Stunted seedlings from recycled coco?

[Royalroacho]

Ok, i have a blue mazar on day 12 that looks like day 3. It was growing extremely slow, i thought maybe i was giving it too much water, so i slowed it down and let it dry. I also got 2 others going with a better watering technique, theyre a week old. I have a good amount of coco experience, and get good end results.
Everything is as it always is, except im using recycled coco with seedlings for the first time. I didnt think to read too much about this, which was really stupid. I used a bunch of enzym to break down the old roots, on top of the old salts that are in there, and didnt rinse it out. Im thinking that has to be the problem. Im going to flush them now, but i dunno how much that will help? Should i just transplant into fresh coco?

 

[Rapha El]

A few tips:

• Never let your coco dry out, it's not soil.. technically it's a hydroponic medium
• Don't ever flush coco with empty water, always with nutrinet solution, especially if you got plants in it. They are gonna swell up, then lock up
• Don't transplant seedlings: Don't remove them from their medium to move them into another. You can move them with their medium into a bigger container of the same or simular substrate

I'd say your best bet is to "flush" with regular nutrient solution (slowly, don't want to loosen up all the coco and disturb the roots) and water daily with 10% of the pot volume. (1L pot for example you water 100ml each day)

 

[Waira]

.... coco is OK to reuse, but indeed, you need to rinse it and rebuffer the CEC in it,...did you test the run-off from the reused coco first, pH too? I'm pretty sure some other coco nuts here do reuse, but you'll have to ask them what they do,... likely use a clearing-flushing product to help with this,.. advise I've read: in general, flushing with coco is best done with RO/Di water, with 150ppm Ca-Mg added, plus another *edit* 150ppm appropriate nutes, pH'ed to 6.0,... pour through until the r-o is at or near the input ppm and pH,... this will help balance the Ca/Mg cation exchange buffering,...

 

[Royalroacho]

Thanks guys. I reused my coco without rinsing or altering last time, but mixed it as a third with 2/3 fresh and it was ok. I ended up transplanting them since i had them in peat pots that break down when they get too wet, so i didnt flush them. I actually havent had problems transplanting so long as im carful not to disturb the roots. In this case it didnt matter since there were no roots. I used alot of enzym, way too much. I could see where they burned when they reached the edge of the rooter plug and hit the coco. I dumped the coco and enzym into a tub after smoking grape walker kush...i dont remember how much i put in there, but remember thinking ill just use a ton of it... Ive done alot of dumb stuff like that smoking gwk lol. I just checked them upon waking up, and theyre starting to get going, theyve grown and look alot healthier. Ive heard alot of people say not to transplant autos, but ive never had a problem with it as long as theres a good root ball so it doesnt just fall apart when you take it out of the pot and screw up the roots.

 

[Royalroacho]

.... coco is OK to reuse, but indeed, you need to rinse it and rebuffer the CEC in it,...did you test the run-off from the reused coco first, pH too? I'm pretty sure some other coco nuts here do reuse, but you'll have to ask them what they do,... likely use a clearing-flushing product to help with this,.. advise I've read: in general, flushing with coco is best done with RO/Di water, with 150ppm Ca-Mg added, plus another 250ppm appropriate nutes, pH'ed to 6.0,... pour through until the r-o is at or near the input ppm and pH,... this will help balance the Ca/Mg cation exchange buffering,...

Oh yeah, to answer your question, i didnt bother testing it, i know it must be bad. Thanks for replying waira youre always very helpful. Also, does the accur8 ph wizard prrobe work in coco for either of its functions?

 

[Waira]

your welcome mate!... ayuh, the A8 is just fine for coco,.. oh and please note my shitty typing/proofreading above: that 150ppm nutes for flushing soln., not 250!
... enzymes break down organics, sugars, this sort of stuff depending on what exactly they put in-- and I do mean exact,... each enzyme isspecific to one kind of molecule, that's it, lock and key so to speak! And yeah, most products use very little at a time,...

 

[KonopCh]

I just run tap water through coco and perlite mix. A lot of water. Then precharge with Ca/Mg.
That's not good?

 

[Tony21]

I reuse my coco the same way. I wash flush the pots in the shower for 5-10 minutes, fluff it up a bit or it get very dense after some runs. Then I drop in net pots with the new plants about 3 weeks old.
Here is some think big and seedstockers critical in pots with coco on the 5th run

Yeah, a soaking with calmag in some form is good and then they're ready to go again

 

[Royalroacho]

your welcome mate!... ayuh, the A8 is just fine for coco,.. oh and please note my shitty typing/proofreading above: that 150ppm nutes for flushing soln., not 250!
... enzymes break down organics, sugars, this sort of stuff depending on what exactly they put in-- and I do mean exact,... each enzyme isspecific to one kind of molecule, that's it, lock and key so to speak! And yeah, most products use very little at a time,...

Yep im pretty interested in bio, most of my life more into zoo but ive been more interested in plants the last few years, i was obsessed with aquarium plants before i got into cannabis. I really should have known better, sometimes you can be too stoned lol. using more didnt really do it any faster than the reccomended amount. Theyre bouncing back, i think itll be ok. I think theres a window for mistakes in the first seedling stage before they grow thier adult leaves, ive done it once before this time and my friend did it, they seem to grow quickly to catch up. After they get a few nodes and you stunt them, theyll stay small it seems. I havent put thought into why exactly, or if its a valid theory. My buddy had his first seedlings outside this summer for 16 days, he was being extra paranoid and put them in a shady spot, on top of only 14 hrs of light. They looked like 3 day old seedlings, but caught up when he brought them in, and were as big or bigger than the ones i started at the same time. They took 2 more weeks to finish, its like they were delayed in the seedling stage. I did the same thing, i had 3 dark devils in some wet soil, they were stuck as seedlings til it dried and they grew roots, they ended up normal size. Well see what happens, but i bet theyll be ok, i think if you fix the problem before they get into the veg phase, they still have potential to reach full adult size

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[Royalroacho]

I reuse my coco the same way. I wash flush the pots in the shower for 5-10 minutes, fluff it up a bit or it get very dense after some runs. Then I drop in net pots with the new plants about 3 weeks old.
Here is some think big and seedstockers critical in pots with coco on the 5th runView attachment 825277 View attachment 825278
Yeah, a soaking with calmag in some form is good and then they're ready to go again

That first pic is think big? Thats a crazy looking plant, i like it

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