What's new
  • Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more 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"!

Used Coco in the washing machine.

Centrum

Centrum

In search of Genetics
Veteran
Could you use the same hash making strategy with netted bags / bubble bags or whatever they are, to wash your coco in the washing machine?


A really good wash with a disenfectant and fungacide and all that stuff.

Been thinking about this, i dont see any reason why it wouldnt work.
Unless your using coco dust and your netted bags release to much coco into the water and down the drain, but you could probably catch that as well if you really wanted too, not sure what kind of wear and tear it would put on a washing machine.

Anyways was just an idea.
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
interesting idea, the canna coco in the slabs wouldn't work though because it is very fine and would run off with the water down the drain.
 
beejium

beejium

Member
Washers spin the water out through a vent/pump on spin cycle. This could cause really bad clogs in your plumbing and or washer. If you do have a washer with a drain/recirculating pump (most do), be warned the passage is about as big as a normal sharpie marker and smaller in in the pump it's self. Take my advice DON"T DO IT. If the bag rips, there it's going to be a big mess. You don't want to tear up the pump impeller, it's usually plastic. Do you really want to explain how that stuff got into the pipes to a plumber? ...Or repair/replace your washer?
 
Craven_au

Craven_au

Active member
i have been think about how to re use coco as well i'm thinking garden hose and some thing like fly wire screen to catch the roots.

H2o2, Drip Clean,hygrozyme may clean it up but is worth the trouble.
 
ShroomDr

ShroomDr

CartoonHead
Veteran
Large rubbermaid garbage can, drill a bunch of 1/8" holes in the bottom, use fiberglass 'screen door' screen (or coco mat) for the bottom liner, add garden hose to flush.

Once youve ran it enough (and its well saturated), just mix up a 'light' nutrient solution (enzymes included), and give the garbage can one last saturation.

The only roots i pull outta my used coco is are the ones still attached to the rootball. You dont really need to 'garden hose' it, if you flush your buds anyway (just the light mix+enzymes to 'charge' the mix).
 
!!!

!!!

Now in technicolor
Veteran
After harvest, I sun dry coco and then store it in air tight bags. I re-use it as if it were new but ONLY on established plants. Seedlings and plants less than 4 weeks old are susceptible to pythium (root rot) but older plants don't have much of a problem with it. Make sure you dry it between uses though.
 
K

Kurbelminister

Member
why do you want to have a dead material again after getting it alive? tell me wrong but doesn´t say canna that their cogr slabs get best results after 3-4 turns?

best wishes, kurbelminister
 
W

Wait...What?

Active member
Veteran
Since the plants get a good flush for at least 10 days before harvest, I simply rinse and re-use my coco without a problem.
 
B

buddin_904

Member
if you think about it the labor not to mention water and energy spent running the cycles is enough reason to just buy NEW coco! if you have a smaller garden i dont no under 10 gallons of coco...well its cheap to just buy new.....if you have a larger garden i dont no 200+ gallons of coco you would probably spend a week trying to wash all that....probably tack on like 50 bucks of costs to do it....i dont no man i cant think it would be worth it
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
it is actually possible to keep using coco slabs without doing more then cutting the old rw cubes off and replacing with the new one, at least 2 or 3 times the same hole can be used, if you alternate holes you can do 4 runs in 1 set of slabs no problem. as long as you do the flush at the end your coco will be ready again, adding zym product from the second time is great and will take care of old roots etc. setups that water multiple times daily don't make the same kind of root mass as they would if you are letting pots dry in between watering. but then t's no longer a hydro set up, as long as it is a hydro set up your slabs can be reused easy 4 times, i'm just done doing a 6th run on some coco slabs. all i ever did was cut the rw cubes off and roll the slab around massaging it to loosen the coir up again.
 
beejium

beejium

Member
not to derail... has anyone found a point where coco has been over used, or basically turned back to soil?
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
yes i think 6 times is 1 too many, i will not be using my coco slabs more then 4 times from now on. but to be honest the strong plants still did great even on 6 x used coco, my top 44 clones didn't thrive, but they had pm to start with. and then mites too. for those that use it in pots, i imagine they can use it even longer as they are removing the old roots every time. in the end it's not expensive enough to try make it last more then 4 times or so. if not for the transporting hassle i'd probably add new ones every 3 runs. they do seem to do just as well on second and third run as first imo. sometimes even better as everything is dialed in and the macro herd is booming.
 
Lowman

Lowman

Member
I've always reused my coco after a good flush with clearex and a garden hose in a plastic tub with a tom of holes in the bottom. I then add about 1/3 new coco(you always lose some during the grow anyways...I think the plants eat it)...flush again with the new coco in there and charge it. Ready to roll!
 
Centrum

Centrum

In search of Genetics
Veteran
I reuse my coco, and i have heard about people sun baking different mediums to sterlize them for reuse.

The washing machine idea was just something i was thinking about for storing the coco clean and then reusing it once its dryed out and i feel that it has been cleaned.

I also feel that the washing machine would use less water to clean the coco then a garden hose, to clean my coco when i first get it getting the PPM's below 100 takes about 1 hour of hot water soak, then 15 minutes of a continous cold water being rinsed through the coco and drained out of the bottom of the container.

I just feel guilty wasting so much water for coco, especially because i have RO Water as well.



Take care
 
H

HardCoir

New member
Quick Question?
If U use RO H20 in the grow does it matter if u flush COCO for reuse with this trashcan method using a garden hose that is not RO'd?????

THX
 
gaiusmarius

gaiusmarius

me
Veteran
so use tap water to flush the coco. also don't flush it lower then ec 0.9 as it will just need to replenish it's self first off anyway. i also noticed that doing 1 x 1 hour flush through my drippers get the ec down less then doing 3 x 20 minutes flushes with 15 mins between for the water to drain out again. good quality coco doesn't even need a flush, you just wet it with plain ph'ed water first. if the retrun ec is not over 1.1 i will not bother flushing to start with.

edited to add: for sure you shouldn't flush with ro, specially not to begin with. if you want to use ro for the end flush that's different.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top