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Best Brand Of Coco Coir Today
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petemoss
Active member
The high EC runoff is from dissolved salts which were supposed to be washed out with fresh water. (Some lazy Sri Lankan dude was not doing his job and screwed up my coco!) Once rinsed, the coco needs to be re-buffered with calcium and magnesium to "reload the matrix" with nutrient ions that were rinsed out. (First you have to feed the coco!)
B-Cuzz makes a coco coir line? As in the bricks? Do you use the B-Cuzz nutes as well? I'm currently using A&B hydro with coco....
PsychoHipE
Member
I've had good luck so far with the Botanicare 5 Kg compressed blocks. I add enough water to fluff it and break it up completely, then place into the pots and run hot tap water over them for a few minutes, followed by cold tap water, then a good drench with weak (1/4 - 1/2 strength) room temp nute water. Drain well, add rooted clone. Seems to be working quite well so far.
A few of the plants have exhibited some leaf twist for a few days that seems to resolve itself in short order, after which they being growing vigorously.
Once they get established in the medium, I gradually up the nutes to full strength. I'm using Canna Coco A+B, as well as Botanicare CalMag+ and Age Old Kelp.
To be honest, I don't have an EC/pH meter yet...but the plants seem to like it! Given what I've read about the screwiness of measuring coco's EC via runoff, I'd probably wanna rinse the hell out of it no matter what a meter said anyway. Unless it's a case of rinsing away beneficial organisms in the medium (Canna's trichoderma), I figure why not rinse? Extra work, yes, but only once.
A few of the plants have exhibited some leaf twist for a few days that seems to resolve itself in short order, after which they being growing vigorously.
Once they get established in the medium, I gradually up the nutes to full strength. I'm using Canna Coco A+B, as well as Botanicare CalMag+ and Age Old Kelp.To be honest, I don't have an EC/pH meter yet...but the plants seem to like it! Given what I've read about the screwiness of measuring coco's EC via runoff, I'd probably wanna rinse the hell out of it no matter what a meter said anyway. Unless it's a case of rinsing away beneficial organisms in the medium (Canna's trichoderma), I figure why not rinse? Extra work, yes, but only once.
I Used Canna Pro for as long as it's been sold, tried a bag of Galuku that is a better texture but really needs rinsing, nearly lost a pack of SSH it was so salty? (I saved all but one but severely effed them up needing weeks to recover) Now I found Botanicoir bricks on Ebay, ½ the cost of Canna, same texture as the Galuku, little 2ml cubes mostly but the bricks are much cleaner than Galuku. Just soak each 650g brick with 3lts PH'd to 6.0 and it's good to go.
Botanicoir seems to be the best of both worlds, and no more dragging bags of coco home for all to see
Botanicoir seems to be the best of both worlds, and no more dragging bags of coco home for all to see
i stopped using botanicare because i was gettign ALOT of dirt with mo coco... as a look around its the norm for alot of companies... bs.... but i stopped using botanicare because of dirty coco blocks...
Backward_Z
Member
It doesn't matter as long as you always treat coco like it's toxic and wash right away. No big deal.
Are you talking about the nutrients? Or the coco bricks? Sorry, confused. I have not talked to anyone on here that uses the same nute line I do so that's why I was wondering.
i was referring to the bagged loose coco coir, specifically.
I have used both in conjuntion with a nutrient program of canna+botanicare, and the differences i saw in the plants grown in the different brands were nil.
i dont like coco bricks btw too much work not enough reward...
i understand how my post couldve confused you... (since i also posted about bcuzz & canna nutes being designed by the same guy)
Thanks, also I did not know that B-Cuzz and Canna were developed by the same person.
Dirtfinger
Member
I've been using Piece Coir (bagged) on my first coco run. I'm not saying it's the best because I haven't tried any of the others but I've been very happy with the results.
I like the airiness of it, impossible to over water and there's no chance for dead or sour spots in the medium when hand watering.
When I transplanted from a 2gal to a 5gal pot the roots were coming out of the holes in the new pot in under 24 hours... that was pretty impressive to me.
I rinse it 3 times, the 3rd being just for extra measure (checking EC and pH while I'm soaking just to make sure) and after that it's stable as a rock. Using Botanicare PBP for soil at pH 5.5-5.8.
I can see why people using it in large quantities wouldn't want to mess with rinsing, but I'm only growing 1 plant so my selection criteria is whatever is best for my girl.
I like the airiness of it, impossible to over water and there's no chance for dead or sour spots in the medium when hand watering.
When I transplanted from a 2gal to a 5gal pot the roots were coming out of the holes in the new pot in under 24 hours... that was pretty impressive to me.
I rinse it 3 times, the 3rd being just for extra measure (checking EC and pH while I'm soaking just to make sure) and after that it's stable as a rock. Using Botanicare PBP for soil at pH 5.5-5.8.
I can see why people using it in large quantities wouldn't want to mess with rinsing, but I'm only growing 1 plant so my selection criteria is whatever is best for my girl.
G
Guest 18340
Weird thing is, I use that very same coco and don't ever rinse it and I've yet to have a def. Just saying...
boroboro
Member
Normal? Conflicting stories are the norm, as you'll soon learn. I guarantee that somebody here will agree with whatever coco experience you've had (well, as long as it doesn't involve visions of a herd of ostriches taking over Congress and re-writing all our laws).
I rinse and pre-treat perfectly good coco, largely because of this variability I hear of, and have experienced.
oldone
Member
What do I do now?
What do I do now?
Hi evlme2,
I dont get it. I just went and tested my tds meter (truncheon) and it read 0 in RO and 2.0-2.1 in 4-5 liters of runoff.
I went and got this Botanicare bag because I was not satisfied with my first ever purchase of a generic 5 kg brick at HD about a week ago. I thought it was too fine and retained too much water. It was only 0.4 EC at worst.
This coco wil be used in a passive hydro bucket and the max EC will be around 1.0 I think.
What do I do now? Sacrifice a chicken to the coco gods?
OO
What do I do now?
Hi evlme2,
I dont get it. I just went and tested my tds meter (truncheon) and it read 0 in RO and 2.0-2.1 in 4-5 liters of runoff.
I went and got this Botanicare bag because I was not satisfied with my first ever purchase of a generic 5 kg brick at HD about a week ago. I thought it was too fine and retained too much water. It was only 0.4 EC at worst.
This coco wil be used in a passive hydro bucket and the max EC will be around 1.0 I think.
What do I do now? Sacrifice a chicken to the coco gods?
OO
G
Guest 18340
I run drip to waste, always have. So I cannot say whether you will encounter a problem.
My apologies, I shoulda mentioned my system in my first post.
I pack the coco into the pot, water it thoroughly (definitely not the rinsing you described), transplant clone, feed to full run off and off they go.
Mind you, I use water from my 300ppm tap. I'm in Fla and our water is LOADED with Cal. I notice you used ro water.
When in doubt, rinse it.
I have never ever ever tested the run off. Dumb luck I guess lol!
U4EA
Member
I don't.
Like Greyskull, I use loose bagged coco 'cuz the alternatives are too much work/not enough reward.
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