Coco Coir Training: ChocoLope Auto

ThomFoolery I ended up with an extra plant this run and I don't want to kill it. So I'm taking this as an opportunity to learn how to grow using Coco and perlite with timed feedings multiple times a day. At present I am still testing the timer and pump and once I figure out how stable it is then I'll be able to add more details to the diary. But I plan to stick this little sucker in the corner and pump it full of nutrients. See how big it'll get. I am thinking 6 small feedings a day. Since the pot is so small it will take it less time to start drying. I don't see why this won't work, but Ita a learning exercise and I'm really stoked to get it going. And I have no experience. I'm almost set on how I'm handling the runoff and exactly how I'm setting up the substrate. Still need to run tests on the equipment to determine how it pushes the solution and how much it pushes for different amounts of time. Pump doesn't work... Lol. Shit. So I need to fix this or replace it. This was a cheap little system, they all pretty much are so Im Going to just buy the pump and timer, all the tubing, emitters, etc, etc and do it myself. I really wanted it to be one with wifi so I can use my phone as the interface, and keep up with it when I'm not home, but eh... It's better to have a good pump and timer and be done. This supposed to be as simple as it can be. 12/12 77gph Pond pump and Hydro farm autopilot timer. Everything is up and running. The transplant from soil into coco was nothing short of brutal. I really thought she was going to die within an hour, but she pulled through until lights off, and came back looking fine. When I did the transplant I left half the roots in the soil.... It's going on 48 hours now and she still looks alive. It is very possible that the plant still dies, but until then I am hoping I make the right decisions. I dimmed her down a bit, and dialed back the nutes to a milder dosage ( down to 0.6 from the original 0.9 ) There is definite stress, as you can see, but she's alive. This is what we have FloraGro, Micro, Bloom, and CaliMagic. These are to 2gals. I went by EC not by per gallon. These are the amounts it took to reach this point. FG: 2.5ml 0.1 FM: 1.0ml 0.1 FB: 2.0ml 0.1 CM: 1.5ml 0.3 pH: 5.5 Temp: 68.3, EC 0.6 Feeding solution @ 0.6. 16ml every 3 hours for 18 hours while lights are on only. Trial and error. I have no experience with this. I am just going by what I've read and what I think may work. 12/13 She's actually growing. So I guess the worst parts over. Moved her back to 275 ppfd and I'm currently working on a new drip emitter. I'm trying to make something that utilizes a loop of 1/4 tubing with 4 holes so it wets the entire substrate. So far as a pressure/flow issue. It's either sharp streams pointed directly at the stem, or random and tiny droplets. More to come...

ThomFoolery 12/15 I don't know about this plant... I think the transplant was just too much stress and it's done. I knew it was a long shot with an auto flower. I'm going to give it 2, 3 more days. If I don't see a major improvement, I'm pulling it. It looks like the other one I started with this one is lagging too. I had an accident with another plant fallling over on it. Anyway, I went all the way on the drip irrigation system. Ended up installing a main line and then I ran a 1/4 line off the 1/2 main line that runs down the center of the tent. I just couldn't leave it alone and ended up building a pretty decent system. If I add 6 or 8 emitters then I'll upgrade the pump. 80gph won't be strong enough for 8 lines. So it's a bit more involved than living soil, and I enjoy that, as long as I have time. One plant doesn't take a lot. Just check pH 2x a day and adjust if needed. It will swing about 3 points every 12 hours. So I set it to 5.7 or 5.8 and when I get home at night it's at 6.0 or 6.1. It is way more forgiving than dwc and if the pH were to drift bad, then I have plenty of time. It's only got to be right 6 times during the day. 3 days.. I didn't want to kill her, but I'm not going to spend 3 months growing a joint either. 12/16 Looks like she's getting stronger. Took a video of the drip system in action. I tweaked it and added 2 inline drippers so they each have half the cup. They seem to drip pretty even in my other tests. I'm watching close . I hope she takes off so I don't have to start over. Color looks good. My pH was lower than I thought. By .4 points. So I fixed that and the plant seems to have taken notice. Hell the pH was probably just gotten to where it was in range. I got so used to the pen being accurate I totally forgot to double check it. It's right now. 12/18 Changed the res and upped the nutrients to 0.9 from 0.6. She is growing very slowly. I am about to pull it and make room for some clones in another tent. I found a breeder with some genetics I am really salivating for and I may just jerk it out. That being said; I think the increase in nutes has helped the color if nothing else. But with each day I'm more sure she is stunted. 12/20 She is picking up. Color is darkening up and size is getting within range. But she will be smaller in the cup. The latest pics are showing no issues yet. I think I can give her even more. Next res change I think we'll go to 1.0 or 1.1. just playing it by ear. Need to check the runoff and make sure it's not building up any salts. Haven't been top concerned yet because we get a little runoff and I believe I am getting the entire substrate moist. Watching... Waiting...

ThomFoolery 12/22 She's is starting to pick it up. The nutrient solution isn't quite there and the color is off but I think I know why. I should be leading with micro and not gro. I think this will help me get the plant where it needs to be. I'll change this solution which. Is only 2 days old on 2 more days and I'll lead with micro. I'm not seeing any tip burn yet so I think 1.1 is safe. I am running this little "experiment" parallel to a bigger grow and as of now she needs to actually be a producer. Due to the loss of another plant on the soil roster I'll need this one and another to make up the difference. I'm hoping to get an Oz off her.. but I'll take what I get. It's the same strain as one of my soil plants but hopefully a different phenotype. 12/25 I think we are going to cool out jets at EC 1.1. I changed the reservoir so I am leading with micro instead of bloom and that seems to have done the trick. Growth has increased as well as the color coming back. I started LST (you can't really tell from the angle. ) and she doesn't seem to be stunted... At least so far she doesn't. But the blue cheese beside her, I think is. Lol So, In addition to the dosage change I am also giving her more. We went from 1:30secs to 2mins. I may go a step further and change the drippers with 2gph vs the 1gph I am using now. 12/27 Tied her down pretty well and she started to show major signs of hunger. I deferred to the label and hit her with 1ml per gallon all 3 and 2.5ml per gallon on the CalMag. She perched up in 24 hours but still has a little bit to go. She still has not stunted.. still in full veg. Talk about a hardy auto flower. Went up on dosage from 1.4 to 1.7. also increased flow at the drip. 2gph drippers instead of 1. That's good maybe I can get some bud off her. The one that went in as a replacement stunted and is already in full blown flower at 6" high. And this one has been treated like a whore that stole all your money, and she's still playing ball. Hopefully it will stay that way. More to come...

ThomFoolery 1/1 She has finally hit her stride! Had so.e issue for a few days and I couldn't seem to satisfy her. I'm just going by the label and started by EC. Now I'm beyond the label and between "Aggressive vegetative" and reggae and I'm winging it. But she looks good, hasn't stunted or started flowering. Did some light defoliation to open up the belly and upped the volume of feeding. Runoff always tests really clean and pH is always between 5.7 and 5.9. Just raised her up and went from 2.0 to 2.2 on the nutes so I'm watching for burn.

ThomFoolery 1/5 She is hitting her stride now!! So much so I need to pull her out and assess for LST. No flowers yet. A bit surprised but good. I want her smallish anyway, space. Took 2 new pics and damn she took off. Laterals are beating the main top. The lights are about to shut off so I'm waiting till their morning to do a targeted small defol. Nothing crazy. Just the stuff in the way, that I can't tuck. I prioritize about 8 strong laterals. And I took off any shoots and fans below the top. I don't think that will stunt this plant. Any other auto and I'd not do it.. but this one is a fighter man.. so I cleaned her up put her back and gave her spritz for not complaining. Now we wait for the delay and she should resume in 3 days, if she doesn't jump into flower. 1/7 Man, www.cocoforcannabis.com has set me straight. As luck would have it I was in the ballpark anyway, I just needed to tweak some of my actions. I still don't get why my run off is lower than the input and not about the same. Keeping it wet, several small fertigations during the light period, making sure that the entire substrate is getting wet. The plant looks great... 1/9 Really nice growth. I'm still in the same nutrients as last week and I see no signs of deficiency, or stress. The plant is almost flat. She is in a great spot soaking up light from both fixtures. It's easy to lose track of the growth because all laterals are at the same height and she is about 6" high now. More to come...

ThomFoolery Week 1 of flower (week 6) 1/12 She's finally flowering. This is where I'm a bit unsure.. I know I need keep up the N to facilitate a smooth stretch with no premature yellowing due to N deficiency. But I also need to start upping the bloom nutes fora smooth transition. I believe am about topped out on strength for the cup size. .. I wish I had more space to dedicate, but it is what it is. 1/14 Wow! Damn she's looking good! Maybe even stockier than my larger pheno in living soil. I believe it's because this one has been showered in higher ppfd's .. I took off some larger leaves, and shade leaves to allow airflow and better penetration... And man she needed it! Still on veg dominant nutrients. Next reservoir I'll up the bloom 1/16 Stretchin.. but slowly 1/17 Got some better pics. This plant is hardy. I have to put her where I can because it's a side grow. I have another that takes priority, but as luck has it the spot she is in is giving her a lot of light. She is just starting to stretch I believe but her nodes are a lot tighter than the sister im growing that is 10x her size. That check out. I am bit concerned as to how long to leave her in veg mode. I don't want to see any premature yellowing when I shift. The current recipe is what's listed. Equal parts gro micro and a little less o the bloom. I don't think I can go much higher than 2.2 in this container so I'll have to drop one and up another. I'll research that.

ThomFoolery 1/19 She took a tumble. The wright was toouch for the skewers and I should have seen it coming. She fell off the feet and ended up dangling between two others. Luckily I caugut her before an entire day passed and fixed the issue. The tie down broke. The plant is just to strong to tie down while it's in a solo cup so I'm just letting her do what she do. She looks really really happy. I think I've hit the sweet spot, for this size container, and this plants needs. I am planning to switch to bloom nutes end of this week. I adjusted the nutrients a bit to stay at 2.2 just backed off on the N and upped the P. But still enough I should not se premature N def 1/22 That little episode where she fell off the teet caused dmy EC to spike to 4.7. I did a little flush with half strength nutrients and brought her down to 2.9. I'll check again tonight and bring her back down to 2.2 if she is still high.. caught it just in time.

ThomFoolery Week 3 flower about day 14 1/27 It's starting to take a lot more nutrient solution to produce runoff. I believe there is some channeling going on. The EC is a bit high, and I have flushed her 2x. I'm waiting till Friday and I'll do it, hopefully for the last time. I'm going to use flora Kleen. Recommend by a master grower. For now she's beautiful. Still have deep greens. I am about 3 days from going full blown "bloom mOde". Did about the last defol. Maybe one more. I need to rebuild the emitter head. I am thinking about it, and looking for ideas. I think the reason it keeps going up is because my current dripper setup only gets a portion of the substrate, and not all of it. So dry spots are being left and this is causing the EC to spike. So I need to fix that. 1/29 Still issues with hight EC. I know it's the delivery of the solution. Well, I'm pretty sure. I tried going.to a single emitter, but no dice. I have to build a solution. It's a bit difficult in a solo. But I think I may just 86 the emitter and use an inline so I get a bigger pulse at once that will saturate the entire top before it sinks in. Any ideas then DM me I'm all eyes for a solution. More to come...

ThomFoolery 2/2 Week 4 flowering. Just changed her over to bloom nutes. I love that this is a different pheno than the chocolope in my other grow. And they look totally different. They both smell like cantaloupes though! What I am loving about coco; I can give the plants exactly what they need. I've so long loved living soil, but it's always hit or miss. Ok... I went by the directions on the label. But I had to up each one by one to get the EC about where I wanted it. I am doing this to preserve the NER. No imbalances. She's been on it for almost 3 days and looking good so far. I was having issues with the EC spiking so I increased flo after a flush. I brought her down to 1.9 and the EC now is 2.3.. input is 1.8. so.. still having some issues but it's early. I'm going to give her a few days and see if she bounces back. If not I'll try something else. Shit, worse case scenario, I'll flush her once per week. I'm thinking it's all to do with previous channelling. I think I'm already seeing a difference in flower size. This plant is stacked really tight. Each little bud has 2 tiny leaves and they must be a thousand of them. Lol. It makes me worry some for bud rot. I run a tight ship but you can't always be perfect. It's something to be hyper aware of. I'll be pulling her out daily from here on in! 2/7 3 days since last reset and the EC went up to 6.3. it's got to be due to the size of the cup. I will just do a manual reset every 3 days down to 1.9 if I have to. But being that I am not experienced with coco. I'm guessing. I'm already pushing extra through it to wash away excess but it ain't working. Hopefully flushing so often will not harm her. I turned her around to get some sun on the other side. I'll leave her for a week then return. More to come...

ThomFoolery 2/10 Week 5 on this little beast. Leafy little plant as well. Very dense. I am still having the runoff double by the next day. I always freak and do a quick 2oz reset with Flora keen, but I think I'm going to wait a few days and just observe before the next flush. I upped the event time. Maybe I'm not getting enough runoff, but I think it's because the drop system isn't wetting the entire substrate. Channeling... Maybe switch to 8 events instead of 6? Every 2 hours? Maybe.... 2/13 So.... I tried to add a layer between the coco and drippers to help spread the solution. This idea was genius and not my own. But I didn't implement it correctly and what happened is the middle layer just held salts and released them back into the substrate. EC spiked to 8.4 in 24 hours. Operator error. I switched it up with small plastic discs instead to spread it out.. I'm still waiting to see but so far it seems ok. I inadvertently left the damn timer on "off" and missed 2 events while I slept. Well shit. I'm sure that didn't help but I brought her back when I realized it. Thanks to @7daysaweek for this idea. I'm still tweaking it. 2/14 Seeing some positive results on the runoff EC. More flow helped also. She is starting to take on a little stress. Some from the light too. I am at a loss for space at the moment so if she takes stress on some outer leaves, well, it could be worse. She is also pushing 6 weeks flower so I expect to see some color changing too. I am hoping for something profound. As long as I've actually grown weed, I've mostly only seen green. I know it's not important but I think it would be nice to look at. I am still on the same strength of nutrients and I hope it's enough. She looks like she's seeking nicely. Buds every where you look. The inly resin she is so small isn't from the cup,it's because she stalled out for over a week while I got the strength right. It would be cool to have a tent full of these little guys. I'm already planning my next run(s). Going to do 6 photos in 1 gal bags, and a micro grow using a 70watt in a 1.7x3x3.

ThomFoolery 2/16 Week... 6 flower. Starting to change colors in the flowers. I just haven't been supplying enough runoff to meet the ec in check due to the size of the cup and the packed root system it just takes a lot to get runoff and I've been underestimating it.. The revelation? Well.. I was elongating the events and I added one at the end so she wouldn't be so dry after the dark cycle... I forgot to end the event.... Holy shit. So it pumped about 2 gallons of solution through the plant, into the tray and over the sides! 2 gallons of solution in the catch tray if the tent!! I was at home! For some reason I was being lazy and didn't check it till 2:40 hours after the event. She was sitting at a perfect runoff of 2.0. Thank God for little favors! I'm glad I opted to use that bottom tray. Could have been a lot worse. Once I get the events dialed in, she should be ok. This little plant has shown me a lot. I do make a mean living soil, but I'm so tired of having to top dress for some strains and not doing it in time and losing leaves prematurely. So I think this experiment has shown me the way. Nutes "on demand". Next run I'm going to try 6 in 1 gallon bags and see how that goes. 2/18 She's getting really fat. I just had to tweak the event times to get the EC under control. So, in doing my nightly maintenance I once againaxe a stupid mistake and dumped over a gallon of nutrients into the damn tent. Again!!! Two times!! I forgot to reconnect the 1/4" lime to the drip harness. I'd set an alarm so I could measure the 9pm runoff so it was pumping for about 2 minutes. Which without any drip emitters to slow the flow, it just pumped unabated for 2 minutes. What an idiot!!! Well. It's a product of being unorganized at the end of aong day. It didn't hurt the plant and hopefully it's the last time. New pics. This little girl is fat and sassy. My other plants in the same tent aren't faring as well. Wel, 2 are and 2... It's really only one that looks bad. Sunburn in week 2 of flower and now she's lost 90% of all her fans . I'm new to LEDs and I'm learning some hard lessons.

ThomFoolery 2/24 Yesterday was the start of the 7th week. Wow.. she is fat and getting fatter!!! I have all but solved the EC issue. This was a really good little grow to give me some insight on how to work with coco and I'm hooked. I am going to base my future grows loosely on this grow. I need to build a drain to waste system that will allow me to keep the run off separate. That shouldn't be too difficult. I'm going with 1gal fabric pots and I'm going to keep them small. I'm going to let them get to 4 or 5 nodes, tie them down horizontal and expose the 6 to 8 lateral branches. A lot like I did this one. And then once they get about 2 to 3" or until the laterals are defined and starting to take over. And flip them ! That should give me little bushes about 2x the size of this one. Eigjt of these little plants to provide about 2oz each. That's easy growing.. I think. It seems like it will be. First I need to bring this one home. She's just starting to get some color on the largest buds. I was forced to turn it sideways because it was just ridiculous how big the flowers were on the right side. Reminds me of that Family Guy episode where Quagmire discovered porn on the Internet and locked himself in his house for days. When he turned sideways and his right arm was huge.. that's what this plant looked like! Well... I'm trying to even get out now, even if a bit late. 2/28 Well...she finally got her a spot right under the light!! Almost.. mostly the end, but it's better. This weather is really fucking with me. It's too cool outside to run the AC, too warm to close the door. I have to prop open the tent, and both doors. Bedroom door, and lung room door. I even had to turn the damn heat down to 65 to help keep the temps below 79. So I'm freezing my ass off trying to make these plants happy. Lol.. I have some already drying in another room. I did a bit of wet trimming and it had me paranoid as hell. What if one of those cuts produces a drop of water that falls in the buds and starts mold? ... What a dumb ass... I knew better than that.. Yikes!!!! I need to rush homr as soon as work is done and go through every branch with a fine tooth comb! The room has been pretty solid. A perfect 60/60 for 18 hours now. But I think I am going to lower that humidity to around 55. No fan, just my usual exhaust fan on the tent. Maybe 52... We'll see. This little girl won't see the tent for 2, 3 weeks. She's got a shitload of leaves. Damn. I'm glad she's not normal sized. I am going to tie her done and open her up tonight after I tend to the harvest. So many leaves. But..... I have been able to keep the EC at a perfect 2.3. but it takes a lot of nutrients to keep it low. My god. I made up 2 gallons 3 days ago and it's gone. It just seems like such a waste.

ThomFoolery 3/1 8 weeks . The worst that could have happened.. happened. Idk, I hope I got it before it spread. Botrytus.. idek if I spelled it right, I don't give a fuck. I saw a shriveled up black fan in one of the buds. I knew it right away. Damn it! I mean these buds are so tight you can slice it like a head of cabbage. I didn't realize how dense until I had to dig in and confirm my suspicion. As soon as I saw that tell take brown slice in the stem and little bit of fuzz. I cut that whole fucker off at the base, bagged it up and threw it in the damn woods. I hope I got it. I did a really thorough search by pulling all the buds apart. But not.. I didn't beat the plant to hell. I was tender . I guess. That leaf is always the deadest of giveaways. I was probably a bit slack with the humidity in the dark period. To close to 50. And I'm sure it was probably a micro climate and somehow a drop of moisture got in there. Could have been a leaf I cut? Who knows? On a happier note I moved out one (Harvested the blue cheese. Been smoking that kief for days!) and made her a dedicated spot under a lamp. I upped the airflow, and set the vpd target to 1.9. I also lowered the dehumidifier to 37% Still the same diet. Still massive fertigation flows to keep the EC stable.. I almost panicked and chopped the entire tent. If I see anything else she will be dealt with, because I can't risk 3/4 of my damn harvest. Fingers crossed. 3/5 Lots of changes. The substrate in that little cup is totally acidified. I can't make it budge. It's sitting @ 4.9 and you can see the results of it being locked out of CalMag. So she went as fast as she could I that damn cup. I transplanted her into a 1gal fabric pot and gave her a real 4 point halo type dripper. The jury is still out on the dripper. I can't seem to keep the coco wet all the time but I figured it was going to take some time .. I have more than doubled my event times and I'm getting good runoff. pH is 6.3 so it's working down. That means hopefully she can reach into that the new coco and get the CalMag.. I hope. I lopped off a bud to facilitate better air flow. I need to push her about 2 to 3 more weeks and we'll be done.

ThomFoolery Week 9 What a couple weeks. She is really starting to put on the color and pack on the resin! I'll try to get some better pics soon. I decided to take the top 3" of the cola. It was getttig cooked and it needs to be done. I did it at full strength nutes, so I'm hoping it doesn't taste like shit. I just seperated it so I could inspect and I didn't see too much to worry about. I cut the nutrients way back to just micro and bloom. A week late, but eh... I'll go to water for the last 2 or 3. This plant has been my main focus for weeks now. The others are ok. But this one since it got a touch of rot has been my special project. I took a bus from the center last week, dried it, smoked it and it was quite good. Not ready but not worth wasting either. Didn't taste too bad either. So.. I'm hoping for another week. She's starting to really look good. I hope I can keep the humidity at bay. It's a bitch man. It's been nearly 100% RH here and I'm having issues keeping it under 50% mostly in the dark cycle. My dehumidifier is collecting water like crazy and so is the ac it's just different in a damn tent. It's more difficult to move the damn air because it's trapped in a box. I'll figure it out next grow. After this I'm packing up andoving. Well worry about the next one in between. For now, I'm just watching. I still have the plant on 6 events. I was going to change it, but it's just in the runoff range I want, so there is no reason to. pH is back to normal. 5.5 last I checked. Trying to move up a bit. I'm pretty sure that even though it was a late transplant, it was still the right move. Given the plant a good pH and lower EC should help the stress and make for better smoke. 3/10 I don't know why I keep getting notifications from growdiaries saying I am done with the grow. I haven't finished yet . Weird. We are close though. If I can get to next Monday scott free I'll harvest by Tuesday or Wednesday.

ThomFoolery 3/16 10 weeks!! We made it. I think she is free of mold but I won't know for 100% sure till I get in there. I have some off another plant drying on its 5th day now, but on the last 2 days the damn weather took a turn and the humidity went up to 95%. That means the house it about 65% all over except the lung room which I am luckily able to keep in the low 40s. That isn't always and easy feat. Especially when it's dark. One day, I am going to figure that out. I just don't think I have strong enough equipment now. As long as the humidity isn't allowed to reach 45% it makes maintaining the environment sou h easier. 46 and above and it's a struggle trying to keep the tent below 50% open the tent... Eh, that just ruins the whole purpose of a tent. But when the RH is up it's really hard to move in a rectangular box. Anyway .... I plan to harvest tonight or tomorrow. If I do I need to figure out how to regulate the RH. I am not just going to hang it up, no.. not this thicc bitch. I am trimming and bucking buds off the stems. As high as the RH is I don't want to take anymore chances. I have a couple Ozs drying now that I could lose if I dont get the RH down. But hopefully it'll just be a nice slow dry that leaves the bud just right. I have had her on just micro and bloom, and only about 1.1 EC. So I think she'll be fine to chop like that. The pH is 5.7 and the runoff EC is about 1.4. I can't wait to dig into that coco and see if in fact, the roots did spread out. Sorry for the old pics.. I've not taken any in a couple days. I'll update before and after I harvest.

ThomFoolery Wait... I thought I did this already.. ?