Is it worth it to re-use coco?

[gaiusmarius]

yeah it really depends how you use your coco. if you run it hydropincally the whole thing stays wett all the time and you don't get as great big root mass, so it's easy to pull the plants out or even cut them off. but if the plants have been vegged for ages and hand watered the roots will be very compact, but even in this case if you let the coco sit for a while you will notice that you can crush it back to powdery stuff, picking out the big woody roots and let the rest be just broken up again by hand. once re watered it's good to go again. just as long as you flushed the plant that was growing in that coco before. that's how i've worked with coco for years, the slabs don't even get the roots taken out between uses and they will often produce a better grow the second time round then the first, so it's definitely worth doing for slab growers with auto watering. but even tree growers could reuse most of the coco with the right approach.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

yeah i agree and i have done it several times. only proplems rise when its plants that are very old. the faster the cycle have been, the less build up of there is. i hand water 2-3 times a day, but also i grow really big plants with veg times up to a year sometimes.

i would advice not to recycle the coco from pots with obvious lime or salt build up, the rest is good to go. also if the plants have been ill, i throw the coco on the compost outside and let it get dried out and fried up by the sun and then reuse it in the garden.

 

[Harinama]

I use downtoearth coco, which is super cheap @ $20/4.5cubic feet.

I have reused it continually over the last couple of years. Initially, i added a bit of perlite to lighten up the mix, but i stopped as the pots dry out plenty fast enough. Presently i have ~10% perlite left in the mix.

My reuse cycle:
plant finishes, i dump coco in a bag to sit for ~1month. By then the majority of roots have rotted. Then i plant with it. I add these items during the first water(with 20 drainage):

1t/gal dripclean-removes salts
1t/gal hygrozime- helps decay dying roots
1t/gal b12-helps new root formation
BC nutes @ 4/5 strength (same throughout grow)
mycorrhizae: 1/2t/gal

My plants look better than ever! Dripclean and hygrozyme are crucial to reusing coir..

 

[jackiee]

i always reuse my coco (i use canna) when i flush my crop i add quite a bit of cannazyme,it helps to disolve the old roots i then throw it into a bin for a couple of weeks to weather it,then i use a garden seive to get rid of the last of the old roots and any lumps,then give it a good flush with ph 5.8 water and its ready for your next crop. stay lucky

 

[Milwaukee]

I always reuse my coco.

 

[Whelm]

Yes you can re-use coco several times. If you're using chem nutrients, make sure it is flushed well or your next plants will likely shock when planted. Using a good zyme (Grozyme or Cannazyme) is highly recommended as well; zyme will break down roots from the previous plants.