growing tomatoes in coco question

[bruce7267ad]

So im growing cherry tomatoes from seed in coco coir and i wanted to know what the right ph for my nutrient solution should be. Im using flora nova grow by general hydroponics, cal mag plus by botanicare, rapid start by general hydroponics and some si armor by botanicare.

[PureHarvest]

Originally Posted by bruce7267ad

So im growing cherry tomatoes from seed in coco coir and i wanted to know what the right ph for my nutrient solution should be. Im using flora nova grow by general hydroponics, cal mag plus by botanicare, rapid start by general hydroponics and some si armor by botanicare.

I would think that the bottle should have a chart telling you what pH you are shooting for. No?

Edit: their website says maintain 5.5-6.5 pH for the grow solution.
That is a heck of a range to shoot for. Consider that 5.5 is 10 times more acidic than 6.5!

Wow that stuff is expenisve.

Edit2: Review section on Si armor says: "Armor Si has a very high PH level and when mixing your nutrients up, it will drastically raise your ph."

Also said that Si should be added to plain water first, before other nutrients.

Funny that I was just reading up on Silicic Acid 10 minutes ago.

[bruce7267ad]

O wow i just mixed it after the flora nova stuff. Hmm yeah i keep hearing diffrent first hand accounts while using coco. Some people say 5.5 others say 5.8 and 6.0.

Should i be adding cal mag to every watering not only to prevent blossom end rot but because im growing in coco?

[PureHarvest]

bruce, I would yield that to others here that may have used these products.

I will say that using a three part fert typically means adding calcium and magnesium each time you make a solution.

I would go to Botanicare and GH websites and you will find what you are looking for.

They have charts on all their stuff.

[PureHarvest]

Originally Posted by bruce7267ad

O wow i just mixed it after the flora nova stuff. Hmm yeah i keep hearing diffrent first hand accounts while using coco. Some people say 5.5 others say 5.8 and 6.0.

Should i be adding cal mag to every watering not only to prevent blossom end rot but because im growing in coco?

It really has little to do with coco.

Soiless medium whether it is peat or coco based has no nutrient load, unless you bought one that came with nutrients, which would be a no-no, given the products u are using. Unless of course you just were using a very dilute mixture of those products into a media that has nutrients pre-added.

Simply put, you have to add all the nutrients in your solution when using plain container media whether peat or coco based, and that includes Calcium.

Your base nutrients won't have Calcium, so it is added as part 2.
Some then have micronutrients as part 3. Usually you add one at a time into one bucket/tank full of water. Typically pH is tested last, and you adjust accordingly.
For you, the silica is tricky b/c it raises pH according to the website.
Plus it says you should add Si first to water, check pH, adjust, then add your nutrients, then check and adjust pH again.
Then you have all the crazy newer stuff like aminos, etc.

For what you are trying to do, you really should have a pH/EC meter, and know what your source water has in it.
Also, if you are not a vet at this type of feeding/growing, intermingling products from different companies presents a challenge.
I would recommend picking 1 product line and following the directions for the series, unless you can find someone that can give you exact rates using a combo of different products. But keep in mind their source water could be way different than yours, and that could give you different results.

[PureHarvest]

Here the Flora Nova Feed Chart from GH:

http://gh.growgh.com/docs/Feedcharts...W_021616bm.pdf

It shows that cal/mag is used from week 2-9. Of course this is geared toward pot growers, so I am not sure how relevant this is to tomato folks.

Also, if you followed their full chart, you would be buying 12, 12!!, products.
So it gets complicated quick.

[RayR]

Potassium Silicate like Armor Si will react with the nutrients and create insoluble precipitates if it's not fully dissolved in the water first before anything else.

Are you growing using a hydro system or soil?
What kind of coco coir medium are you growing in, a commercial mix or something you put together yourself? The buffered PH of the medium itself is a major consideration.

[bruce7267ad]

The coco im using is pre bagged by gh with perlite nothing to fancy. The only thing i know about coco is that it retains potassium i think and slowly releases it. So you guys think 5.5 -6.5 is the right ph for a coco grow?

[RayR]

Originally Posted by bruce7267ad

The coco im using is pre bagged by gh with perlite nothing to fancy. The only thing i know about coco is that it retains potassium i think and slowly releases it. So you guys think 5.5 -6.5 is the right ph for a coco grow?

I've not used the Coco-Tek PX mix but I have used the Coco-Tek blocks to make mixes. The PH of the blocks is right about 6.0 from testing the PH myself, pretty typical I think for horticultural coco.
Coco does have a natural potassium load and like you said releases it over time.
You need to compensate for that by increasing the Calcium. More Magnesium wouldn't hurt either. The Cal-Mag would help with that in combination with the Flora Nova. If you look at their Coco-Tek AB nutrient line, they increased the Ca right in those bottles with more Calcium Nitrate.
What PH you feed at is a matter of experimenting, there's nothing cut stone. It depends on your growing style, your water source, the type of plant and any other additives you are using.

[bruce7267ad]

Ive wanted to try that ab coco line for some time now. Ill stick at 6.0 ph. Is it a good idea to even mess with all organic nutes with coco?

[RayR]

Originally Posted by bruce7267ad

Ive wanted to try that ab coco line for some time now. Ill stick at 6.0 ph. Is it a good idea to even mess with all organic nutes with coco?

I have some samples of the Coco-Tek AB nutrients that I got from the GH reps at one of the local hydro stores last summer. Haven't used them yet, so many things to play with and so little time and space.
Organic nutes work great in Coco. Why wouldn't they?

[bruce7267ad]

Someone once told me using organic in coco is asking for mold alongside with the extreme mykos and that carb load sugar water by gh. I think its called flora nectar. Just curious what are your thpughts on diffrent water sources like just tap water or ro water? I dont have a ro system so i use that zero water pitcher

[RayR]

Originally Posted by bruce7267ad

Someone once told me using organic in coco is asking for mold alongside with the extreme mykos and that carb load sugar water by gh. I think its called flora nectar. Just curious what are your thpughts on diffrent water sources like just tap water or ro water? I dont have a ro system so i use that zero water pitcher

Mold on coir is not my experience anyway, seen it on peat many times in the past. I don't know how much organic nutes would play in it. Moisture + complex organic matter like cellulose and lignin, especially a bit acidic is a good recipe for saprophytic fungi like common molds to thrive. It's safe to assume they are always there even if you don't visually see their fruiting bodies on top of the medium. Unless they are taking over the place they are generally harmless to the plant and can be beneficial as primary decomposers of organic matter, releasing nutrients. I think if you have an organism like a mold dominating, I would take that as not a mold problem but a lack of biological diversity in the medium. Not enough competition, not enough symbiotic relationships, not enough predator-prey relationships.
Coco Coir can naturally harbor Trichoderma fungi, which are beneficial to the plant roots protecting against pathogenic organisms and mineralizing nutrients. A very aggressive family of fungi with a diverse appetite including other fungi that invade their turf.

Tap water - depends on what kind of tap water you've got. Chlorine or Chloramines, hard water or not. The less dissolved minerals in your water, the less chance of negative reactions with the nutrients you add. Use an EC/TDS meter to see what your tap water reads.
More of an issue to be concerned about with salt based nutrients than organics.
R/O water is ideal, the ZERO Water filter would probably work as well on a small scale. I don't have hard water but I mainly use collected rain water for the outdoor season or melted fresh fallen snow in the winter when available for my plants indoors. About as pure as you can get without spending any money.

[bruce7267ad]

I love the rain and snow water idea but abit hard to pull off in my area but possible. I live in illinois so my tap reads about 350ppm so not great not as bad as arizona lol. I want to try earth juice i believe its called for my first organic grow.

So back to the originated topic 5.5 - 6.5 is a good nutrient ph for coco or soil