General Hydroponics CocoTek

[DocCrow]

A local HydroShop was shutting down to move locations, and I got 3 bales of this to try out for 5 bucks.
http://generalhydroponics.com/site/index.php/products/media/cocotek/natural_coconut_coir_block/

Does anyone have any experience using this? I was planning on flushing the hell out of it, then soaking in with CalMag and RO water prior to use.

Opinions? I was gonna order Canna, but I now have enough of this to last me like 2 years.

DC

 

[benzo]

5 bucks!!!


lucky you!!!

I pay like 18-22 bucks for it.

its good coco


but DEFINITELY needs to be flushed

a lot of sand and salt in there.


get a rubbermaid tote, throw the bale in there and soak it with a hose.

strain with something to get the sand and other crap out of there.
Then fill up an old (preferably white) pillow case and run a bunch of water thru it to wash the rest of the salt away.

charge it with a weak nutrient solution with a good amount of calmag and your good!

 

[Desert Hydro]

lol thats whay i use and ive never flushed it before. ive never even checked the runoff. seems to be ok. i either buy that when i dont have much room in my car or that stuff in the red bag from humbolt. not sure of the brand. royal gold maybe? idk. ive used both and have never flushed. i flush between runs when im gonna reuse but maybe ive been getting lucky

 

[benzo]

lol thats whay i use and ive never flushed it before. ive never even checked the runoff. seems to be ok. i either buy that when i dont have much room in my car or that stuff in the red bag from humbolt. not sure of the brand. royal gold maybe? idk. ive used both and have never flushed. i flush between runs when im gonna reuse but maybe ive been getting lucky

i used a bluelab truncheon to check the ec/ppm of the run off water.

one batch had a shit ton of salt while the next bale was pretty much clean out of the bag.

i dunno if they have quality control issues, or if i was just unlucky.

but now i always flush just to be safe, so i figured I give the same advice.

 

[Desert Hydro]

will do next time its just real hard for me to flush shit cuz my tap is 850ppm and my RO takes 1.5 hours to do 5 gal lol

 

[benzo]

will do next time its just real hard for me to flush shit cuz my tap is 850ppm and my RO takes 1.5 hours to do 5 gal lol

ouuuch hahahah

yeah that would take FOREVER to do.

what RO unit do you have? I need a small one for use at an apt..

 

[d3cryption]

I went from bio bizz coco, to canna, to cocotek.... I'm sold on the cocotek... cant beat the price.. i didnt flush at all, but i was transplanting. seedlings u might have to flush good...

 

[DocCrow]

will do next time its just real hard for me to flush shit cuz my tap is 850ppm and my RO takes 1.5 hours to do 5 gal lol

I would get a large plastic 55gal drum. I see them on craigslist all of the time for like 25 bucks. Make sure it did not have any crazy chemicals in it before. A lot of them just had like corn syrup or some shit in it before. Then you just plumb a float valve into it, so it shuts off the water coming from the RO when it gets full. That way you will always have 50 gal on hand to draw from. You can even set it up to run for a day then shut off the RO by hand.

I went from bio bizz coco, to canna, to cocotek.... I'm sold on the cocotek... cant beat the price.. i didnt flush at all, but i was transplanting. seedlings u might have to flush good...

Thanks man, I'm gonna try to clone and sprout in rapid rooters.

My tap comes out at like 250ppm. Can I flush with this and charge with RO/Distilled water? I don't have an RO yet. I do not want to buy 50 gal of distilled to flush. or should I just take a small test cup from the bag and check the runoff? I would like to not flush, but i do not want to run into issues, as the nutes I am using are designed for ro/distilled water.

DC

 

[benzo]

yep, so you lucked out DocCrow. !

if there is any more bales i would go and stockpile it

 

[benzo]

My tap comes out at like 250ppm. Can I flush with this and charge with RO/Distilled water? I don't have an RO yet. I do not want to buy 50 gal of distilled to flush. or should I just take a small test cup from the bag and check the runoff? I would like to not flush, but i do not want to run into issues, as the nutes I am using are designed for ro/distilled water.

DC

I would flush with your tap water. Just to get the residual salts out.. not worrying so much about the ppm.

just be sure to charge the coco with a light nutrient solution..

 

[DocCrow]

if there is any more bales i would go and stockpile it

I bought the last 3 he had in the shop. I think each is one cubic meter. I grow in one liter containers. 3 bales will last me like 5 years will last me like 5 years. I waited until the last day before he had to move everything out so he was pretty well cleaned out. He had probably 20 bags of FoxFarm soil he was trying to get me to buy for like 3 bucks a bag just so he could get rid of it. I almost got it just to put into my vegetable garden in the spring, haha.

 

[d3cryption]

I bought the last 3 he had in the shop. I think each is one cubic meter. I grow in one liter containers. 3 bales will last me like 5 years will last me like 5 years. I waited until the last day before he had to move everything out so he was pretty well cleaned out. He had probably 20 bags of FoxFarm soil he was trying to get me to buy for like 3 bucks a bag just so he could get rid of it. I almost got it just to put into my vegetable garden in the spring, haha.

sweet deal..

 

[SeaMaiden]

I would flush with your tap water. Just to get the residual salts out.. not worrying so much about the ppm.

just be sure to charge the coco with a light nutrient solution..

IMO this needs to be reiterated, because the OP only mentioned rinsing and charging with Cal-Mag.

 

[DocCrow]

thanks sea-maiden, rinse then charge with light nutes and cal mag

 

[Desert Hydro]

i did kill 18 seedlings with this coco lol. all badasses too you live and you learn. its been fine to transplant into but i will not start clones in coco anymore. i like to start in rooters or cubes and move over that way i know exactly whats in it

 

[DocCrow]

I use rapid rooters for seedlings and clones also.

 

[stagehand099]

I"ve gone through 4 bales of GH Cocotek over the last 6-7 months and every one has been coming out with really different ec/ppm after hydrating with tap @ 175 ppm. The first one I tried was like 1500 ppm. The next one was like 600. So their quality control is for shit.....but, I just rinse the shit real good until the runoff is close to what I put through it. Then I charge it with 5 ml calmag/gal of RO (<5 ppm) and its good to go. I get it for $11.00 a bale so its cheap and works real well after you rinse it. 3 runs without issues....

stagehand

 

[Wonderon]

I"ve gone through 4 bales of GH Cocotek over the last 6-7 months and every one has been coming out with really different ec/ppm after hydrating with tap @ 175 ppm. The first one I tried was like 1500 ppm. The next one was like 600. So their quality control is for shit.....but, I just rinse the shit real good until the runoff is close to what I put through it. Then I charge it with 5 ml calmag/gal of RO (<5 ppm) and its good to go. I get it for $11.00 a bale so its cheap and works real well after you rinse it. 3 runs without issues....

stagehand

I may have to try this with the botanicare cocogrow bails. I've been having shit luck with them. I bought 2 three years ago and bad results off of one. I had one left unopened and tried it recently and again shit. I did order another though about a month ago, maybe the newer bail would be better.

 

[DocCrow]

From what i can tell most coco needs to be rinsed thoroughly then charged with a light nute and cal mag solution. Can't hurt anyways.

 

[Desert Hydro]

i think the house and garden coco is supposed to be rinsed and precharged or something along those lines. nvm, here is the script from their site-

House & Garden Coco Substrate meets the strictest demands made on coco fibre by the RHP foundation, giving consistent high quality that the end users require. All House & Garden Coco undergoes a rigorous process of buffering and cleaning to ensure all impurities are washed out of the coco which gives the plant every chance of success.
■RHP Listed
■Washed
■Environmentally Friendly
■Sourced in Sri Lanka