Looking into Coco, is it expensive?

[been]

Why should you have to wash hydroton after every crop if you don't have to wash the coco after every crop? Unless you had some kind of pathogen attack the plants from the previous cycle, seems like the inert medium would be an ideal candidate for immediate reuse.

What are you going to do with all that hydroton after you've bought up so much coco?

 

[asher1er]

i guess for him its different he can food his tables with a zyme and leave it, when i used rocks i had no way of flooding it was all top drip drain to waste which in turn i had to put all the rocks in something, wash them out and take out the clean rocks lil by lil

 

[smurfin'herb]

Im a long time coco grower. Things to know are... You will need to supplement cal-mag especially if using r/o.

I have never used a coco specific nutrient, and i still get over one pound per 600!

If u use a non specific coco nutrient, just keep the main feed very mild and cut back on the the strength of your boosters a bit more than usual to make up for the amounts of pk in the media.

I have reused coco, but in order to do so, you need to use more medium than the plant requires so that the whole damn planter isnt rootbound after the first run. If you plant in a planter that gets overgrown by roots, you can run into all kinds of probs in the next run, even if your using an enzyme to clean it up! I know ppl who need to use a saw zaw and cut the old plant and rootball out of the pot. If you have to cut out the rootball b/c you cant pull it out without pulling out all the coco in the container, then your just asking for probs. I always run into fungus gnats when i did this because i used more coco than i needed (in order to not get rootbound) and fed 3x per day. The coco was so moist all the time that in invited the gnats. I could have cut back on watering, but i needed the hydroponic growth of a 3x daily watering.


Oh and one more thing.. if you dont clone in hydro, coco is a godsend for cloning!! It works better than rapid rooters, try it sometime!!

I would reccomend B'cuzz coco, or canna coco. If you buy the dry bricks, make sure to check the salt content, because sometimes they are rediculous, but then again, some are really good. I think i had good success with sunleaves bricks.

If you do outdoor, coco and water polymers work amazing.
Most coco, (depending on how it was proceesed) already has some beneficial microbes in it, but your plants will thank you dearly if you add more. May i suggest Plant success. I have also heard good reviews about great white.

Hope this helps, if i can think of anyting else ill chime back in. Good luck to ya yamaha!

 

[cork144]

ebay sells canna coco for about £15 per 50L, so your lookng at like 8 or 9 bags of the stuff.

 

[Amstel Light]

What are you going to do with all that hydroton after you've bought up so much coco?

i recently incorporated coco, hydroton and dwc... wish i new how to rezise the pics it is a trip!!

 

[Amstel Light]

If you do outdoor, coco and water polymers work amazing.

how did you water outdoors?

 

[smurfin'herb]

i dont unless theres a drought. The polymers take care of it mostly.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

Been, thats something I have asked myself. I used to be very anal about washing the rocks and getting most of the root fragments out. The last 2 batches, I just pulled the rootballs out, shook out the rocks, then ran the table for 1-2 days with a bleach solution, flushed, then used hygrozyme for the first 2 weeks of 12/12, then use SM90 the last 6 weeks. Havent had any problems so far.

But at the spot where this is happening, I have not gotten all the hydroton. So its not like I am swapping it out, I still have to get something, and coco seems easier to deal with

 

[Peat]

I'm looking forward to seeing you E&F in coco, Yama!

 

[paranoidalien]

CNS 17 is some respectable stuff, but I prefer head's formula for the general simplicity and just how cheap it is. I use no additives and have been having absolutely stupendous results. Now, given, I'm a drip fed guy, but I have seen some amazing E&F results online that completely blew me away. Do it do it man!

 

[norcalkell]

yup i get it locally, only place to get Canna products around the way really unless im a bit more north.. if they are 2L then prolly like 8 bags.. theres less watering to do with the coco then with the hydroton so keep that in mind

i think 8 bags of canna coco is right.

 

[blackone]

If you go for a side by side then I'll definitely hit the subscribe button

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

Chaos perfectly describes my issue with pure coco. It just can't quite replicate the health and vigor of a properly maintained DWC rig or slower soil methods. I think this happens for a variety of reasons, but primarily it is because pure coco growers miss out on beneficial Mycorrhizae fungus and pro-biotics. After a couple of pure coco grows that I had performed myself (having previously run full-blown aeroponic rig in the form of Irish & Webby style tubes) I surmised that it is an imperfect technique. I would go on to blend the coco with other organic constituents which I found made the medium capable of supporting advanced micro-life, but my master stroke came when I introduced forced oxygen, which is what truly generates the benefits of deep water culture growing, to coco moss growing. This got me the fast-draining low-maintinence qualities of coco with the benefits of powerful micro-life all being supported by the kickass bonus that is forced oxygen in the root zone. Hydro growth rates, coco moss ease of use and organic soil plant health and vigor. I am convinced that it is the best of all worlds. I recently started a thread on the technique which links to my records of its development and use:

Hi DM

Naughty boy, confusing all those tomato growers with the hi tech ;-)

Interesting stuff, I think it is quite close to what I had planned to try this year. 2 years ago I had big bubblers in the bottom of my coco pots but was not blown away by it... you are running 4" of bubbled [dwc style] solution in a hydroton bottom layer of your coco pots ?