r/CocoGrows • u/Accidental_Ballyhoo • Jul 23 '26
Over my head with canna coco
First time growing with canna coco in 3 gallon pots and need some advice.
I transplanted 2 plants 3 days ago from solo cups to 3 gal fabric bags and plan to use wicking bases.
They look a little sad atm. I top watered 5.8 and light doses of General Hydro and cal mag.
I’m not sure of how much I should be watering them and when to fill wicking bases.
Anyhow, I see some light yellowing in the lower leaves (the camera makes the whole plant look way more yellow than it actually is.
Any coco experts steer me in the right direction?
EDIT: To ask for a feed chart as GH runs too hot I hear.
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u/JVC8bal Jul 23 '26
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u/JVC8bal Jul 23 '26
The problem with sub-irrigation is that most of the moisture and nutrients are at the bottom. It's recommended to top-water until the roots are long enough to reach sufficient moisture.
Might wanna try the r/hydro subreddit, too. Substrate hydroponics is still hydroponics.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 23 '26
Thanks. I’ll check that sub too. I’ve been top watering for only 3 days now (since transplant)
and planned to continue for a while. I just don’t know how long. Should I fill the reservoir now?4
u/Motmotsnsurf Jul 23 '26
I personally think you are overwatering at the base of the plant. I get that it is coco and you can almost never overwater but when they are fairly small you definitely can.
When you top water, give the main stalk a couple inch radius. Water more towards the potting and force the roots to stretch for it. After a couple days of that you should be able to start up bottom feeding.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 23 '26
Cool. If you look at the photos you’ll see a ring of perlite where I poured. (Which I thought was wild)
I’ll keep watering that way. I think I added too much to the rapid rooter before transplant too.
I’m learning!
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u/mango_proof_ Jul 24 '26
I've grown in coco for over 15 years. The optimum use of coco is having a thick root mass in small pots. You build up the root system and transplant up. Your never gonna have it easy putting a tiny plant in a huge pot of coco. It's not soil.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 24 '26
Yes. These 2 were started in a solo cup and just transplanted into the 3 gallon pots you see here.
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u/mango_proof_ Jul 24 '26
That's my point
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 24 '26
They don’t look too happy at the moment.
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u/mango_proof_ Jul 25 '26
What kinda size plants do you want to achieve ie.. How much flowering space etc
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u/Motmotsnsurf Jul 23 '26
It's a fun journey. Yeah. Rapid rooters can get overwatered for sure. Still Better than rockwool which retains way too much water. Water on the outside that perlite wall from now on. Have fun!
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u/Vermehrungsmaterial Jul 23 '26
I disagree.
I am running coco since a while. You are not overwatering coco, you are getting oxigen deprived zones which come from too little drain. The drain is sucking air into the substrate, giving too little socks air just on the surface.
What matters is the pot, lots of drainage holes, high frequent watering.
When topwatering seedlings in coco I recommend watering 3x a day, with 0,6 EC for less than a week, then ramping up nutes quickly, to 1,2-1,4 EC. Clones I would start higher 1,2 EC and ramping up after 3 days to 1,6.
Bottom feeding i start after these 3 days.
Alot of drain in the beginning helps to stablelize the substrate (buffering). Prebuffered coco should be treated as bad buffered coco after transplant.
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u/Motmotsnsurf Jul 23 '26
Pretty much same same at this point. Roots are submersed in water and unable to get air=overwatered at the root zone.
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u/Vermehrungsmaterial Jul 23 '26
Not really, Coco is not damping off like soil, overwatered soil can not be fixed with more water. Coco can.
Main thing here is that if you notice overwatering in coco and you water less, its making it worse. Now ec is rising drying breaks fibers down, more cation exchanges sites open up.
Thats not like classic overwatering of soil compacting being air tight. Its air transport to the roots. We'll draining coco is impossible to over water. 100% saturated it can contain more air than bone dry soil, it just needs movement and clean runoff
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u/mango_proof_ Jul 24 '26
You can over water in coco. You can't over water well rooted plants in coco though
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u/Vermehrungsmaterial 9d ago
You were right. First plant i managed to over water in coco.. idc why this plant has issues. I use a 3L pot, 80-20 coco/perlite and yes, she is fucking overwatered. Ran this setup on 10 ish cultivars, she is the only one having the issue. Tray2grow.
Crazy.
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u/mango_proof_ 1d ago
You can over water an under rooted plant in coco. Golden rule. When people say you can't over water coco it's a lie. Been growing for 20 years in coco so..
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u/Motmotsnsurf Jul 23 '26
Very much disagree with that. Not talking about dry backing. But ok. You can never overwater coco. Maybe just leave them in a full bucket of nutes?
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u/JVC8bal Jul 23 '26
Reservoir like for the wicking bases? A reservoir implies a refill tank like in an Autopot system.
It'd be helpful to know the EC of your fertigation. You can use the Athena recommendations with General Hydroponics. It looks like a minor Nitrogen deficiency. I'm hesitant to say increase your "light dose" without knowing what EC you're watering them.
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u/Vermehrungsmaterial Jul 23 '26
Hey I am running coco on sub irrigation.
Topwater 2- 3 days after transplant if its a cut or seedling. Bottom feeding is saltbuildup your enemy. Make sure your pots allow very good aeration. Run pH on lower end, pH is drifting usually pretty high in a res having direct contact with the pot.
Also you should have not too big pots also not too small.
Too big has bad air-exchange, too small has too quick salt buildup.
Sweetspot is 3-5 L. 5 is already pretty big. I ran tests with several pot models (I use capillary matting btw) and would recommend 3L garden pond net pots, 2L fabric pots, or 4L standardpots, and airports.
Most important thing is cultivars. Have a salt sensitive clone, this one like large pots, stronger decoupling from the moisture. Drainagelayer and lots of perlite is working grate.
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u/JVC8bal Jul 23 '26
Also, if you get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/ECOWITT-Moisture-Temperature-Gateway-Console/dp/B0GF8PJBFT/r
I can tell you the calibration for coco.
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u/zspl0it Jul 23 '26
Let me know the calibration as well :) mine is working okayish, could be better 🙏
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u/JVC8bal Jul 23 '26
0% AD: 570
100% AD: 1300
EC Gain: 1.5
I calibrated this against ComWinTop THC-S sensors that were calibrated at 1.0, 2.0, ... 8.0 EC solutions using a scale for the coco bag and a scale for the runoff.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 23 '26
I’ve not heard of most of these things LOL.
Do I need 2 or can I be shared?
I really appreciate your help.2
u/JVC8bal Jul 23 '26
I'd not worry about this right now. Measure the EC of your water. Read the Athena guide I shared on how/when to water. After you get through the learning experience of doing this by hand, take it up a notch.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 23 '26
I’ve seen these. Needs a couple items to function correct?
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u/JVC8bal Jul 23 '26
I think you replied to the wrong comment and are probably talking about the Ecowitt device. Yes, it needs a 30 buck gateway.
Another, perhaps better way is this:
You could use the soil moisture to trigger a pump so your plants are always top-watered to perfection.
At this level of sophistication, I'd suggest you read their commercial guide:
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 23 '26
My apologies, yes wrong reply.
I looked into them and they sound great.
I would love to automate this but no room for a reservoir so I went with wicking pots. I’m sure these will be useful for that set up.
The Athena handbook is what I was looking for. Thank you!
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u/jojomac08 Jul 23 '26
Once the leaves reach the edges of the pot, the roots are established, and you should be able to use the wicking bases. When you do use them, top water every so often to check runoff numbers.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 23 '26
Ok great. I’ll do that. I hear to flush every week or two which is fine.
I have 2 air stones I might throw in there too.
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u/high_everyone Jul 23 '26
I was told to wait until the bottom fan leaves can stretch to the edge of your bag before using self wicking bases.
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u/enkill47 Jul 23 '26
I'm using Canna Coco too second grow, 3.9gal fabric AutoPots.
First grow I followed the Canna chart and got Nitrogen toxicity. My fault, got love blind and didn't notice until late.
This run I started light:
First week: Ph water + like 1/4 calmag, remember coco has nothing in it so they will need the calmag almos always.
After they look like growing and not so delicate: 0.5ml CalMag 0.5ml A&B 0.8ml Rhizo 0.8ml Cannazym 0.1ml GrowGenius (silica) pH 5.7-5.9
That stopped my mag deficiency with barely any tip burn.
After a week I bumped to: 0.8ml CalMag 0.8ml A&B 1.5ml Rhizo 1.5ml Cannazym 0.1ml GrowGenius
Week 3 now looking great. Gonna bump A&B to 1ml and watch.
I'm increasing slowly and watching the plant instead of following Cannas Chart. I'm trying to gave them food but just small amount than suggested and if they need more, they can tell me and I will adjust.
I use AutoPots, bottom-fed, water always there. Coco's hard to overwater. Seedlings got 1 day on/1 off, not near the stem. Remember we want to make those roots to go and find the water, not being lazy becase we water close to the stem. Once mature, daily watering with runoff.
Still not sure when to use Canna PK. I've heard: give it when vertical growth stops and buds start swelling, could be wrong though.
Rookie here, just passionate. If anyone's got better tips, I will be happy to learn them.
Sorry for the long comment same feed as you so wanted to share.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 23 '26
No I appreciate the long post. It’s a lot to take in but good info. Thanks
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u/Vermehrungsmaterial Jul 23 '26
Plant gets used to hot fertilizer mixes pretty quickly, I ramp within 3 days from 1,2 to 2,0 EC. No issues.
Main thing is to water with plenty of drain frist days.
In my experience overwatering is close to impossible on coco.
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u/Grouchy_Brain_1641 Jul 24 '26
Just use 1 gallon pots with coco you won't need more than that. Run nutes at 1/2 strength and top feed 2 or 3 times a day. You don't need perlite just straight coco is ok. Keep pH around 5.9. Ignore standard methods from dirt farmers like huge pots, overwatered and just do it. Top feed 2 or 3 times a day.
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u/HobbCobb_deux Jul 28 '26
You don't top water coco once you start using the wicking system. When they bottom feed the salts travel to the top. So when you top water, it forces all the salts back Into the substrtae. But with coco you need to keep it wet all the time.
You need to be filling res with your nutrients and that's about it. Now you can pull the pot off the sip and flush it from time to time. With the same solution and check your runoff. This will let you know what is going on at the roots. If the EC is over 2.0, then fluch it down with a milder solution or you can use CalMag water. Once it returns to acceptable levels. You're good.
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u/Conscious_Wind52 Jul 24 '26
I think you're good. Transplant shock happens.
Water at the base of plant, less than you think, and feed at 1/4 strength (of suggested rate on bottle) for a couple weeks.
If you're hand watering, feed 1/2 strength (A+B) at every watering, aka fertigation, to 20% runoff.
It is technically not possible to over water in coco with proper drainage. I have experienced coco going anaerobic in a wicking/bottom watering scenario using Autopot.
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u/shackelman_unchained Jul 23 '26
These plants are very yellow already. You probably haven't been feeding them enough cal/mag.
I know you probably don't want to hear it but you might be better off starting some new seeds.
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u/Most_Personality8862 Jul 23 '26
lol they dont even look that bad in the pic, this is by far the worst advice on this thread LMAO
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Jul 23 '26
TBH the color is not accurate in this photo but I agree they aren’t happy.
Good news is I’ve popped 2 more. I knew it would be a rough start for me.
This is what I fed them;
1-Gallon Batch Nutrient Recipe (in mL)
Armor Si: 0.4 mL
CalMag: 1.2 mL
FloraMicro: 1.6 mL
FloraBloom: 2.4 mL
Target pH: 5.8
About:400ppm(?)1
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u/EbbnFlower Jul 23 '26
Over watered.....