Bentato

Chats crapped itself in a new way for me : "The chat room has not been properly setup by the administrator (the chat room account number has not been supplied)."

Im pretty sure the ladies at 2014 MG smoked more than i did

I will go into this good advice a little further so that you understand why you cannot measure the ph of the runoff. When you pour nutrient solution through the coco, the coco will absorb some ions while releasing others. By the time the nutrient feed gets to the bottom of the pot and runs out the bottom the nutrient profile on the runoff is vastly different to the nutrient profile held by the coco, given that the nutrient profile and the ph are highly intertwined the ph of the runoff will tell you very very little about what is going on inside the medium.

Clay balls will just give you less medium in your container and perch you water table, it does nothing to increase drainage. I did this for a grow until i learnt its a myth and would not do it again. If you want to increase drainage and create more air then mix more perlite in with the growing medium.

This needs more question marks and explanation points... 75% more caps would not to astray either

Best place to get worm castings would be on gumtree from vermiculture hobbyists

This happened to my last grow too, i left them. The flowers were too late to produce a single seed in the entire crop.

They also buffer the nute, otherwise it would be as stable in the reservoir. But yes you are right, the medium itself does do a lot of the buffering, its a very forgiving medium.

^-- This ! They are sooo convenient, cheap, reliable, virtually mess free, high strike rates and available everywhere (bunnings, big w). Edit: A myco product is also a good idea to coat your seeds in as the beneficial bacteria and fungi will help fight off anything else that may be lingering around waiting to grab foothold on your plant while its at its weakest.

There is no such thing as one size fits all, theres no doubt you can grow with non-specific fertiliser in coco and get decent results. However it will never compare to a fertiliser made specifically for coco. How can 1 nutrient buffer for coco at 5.8, peat moss at 6.0, soil at 6.5 ? - this is just the tip of the iceberg Back to the original discussion, if you want a 1 part (coco specific) nutrient then you should look at this. 1 part nutrient technology has come a long long way: http://www.cxhydroponics.net/products/hydroponic-nutrients

Read the link i posted. If you did then you would realise that what you said is completely untrue. There is no and probably will never be a one sized fits all nutrient for coco. Do yourself a favour and read the link, its filled full of TONS of useful coco info backed up by science; Including why you need a coco specific nutrient. Its also written by the guy who wrote the Integral Hydro book which is considered the bible of home grown hydroponics here in Australia. Coco is not an inert media and should not be treated like one. Its not about additives at all, its about having the right NPK and trace mineral ratios to compliment the coco. Here is just a snippet of the article which goes into much more detail:

Only buy nutrients where on the bottle it says it was designed for coco, even then you need to be careful. This is an essential read when growing in coco and picking a nutrient suitible for coco: http://www.manicbotanix.com/hydroponic-grow-guide/coco-growing.html

This was a good thread... except for the bickering. Seriously not needed guys. I am in the market for a new lighting setup atm for a 1.45 x 1.45. Snippets of this thread were useful though still not totally sure what to roll with.