Did I F*** up big time? Can I save them?

[BigPretzel]

OK so to start off I'm a rather new indoor grower and have pretty good set up for just producing personal use and a little extra here and there. I just finished up a run of Briscos Copper Orgi S1 and they came out Amazing in every way. I only had a few deficiency issues. That time I grew in a soil medium and my plants produced well but I have been reading that with coco or a full out hydro set up I could increase my yields and have a little more control over exactly what they are getting fed.

In doing this I decided on using Coco Coir first before making the jump to full out DWC. So here is were the trouble starts, I ordered the coco brick and on the packaging it said to just add water and plant right in the bag you add the water into to expand the coco. Me seeing this my stupidity kicked in and laziness so i did almost exactly that. i inflated the bricks with tap water (yes i know first mistake because my tap has a ph of 7.45) then i mixed a 25% ratio of perlite into the coco. I then dumped the bags straight into my fabric pots. I then planted my germinated seeds into the medium. every one of them popped up and is growing. now since they have popped they have been dying off or turning completely bright green, some have taco leaves and others the stems got so week they just fell over and died. So at this time I had 6 seedlings left and i was scared they would all die seeing as how they are the last autos i have from a company i dont think breeds these beans anymore. I read online that i should have buffered my coco for a few hours before every planting. so i took my plants to thte bathroom ph'd the water to 5.5-6.3 and added 2ml of cal mag to each gallon i put through the pots. I pretty much did a flush with added calmag. I kept running water through them until the run off was below 500ppm. I left them drain for about 4 hours and then put them back into the room with fans on the ground so the coco will dry out a little faster.

I really think I jumped the gun on this one and my excitement and go for it mind set at the moment really screwed me up this time rather then the usual research and plan attitude a normally have. I have no idea what to do. today is the second day after the flush and they still dont look all that great. the only nutrients or supplements i am giving right now is some recharge to get the root zone

is there anyway I could just transplant them all to a soil mix or do I have to keep them in coco?
Could I just mix the coco/soil at a 40%-60% ratio?

 

[Frimpong]

OK so to start off I'm a rather new indoor grower and have pretty good set up for just producing personal use and a little extra here and there. I just finished up a run of Briscos Copper Orgi S1 and they came out Amazing in every way. I only had a few deficiency issues. That time I grew in a soil medium and my plants produced well but I have been reading that with coco or a full out hydro set up I could increase my yields and have a little more control over exactly what they are getting fed.

In doing this I decided on using Coco Coir first before making the jump to full out DWC. So here is were the trouble starts, I ordered the coco brick and on the packaging it said to just add water and plant right in the bag you add the water into to expand the coco. Me seeing this my stupidity kicked in and laziness so i did almost exactly that. i inflated the bricks with tap water (yes i know first mistake because my tap has a ph of 7.45) then i mixed a 25% ratio of perlite into the coco. I then dumped the bags straight into my fabric pots. I then planted my germinated seeds into the medium. every one of them popped up and is growing. now since they have popped they have been dying off or turning completely bright green, some have taco leaves and others the stems got so week they just fell over and died. So at this time I had 6 seedlings left and i was scared they would all die seeing as how they are the last autos i have from a company i dont think breeds these beans anymore. I read online that i should have buffered my coco for a few hours before every planting. so i took my plants to thte bathroom ph'd the water to 5.5-6.3 and added 2ml of cal mag to each gallon i put through the pots. I pretty much did a flush with added calmag. I kept running water through them until the run off was below 500ppm. I left them drain for about 4 hours and then put them back into the room with fans on the ground so the coco will dry out a little faster.

I really think I jumped the gun on this one and my excitement and go for it mind set at the moment really screwed me up this time rather then the usual research and plan attitude a normally have. I have no idea what to do. today is the second day after the flush and they still dont look all that great. the only nutrients or supplements i am giving right now is some recharge to get the root zone

is there anyway I could just transplant them all to a soil mix or do I have to keep them in coco?
Could I just mix the coco/soil at a 40%-60% ratio?

U can def transplant to either , no prob. Just make sure ph is good
on both ends ?

 

[Jewels]

It is possible,,, just possible, that the Coco started with a very low ph.
It is possible,,, just possible, that your tap water was the one thing saving them.
It is possible,,, just possible, that you may have compounded the problem by lowering the pH,,,again.

Without a bench mark, your last reference point is the soil that you grew your previous plants in. If you do not have a way to test the pH - one emergency measure may include transplanting those things into your old dirt.

Don't give up on the Coco ~it is good stuff.
Your test pilots are very vulnerable at that age.

Dude, I do not think that you did anything stupid. Your previous post was identical to the procedure I followed , except I didn't have bad luck.

 

[Capt. C]

One thing i would like to add is not all coco is created equal. Biggest problem is how well it was washed before bringing to market. Some brands have more salt than others. Until you are comfortable with the product it should be flushed well. If it has a high salt content and is not properly flushed it will kill your plants ( had it happen not to long ago). If you are using perlite that is very dusty and will add to the flushing process. Once it is flushed you can charge it up with PHed water with 7.5 ml of Cal-mag per gal plus a very mild nutrient solution around 3-500 ppm. I have tried multiple brands of coco and the best i have worked with is Botanicare Cocogrow. I like the bricks as well as there is less chance of getting any bugs in the coco. Might want to consider the addition of silica to aid in the uptake of nutrients and good strong branches. Good luck on the salvage operation. Feel free to PM me if you like with further questions if you don't want to post.

 

[jaguarlax]

ill echo @Jewels.

There are so many possibilities.

The one certainty is, you have living plants.

I would just flush with stable water, and let time do its thing...

I have learned to never count out a cannabis plant while it still has leaves.

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

Pics always help my friend!

Have you fed them anything? Unlike with soil coco is complete inert and plants need to be fed almost immediately. Sometimes you can get a week or so with no additional nutrients but much longer and you'll start seeing N deficiencies. Also, especially when they are young, your coco should never fully dry out. I water them every day. Only time I let them dry out is when I'm fighting fungus gnats and they're already well established.

Ive honestly never buffered my coco and do exactly what you did....in fact I ignore everyone's advice and plant into dry coco/perlite and then water my plants... but I also do lots of things that I'm not supposed to do and everything usually works out

What autos are they by the way?

 

[Kold Kasiz]

I’m pretty sure Capt C is right on. Coco is loaded with salts, it needs a lot of water flushed through it before using. The only coco I didn’t have to flush was botanicare Cocogro. Any other coco will read atleast 500-1000 in salts before u even start without nutrients. They will start to look crispy and die off fast. It’s way too much for seedlings. Pics would help but if you just flush with plain water until ppm is lower like you did you should be ok.

 

[Capt. C]

I’m pretty sure Capt C is right on. Coco is loaded with salts, it needs a lot of water flushed through it before using. The only coco I didn’t have to flush was botanicare Cocogro. Any other coco will read atleast 500-1000 in salts before u even start without nutrients. They will start to look crispy and die off fast. It’s way too much for seedlings. Pics would help but if you just flush with plain water until ppm is lower like you did you should be ok.

I just hydrated a big block of the Botanicare cocogrow yesterday after about a 2 year absence using other brands. It will take major swaying to ever try another brand again. It is good stuff and i had to go to a fair amount of trouble getting it due to some new shipping restrictions on coco (WTF). I planted today with it without washing

 

[Orion]

Mother Earth coco has been dam good right out of the bag for me...I run cal mag thru it @ 5ml/gal with a 500pm veg nute and have no issues.

 

[Kold Kasiz]

I just hydrated a big block of the Botanicare cocogrow yesterday after about a 2 year absence using other brands. It will take major swaying to ever try another brand again. It is good stuff and i had to go to a fair amount of trouble getting it due to some new shipping restrictions on coco (WTF). I planted today with it without washing

You got it man. I miss the stuff, I need to go back. I been dealing with gnats bad and it’s probably the Home Depot coco. I hadn’t been able to get it since the beginning of all this Corona crap. It’s definitely the most consistent and reliable that I’ve used.

 

[Gentlemancorpse]

Mother Earth coco has been dam good right out of the bag for me...I run cal mag thru it @ 5ml/gal with a 500pm veg nute and have no issues.

That's what I use. I used to use the bricks but my grow space is pretty cramped, rehydration it was too messy and such a hassle.

I also just realized that's why I can plant straight into dry mix and OP can't... he's using brick... I shouldn't give advice when I'm this high lol

 

[Capt. C]

You got it man. I miss the stuff, I need to go back. I been dealing with gnats bad and it’s probably the Home Depot coco. I hadn’t been able to get it since the beginning of all this Corona crap. It’s definitely the most consistent and reliable that I’ve used.

Man i had a long hard battle with those fury basterds. The key for me winning the battle ( been multiple cycles now) was using the mosquito bits at the bottom inch of coco and in the top inch of coco on every transplant. Plus i still do a BMT media drench once a week. I got lucky and found the 5kg blocks at a hydro store for 18 bucks a brick. That price is more like doubled if you can get it shipped to you. I stocked up.

 

[Capt. C]

That's what I use. I used to use the bricks but my grow space is pretty cramped, rehydration it was too messy and such a hassle.

I also just realized that's why I can plant straight into dry mix and OP can't... he's using brick... I shouldn't give advice when I'm this high lol

There might very well be a difference between the bag and the brick. I only use the brick. I just finished with several of the large bricks of Mother earth coco and while i did not experience any issues with it . I did wash it well because i had a very bad experience with another brand and was a little spooked. After hydrating the Botanicare yesterday all as i can say it is like the difference between regular bud vs top shelf bud. . I don't want to knock Mother earth because i know a lot of folks use it. Just stating my observation.

 

[Funkaroma]

Wat brand of coco did you use? Some brands come arent so clean or have been hit with a fert wetting agent.
Got any pics? Pics could make the diagnosis alot easier.
How long are they in the pots before they start to die?
How often did you water them since you transplanted into the fabric pots?.
Do you follow the coco rules?
How much recharge are you using? To much recharge will kill the lil ones also it has more than microbes in it.

Thats where i would start to try trace down your problem if it was me. Dont give up on coco cause once you get it figured out your gonna love it. If you want super clean coco bricks pick up some canna coco bricks.

 

[BigPretzel]

Sorry I didnt reply to everyone when they commented I really appreciate all the advice and quivk responses. So after going back through this a few forums here and on CP I came to the same conclusion as what @Capt. C had said about the salts and thought maybe there was a crap ton of salt in there and the directions on the side of the bag were wrong and it needed to be flushed regardless so i did that like i said above and made sure each pots run off was 500ppm or lower with a ph of less then 6.5 and i gave them another day but at this point All my Nurple autos had died but one and the one that was alive the first set of true leaves had started to die off and i have no more of those seeds like stated and i didnt want to risk losing my last 2 Goat yogi seedlings either so I gave up and did a whole switch and transplanted them all to a Soil/perlite mix i had in a tub ready for the next run of photos. Since doing that the ones that had the N def are darker and look much healthier and all of my Jogi OG girls are growing perfect again and the Nurple some how produced a second set of leaves out of no where(pretty awesome actually). I am gonna run these out and probably stick to soil for a few more runs till i get a better understanding of it. I knew about having to feed right away and everything else i even starting to make a good microbe base with some recharge and was trying everything i ould think of to save them in that coco but I couldnt bring my self to just let them die. Thanks again everyone for all the info and help.

PS. Dont know if i mentioned it but the Coco bricks were from amazon and the brand is Farmlyn Creek.. if anyone else uses them or buys them I would recommend doing a thorough flush/buffer.