Donāt mean to be presumptuous. Just sharing my experience. I am also confident @MadScientist had a good grasp on that knowledge. Forgive me for I am old and high!
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Garden is looking good @MadScientist
I havenāt ran coco many times, but I see in Vaderās new series, heās running 1.5 mS (EC) on small seedlings in coco.
Check it out here if you like:
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Just reading older posts to catch up and knowing this is @MadScientist thread the following had me thinking and then looking at some of your topics and posts Rick an may have an insight for you.
One can grow good plants no matter the size of the pot. The plant size is relative to the size of the root zone - smaller rootzone, smaller plant, bigger rootzone, bigger plant. But yes they are a pain to re pot from a fabric pot but thatās why you donāt, or do it early in comparison.
True its hard to over water them once there established, but drying out in a day well that depends 
. If running a perlite/coco mix yes the turn over time between watering is a lot less than say straight coco.
True and it does happen especially in the early stages of growth, which over time as a plant grows it will need more frequent watering anyways due to the respiration of a bigger plant.
But the salt build ups, lockouts and pH issues, are usually caused by other factors. not entirely the plant being big for the root space but it just augments it. A plant is to big for the root space if the medium canāt hold enough water between wateringās where that is hrs or days or weeks. So in order to buffer that growers tend to go to bigger containers or to mediums that have more water holding capacity, thus keeping the same watering duration which is obvious.
Salt buildups like any media occur when the plants arenāt utilizing all the nutrients fed to them but you know this. The leftovers become saturated in the medium leading to build ups, so as you know one has to either feed at a lower concentration, flush periodically, or consistently have run off to keep that build up at bay. But sometimes buildup occurs due to evaporation of the water from the media before the plant has time to utilize all the nutrients.
As for lockouts they happen either due to pH going out of acceptable range, or from nutrient concentrations going to high causing the plant to lock itself out. The pH naturally drifts slightly more acidic over time as the plant flowers, and if not taken into consideration can lead to lockouts further into flower if things go bad and build up is present. pH also changes due to external factors, such as bacteria or algae growth, which can cause that change by its own growth.
The other lockout situation is when plants are run too dry and start to loose that āstatic pressureā or as we say the plant drupes. In that situation if the plant is fed at a ānormalā nutrient rate. That plant is so thirsty that it doesnāt care that its also taking in all the nutrients present as well. So instead of being selective through normal cation exchange, the plant burns and then proceeds to lock itself out from taking up more nutrient laden water, preventing more damage. Solution is to feed just straight water or lower feed water till the plant builds up pressure and normal operation again then resume with normal feed.
Now if running mediaās or mixes that drain quickly and donāt hold as much water such as coco/perlite mixes vs straight coco and also running higher feed rates, lockouts, buildupās and others issueās can occur pretty quickly. But as you noticed you just have to feed at lesser feed rates, and water more often with runoff to counter act that.
Personally i run straight coco now as its holding capacity for water is greater allowing me to water less frequently than when i was running with perlite mixed in, but its easier to over water initially in straight coco. Also i typically can only feed up to around 1.2-1.4ec of my current feed before running into buildup issues, but every nutrient is different as if i tried to run a 1.2ec with some nutrients ive tried in the past they would just fry my plants in a hurry due to higher nutrient levels that corresponded to ec readings. Example i was running +2x actual molar concentration of nutrients at the same 1.2ec.
Anyways long winded thought or insight to consider.
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Thanks for the time you put into typing this, i appreciate it. WIll try to follow as much as i can.
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This is the most informative, concise information I have ever gotten from a forum and Iāve hung around them for many years! Bravo brother @Mr.Sparkle.
Thank you for this.
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I agreeā¦fantastic post!
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I think you are a prime example of this @Mr.Sparkle. I also think that with fabric pots and coco (probably other media also) you can get more root density. More roots per volume or more total root mass of relative to pot size.
Although I still do it, Iāve never really heard an explanation of why people transplant form smaller to larger containers. I think it is for the same reason though, to keep the roots compact and dense by temporarily restricting their expansion.
Yes, you are right about this. It really depends on your environment.
Good point about evaporation. I didnāt know about the static pressure thing but it makes sense.
I think you mean causing more damage here not preventing more damage?
This is another good point. I prefer using EC because I think it is a more accurate measurement than PPM, but since EC of elements and other ingredients vary itās a somewhat arbitrary number anyway. Good for comparison but not as much for actual analysis. For example: I know the theoretical elemental PPM of the fertalizers I use, but in practice I just use EC to mix them to the concentration that I think will work best for my plants (Now Iām curious to do the calculations and find out what Iām actually feeding)
My advice to @MadScientist was based on what I had seen of his growing environment (indoor, his outdoor environment is completely different than mine) which looks similar to mine and is made up of generalizations based on my own experience. I try not to proselytize too much and I donāt subscribe to any dogma. Although I would enjoy it if more people used the same methods that I do just to deepen the knowledge pool.
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This is amazing reading, and i am gonna have to go thru it again. Didnāt quite catch 100% of it first time around. Thanks @Mr.Sparkle and my captain @RickSanchez.
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Amazing reading indeed! This is what I look for and appreciate in this wondrrful forum of ideas and visions. A mature and analytical exchange in a great forum of āthinkingā people. Iām proud to be a part of it and thank you @Mr.Sparkleā¦ much love to all of my OG brothers and sisters. Jah!
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Technically ppm/tds/ec meters measure in millisiemens per cm, ec is a direct relation to that and ppm is either based on a 500ppm/ec or 700ppm/ec scale. so really were all just measuring in mS/cm just stating the result differntly.
But what i was saying was the actual molar concentration as in how many molecules it has. As because were measuring the conductivity of the water, different elements in the water will either increase or decrease that conductivity at different rates. For example think a smoothy made from wood and water vs a smoothy made of copper and water, which one is gonna conduct more electricity, or is should say is easier at conducting electricity. Were just measuring the difference vs normal water giving us a EC value, but nutrients can have a higher molar concentration but show up as less EC compared to say another brand due to there different makeupās.
It wanting to figure out your actual concentration, this tool has been around forever and is really handy for that, go half way down the page. http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/fourtwenty/articles/profiles.htm
All good advice is suggestions or observations that the giver has personally observed and drawn there own conclusions from. Whether were 100% correct in them that doesnāt matter, as i know im not in a lot of fields, but it allows us to further refine our knowledge or theroyās on what actually happening. All just pieces of a larger puzzle.
Also i probably ment to say āthus preventing more damage from occurringā as in the plant shuts down to survive long enough till its gets a watering that isnāt in heavy concentration nutrient wise, such as ārainā.
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Well said my man. Some more characters too.
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@MadScientist and should of mentioned the spotting looks like a phosphorus deficiency, upping the feed like you have done will help, but just make sure your feeding with in that safe range pH wise for coco.
BTW i have the same spotting on my mini bucket plant, but mine was caused by my pH driving too high from damn brown algae, or i should say diatoms flourishing in my reservoirs which inturn locked out the phosphorus due tot he higher ph 6.3-6.9, but i flushed with lower pH feed to balance it out and its been fine since. Well that and sterilizing my res water.
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Thatās the problem with using PPM 1000 PPM equals 2.0 EC , but 1000 PPM also equals 1.43 EC. At least one millisiemen per centimeter squared = 1 E.C.
If the device is technically measuring mS/cm2 but the terms mS/cm2 and EC are interchangeable So Iām going continue to write EC almost every time it comes up just because it is so much easier than writing mS/cm2. (BTW does anyone know how to type superscript numbers?)
Wow! Iāve seen links to the Canna Stats calculator all over, but never found one that wasnāt broken yet. Thanks for posting that.
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Funny thing is my meter reads in ppm but i convert it to ec in my head for my own records, and use ec in my post as its more universal.
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I donāt be even check ppmās. I check ph with a cheap yellow meter
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I use a cheap green pH meter.
Is the yellow one faster, lol
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Prolly the same crappy Chinese guts. adter about a year mine starts to respond slower. $12 gets me a new one.
Mine has got to be even cheaper, I got 3 for $12.
They all read the same numbers when I tested, so I kept one and gave 2 away as stocking stuffers.
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I have been giving nutes in pHād water @ 5.8. My blue lab truncheon measures EC, ppm500, ppm700 and another one i forgot. So I only use EC.
Have been without Internet all day. Wind knocked down the wires in my neighborhood.
Sorry.
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Glad you are back with us.
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