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Coco coir grower help

M

Mrkline006

Member
Currently in coco/perlite and have been using it last 2/3 years. I’m looking to use something similar? Or maybe a 100% coco mix so I can feed every other day or so and not worry about daily feeds (or more)... would 100% coco work? I was reading on this ProMix CC40 that retains a little extra water ect. I love coco and how easy it is to fix issues, just with my schedule currently daily feeds is almost impossible. I’m in 7gal finals and thought that would help but still drying out pretty quickly.
 
G

Guest

Straight coco works fine and in some instances is preferred. Depending on the style of growing & environment will dictate what percentage of perlite is needed.
For starting off seeds and cuts I use 50/50. If it is an aggressive drinker, for my system/environment, I will use straight coco.
But I usually like a mix of the two due to faster growth and consumption of nutrients et.al

Larger containers might be an option?
 
M

Mrkline006

Member
Outcold said:
Straight coco works fine and in some instances is preferred. Depending on the style of growing & environment will dictate what percentage of perlite is needed.
For starting off seeds and cuts I use 50/50. If it is an aggressive drinker, for my system/environment, I will use straight coco.
But I usually like a mix of the two due to faster growth and consumption of nutrients et.al

Larger containers might be an option?
Click to expand...

I use to use 5gals. Figured moving up to 7s with a 70/30 mix would help. Even with insane runoff (30-100%) of water put in. I’m still getting burn and some really high runoff... looking to be able to keep runoff more stable with watering less which I know normally goes against coco. I just prefer every other day feeds and seen that 100% coco may be the way.
 
I

I respect women

Member
Mrkline006 said:
Currently in coco/perlite and have been using it last 2/3 years. I’m looking to use something similar? Or maybe a 100% coco mix so I can feed every other day or so and not worry about daily feeds (or more)... would 100% coco work? I was reading on this ProMix CC40 that retains a little extra water ect. I love coco and how easy it is to fix issues, just with my schedule currently daily feeds is almost impossible. I’m in 7gal finals and thought that would help but still drying out pretty quickly.
Click to expand...
Go on Amazon and buy a cheap submersible pump, a digital timer, and an aquarium manifold that works for however many plants you have. With the valves wide open it will pump about 1 solo cup for every minute the pump is on through 1/4" spaghetti tubing. If that is to much or you're not set up to catch run off, pinch back the valves on the manifold. It will easily buy you a few days for around $50.
 

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P

Phagoos

Member
100% coco coir is okay as long as you make sure it does not stay water logged. DTW will most likely hold too much water unless the root system is well developed or if you can drain the excess. delta9nxs in Something wicked this way comes - Page 118+ mentions a chips and fiber coco in a PPK system that seems to work very well for him.

I'm using the cheapest coco coir block but I have an automated watering system that only feeds if the coco is dry enough and that works for lazy people like me ;)
 
M

Mrkline006

Member
Phagoos said:
100% coco coir is okay as long as you make sure it does not stay water logged. DTW will most likely hold too much water unless the root system is well developed or if you can drain the excess. delta9nxs in Something wicked this way comes - Page 118+ mentions a chips and fiber coco in a PPK system that seems to work very well for him.

I'm using the cheapest coco coir block but I have an automated watering system that only feeds if the coco is dry enough and that works for lazy people like me ;)
Click to expand...

I made the decision to give promix hp a try. We’ll see how it goes. Lol
 
bs0

bs0

Active member
Phagoos said:
100% coco coir is okay as long as you make sure it does not stay water logged. DTW will most likely hold too much water unless the root system is well developed or if you can drain the excess. delta9nxs in Something wicked this way comes - Page 118+ mentions a chips and fiber coco in a PPK system that seems to work very well for him.

I'm using the cheapest coco coir block but I have an automated watering system that only feeds if the coco is dry enough and that works for lazy people like me ;)
Click to expand...

what do you mean 'automated watering that only feeds when dry enough'?
 
Fixer

Fixer

Active member
I with IRW. I'd automate if I were you. I'm using emitters so I check daily to make sure they are all dripping. If you use an open 1/4 tube you'll have no worries.
 
P

Phagoos

Member
bs0 said:
what do you mean 'automated watering that only feeds when dry enough'?
Click to expand...
I'm using an arduino to measure the resistance of the coir as a way to estimate the amount of water available. If the amount of water gets too low then I turn on a pump for 10 seconds to add a bit more water with nutrient. Every 5 minutes I measure and if the measured amount of water is too low I turn on the pump again.
 
Fixer

Fixer

Active member
Phagoos said:
I'm using an arduino to measure the resistance of the coir as a way to estimate the amount of water available. If the amount of water gets too low then I turn on a pump for 10 seconds to add a bit more water with nutrient. Every 5 minutes I measure and if the measured amount of water is too low I turn on the pump again.
Click to expand...


Do you flush at all?
 
SuperBadGrower

SuperBadGrower

Active member
Phagoos said:
I'm using an arduino to measure the resistance of the coir as a way to estimate the amount of water available. If the amount of water gets too low then I turn on a pump for 10 seconds to add a bit more water with nutrient. Every 5 minutes I measure and if the measured amount of water is too low I turn on the pump again.
Click to expand...

Awesome! What kind of sensors do you use for it?
 
P

Phagoos

Member
SuperBadGrower said:
Awesome! What kind of sensors do you use for it?
Click to expand...
I got 2mm stainless steel axles from ebay and used 2 of them as a probe (variable resistance). The probe is connected to a 68nF capacitor to create an RC circuit.
Turning D4 on or off will charge or discharge the capacitor.
D3 is set up to create an interrupt if the voltage reaches the trigger level.
The time spent between switching D4 on and getting an interrupt on D3 is used to estimate the resistance of the soil/coco coir.

picture.php


When using a circuit like this you need to make sure to do a full charge and discharge cycle to prevent corrosion as much as possible.

See also: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=335131&page=8
 
bs0

bs0

Active member
Phagoos said:
I'm using an arduino to measure the resistance of the coir as a way to estimate the amount of water available. If the amount of water gets too low then I turn on a pump for 10 seconds to add a bit more water with nutrient. Every 5 minutes I measure and if the measured amount of water is too low I turn on the pump again.
Click to expand...

I feel like you might have a pretty good business idea there.
 
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