Organic coco club

[Guest]

I did throw in some dolomite lime. Not much though and I have to admitt that I didn't measure. Similar amount to what many of the great organic growers use in Lavender Cowboy's mix recomendations. I do not monitor the PH of the teas at all and don't ever give PH much thought in organic mixes. It seems to work out. Seaweed is usually high PH and guano can be acidic...... It all just seems to find a ballance.

On the watering thing. That tub is too large and crammed in there too tight to do the lift and feel check. I just wait until my index finger is just damp at the tip whe stuck in all the way. I never let it get totally dry. I just don't want the roots soaked except right after watering.

 

[Guest]

In regards to the PH in the straight coco run, I did nothing for PH just made the teas and put my faith in the microherd.

 

[gramsci.antonio]

here's a nice DIY i made for the club

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=77186

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

High guys

I have been growing in organics in coco for a while and found it very satisfying... Its real easy and long as you use cannazym or equivelent you cant go wrong.... even with bat guano!

I am still tweaking my grow and trying to find the best method...

Just be careful... you can still burn/uglify your plants, especially in late flower.

I use a mix of teas, kelp, wormcastings, liquid bat guano, MonstaBud (contains heaps of good stuff like folic/humic acid) and cannazym/rhizotonic.

Results are good.

 

[Guest]

Nice Work!!!!!

 

[zor]

Hey guys great thread.

I've done a couple of runs of coco + wormcastings + floranova bloom.

After looking @ Lavender cowboys mix of

5 parts Canadian Spaghnam Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts wormcastings or mushroom compost or home made compost

I'm wondering if i could just go 4 parts coco + 1 part worm casting (like i do know already) but instead of using flora nova bloom, i'd like to amend the soil so that i only have to feed plain water).

Is the perlite really necesary?

In any case, would blood , bone, and kelp meal mixed into the coco + castings be enough food for an entire bloom cycle?

 

[Guest]

I do not like perlite. In the past I have used it very lightly. Now days I go with a mix of coco pith, coco fiber and coco chunks. I do use some pummice, not sure why, it just feels right. Blood, bone and kelp are slower to release and great for sensative sativas. get the mix together and work it for a few weeks before planting. You know keep it moist, turn it and let it get going. I would moisten it with a little seaweed and molasses. That would be my main watering mix as well.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Is the perlite really necesary?

In any case, would blood , bone, and kelp meal mixed into the coco + castings be enough food for an entire bloom cycle?

Personally i like using perlite. It is especially usefull in soil but you dont need it in coco per se... I still follow LC's soiless mix#1 and it works well for me.

I re-use my mix and have read the perite may build up useful colonies of bacteria on its surface...

I dont think you will get enough nutes to stay in the coco for a whole flowering cycle (using 100% organic at least) unless you are growing a sativa or real light feeder... The ferts you have are water solubale (except the bone meal but its real slow release) and will be excellent additions but wont be enough. I reckon you will get to around 3-4 weeks then all will be gone... then again i have never tried...

Maybe if you grow in big pots and use heaps

My Reclining Buddahs are real hungry and need lots of liquid feed to keep em happy...

 

[i_score]

organic and coco gives you the best tasty nugz, and after a good curing they are even better, tastier and smother then ever, ive been using organics in coco since i switched from soil, at the time i was using bio bizz for soil so i just keept using them and the results were nothing shabby, now im usin biomagno 100 % organic nuts grow and blom, i ad some fish mix from biobizz wen they need a N boost, for bosting the flowering i use flavor from atami that its a form of molasses and as a value of 0-0-9 NPK, and top max from biobizz until it last, i also use root stimulator and enzymes,this curent grow im using a big container plus 4 pots, its crowded but i gess it will compensate yield wise.
heres some organic budz!!

 

[Guest]

Beautiful buds there!!!! What strain? It is interesting how we can each find our own mix or set-up that works with coco. It is great for all kinds of grow styles and nobody has to rip the earth apart to get it!

 

[Suby]

Hey guys, I'm crashing this party fashionably late

I think coco has come a long way, I personally don’t think it will ever replace soil but I do feel it is excellent as part of a good soil mix.
I have seen excellent results with coco and guano, there are a lot of grow diaries with all organic in coco and they look great.
It is difficult to over water with coco, I watered every 3rd day or so and I never saw lockout.
When pre-mixing in amendments go easy on any high N sources, coco makes any negatively charged elements easily available in the root zone
Coco functions on a cationic exchange matrix and the only elements you might have to watch for are Mg, Ca, and K, you’ll notice most coco specific nutes are high in these and humic acids, unlike peat it isn’t very humic rich to start with so they really benefit from it.
Even more than peat water quality is really key here, a low ppm water source will go a long way towards making all nutes available and balanced, RO water users will benefit a lot from a calmag type product.
I currently cut my peat with 30-50% coco with good results, I burned them with N the 1st try hence my recommendation, I used a lot of casting but less dolomite as well, ES in foliar will fix any Mg def’s.
As coco acidifies during flowering it releases nutrient from its exchange matrix as it breaks down, it naturally rich in trichoderma which guards against root rot and disease.


Great thread, I’m glad you are all posting and sharing, it’s what I love about this forum

Peace

Suby

 

[zor]

Coco functions on a cationic exchange matrix and the only elements you might have to watch for are Mg, Ca, and K, you’ll notice most coco specific nutes are high in these and humic acids, unlike peat it isn’t very humic rich to start with so they really benefit from it
Suby

Suby,

Doesnt peat have a cation exchange matrix as well? How does it differ than coco?

I've noticed improvements in my setup when using worm castings in the coco as opposed to just straight coco. Although i'm using flora nova at the moment which is not organic, ive seen better results right out of the gate using castings. Perhaps this is because of the humic acids that are somewhat lacking in coco? do humic acids still have an effect when using a non organic fert?

 

[Guest]

Coco differs in that it is much more stable and breaks down much more slowly. It rehydrates much easier and retains water longer. It passes nutrients to plants more easily and is rich in benneficial microzaye(sp?) One huge difference is the amount of air that is still present when hydrated. This encourages lots of fine hairy root growth! I would suggest that humic/fulvic acids/sources are HUGE in coco.

It does not compact like peat and is available in varied textures/forms.

It does lack naturall humates, thusly, worm castings are a big bennefit to coco mixes. Compst is a good addition as well. It can accumulate salts easily, but so can any medium. It can be sourced cheaply and salty if you are not carefull

 

[Suby]

Hey Zor and Az,

Coco is coloidal, this shape increases it's surface area and ability to interact with the rootzone, it makes alot more nutrients available.

Many feel that you cannot mix inorganic ferts with organic ones but you can, overdoing hydro ferts will affect the microherd but it won't kill it completely, besides they can work together provided the levels are accurate.

The porosity of coco is unequaled, I use 30% perlite typically in soil but I cut it down to 15% when using coco, choir is good to go right out of the bag

When watering coco I always water until runoff, say about 10%, it will wash out any accumulated salts from any medium.
As for ph I never sweat ph but coco is inert so will sway ph rapidly thus why I cut on dlime, this can be remedied by having humics acids present like compost, Liquid Karma, Worms way liquid ferts, etc.

S

Suby

 

[Guest]

My current mix has about 1-2 cups of humic shale ore added to it before it was worked for two or 3 weeks. Found it sold as a top dress food for houseplants. Houseplants have a tendancy to spend quite a bit of time in the same soil and humates make a good pick me up.

 

[i_score]

... It is interesting how we can each find our own mix or set-up that works with coco. It is great for all kinds of grow styles and nobody has to rip the earth apart to get it!

well said brother!!
PS: the buds that i have posted are from diferent strains ive been growing, in order of appearence : critical mass #1, NYCDiesel,critical mass #2
heres some more for yall
cm#1

NYCDiesel

cm#2

 

[satty]

Awesome grow, i use the BIO-BIZZ line of nutes and im very happy with the results.
Top Max is good for my plants in flower.

 

[gramsci.antonio]

hey guys, just some updates: the coco i put with the worms is quite ready... the worms are gone and everything decomposed... the coco quite changed color... it's more like... wormcast...


Anyhow i can't grow cannabis at the moment.... so i used it with some miracle fruit and basil... and soon i'll try some with some mint soon...


i'll let ya know...

 

[Guest]

i have started using coco in my peat base mix.i mix up some of vics super soil and add 3-4 bricks of compressed coco.so far so good i have been watering more like 3-4 days instead of once a week .and have noticed more crystal coverage on my plants .i figured
my old recipe was to tight and preventing a healthy root growth.adding the coco and having it dry out faster its making the roots search for moister and creating a bigger root mass. so i guess i am a new fan of coco and a member of the club.pluse i use
pure blend grow and top dress with mexican bat guano.and flower using pure blend soil and top dress with bloom guano and water with a mix of earth juice bloom and earth worm tea lased with black strap molasses .man is my bud sweet.
thanks dan

 

[sophisto]

This thread is pretty interesting...

I have some questions.....

What is the preferrred mix with coco:
-coco/ewc??
-coco/compost??
-added perlite or not??
-dolomite lime or not??
- Mix dry nutes into the medium or not... If so any problems with nutrients being depleted quicker..Or some being locked up
- Run off when watering or not????
- RO water or not????

what issues have you come across and what solutions have you guys employed to overcome them??????

I am thinking of a good mix for a 5 gallon container grow...I think I may try something like this:

4 parts coco
1 part compost ( Alaskan Humisoil)
1 part perlite
to each 5 gallons of medium I will add 1/4 cup dolomite lime mainly for the cal mag...
I will also mix in some dry ferts by Dr earth... I am loving their stuff in my soil mixes..All other feeding I plan on doing with compost and guano teas.....Perhaps a couple half dose bottle fert feedings if necessary....Gotta love the neptunes....

Curious to see what you think collectively about this and the questions..