Thoughts and ideas on flowering in coco welcome here!

[Spanky]

I know there are tutorials on flowering which are a great resource. I am hoping folks might comment on their actual experience flowering with coco.

This is only my second grow and my first with coco. With the forum's help I have learned to feed and water everyday, and to keep up with Calmag. My plants are responding really well.

I'd really like to hear about things to watch for during flowering, including, but not limited to the need for more water, changing over to bloom nutes (a little at a time?), how much darkness to change over, continue with Calmag or change dose?, continue 20 percent run off everyday?, do I really need to flush two weeks before harvest if I am using organic nutes? and any other issues you may have experienced that I need to avoid.

Thanks for taking the time to share!

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hey Spanky, you ain't got to do anything different than what your doing right now, some people flush, when they change over to bloom nutes, some dont, if you want them bigger don't switch to bloom early, keep feeding them like your doing , then when they are like you want them, switch to bloom. I'm thinking your gonna love coco, when your thru.

[Spanky]

Hello D.
I always appreciate your words of encouragement and I wouldn't have gotten this far if you and some other helpful folks hadn't gotten me on the right track! So thanks for taking the time to do that!

It's been nearly three months since I dropped my seeds. Things are much improved these last two months and I am running out of floor space as my plants expand! So, I am thinking March 1 for the change over. Next time I am going to go back to growing a single plant at a time and I hope that, with what I learned, I can grow that plant to fill the same space in a much shorter time frame!

Thanks!

[St.buds]

Seems like u got the right info the only thing I could say is your plant will be more sensitive to ph in flower

[Spanky]

Hi St. Buds,

What pH should I be looking for in my run off during flower? And, what are the early symptoms if I am off by too much?

I have been using high 5s going in and I consistently get 6.5 in my run off. Even if I adjust my pH going in to lower 5s, my runoff never seems to change as a result. My plants are growing well and seem quite vibrant so I haven't been worried...till now!
Thanks.

[carblevel]

Hey Spanky
If they were my plants I would flush them before you switch lights to flower. Your runoff ph should be the same or very close to the ph of feed/water going in and it sounds like your still a bit high coming out. I would try to fix that before switching to flower , a lot of times flushing will fix a ph problem and its good in my opinion to clean out the medium before flower cause you've got another 8+ weeks of feeding/watering to go.

[St.buds]

I ph at 6 and I no ppl are gana hate me for saying this but I do not test my runoff but it should be around 6. I Ph at 6 and flush with flora kleen every 2 weeks I dnt even water tell run off and have great success. I'm not saying u have to grow how I do. Oh and Normally my first sight of ph issue looks like nute burn but not on the tips of leafs more on the sides.

[Campesino]

Hey Spanky I grow in Coco and love it. I will give you some thoughts
Watering frequency depends on the size of your pots, the age of your plants, and the humidity in your tent. I have big pots, 7-gallon, so I don't water twice very often. I have found that during flowering I like to add a second watering on days where the RH is going to be low (low to mid 30s). If it is higher than that, I get run-off almost immediately if I try to add a secondary watering. I do like to keep my coco wet, so I err on the side of over-watering - but I still only do two waterings probably twice a week. When I give a secondary watering it is about half the normal amount and I usually don't add any nutes, just CalMag.
I put 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) of CaliMagic in every gallon of water during flowering. Will not do this during final flush. I do not think you need to flush for two weeks.
Finally, run-off is important on non-nute waterings, to flush excessive build-up. It is not as needed when applying nutes, but you still want to make sure the coco gets soaked through.

[Spanky]

Hi Campesino,
You bring up the thing that most concerns me about flowering in my cabinet. Humidity.

My plants are in fabric pots, sitting on inverted wire baskets, in dishpans. After watering and waiting for the runoff to stop, I empty the pans and wipe them dry before I put them back under the lights. They have a small fan which dispels the heat and makes them flutter slightly. My highest temp is 73.

The highest rh is 63. Low is around 40.

My understanding is that 63 is way too high for flowering. I have a dehumidifier I could squeeze into the cabinet, but no thermostat. You just turn a high/low dial and it cycles off and on. I would also have to make sure it doesn't emit any light. I think getting it set correctly will take a lot of trial and error.

I also have a bunch of calcium chloride I could place in trays around the wall.

My fan is currently on the lowest setting but I could raise that to create more airflow. I wonder if the humidity is too high, if more airflow solves the concern about bud rot? How can I get mold if the air around the plant is constantly moving?

What do you do to control humidity if you are keeping your medium moist?

Thanks!

[Campesino]

Spanky Yes, humidity is an issue. I live where the RH is generally very low. It is often in the single digits and rarely gets above 50%. I can control humidity by opening and closing my window.
Generally it is better to put the dehumidifier outside of the tent or cabinet at the point where air is being drawn into the tent. If you live in an area with high average humidity and you want to grow like this you may need a larger dehumidifier. Also, be sure to vent into a different space than you draw from.
Air movement helps, but ideally you get the RH under 50 or close. It is possible to "wind burn" your plants if you overdo it with the fan.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Morning Spanky, I grow mine in 4inch Grodan rockwool blocks, after a couple of weeks I put them in 2gallon pots full of coco, and I water -feed 8-12ozs, every day, 2or3times and my plants love it.
Coco is so easy, and versatile, that it's hard to mess up. It's super easy, after you do it a little while, the main thing is don't let your coco get to dry.
Watch your plants, they will tell you when something ain't right. I always watch my leaves, if they look better than ever, sticking up an looking great,it means, they are ready for water in coco, then pick up your pot, an it will be light as a feather, you will get used to coco easy, cause I remember you growing some nice plants ,a month or two ago.
You need to find out what works for you. Some folks don't water but every 3-4 days in coco, an still grow beautiful plants. GoodLuck spanky