What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

My Coco Quest: Coco Hempy 4x4

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
I decided to make a 1:1 slurry of r/o water and the Roots Organics Coco Palms coir straight from the bag I just picked up last week at the store. After letting it soak for a couple hours I tested the conductivity within 7 minutes and that was .6EC(300ppm) then I tested it a couple hours later and it came out to .7EC(350ppm). I'm not impressed with those numbers at all. I've had some good results with their soilless mixes in the past however I won't be buying their pure coco again.

I've had better slurry readings from coco I flushed from a brick. I bought loose coco assuming I wouldn't have to flush it. I know Canna is good stuff. Feel free to chime in if anybody knows other loose coir options besides Canna that are reliably low in EC.

Also look what I found that floated to the top of the slurry only a couple minutes after i mixed it. I believe that's a springtail? I don't remember if those are bad or not but one of the reasons I get coco coir was for it to be bug free.
picture.php
 
Last edited:

dansbuds

Retired from the workforce Bullshit
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i even get spring tails in bagged canna coco , it just seems to be a part of growing in coco . they don't harm the plants & a few sticky traps around the garden help get rid of them .
i've used mother earth coco , & roots organics , but the roots has perilite & i don't see any need for perilite in my grow style .
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
Hmmmm I suppose loose moistened coir and springtails might just be a thing then. I've used canna a couple times but mostly bricks I washed from botanicare.

I was happy to try this roots organics coco palms(100% coco no perlite), but I'm not impressed with its EC content in a 1:1 slurry with r/o water. Comes out to .7EC(350ppm) of who knows what. I'll be sticking to canna or washing out another coco brick but I don't really like the extra work hahaha. Hmmm might have to check out mother earth if it's around. I wonder how nutrifield is.
 

dansbuds

Retired from the workforce Bullshit
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i've actually switched over to the canna bricks recently . they're much easier to precharge than the bag stuff . i always seem to get the bagged to wet trying to precharge it . the blocks work great ! 2 gallons of my nute mix with some calmag & an hour later its ready to use . my transplanted clones seem to love it alot better than when i put them in the bagged coco .
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
That's some good info right there thanks! I didn't know canna did compressed coco. Obviously don't have wash out the salts since it's canna so I'm all for bricks if I don't have to wash. Right on!
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
A little update on the roots organics coco palms. I thought it had a decent feel to it but then
I noticed it wasn't drying out as fast as I remember coco drying out. I chalked it up to "ah it's
been a few years you don't know exactly how fast coco dries right now."
So today I decided to take out my 5kg block of Botanicare Cocogro out of storage and hydrate
a 1/4 of it to compare the two The results were astonishing. Never going to buy Roots Organics Coco Palms again.

Roots Organics Coco Palms on the left. Botanicare Cocogrow 5kg bale on the right.
picture.php


I much prefer the higher fiber ratio and coarser pith of the Botanicare coco. Also the color of the Botanicare
is more of what I am used to seeing in coco. It also has a spongier feel. I wonder why the roots coco is so much
finer and darker. I'm thinking it's had more time to decompose. It smells earthy as well.

Moral of the story here for me is:
Buy compressed coco. Guaranteed to be free of pests and the decomposition process has been halted.

Then I did a runoff test with both coco coirs using 2 shot glass solo cups and R/O water. Here are the PPM readings I got:
(A note I forgot to mention is apparently the roots is buffered with uncalcined limestone)

Roots Organics Coco Palms
picture.php

I don't know if the uncalcined lime had a role to play in the above number but I don't like it especially since I'm using hydro nutrients.

Botanicare 5kg Cocogro block
picture.php

I like that number better
 
Last edited:

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
I've been using the Roots Organics Coco Palms and I was wondering why I was starting to see some odd and slow growth
on these seedlings(2 weeks old now). Now it all makes sense. Definitely not using it anymore.
picture.php


picture.php


picture.php


picture.php

3 of them seem to be heavily affected by the high EC content of the Roots Organics coco. 4 of them are growing although
slowly and in odd formations. I flushed them as best I could and started seeing some new growth so we'll see what happens.
Not really the best time for a flush but I had no choice. I germinated some TGA Deep Purple seeds as insurance and am going
to throw those in the botanicare coco.

Interestingly enough This single DeadHead OG seed is fighting through the bad coco.
picture.php
 
Last edited:

GastroGrower

Active member
Botanicare's nutrient lineup can be difficult at times, but I've found their coco to be really easy to work with. Even for noobs like myself it seems very forgiving.
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
I agree with that for sure. I always found that hydro-organic nutrients were kind of an oddity. They work but I feel like one can't get the best of both worlds doing it. I like either straight synthetic or straight organic.

As for coco I have had good results with their compressed bales in the past. I wanted to avoid having to hydrate the brick but if it guarantees me quality I'm ok with it.
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
I got tired of staring at that inferior coco and decided to do a full transplant. I carefully washed off the high EC Roots Organics
coco and put all the girls into the Botanicare coco. I knew the bad stuff didn't hold enough air. It was way too finely ground.
When I took the plants out of the medium I could easily tell the roots grew towards one side where the most oxygen
was(where the medium parts from the container).

On the upside ALL the roots were healthy white so I have that going for me. I'm also happy that 4/5 of the deep purple
seeds(back up plan) popped in 24 hrs. The other one just cracked and will probably be ready tonight or tomorrow morning.

Here are some pics.

DeadHead OG
picture.php


picture.php

Pure Afghani
picture.php


Family shot in the new coco!
picture.php


And one last comparison picture of the two coco coirs while wet

Botanicare Coco on the left. Roots Organics Coco on the right.
picture.php
 
Last edited:

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
So the Deep Purples are doing well. This is what I like to see!
picture.php


picture.php


The Pure Afghans and the lone DeadHead OG started some increased growth after the full transplant into
low EC coco AND it looks like normal non mutated growth as well. I think they like the low sodium hahaha.
I might have to kick up the food for that DeadeadHead OG a bit since it's not as green as the others.
picture.php


Out of the 3 that were stunted the most, one Pure Afghan is showing new growth. Interesting. The other
2 are hanging on the brink hahaha. It will be fun to see what happens.
picture.php


I'm overall very happy with the decision to ditch the Roots Organics Coco Palms. The Deep Purples are growing
much faster in this Botanicare brick coco and everything else seems to like it as well.
 
Last edited:

dansbuds

Retired from the workforce Bullshit
ICMag Donor
Veteran
remember ...... your only feeding the coco right now , the seedlings don't need food they get it from the colytendon leaves , so don't feed alot & keep the PH in range . your basically just keeping the cations balanced in the coco right now , the seedlings will take what they need if they need anything .
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
Thanks Danbuds. It's been a while since I popped some seeds. I'm more used to just getting clones and giving them some fresh nutes, so I will definitely keep that in mind.

Right on 420bears! Can't wait for them to get bigger and get the party started:biggrin:
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
It's been about 3 days since the last update. It should be of note that upon switching to the botanicare
coco I decided to switch to Veg+Bloom RO/Soft formula instead of the gh 6/9 formula.

The Pure Afghan and Deadhead OG are doing really well now! I wasn't sure how well they would come back
as they are young and vulnerable. I didn't precharge the botanicare brick coco with anything. I hydrated it
and did a mini rinse with tap water(.6EC or 300ppm) with no ph adjustment(who cares you're just going to flush
it out anyway). After transplant I gave them a 1.3EC(650ppm) solution of Veg+Bloom at 5.9 pH in hopes the
coco would get precharged and there would be enough food left for the younglings.

It worked. Every plant is showing new normal growth and they are starting to gain momentum.
picture.php


picture.php


picture.php


picture.php


picture.php
 
Last edited:

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
I even gave that 1.3EC solution to one of the heavily affected Pure Afghan seedlings that suffered terribly
just as a test to see if it would get burned. I don't expect anything from it but this is cool to see new growth!
picture.php


The Deep Purple is doing well. Just getting R/O for now. No ph adjustment. I'll be sure to treat these better :laughing:
picture.php


Interestingly enough one bean out of 5 didn't crack but the last bean to pop ended up sprouting like this.
The cotyledon leaves are twisted shut and folded over blocking the the true leaves that are growing. I wonder if
they'll force their way out. Haven't seen this before. Pretty cool.
picture.php
 
Last edited:

dansbuds

Retired from the workforce Bullshit
ICMag Donor
Veteran
by giving it plain RO water your throwing the cations off in the coco & creating a PH lockout situation ! thats why i said to feed light & check the PH before feeding it , your only feeding the cations in the coco right now , not the seedlings !

& 1.3 EC is wy to high of a feed !! i don't go over 1.4 in full flower !!!
feed light is like .4 EC ......
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
by giving it plain RO water your throwing the cations off in the coco & creating
a PH lockout situation ! thats why i said to feed light & check the PH before feeding it , your only feeding
the cations in the coco right now , not the seedlings !

& 1.3 EC is wy to high of a feed !! i don't go over 1.4 in full flower !!!
feed light is like .4 EC ......

Pure Afghan/DeadHead OG
My understanding is the botanicare brick coco doesn't have anything in it and does not come pre
buffered(well i guess it has .1EC that I detected) but that's barely anything. My intent with that 1.3EC
feed was to charge the coco for the newly transplanted Afghan's and DeadHead, as well as provide
them with some food. I won't be giving them that feeding strength next time. It was just that initial charge
I was going for because of that transplant to different fresh coco doesn't normally happen at this stage.

I think they are looking a lot better right now. Greening up and showing normal growth
The deadhead especially greened up a few days after the feed. It was starting to yellow out compared to the Afghans.

Deep Purple
If I'm not mistaken R/O takes on the PH of the medium as it's easily affected since it has nothing in it.
I thought maybe light feeding after the true leaves on the Deep Purples develop more would be a better approach,
but I'll start giving them .4EC phd to 5.9 since that seems pretty light.
That was only for the Deep Purples by the way. I pH the nutrients for the others.

Thanks for the insight! Always appreciated Dansbuds.
 

dansbuds

Retired from the workforce Bullshit
ICMag Donor
Veteran
to precharge your coco an EC of .5 or .6 is more than enough to sustain any plant put in it . less is more !!!
& RO is the worst thing you can give to coco during its feed cycle to plants ! it throws off the cation balance quicker than tap water because theres no buffers in it . as far as PH & RO ..... the coco will not not change the PH of the ro water , in fact its just the opposite , the RO waters PH (7) will change the PH of the coco .

if i were you .... i'd flush the cups you fed with 1.3 with a lower dose feed of .5 EC at a PH of 5.9 or you'll burn up them seedlings . pics 1,2 & 3 already look effected .
 

justiceman

Active member
Veteran
I believe some of that damage is from the high sodium coco from before but nevertheless I'm going to
follow your lead DansBuds and give them all a .5EC solution. Thanks again for the insight and clearing up
some discrepancies in my knowledge.:)
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top