When to start watering to runoff - Coco?

[Guy Incognito]

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm on day 17 of my first grow. Using 5 gallon fabric pots of Mother Earth Coco/perlite. I haven't watered to the point of runoff yet. I've just been keeping it wet to 1st knuckle depth.

I think they might be ready for a full soaking, but I'm afraid of drowning them.

When do you start watering to runoff?

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm on day 17 of my first grow. Using 5 gallon fabric pots of Mother Earth Coco/perlite. I haven't watered to the point of runoff yet. I've just been keeping it wet to 1st knuckle depth.

I think they might be ready for a full soaking, but I'm afraid of drowning them.

When do you start watering to runoff?




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@Guy Incognito You can and should fertigate to 20% runoff (every time you water) coco. If you do not you will be subject to salt build-up and lock-outs. Fertigate means water with nutrients. Do not let coco dry at all. It is very difficult to over water coco. That is one of it's properties and the reason to use it for cannabis. Start fertigating two hours after lights on and stop two hours prior to lights out.



PS those meters are not reliable.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Listen to MOG he knows what he's talkin' about. One important thing and one can't repeat that enough. You can't overwater coco as long as it can drain.
Next year I'm going to try a continuous drip system for my coco grow. Just to make sure I keep it between 80 and 90% saturation!

 

[Guy Incognito]

Thanks guys! Will be soaking them down tomorrow morning.

What's the best way to measure runoff volume? I have drip trays under the bags which are on grated risers. Should I just pour the contents of the tray into a measuring cup?

 

[Bob's Auto's]

You could do that the first couple of times to get a feel of it. After a while you can do it by eye.

 

[Guy Incognito]

I just gave them both over 3 quarts of nutes and got just a tiny bit of runoff (nowhere near 10%). The bottom of the bag is slightly wet. Should I keep going or is something not right here? 5 gallon fabric pots of coco/perlite

Granted this is the first time I'm soaking them down, maybe next feeding it will take less to get some runoff since everything will be wet now?

 

[St. Tom]

at your age, i agree about the runoff but id never feed a tiny seedling in a big pot to run off roots still need air to breathe and i feel if its drowned in water so young it slows root development down but that's another reason i start seedlings in solo cups

 

[Guy Incognito]

at your age, i agree about the runoff but id never feed a tiny seedling in a big pot to run off roots still need air to breathe and i feel if its drowned in water so young it slows root development down but that's another reason i start seedlings in solo cups

I tried the solo cups with my first test run and had bad luck so I started these in cubes then moved them into the pots. I'm definitely going to try the solo method again sometime soon though. When do you transplant from cup to pot?

Also, when do you think it's safe to start soaking plants in big pots like mine?

 

[St. Tom]

I tried the solo cups with my first test run and had bad luck so I started these in cubes then moved them into the pots. I'm definitely going to try the solo method again sometime soon though. When do you transplant from cup to pot?

Also, when do you think it's safe to start soaking plants in big pots like mine?

As these folks have said id be doing it now its just i disagree about saturating a new seedling but @Mañ'O'Green knows so much more than me also by about day 8 to 10 i normally repot them in there permanent homes like in the pic .also i do the same with all my threads if you want to look

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I tried the solo cups with my first test run and had bad luck so I started these in cubes then moved them into the pots. I'm definitely going to try the solo method again sometime soon though. When do you transplant from cup to pot?

Also, when do you think it's safe to start soaking plants in big pots like mine?

It is absolutely safe anytime from seed to harvest to fertigate coco fully. That is the thing about coco. Air is pulled in as the water drains out the bottom. Nature abors a vacuum. You do not need to fertigate every day when the plant is small. Any time you do fertigate do so to 20% run-off to waste by two hours prior to lights out. So that means if you put 2 gallons of nutrients in the pot you need to get about 1.5 quarts out.

Keep slowly adding nutrient water until you get that 20% run-off even if it takes 5 gallons of water in a 5 gallon pot. Of course if you have to use that much you are not fertigating often enough.