always recommend the gorilla tents since they have the height extensions available. Even for their cheaper Lite Line. Since we moved, I haven't put up my 4x4 yet and am just using my 4x2 Shorty which is only 4'11" that was my veg tent. But, I was able to grab an extension for it and now it's 6'11" so plenty of height. Plus I really like their straight zippers and 360 access to the plants. YMMV.

 

[durbanpoisoner]

I cut off the netting and glad I did. As for the tent I'm using a 36x20x63. Kind of an odd shape but what I needed. Will post a new pic of my grow in my thread a lil later tonight. Just wanna say again god damn I love coco. Coco is amazing.

 

[GreenBean]

Coco is cool, because once you get rolling with it, you can start to experiment. Add a little something here and there to see if you can get it to hold some water a little longer. You can experiment with pushing the plants to the extreme limits of what they can handle, and back off when you get there. I do a lot of stuff "wrong" but it works for me.

FYI - I usually use the same coco mix 3 times before I retire it. I do give it a long, good flush between runs. And then when I retire it, I mix more soil in and put a pepper plant or something in it. I've had the same coco growing stuff for years on some batches.

 

[ItzSticky]

My last grow I got some pretty good results soaking the seeds in kelp and then dropping in a cube once it taped (the ones ive found doesn’t have netting) then transplanting in medium, so this is why im wanting to stick to this, my prior method was paper towel and that sucked.
Thanks for the info, excited to try coco out.

Do you guys feed calmag every feeding?
Ive had issues with gnats, im hoping coco fixes this, but im also wanting to add rice pumice or straw on the top layer as extra precaution.

 

[GreenBean]

Paper towel does suck. I just soak overnight to soften the shell and plant it. I've also just planted it straight into the pot as well. Seems the overnight soak gets them to pop just a bit faster. And I used to transplant a lot, but it's kind of a waste of time unless you are running a perpetual grow and you are tight on space. Plus, transplanting adds another complication to the process. Sooooo...I just cut it out of my workflow.

I rarely use calmag to be honest. Plants really don't need that much of it, it gets abused a lot, and my nutrients (Florflex) has enough as it is. I may water a little in when it's a tiny baby here and there. But not so much after that. Maybe, maybbbbeee once or twice if I'm feeling frisky. But that is with my nutrient regiment, I am not sure about others.

I do not have issues with gnats. I do a lot of organic growing outside, have my own compost etc. But that stays outside. I've never used anything as a top layer with coco and not sure how it plays with it. Someone else may know about that.