Organic coco club

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Go with LCs#1 mate. You really cant go wrong.

You could convert if they tell you amount of coco in recipe... but less is usually more. You can always add but you cant take away.

 

[Danny-boy777]

Thanks Chaps. I tried some good COCO and a little potting mix I made and all my plants have big boners

Namaste

 

[Billy DeLions]

My mix is entirely coco based, no peat. It's taken a few years to tune and is still a work in progress:

10 gallons hydrated coco

To that I add:
3/4 gallon perlite
1 gallon vermiculite
1.5 gallons pumice
4 qts earthworm compost - fresh from the worm bin
1 cup earthworm castings

In a large bowl I mix the following minerals and meals:

Minerals:
2.0 cups K-Mag
1.5 cups Limestone
1 cup rock phosphate
1/4 cup greensand

Meals:
1.0 cup Kelp
1.5 cup Alfalfa meal (ground)
3/4 cup Brown Rice (ground)
1/2 cup Flax seed meal
1 cup Fish meal
1 cup Fish bone meal

and....

a handful of dried molasses

I throw everything into the compost mixer and crank until it is mixed to my liking... I then add 2 cups of activated EM-1, and crank some more. This mix is then allowed to sit for 8-10 weeks before use. Every now and again a worm or two ends up in the mix from the earthworm compost. I don't really worry too much about it, when I recycle the coco at the end of a grow, I usually find more worms than went in...

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

That mix does sound very tasty!

Does it get you through an entire grow or only veg?

What size containers?

My worms that go in are all gone by chop time.

 

[Billy DeLions]

That mix does sound very tasty!

Does it get you through an entire grow or only veg?

What size containers?

My worms that go in are all gone by chop time.

Thanks! I can't take all the credit, I learned a lot from a few growers on here over the years.

Depends. Longer vegetative or longer flowering times can throw a monkey wrench in there... For the most part, this can go from start to end. However, depending on what the plant is telling me, maybe a few teas, a foliar, or side dress here and there...

For containers, I use 2 or 3 gallon smartpots. I've run 5 gallon containers in the past, but the smaller ones fit better in my grow room.

Interesting about the worms...I don't think they are breeding in the smartpot, I think it is more of a case of them being so small, I don't notice them when I add the compost.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Yeah thats cool. They must like the smart pot enviroment.

If you can go a whole grow more or less its a bit like a coco moonshine mix...

I run mostly smaller pots and have found it better to keep it simple indoors.

Outdoors i go mad with amendments.

 

[Billy DeLions]

SS

one thing I started to use as well is biochar. I add it to the worm bin, but also crush up some larger chunks and add it to the mix as well. I've been going through your dark soil thread and learning quite a bit... good stuff man. Thanks for the efforts

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Cheers mate.

Its a pleasure to dabble in this stuff and share any knowledge gained

Wish i could share a nice bowlfull of my finest with ya's too!

 

[Danny-boy777]

Cheers mate.

Its a pleasure to dabble in this stuff and share any knowledge gained

Wish i could share a nice bowlfull of my finest with ya's too!

I would very much like this as well.

Namaste

 

[Funion]

I'm in.
I'm all recycled coco.
Using blumats, air-pots, and AACT.
Now I need to come up with a good coco recipe.

 

[bigshrimp]

Cure time needed?

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Depends on plant using up soluble N and its chlorophyll levels before the chop.

It is possible to restrict water in the last couple weeks and get em to cure in the pot. Running the same strains for many grows should make this easier. However as it dries coco releases its store of N and other nutrients. This can lead to some harsh smoke that takes a couple months to cure.

I used to flush (or perhaps the term leach is better) with plenty fresh water say week 6 or 7 of an 8-9 week cycle which still gives the coco/soil time to dry out for a good harvest and quicker dry/cure.

But these days i like to use coco only say a max of 1/4 total soil volume.

 

[bigshrimp]

Thanks SSOG, your an inspiration for anybody trying to grow outside the box. The dark soil thread rocks my socks!

I was wondering about "cook" time for the mix actually. Also do you charge your char , and if you do , do you have any specific way to charge for bio char and coco?

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

No specific way for coco.

But the main issue with biochar is even the well made stuff is alkaline. It has a fairly strong liming effect and so shouldnt be mixed with too much dolomite etc.

I like to counter the high ph with neem cake and Lithuanian peat moss which are both acidic. Cider vinegar or lemon juice also works for watering if you have probs.

Cook time should be around 4-8 weeks.

Coco contains no sulphur and so gypsum is a great additive. Also good for biochar as it is neutral ph.

 

[bigshrimp]

Good answer thank you!

Im out of gypsum, and need to pound more char so my first batch will go as follows.

8 parts coco
1 part ROLS
1 part rice hulls

For a total of about 10 gallons, to which i added approximately

1 cup neem meal
1 cup kelp meal
1 cup fish bone meal
1 small handful dolomite lime

Trying to stay simple this round

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Yeah cool.

Also in coco i would say 5% total volume of char would be about perfect. Certainly no more than 10%.

 

[Amber Trich]

you mean char dust? would you not use the chunks as a texture/aeration amendment in a coco based mix?

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

I would be hesitant for the liming effect. But yeah i aim for a mixture of dust to pea sized pieces.

In a peat based acidic medium you could use the 10-30% recommended for good drainage.

I recently acquired some Lithuanian peat moss which is virtually identical to spaghnum. Going to test this out soonish.

 

[bigshrimp]

Here's my two organic coco girls from the mix above. They are loving life so far, keeping right up with the ones in rols. Been giving them a light TM7 watering a couple times and a some very diluted char water yesterday. A little leaf twist right after transplant but that was left behind quickly with new growth.

View image in gallery​

View image in gallery​

 

[Gelado`]

Good stuff, I grow in a coco soil mix with a variety of amendments. My last few pots of straight potting soil are going to get cut with coco for my next run.