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Still rinsing Botanicare CocoGro?

Cutty

Cutty

Member
I've searched and have seen both answers. Some of the newer posts say that it doesn't have as many salts as it used to.

This is my first time ever using it and I am going to do a side by side with 4x4 E&F tables. I am prepping my coco today.

I have my scrubbed out tote in the shower and 3 gallons of filtered water in there. What's next?

I would like to add some light grow nutes and transplant my cuttings into the pots, but should I rinse? If so how? I have a round 20 gallon rubbermaid thing that has a bunch of 3/8 holes drilled in it for washing hydroton. I am afraid it will go through those holes.
 
Dirtfinger

Dirtfinger

Member
I'm a "better safe than sorry" kind of guy so I'd rinse and soak it in a light nute solution with a little Cal/Mg. I only do 1 plant at a time tho, so that's easy for me to say.

You could always soak some in a dish of hot water for 15-20 minutes and then check the EC. If it's clean the EC should be only slightly above that of your water alone.

I'm kind of a noob to coco, but that's how I've handled the rinsing thing.

You could just put a piece of window screen (or reasonable facsimile) in the bottom of your tub to cover the holes.
 
FatBlunt420

FatBlunt420

Killin' Zombies!
ICMag Donor
Veteran
ive been all canna, but i found a store closer with botanicare coco gro... i grabbed 2 bags, cannas a finer coco, texture wise.
i havent opened them yet, but i might just stay canna, cuz i never had to rise with them, cannas good right out of the bag.
i notice these botanicare bags say pre rinsed, and now with less salt.... im gonna check the run off later. i got a trenchon and digital ph meter.
 
FatBlunt420

FatBlunt420

Killin' Zombies!
ICMag Donor
Veteran
oo shit... sorry.


the test went HORRIBLE. my tentchon goes up to 3.2 EC. the run off from botanicare loose coco gro,bag coco, was OFF THE CHARTS. the highest light was flashing bcuz the EC was SOOO high.
the next day i took the bags back to the store. the guy was really cool i got full price back and one bag was open.
took an hr ride to go to the store w CANNA coco... did an EC run off test to make sure.... cannas run off was .2 EC. and .2 EC is the lowest my trenchon goes. i like canna texture alot more. its smoother, and less course then the botanicare.

i hope this helps.. i do have friends useing botanicare w good results. im the kiinda of person that wants shit that works right out of the bag. no flush. no re hydrating bricks.

:tiphat:
 
S

Stond_Face

Member
No shit man?!?!?!?

I just started wit Botanicare cocogro cause everyone says it's clean. I didn't even bother to rinse or check runoff.
 
FatBlunt420

FatBlunt420

Killin' Zombies!
ICMag Donor
Veteran
yea, i noticed the bag says " fully rinsed, and now with less salt content." ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT.
i never had a problem w canna so ive never done this test before. i figured i was trying new coco. so ill do the test. VERY glad i didnt listen to the bag.
again i see peopple w killer plants in the shit, who tell me they didnt flush.

but im all set with that shit. i like the easy ready to use coco.
 
Dirtfinger

Dirtfinger

Member
I haven't used the Botanicare stuff myself, wanted to but the stores were out of it. It must vary quite a bit from batch to batch tho, because other people here have tested it and it's come up pretty clean.

I'm always a little leery of test results at either extreme of the scale and personally I would never base a purchase decision on a single test. I'm using Piece Coir because I couldn't get the Botanicare and Canna isn't even sold locally. When my store gets some of the Botanicare in I can grab some and test it with my Truncheon to compare results.

I don't know if a thread has ever been done with people checking the EC of their coco and posting results for comparison but it's not a bad idea. It would be very useful if real, honest results were posted and in the long run might even keep manufacturers more honest and conscious about quality.

If I didn't have an EC meter I would definitely be rinsing any brand, just to make sure.
 
BlindDate

BlindDate

Active member
Veteran
Rinse all coco at least once. After that don't bother to read EC since it is unreliable. If you did a search on coco runoff threads you would know this. Btw, you did not say what your side by side is comparing, Nutrient brands?
 
J

jim_browsky

FatBlunt420 said:
oo shit... sorry.


the test went HORRIBLE. my tentchon goes up to 3.2 EC. the run off from botanicare loose coco gro,bag coco, was OFF THE CHARTS. the highest light was flashing bcuz the EC was SOOO high.
the next day i took the bags back to the store. the guy was really cool i got full price back and one bag was open.
took an hr ride to go to the store w CANNA coco... did an EC run off test to make sure.... cannas run off was .2 EC. and .2 EC is the lowest my trenchon goes. i like canna texture alot more. its smoother, and less course then the botanicare.

i hope this helps.. i do have friends useing botanicare w good results. im the kiinda of person that wants shit that works right out of the bag. no flush. no re hydrating bricks.

:tiphat:
Click to expand...
I think you are getting that reading from the calcium citrate they
add as a pH buffer and for added Ca. I was also very skeptical of
it after getting a reading of about of 2.0. But if it killed your plants
no one would ever buy it again. It wouldn't make sense for them
to specifically say do not rinse if they ever want to sell their
product. With that being said, I do rinse it when I start
Rez's beans. Rooted clones go straight in though, no rinsing:)
 
M

mrred

i got some coco at a home improvement store and it came with a bag to rehydrate it, it was a plastic bag sowed together at the bottom with thin rope to filter the water , so i would use a cloth bag, or a auto root pruning bag works good to flush , you dont want something with a big hole, just small enough holes so the dust or salts can exit
 
N

ninesix

Member
Ive used about 12 bags on my current grow of cocogro, and everything is going fine. I never pre rinsed, although i do clearex every now and then.
 
Double Kindness

Double Kindness

Member
I have been using this brand of coco for over a year and am very happy with it. It does NOT need to be rinsed or flushed before using it. And it can be re-used, in fact, I find that the second and third runs on recylced coco are better than brand new coco, but after a while, it does deteriorate (about 6 grows in) and then I throw it in the compost pile.

Remember to not let coco get dry after you have a plant in there... so keep coco moist. I also do not use any perlite in my coco.
 
Cutty

Cutty

Member
Just to update.

I did rinse mine very well on the notion of better safe than sorry.

I filled a 30 gallon tote with filtered water, ph-ed it and let it all soak. I then scooped it out into a colander (hanging over tote) and sprayed it down again with the filtered water. I then squeezed the excess out and filled my 5.25 pots. After I had a try full of pots I then mixed up a light nute solution and ph-ed that. I then hand watered all the coco filled pots with this nute solution and let it drain away. Then I plated later that evening.

Total rinsing time for a big block was under an hour. One hour for peace of mind is worth it in my opinion.
 
C

crtoker

Member
Better to test and be safe than sorry! Thats for sure. However, I use my Botanicare 2.2k bricks by just hyadrating one each in a 20 gal rubbermaid tub under the shower head with good results. I do test first runoff from newly filled pots but, never have noticed a problem in the past several years.

Peace,

crtoker
 
C

Coco4Coco

New member
Cutty said:
I've searched and have seen both answers. Some of the newer posts say that it doesn't have as many salts as it used to.

This is my first time ever using it and I am going to do a side by side with 4x4 E&F tables. I am prepping my coco today.

I have my scrubbed out tote in the shower and 3 gallons of filtered water in there. What's next?

I would like to add some light grow nutes and transplant my cuttings into the pots, but should I rinse? If so how? I have a round 20 gallon rubbermaid thing that has a bunch of 3/8 holes drilled in it for washing hydroton. I am afraid it will go through those holes.
Click to expand...

I used Botanicare CocoGro from the Bricks...
all I do is hydrate and fluff the coco bricks... don't rinse...
and mix 50/50 with #3 Perelite and have had NO problems...
I am using Flood and Drain 4x8 trays...Flooding 3 times a day 10 minutes
I normally transplant clones to 5 1/2 pots and flood the table to let the coco
soak up some water and nutrients...

I DID have problems with the Sunshine brand Coco in bags...
 
A

anomolies

Member
BlindDate said:
Rinse all coco at least once. After that don't bother to read EC since it is unreliable. If you did a search on coco runoff threads you would know this. Btw, you did not say what your side by side is comparing, Nutrient brands?
Click to expand...

why's measuring EC in coco unreliable? Curious cus I almost bought an EC meter.

btw I love the Botanicare Coco compressed brick form. I don't rinse, just add water and fluff. No problems with it. I think coarser is better and spongier. I don't like the finer stuff because when you add water to it, it just turns to mud.
 
T

Tr33

I've been using Botanicare Coco since 2004 and never rinse. There is no need to...it sits out in the Arizona sun and Monsoons for over 18months and has no salt build up, there is no need to buffer it either.
I use the compressed 5kg blocks and not the loose crappy bags, those suck, the reason for the high EC in the bags are the additives, not the coco.
Botanicare coco is clean.
 
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