All Mixed Up

[barletta]

I've been growing for a lil less than a year now, with good results (imo) from soil and organics. I started out with fox farm ocean forest and bottled ferts, but grew to like mixing my soil and ferts together, and giving the bottles a lot less. The last batch of soil was very productive, I believe that the addition of coco into the soil mix was key. I used the Sunleaves which is very coarse. I took a stab at a couple of bales of Botanicare on my last order, and I really like them. Being from the garden state (an especially loamy part), I can definitely spot dank soil lol. I can't see myself mixing the nutes required for a 100% coco gro, so I decided to 'mix' it up. I have seen some, but very little on hand watered growing in coco using an organic soup type setup here, so I decided to start this thread. Please feel free to leave any feedback that you have had with growing this way. Thanks!!

Flowering premix
5 kg Botanicare (cocogro?)
1/2 gal Perlite
1/2 gal Vermiculite (perlite and vermic were end of the bag, and I was tired of lookin at em)
appx 10 lb Wiggle Worm Castings (1-0-0)
big shakin of plant success granular (2-2-2)
5 gal Fox Farms Light Warrior
2 Cups Dolomite lime
2 Cups Algamin kelp (1-0-2)
1 Cup PSG (10-10-1 I think)
2 Cups Indonesian Guano (1-10-.something)
1/2 Gallon Neptune's Harvest Crab Shell (2-3-0 some mag, loads of cal)
1 Cup GH Rare Earth
1 Cup GH Diamond Black

Here's my thinkin: EWC and foxfarm - A little bit of water retention, change in medium consistiency, Microhortazze (murdered the spelling), iron, micro nutes. Plant Success - balanced time released ferts w/Mykes. Dolomite - Ph buffer, Cal/mag. Kelp, Peruvian Seabird Guano, Indo Bat guano, kelp, crab - Ferts, feed the micro herd. Rare Earth - time release Silicon, agriminerals (same as PBP) Diamond Black - time release humic/fulvic acid.

I mixed it all together, and it looks as dank as any soil mix that I've done up. Ideally, I could feed the lightest feeders only Liquid Karma (or b-1 red) and molasses. I do like to foliar feed the girls 1 or 2 times a week until wk 6 or so with Liquid Karma, wks 3 and 4 get p/k instead. I have used, and would use again if anybody has experience with: PBP, EJ, Age-old organics. The EJ takes Ph balancing, and somwhere I saw that somebody ran into mag problems with the age-old, but I have always had a mix with dolomite or oyster shell.

I have a little side by side on my deck with some veggies. I have 2 sweet 100 tomato plants, 1 in a 4 gallon pot with decent outdoor garden dirt amended with 2lb of castings 20% sunleaves coarse coco, 2 x 1 gallon root balls in amended FFOF. The other is in a 1 gallon of 100% coco with some plant success. I also have 1 pepper plant in a 1 gallon of coco, and 1 in my coco mix. I figgure these will give me a feel for growing in coco. The first clones will be a cannaloupe haze cross, MrNice Spice, and MrNice Shit. I will also be repotting any females of Orange D. x Miss Mud (I have 3 that I just flipped). I will be repotting/flipping in about a week.

Like I said, any and all feedback is welcome, including links to grows using a coco mix or pix of your plants or whatever. I did check out the side by side with the reclining buddahs, and that was a great thread.

 

[barletta]

Everybody likes pix, so here ya go. These are the pepper and tomato plants that I've already repotted. No one had come in here screaming with their hair on fire that I am going to f*ck up my grow, so...... I do have a nice batch of organic soil and another bale of coco with PBP and techniflora (bc boost/grow/bloom) nutes, so if I am way off, please lemmie know before next weekend lol.

Sweet 100 (red cherry/grape) tomatoes
The soil plant got transplanted about a week before the coco.


Pepper in coco mix


Pepper in str8 coco (except for the dirt it came in and plant success)

The peppers may or may not be the same variety. I had 4 leftovers after I put them in my garden. The 2 lil ones are in the coco mix, and will be part of a future experiment using the 10-12" of sand leftover after the landlord takes away an old above ground pool. Outdoor passive hydro anyone?

All the peppers

 

[Suby]

The mix looks bomb, the Ca and Mg will becovered by the dolomite and by the castings.

I am getting better results mixing peat and coco such as you are, I think the addition of dolomite makes a difference.

You can feed the LK directly to the soil, it's the only bottle product I use and I find it works alot like a buffer and catalyst making all the ingredients "gel".

Keep us posted.

Suby

 

[barletta]

Thanks for checking it out Suby. I just transplanted a cannaloupe and a spice into 1 gallons. I'm going to stay with 1 gallons @1st. It will be easier for me to judge the growth rate. Plus I have plants in flower in soil now, and don't want these coco plants to overgrow the garden. Yet........

 

[barletta]

Just transplanted 2 female Orange D. x Miss Mudd. Waiting on the 3rd plant. I put them in 2 gallon bags because they had nice big rootmasses. Looking at the rootball had me second guessing the coco thing lol. But I'll never know if I don't try......

 

[Suby]

coco actually improves rooting, i get better rooot coverage since switching to a coco/peat blend.
I asssume it has to do with the amount of weater coco retains and also it's constant need for further watering shortens the wet/dry cycling which helps rooting, it also inoculates the medium with thrichoderma(sp?).

I just transplanted my girls in a coco peat5 blend yesterday and they look happy this morning.



S

 

[barletta]

Yeah, I've seen monster roots in the coco threads, and working with the mix, I can see how they are able to thrive. I am expecting better results, but it is definitely tough to go away from something that I've tuned nicely (soil). LOL my first few plants I thought I did ok with, then I pulled the rootball after I cut em and there was about 3" of soil (in a 2l pot!) that the roots didn't even get into because I kept them so wet. Now I feel like an 'old soil guy'. It will be nice when I feel the same way about coco.

I checked this morning, and booyah, the 3rd O.Diesel x Miss Mudd is a girl too. 3 fer 3. I'm not taking clones, because I have about 200 of these seeds, and only 160w of veg power lol. I am waiting on some Spice x SSH that I'm sexing outside, any females will be going into 2 gallons. If I get more than 3 females, I'll do 1 in soil to see kind of a side by side.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

I think you are on the right track barletta.

Just be aware your girls in coco will drink loads more... i like to hand water with a secondary container/tray to catch runoff and provide extra water.

 

[barletta]

SIlverSurfer - Thanks for stoppin by The plants that I transplanted the other day should need water today or tomorrow. In the soil mix I was using, It could be a week between waterings before the roots took off. The OD x MM have been in for a few days, and no shock or issues so far. They were topped/fimmed about a week ago, so they are working on their 'tops'. My tomato side by side is telling me quite a bit. The soil plant got transplanted out of the nursery container ~10 days before the 100% coco plant. The soil plant looks like it should, the roots are slowly penetrating, and the plant is slowly growing. The coco plant isn't growing as much vertically, but the new growth is coming faster and more lush. The coco plant is also producing the lil yellow flowers faster. I have been giving the coco plant castings tea/molasses, and leftover bubble water (diluted 3:1) They both look very healthy. I'll post pics of the plants when I water em. I have been sexing some Spice x SSH I did, and I'll probably know what I have in a week or so.

 

[barletta]

I've got some pics of the plants in the coco bags. Not much, but they will be a nice reference in 7-8 wks. They still went 1 week between the initial 'watering in' and the 1st water. They could have gone another day w/o water.

Orange D. x Miss Mudd 1 wk from 1st flower






Coco next to soil

 

[barletta]

I topdressed a SSH that was about 5-6 wks into flower last week with this coco mix and a lil xtra kelp and P guano. She needed water today, and I noticed thick, fuzzy, happy roots peeking up outta the coco. The only other time that I have had roots jumping out of the soil was from the plants going way too dry (sad dry roots). I usually let them go very dry between waterings (soil), and topdress w/castings,guano,kelp, and vermiculite thru flower, and have never seen the roots like this

 

[barletta]

This coco is no joke!!! The ssh that I topdressed about 2 weeks ago had a nice growth spurt. She ripened real quick, now she is crowning from everywhere @ once . Here is a shitty pic of the top of the grow bag. All of the lil white shit is ROOTS BABY. The veggie plants on my deck in the mix and in the str8 coco look so good they look fake. I've been feeding age-old grow, b-1 red, LK, molasses, rainwater. I measure in capfuls and splashes, and I am VERY conservative with 'splashes' lol. I also setup kind of a garbage can dark box with a bed of 90% coco 10% coco mix, added guano, dolomite. The box has 2 spice cuts in it that I will force in a week or so.

 

[Suby]

I love it when growers get excited by things happening in their grow, I love that feeling when all the elements gel and the plants are ripping hard and fast.

It's a weird sort of Godly rush...

 

[evilunclephil]

This is awesome! I've seen such great results with organic mixes, and also amazing results with coco, but never the two together.

But I was thinking, with the hydro-like growth, will the rootmass suck up all the available nutes in the mix really fast?

 

[barletta]

Suby - Thanks for the kind words, if yourself and others hadn't chimed in, I'd probably be lookin at tomato and pepper plants sayin "...maybe I should thro the girls in there.." lol. Yeah, the SSH grows on nitrous anyway, but it was nice to see almost instant positive results so quick.

EUPhil - I was topdressing every 3-4 wks in soil, and feeding with bottles only as they showed they needed. With this mix, I am figuring on topdressing every other wk, and I will feed ~ 1/2 strength PBP/ageold/EJ about once per wk. The rest of the time, just a lil glug (less than a full Tbsp) of Brer Rabbit (google it, best I could find in the grocery store - most Mg, Cal, iron)molasses, and a capful of either Liquid Karma or B-1 red, I probably use the LK 2 or 3 to 1 over the B-1, and stop the b-1 ~3wks bef harvest. My plants haven't been big enough, long enough to show any def's, but I am thinking that this will be only slightly more maintenance than my soil grows.

The mix does hold water, btw. I guess it is very heavy on the castings, so young plants go almost a week w/o water. I can't over water, however, as it just runs through once saturated. The bigger plants need water every 2-3 days as opposed to 4-5 days in the soil. I don't have a plant in the mix only that is at the 'aggressive drinking stage yet, but I'll keep updates.

 

[RasJay727]

Nice mix there buddy

Nice mix there buddy

i make mixes like this for every stage of growth:

This is my flower mix(by the gal.):

-CoCo
-Dol. Lime:2tbl
-Diamond Black:1/2 cup
-Rare Earth: 1/2 cup
-POM/fruit&flower(4-6-8, i think,lol):1tbl
-POM/All purpose(5-5-5):1tbl
-Peru Guano: 1 tbl
I wet this with 1/2tbl L.K. and 1/2 molasses, let it compost for 5-7 days and thats it. I water with plain water or the same combo of L.K. and molasses in 1/2 gal container daily. I give the plants small amounts of flora nova bloom(just about any bloom fert will work) when needed. At peak flowering i topdress or make a light guano tea with Indo. Guano(high P). I flush for 1 week .thats it...its really simple. No Ph pens none of that.. good day.

 

[barletta]

Thanks for postin it RasJ. It looks alot like mine, but you use POM instead of my 'fishies'. I want to try the POM outside this year, as I have found out that the bugs/animals LOVE the crab/kelp on my deck. My mix is probably 50/50 (or 45/45/10, or whatever) coco/castings by weight. I am likin how it holds the water, but it 'seeps' after hand watering for like 20 min..... You seem to use alot more rare earth/DB than I do, do you re-use your coco?

 

[Guest]

tagged up

 

[barletta]

I got some pix of the Orange D x Miss Mudd. They will be 3 wks flower 2moro.


They look like they are setting up to yield. I am fully impressed with coco thus far. The veggies are rocking, I'll get pix up this wk.

 

[Guest]

With this mix, I am figuring on topdressing every other wk, and I will feed... (all that other stuff you wrote)....> My plants haven't been big enough, long enough to show any def's, but I am thinking that this will be only slightly more maintenance than my soil grows.

The mix does hold water, btw. I guess it is very heavy on the castings, so young plants go almost a week w/o water. I can't over water, however, as it just runs through once saturated. The bigger plants need water every 2-3 days as opposed to 4-5 days in the soil. I don't have a plant in the mix only that is at the 'aggressive drinking stage yet, but I'll keep updates.

see, to me this is a lot of work. I would think that with a complete organic mix you shouldnt have to do any thing but water and chenck pH every week. Set it up like soil water it like coco and yeild like a living coco coir medium. Best of both worlds.

Now that is just what Im thinking, since I havnt done it yet. So I could be wrong. But Im thinking...
Coco, Perlite, turface (maybe), BioTone, Flower tone. First drench with calmag+, maybe some sweet. Then, in the time that it takes for the plants to respond to 12s (give or take 10 days) the activity will have started and you should be good to go. Feeding with plain water and some molasses once a week.

Mind you Im not trying to correct anyone, just my thoughts, NOT exp. Though I will share my exp when I gain it.