So I just switched to coco coir and my plants are growing so quick! I’m going away for 4 days and my plants are all ready thirsty girls. So I will be going into flower when I leave, I’ll have 4 plants in 5 gallon mesh bags. I was thinking of a video I saw with Scotty saying he would put a gallon in coco coir but I don’t remember the pot size? Is a gallon in a 5 gallon mesh to much?
Thanks
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You are not telling us much. How big are the plants 2 ft 3ft tall? The plants will slow down on water and growth for a bit as they transition over after cutting the lights. I would think that if they aren’t real big plants you should be able to water them completely and put some water in a saucer under the mesh bags so they will bottom wick as they dry out and be ok for 4 days. I use 8 gal bags, and only water a half gallon every 2 days. They can easily go 3-4 days without watering, but they will be a pain to re-wet the soil if I do.
But I also grow in a living soil, with a lot of compost, worm castings seaweed meal, dry minerals etc., so the soil is not as forgiving in terms of watering once it dry’s out. Organic growing is simpler as you don’t have to mess with or fiddle with Ph or mixing nutes, BUT it is much less forgiving on the water end. To keep your soil organisms that make the organic fertilizers available, alive and in good shape you can’t let the soil dry out like you can coco/mineral nutes. Coco will also be more forgiving on being too wet for a bit. You should be fine.
Marty
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Hi, first of all 
Happy New Year!! So these plants are 6 weeks old on Monday! They grow fast! There in 5 gallon mesh pots in my 4x2. I will water them normally now about a quart of water every other day. Maybe a little more but I’m used to super soil and a gallon of water in that is death and that’s why I ask.
I was planning on moving the plants over to the 4x4 in about 2 weeks and the amount of water it is taking now is a lot.
I bought this 2x4 just recently and now I have 3 tents all with controlled environments now. One 2x2 and the rest mentioned. I’m planning on having a turn around every 2 month and 11-14 days for drying in 4x4. I think I have it down now on what I want to do however, the watering is just new to me in coco coir and if a gallon of water is okay, then I’ll cross my fingers and hope that my kushberry moon rock and biscotti make it!
Thanks
Steve
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Those will be just fine for 4 days ! Just water them till runoff, do it in two spaced waterings, so that the soil is completely wet through and through, and they will be fine for 4 days. BTW they look GREAT !!
I would let them get a bit bigger before you flip the lights, but that is just me, I see you have topped them. When you top and go to more/multiple growing tips, they don’t get as tall, and the stretch is less in terms of how high they will get. They look like either a hybrid or Indica, so the stretch isn’t going to be as much as a Sativa.
Marty
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I was debating on whether to top or not and decided I will. I saw a video with the creator of the mimosa strain who said stop topping. I used to main line and was debating this. I feel that if I didn’t top and grow normal then just do a heavy trim 2 weeks before and let that go then as long as I keep ventilation and good light penetration I might be good? But if I top I can just control by scrog. I just feel that when I went to mainlining, it was a game changer and grew a ton for me and I grew that way for years but it took forever. What do you feel is the best way to go? Or do you prefer something else? Thanks by the way!
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That’s funny, I was watching videos on YouTube just the other day and that video was in the side list. Didn’t watch it. Everyone has their own method. I’ve never done sea of green. I just top multiple times. Here is mine that I topped three times took this pic about a week ago.
Another week or so, I will be defoliating to get the lower stuff exposed to more light. I am running about 80% on my 860 watt LUXX.
Marty
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Do you wait till week 3 to defoliate?
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That’s a loaded question lol. The answer isn’t as straight forward as I would like it to be. There are literally thousands of variables in growing plants, just about any plant, but especially our favorite plant.
First my decision to defoliate has to do with the shape of the plant, in other words how much shading does the plant do to itself. Here is a picture of my pure Sativa plant long razor thin leaves, so on this one the only thing I have done and probably the only thing I will do is just pull off damaged or dying leaves, as you can see the buds are all pretty well getting the same amount of light because there isn’t much shading and I have plenty of light in my tent.
The picture below is the same plant as posted earlier in the thread. As you can see it is starting to stretch and the flowers are getting bigger.
So basically I wait until the stretch is well under way and I can tell how much I need to take leaves so that the buds below get more light. A lot of people just rape their plants at this stage in flower, but right or wrong I feel like the plant makes energy and more bud if they have more leaves left to make that energy. I usally get about a pound to a pound and a quarter off each plant when they are 36-40 or so inches tall. (plant only not including the pot) I start getting too close to the height limitation if I let them get any taller than that. These will probably get around 6-10 inches taller than they are now.
Bear in mind that every single strain is different, and even different plants from the same seed batch. It also depends on the level of backcrossing to get a more uniform and stable strain.
So the answer is it is different for every single grow, you just have to do it for each specific plant. When the plants settle down and the stretch stops then I will do the defoliation, not by a specific time schedule. I hope that helped and not made things worse lol.
Marty
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I try not to take off leaves as well. I also feel that the more of the leaves I can leave on, the better. thank you for your help, I was planing on 2 more weeks then flip in 4x4. Your plants look great and I can’t believe you pull a pound a plant!!! Damn, I have 4 plants and I’m lucky to pull 1 lb or like my last 2 grows going to crap. This Coco Coir is the way to go! I do add other things to coco though. I use Gaia green wormcast and dynomyco plus a little charcoal and grow dots. Grow Dots, I love them so far. Far beats dealing with feeding all the time.
But I will wait for the stretch on my plants which won’t be much because they are indica and then remove the rest of larger leaves or what I like to do is manipulate the leaves out of the way if I can. I have some time till then but I’ll let them go for another couple weeks.
Once again, thanks!
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Well you have a smaller tent, my plants are about 2.5-3 ft wide. That is a 5x5 tent they are in. So a lot bigger plant. That’s why I suggested that you let them go bigger, as long as you have the height why not, it pays off in the end. 2-3 more weeks for triple or 4 times the weight.
Marty
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Do you think I can have these plants in here for 3 more weeks in the 2x2? I’m hoping that they won’t outgrow that space. If 3 more weeks then I’ll wait till next week and clean her up a little. There are some leaves in there that will go tomorrow. They are just enormous and blocking others however, if say i wait till next week and clean up then wait 2 weeks and throw in 4x4 and flip? What you think? I know I have to watch it and makes sure leaves dont touch and create moisture but 3 weeks seems to me like these would be big! But hey, that’s why I’m here to try new things and see what others do. I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks
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I don’t see why you couldn’t let them veg for three more weeks.
Marty
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