Roots Organic Soilless coco mix

[BongRipkenJR.]

I need some help on nutrient selection here. I haven't been able to find anything on using the Roots Organic Soil-less mix. I was all ready to use H&G nutes with this, but I am not sure. I am using 2 gallon smart pots. 10 plants per thousand watt light. Here are some ideas I am having for it. I am trying to keep it simple.

H&G Coco A+B, Cal Mag(brand doesn't really matter to me), molasses
Roots Organic Bloom, Hp2, trinity, extreme serene, molasses, and Cal Mag(a bit too much shit for my liking)
Botanicare PBP Coco, Cal Mag, molasses, trinity
Even thinking about GH micro, kool bloom, cal mag, flora nectar.


If anyone has any experience with their soilless coco mix let me know what you used and if you have pics of your results. Coco is new to me. Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Rushoe]

Coco is bomb bro. Make sure its a kinda of coco that doesn't need to be washed get one with low ec like canna coco u can use this stuff right outa the bag I use and love it I have not yet had a chance to try the roots organics coco I want to but its comes with a light charge of nutes so I didn't like that I like to add everything myself but I might break down and grab some to test out.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

I grabbed some bags of it and it seems nice. Almost reminds me of their soil. Lots of perlite, leonardite, EWC, bat guano and some other stuff. I just am not sure about what nutrients to use with it.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

It seems a lot different than normal coco

 

[Rushoe]

It seems a lot different than normal coco

Bro I know this sounds kinda lame but grab some some maxibloom from GH thats all u need with some tap....I running this on my moms and seems to be working well and I hate using tap but works very well with maxibloom for both veg and bloom at 5 grams for ver and 7 for bloom way easy bro I and gonna run one plant on nothing but maxi to see for me self this is a thread on here.... K.I.S.S thread check it out.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

I have checked it out and thats the only reason why I have been thinking about using it. I honestly hate super salty ferts though. I am primarily worried about taste and smell and I know that will be non existent with kool bloom. Molasses or flora nectar can help with that though. I am kind of leaning towards the botanicare coco route

 

[Snow Crash]

I'm about to transplant into RO coco mix for the first time and am interested in what people have to say here.

Veg:
Canna Coco A+B... Coco primary base macro system
Cal-Mag Plus... Supplements soft water
Liquid Karma... Is just good shit
Pro-Tekt... Silica supplement

Flowering:
Canna Coco A+B... Coco primary base macro system
CNS 17 Ripe... Flowering secondary base nutrient
Hydroplex... Flowering enhancer
Bud Candy... Resin enhancer and magnesium supplement

In addition to these primary systems I will also be incorporating:
A root drench with General Organics BioWeed and Liquid Karma during the transplant from party cups to 2 gallon planters.
Weekly foliar feedings including a surfactant, BioWeed, Liquid Karma, Fulvic Acid, and about 25ppm of Epsom Salt. Depending on the time of life I will be using Snow Storm Ultra, Bud Candy, and AN Nirvana in the foliar as well. This will continue into the 5th week of flowering, focusing on the underside of leaves. Clean water foliar washes will be done twice a week as well following foliar feedings to ensure the stomata remain clean.

I am using this combination of nutrients because I have a bunch of Canna Coco A+B and need to use it up somehow. I am personally trying to make it into using mostly Botanicare products, namely the CNS 17 Coco/Soil Grow, Bloom, and Ripe. The system I have here allows me to dial my npk cal-mag levels and provide elements from a variety of sources. The combination of Bud Candy and Snow Storm Ultra is intended to dramatically increase resin production. For a cost of about $35 it was not an expensive experiment to begin.

When in Roots Organic I hear it is better to keep the nutrient levels very low (under 1.0ec) for the first few weeks as there is quite a bit of food contained in the mix already. This is why I'm going to focus on Seaweed extract drenches and organics until the root system fills the area. It coincides with the stretch period so I'd be using the extract anyway.

Once bloom is under way I'll just keep my run off volume very high and begin using my additional supplements. I doubt that at any time my EC will be over 1.8. I'll spend most of the time between 0.8ec and 1.2ec.

I think that Botanicare CNS 17 Coco/Soil Grow, Bloom, and Ripe have fantastic npk ratios for cannabis in coco and a very affordable and effective system. Adding the Hydroplex would be a good idea too.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

So far the best looking results I have seen in coco have been with MaxiBloom. It is ridiculous!

I am not a fan of nutrient companies. I like the humboldt line, but I need something simple for the coco and I might also use bluemats.

I want to keep my K levels down. I just might buy Canna nutes for ease of use. I dont have time this run to be sitting there mixing and checking constantly. I need to mix and go.
Might just use Canna base nutes, molasses or floranectar, and a cal mag additive. I was thinking of using a silica treatment to double as a ph up.

Seriously, anybody who has used the Roots Soilless mix and has pictures of their results post em up here or share your experience! I will have plants in the pots this weekend and would like to learn from others mistakes.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

Nobody has used this?

Bump for the friday crowd. Trying to get some solid info here.

 

[Peacefrog]

My first coco grow started with this stuff. My problem with it was that it comes with some amendments that kind of precharge the mix and I had a hard time getting a consistent feeding program because I didn't know what I was dealing with and the plants suffered quite a bit. The mix also had a very strong cat piss smell when I soaked it. I started out with the Roots Organic line of nutrients and decided that those nutes were way too thick and gooey for the kind of grow I wanted to do (using Tropf Blumats).

I ended up switching to the H&G line of nutes and flushing the crap out of the plants. Once I had all the amendments washed out and got the plants acclimated to a steady diet of the H&G program they took off. I have also switched to using GH Cocotek bricks that are just plain coco that has been pre-washed. My experience is that it is a lot easier to get a feeding program established if you know you are starting with a blank slate.

So that isn't exactly a great endorsement but that was my experience. If I were going to use the soilless mix again I would flush the hell out of it, dry it out completely, flush the hell out of it again, maybe dry it out again, and then precharge it with the nutes of my choice. I'm sure the stuff works for some people that like the Roots Organic lines but it just was not for me. In all fairness to Roots, it was my first run in coco and I am sure I made some mistakes.

I would recommend H&G A&G with Drip Clean as a good basic program. I add Bud XL and Top Booster at the appropriate times. You need some sort of PK boost about halfway through flowering or your plants will get ugly fast. Following the H&G schedule I also haven't found much need for Cal Mag. I sometimes get some mild Calcium deficiency in early/mid veg but once the plants get going rolling in flower I haven't seen a need for a supplement. I keep some Sea Cal around for a foliar feeding in veg to deal with Ca issues.

Hope this helps.

Peace

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

That is what I was thinking. I was looking at the H&G line, but was also interested in CANNA. I have seen great results with MaxiBloom, but I am afraid of all the heavy metals in it.

I figured all the precharged shit would make it a hassle to use so I was going to mix in some pure coco coir to make it a little less aggressive. Thanks PeaceFrog!

 

[Peacefrog]

I've thought about giving the Canna line a go sometime if I am at the right store at the right time. I think it is a pretty similar program to H&G and I actually think the two companies have a shared history. I just got hooked on H&G because it was what my usual store had and it worked great in my setup. I think you've got the right idea whatever you decide to go with. Good luck with your grow!

 

[Snow Crash]

I've thought about giving the Canna line a go sometime if I am at the right store at the right time. I think it is a pretty similar program to H&G and I actually think the two companies have a shared history. I just got hooked on H&G because it was what my usual store had and it worked great in my setup. I think you've got the right idea whatever you decide to go with. Good luck with your grow!

H&G and Canna share some Van Der Swann chemistry. Their coco mixtures couldn't be more different though.

Canna uses less than 1/2 the potassium in their solution due to the natural decomposition and nutrient buffer Coco retains.

I think the media should be treated as organic. Similar to soil. If a person can take FFOF and dump in Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, and Big Bloom then I don't see how Roots Organic Coco mixture would be much more difficult than that.

Since it is coco, but amended as an organic "soil," then I really, REALLY, recommend the Botanicare CNS 17 Coco/Soil Grow, Bloom, and Ripe. It even says Coco/Soil... which is what you are growing in. Pure Blend Pro would be alright as well.

I think a good experiment would be to try the organicare lineup of Pure, Huvega (mag/micro), Humega (humics), Calplex (calcium), and Seaplex (seaweed extract). The Pure can be amended as a top dressing when/if the media seems to need a nutrient boost.

I'm going to be running it like I would regular coco but with more low strength feedings between regular feedings and by running about 80% strength on the EC. I would imagine that of the problems to see with this media it would be nutrient toxicity as a result of feeding an organic media, basically a soil, as though it were an inert hydroponic media.

Using amended coco can save you money if you can stomach feeding your plants less and allowing the mixture to do the work for you. That is one of the major reasons I am getting out of inert coco. I'll be using 1/2 of what I usually use from the bottle. When the plants need something, they will let me know, but experience in the media with these plants has built a good plan on when to boost which element.

 

[Peacefrog]

My point about the Roots Organic soilless mix is that although it said it was coco-based it wasn't the inert medium that I was expecting to work when I went out shopping for coco. It was my mistake to think it was "just coco" when I bought it. I would like to explore organic growing someday but for now I have found a system that works quite well for me and is simple and reliable so far. I will stick with it until I feel the inevitable need to improve that which isn't broken.