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Organic coco club

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gramsci.antonio

Active member
Veteran
greetings to all the stonerdz!!!

feel free to post anything regarding growing in coco based mix with organic nutrients!!!

Every feedback appreciated...
 
G

gramsci.antonio

Active member
Veteran
I've read here and there in this forum about using coco in organic grows... Like making wormcasting with coco... or mix coco to soil....


I really appreciate the virtue of coco: better areation, almost impossible to overwater... dummies growers resistant and generally more tolerant that hydro... but better than soil...


Now i'm growing in 100% coco with Canna nutes... but i would like to make some wormcasting with coco... and then prepare a mostly coco mix... maybe with some perlite and dolomite lime... I don't want to abandon coco... But i want also to move organic...

anyone want to give an advice?
 
Kosmo

Kosmo

Member
Come next season, iam planning on doing alittle outdoor organic Coco grow. I'll have to remember this thread.
Either a CoCo Guano mix, or 60% coco coir to 40% peat mix. Still not sure, got time to think and research.
and as far as "Coir is mildly anti fungal." i've used Coco Coir as a casing on my mushroom cakes(mycelium) for years. hmm i'll have to look into that...
 
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Mister Postman

Mister Postman

The Plant Pervert
Veteran
Count me in. I'm loving it so far!!

Mixed me up something like this to start
4 parts sunleaves coco **RINSED**
1 part Worm Casting/compost
1 part perilite

to that I amended with about half the dosages I'd normally use in my soil mixes at start up.
per gallon
2 tsp fox farms starter
2 tsp kelp meal
2 tsp dolomite
Gen hydro Rare Earth (As instructed)
Beneficial bac-myco inoculate

I feed pretty regularly with organic teas consisting of some of the popular materials high n & P guanos, Fish emulsion, some of the earth juice line (bloom-catalyst-meta K), molasses, kelp meal, castings etc.


One thing I was concerned about getting into coco was the need to water daily. The addition of the casting compost, and the use of good sized containers seemed to have helped a lot with that. I notice that the top the mix dries out pretty quickly, but underneath, it seems to stay rather moist. I've been watering before the medium dries fully, and notice absolutely no droop or signs of over watering at all. Actually there seems to be so much oxygen in the root zone THEY NEVER DROOP. The mix seems absolutely perfect for marijuana plants. It's got everything, lots of room for oxygen at the root zone, good water holding capabilities, as well as drainage. Add some myco, and beneficial bac., humus, silica, and all that good stuff, and well I know I'll be messing with this stuff for a some time to come. So far it's looking extremely promising for me.
 
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G

gramsci.antonio

Active member
Veteran
Mister Postman said:
One thing I was concerned about getting into coco was the need to water daily. The addition of the casting compost, and the use of good sized containers seemed to have helped a lot with that. I notice that the top the mix dries out pretty quickly, but underneath, it seems to stay rather moist. I've been watering before the medium dries fully, and notice absolutely no droop or signs of over watering at all. Actually there seems to be so much oxygen in the root zone THEY NEVER DROOP. The mix seems absolutely perfect for marijuana plants. It's got everything, lots of room for oxygen at the root zone, good water holding capabilities, as well as drainage.
Click to expand...

i think this is the strength of coco, that makes it WAY better than soil...

Add some myco, and beneficial bac., humus, silica, and all that good stuff, and well I know I'll be messing with this stuff for a long time to come. So far it's looking extremely promising for me.
Click to expand...

Can you give me more infos about the bacteria?

And what's the ph?
 
Mister Postman

Mister Postman

The Plant Pervert
Veteran
gramsci.antonio said:
i think this is the strength of coco, that makes it WAY better than soil...



Can you give me more infos about the bacteria?

And what's the ph?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the species are specifically as I lost the package it originally came in, but I use Plant Success soluble inoculate. It's said to contain 13 mycorrhizal fungi species, 2 tricoderma species, and 17 bacterial species.

I do ph all watering/feedings offered. I keep those between 6-6.5. My mediums run off has been reading steadily in the mid 6's.
 
G

gramsci.antonio

Active member
Veteran
Mister Postman said:
I'm not sure what the species are specifically as I lost the package it originally came in, but I use Plant Success soluble inoculate. It's said to contain 13 mycorrhizal fungi species, 2 tricoderma species, and 17 bacterial species.

I do ph all watering/feedings offered. I keep those between 6-6.5. My mediums run off has been reading steadily in the mid 6's.
Click to expand...

so you behave as you would have a soil mix? I thought that with coco you should have used a lower ph...


A strange idea: What's about put some worm in the pots with the plants?
 
G

gramsci.antonio

Active member
Veteran
Kosmo said:
Come next season, iam planning on doing alittle outdoor organic Coco grow. I'll have to remember this thread.
Either a CoCo Guano mix, or 60% coco coir to 40% peat mix. Still not sure, got time to think and research.
and as far as "Coir is mildly anti fungal." i've used Coco Coir as a casing on my mushroom cakes(mycelium) for years. hmm i'll have to look into that...
Click to expand...

Great info!

I hope that we will get some useful info from this thread!
 
Mister Postman

Mister Postman

The Plant Pervert
Veteran
gramsci.antonio said:
so you behave as you would have a soil mix? I thought that with coco you should have used a lower ph...


A strange idea: What's about put some worm in the pots with the plants?
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I wanted it as close as possible to what I felt was an ideal living soil. The benefit I was looking for from coco was it's ideal structure, and a good medium for a healthy if not hopefully increased soil life, and root zone. Trying to make for the quickest assimilation of what I offer them up to eat in the organic teas. I know when I water in the inoculate the next day I can actually see it spreading down through the medium, so it certainly seems ideal for them. I think the fact the medium doesn't ever fully dry out is a plus for them. But yeah, I'm growing them out just as I would a regular soil/soiless grow. Giving the roots the room they need to grow as needed etc. and keeping my ph low to mid 6's
 
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G

Guest

I did a girl this year in straight cana coco with organic top dress and organic teas. I hit her a little hard (or maybe just late) with some high P guano. No real damage done though and she was perfect until that point. Tasted like candy sweet with a little bubblegum in the background. Been working her for a long time normally tasted thai spicy.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=69162&highlight=organic+coco

I believe it to be key to provide lots of humic/fulvic acid/humates in coco and to run a even N-P-K almost the whole way through (3/4 of the way through flower). Seaweed, molasses, ewc, guano all make for a good base. Used a little cannazym.



























Just takes planning and understanding coco. Lots O' Luck as well!!! :rasta:
 
G

gramsci.antonio

Active member
Veteran
Azeotrope said:
I believe it to be key to provide lots of humic/fulvic acid/humates in coco and to run a even N-P-K almost the whole way through (3/4 of the way through flower). Seaweed, molasses, ewc, guano all make for a good base. Used a little cannazym.
Click to expand...


i'm planning to start straight from pure coco+worms+trash for worms... i'm afraid i can miss some nutrients....

Should i make an even vermicompost of N/P/K or should i prepare different vermicompost for different stage of life?
 
I

In Vino Veritas

Nice thread, I'll keep an eye out for updates in here...

I'm also looking to run 100% Coco in planting beds, and feed strictly with teas from guanos/meals. Azeotrope got good results, but he added ewc/compost top dressings.
 
G

gramsci.antonio

Active member
Veteran
In Vino Veritas said:
Nice thread, I'll keep an eye out for updates in here...

I'm also looking to run 100% Coco in planting beds, and feed strictly with teas from guanos/meals. Azeotrope got good results, but he added ewc/compost top dressings.
Click to expand...

remember that you can always make your own coco based wormcasting... so you can add wormcasting keeping to your recipe, still having a 100% coco bed.
 
G

Guest

I used a 1/2" top dress as described to hold her over while I was gone 4days a week. The automatic irrigation was hitting her each morning (until she came inside). This kept her between teas. Oh I threw in some humic shale ore in the top dress. Nothing wrong with the top dress. 100% cana coco below that.

I currently have a tub gro with 5% peat. The rest is coco fibre, coco chips, ewc, chicken, turkey, cow manure all composted completely. Added to that are kelp meal, alfalfa meal, pummice, high p guano and high n guano. Works wonders.
 
G

Guest

Here is a pic or two.






The girl on the far right is a clone of the one done in pure canna coco. I left her for dead one week on accident (forgot to feed/water her) and she crahed pretty hard. I dug her in to the tub 10days ago and I see some new growth now. The two little are clones of a JB girl that finished in the same tub. I just cut the plants out of the tub and took the main root ball and mixed in some fresh mix to the remaining 2/3 in the tub. Coco makes a GREAT base for mixing and something as simple as ewc can let you have a little lower maintenance grow. I believe after many years on straight coco with the canna coco line, it yields best due to root growth, aeration and high cation exchange.
 
I

In Vino Veritas

gramsci.antonio said:
remember that you can always make your own coco based wormcasting... so you can add wormcasting keeping to your recipe, still having a 100% coco bed.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that, so you just have the worms eat coco and other scrap? Nice.. Is there a link with more info?

Azeotrope, see you're doing it big. Looks really nice and lush. But as much as I would love to be totally organic like that I can't. I don't have the space to mix anywhere. I figure, plug my tables, rehydrate the cubes, fluff em up..un plug the drain, and start planting.. those are tiny blocks coming in, not much of anything else. If I need to mix it, it will be significantly more work. Hydrate the coco, mix with amendments, then plant. This would need to be done outside.. Then I think about the health risks of breathing in microscopic-turd-dust.. Heh..

Sucks, but in reality I'm going to have to work away from mediums..I've been decided on NFT, but I really wanted to run coco. Then I got the urge to go back to organics...Even my first buds were so damn tasty and stinky. Bleh.. I may just use the blocks, and feed with coco specific nutes. fook it..
 
G

Guest

Creativity and adaptability are admirable attributes and I feel that you will do well. The first step to success is to identify your conditions and work in to it. I moved from years in 50 - 70F ambients at 50 - 90% humididty to the desert!! Had to go much smaller and tollerate extreme cold and heat. I will allways fight it. I am lucky to have the space for large amounts of medium.
 
G

gramsci.antonio

Active member
Veteran
In Vino Veritas said:
I didn't know that, so you just have the worms eat coco and other scrap? Nice.. Is there a link with more info?

Azeotrope, see you're doing it big. Looks really nice and lush. But as much as I would love to be totally organic like that I can't. I don't have the space to mix anywhere. I figure, plug my tables, rehydrate the cubes, fluff em up..un plug the drain, and start planting.. those are tiny blocks coming in, not much of anything else. If I need to mix it, it will be significantly more work. Hydrate the coco, mix with amendments, then plant. This would need to be done outside.. Then I think about the health risks of breathing in microscopic-turd-dust.. Heh..

Sucks, but in reality I'm going to have to work away from mediums..I've been decided on NFT, but I really wanted to run coco. Then I got the urge to go back to organics...Even my first buds were so damn tasty and stinky. Bleh.. I may just use the blocks, and feed with coco specific nutes. fook it..
Click to expand...


http://www.allthingsorganic.com/How_To/04.asp
 
Mister Postman

Mister Postman

The Plant Pervert
Veteran
Good stuff Azeotrope. Thanks for sharing your experiences with the few coco organic runs you did. It looks more like what I was heading towards with my decision to go with coco.

I think I'm heading more so to what you did with the second run amending straight to the coco, and composting pre-planting and using it more as an organic soil mix, then in the more regularly used hydro based methods of growing in coco.

I also have plans to re-amend and reuse a good portion of this mix, and liked the slower breakdown of coco for that reason as well. I figured in time after a few cycles as the organic tilth, and soil life builds the mix would just get more soil like, and more, and more ideal for organic container gardening.

I was wondering what you did as far as ph in ur coco organic runs? I did not see it mentioned. Did you run it similar to how the hydro guys do keeping it in the between 5.5-5.8, or a bit higher as you would do in a soil run? Also I saw no mention of dolomite in your mixes, is that something you deemed less important without the acid breakdown of peat in ur mix? I questioned adding the dolomite myself, but figured with my mostly acidic teas, and wanting to treat the mix more soil like it'd be alright used sparingly. I also thought it may be good to use solely for it's cal-mag, as I hear those are common deficiencies in coco due to it's holding/release of p later in the growing cycle.

Any other tips, or apparent differences you could share with those just starting out with a coco it'd be a big help? Oh 1 more thing... with the mix you amended and composted, when watering did you wait for the medium to dry thoroughly as you would a more soil based mediums, or did you water frequently leaving some moisture in the medium at all times?
 
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