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how to prevent salt build up in coir
- Thread starter tree dawg
- Start date
touringfunkband
Active member
Ive always had good success using H&G's Drip Clean. I run the complete line of Canna nutrients with drip clean at .5ml per gallon.
Don't need runoff or dripclean or have to lower feed ec every other feed. All you have to do is keep your ec at or lower than 1.4
i like to have runoff , just to make sure everything is flushed out daily ! but the lower EC feeds like 40yrs mentioned helps too . but main thing ...... Do Not let the pots sit in the runoff & especially do not let it dry out in your catch tray , thats when liquids turn to salts . get it out right after you feed them ! by a drain system or a shop vac like i use . elevate the pots off the tray works too .
I was talked into coco 2 years ago, and has been nothing but a headache. Many told me to ignore the runoff and just read the plants. I monitored the runoff PPM and PH. Have had plants go as high as 2600 PPM after 2 weeks of feeding 600 PPM, and PH as low as 4.7, which caused nutrient lockout, feeding 6.2 PH. It will differ from plant to plant, tremendously. I just went back to flood and drain in hydroton, and am much happier, and have much more free time, after getting it all configured properly.
There also seems to be tremendous differences between brands of coco.
There also seems to be tremendous differences between brands of coco.
Use fabric containers. If you have too much salt it will show a white residue on the fabric.
Is that in same day. Have been letting dry out a bit in veg, to encourage roots. Was told straight water would screw up cation exchange.
Wish I heard that 2 years ago, about cloth pots.
you never feed plain water to pots of coco unless you in the final 10 day leaching period !!!!! it will throw off the cation balance in the coco & cause all kinds of problems !!!!
I'm with dans, a little runoff keeps everything smooth, but also with no runoff like stoned said. In my experience with coco the only time you get build-up is when your running your ec too high from start. The cation exchange in coco is so great if fed correctly/proper balance your plants will consume most salts from medium without fear of building up. Flush also will be smoother with steady fade. If you flush forever and don't get a fade that balance wasn't right, build up.
PEACE!
PEACE!
DONAJTHEIII
Member
Coco FTW. Once roots established no need for dry out sessions. Coco took me years to get down and sometimes I even still mess up. They always bounce back like nothing happenend when the errors fixed. People struggle with this medium like locdog because it's neither soil nor full hydro it's like a mix of both worlds and a lot of people don't state that when giving their opinions. Everyone has a different view of what healthy plants look like so they could be telling you advice when they think there struggling plant looks good. You treat it like soil early on and in transplant weeks and like hydro when roots go crazy. Runoff ec/ppm good to keep eye on in any hydro system and in coco I have found it to be the same never should be way higher than input feeds.
You can do half strength feeds once in a blue moon to reset media if you want I do this at the start of every life stage. Early veg late veg flower transition etc only keeps me sane with all the med school surrounding my life daily.
Hope this helps
You can do half strength feeds once in a blue moon to reset media if you want I do this at the start of every life stage. Early veg late veg flower transition etc only keeps me sane with all the med school surrounding my life daily.
Hope this helps
Only time I ever had salt buildup was feeding maxibloom kiss through blumats. This was when I first started up in coco. KISS is 7g/gal of maxi- waaay the fuk to high a ec in my well water- 1.8ec. Salt buildup on top of the coco and the fabric bags turned white from drying salts. First and only time I ever checked runoff ec was after first ending flush, it was 3.0ec. But plants looked good. Thing is in coco even with a high ec and salt buildup it's possible to do alright as long as you never allow the coco to dry out. If it stays in liquid suspension it's possible to do alright. Not recommended and I shit canned the maxibloom after that grow.
