Perlite cut vs. straight coco - a documented trial w/ clones

Mr. Bongjangles · Apr 22, 2009

Hey friends, snagged some pics before these ladies got chopped & took off the fan leaves beforehand so the bud structure is easy to see.

Here's a cola shot or two first though

3d:

1 & 2 -

X & Y -

A & B -

Mixed & Y -

Catch you folks at the weigh-in. Thanks for the kind words and the shared experience from everyone who has dropped by so far, much appreciated!

jamrockjay · Apr 22, 2009

Cant wait for the weigh in Mr.B, congrats with ur grow and for sharing it with us all

TheShroomDude · Apr 23, 2009

Will have to go back over the start of this thread to see, but the right side looks bigger on all. Do not remember what is what. Can not wait to see final weights.

Pimpslapped · Apr 23, 2009

TheShroomDude said:
Will have to go back over the start of this thread to see, but the right side looks bigger on all. Do not remember what is what. Can not wait to see final weights.

Mr. Bongjangles said:
I can't get 2 plants into the frame and keep the pots, so for reference, the coco plants are on the left and the coco/perlite plants are on the right, as they've always been.

That said, does look like the mix is a little fuller on the buds. I look forward to hearing the results after the weigh in!

blackone · Apr 23, 2009

Great test

Not much difference between the 2 really - considering the normal differences seen between plants grown in the same way. All of your plants look great - nice yielders too I think.

gonzo` · Apr 23, 2009

interesting... How significant will the difference be?!! I'm excited for the result.

Props to you for doing this, it will be a valuable addition!

asher1er · Apr 23, 2009

JeffSpicoli · Apr 23, 2009

Awesome thread bongjangles! Very interesting, cant wait to see the final pics.

TheShroomDude · Apr 24, 2009

Originally Posted by Mr. Bongjangles View Post
I can't get 2 plants into the frame and keep the pots, so for reference, the coco plants are on the left and the coco/perlite plants are on the right, as they've always been.

Pimpslapped said:
That said, does look like the mix is a little fuller on the buds. I look forward to hearing the results after the weigh in!

Yea I member reading that now...

Mr. Bongjangles · Apr 30, 2009

Results

Results

The results are in.. 12% yield increase for coco/perlite.

A (coco) - 47.2 grams of good nugs, 2.5 grams fluff - 49.7 grams total
B (coco/perlite) - 53.8 nugs, 3.5 fluff - 57.3 grams total

1 (coco) - 46.2 nugs, 1.8 fluff - 48 grams total
2 (coco/perlite) - 51.9 nugs, 1.7 fluff - 53.6 grams total

X (coco) - 46.3 nugs, 3.3 fluff - 49.6 grams total
Y (coco/perlite) - 50.5 nugs, 3.5 fluff - 54 grams total

Mixed coco - 30.7 nugs, 2.7 fluff - 33.4 grams total - *not really part of the trial and all, but imo, that stuff sucks!

----------------------

Coco total (A + 1 + X) - 147.3

Coco/perlite total (B + 2 + Y) - 164.9 +12%

The 2 ounce or so average on the coco/perlite plants is what I have been getting with this strain in the past, so the result there is right on track. The pure coco came up a bit short, but still did very well.

So, who's going to run some clones in a top fed coco setup?? I'd love some independent verification of these results.

Thanks again for dropping in everyone!

Pimpslapped · Apr 30, 2009

Very nice. K+ Mr. Bong. So you'd get just about or above a 10% increase, at least in your setup. Sounds like a win.

If I can get my new box together and find a good keeper or two, I plan on playing around with coco a bit. Can't help with verification myself for a bit though. Did you notice any difference in how thirsty they got? Any differences in watering between the cut and straight coco overall?

Thanks for running the trial, hopefully we can see some verifications coming around.

Mr. Bongjangles · Apr 30, 2009

Pimpslapped said:
Did you notice any difference in how thirsty they got? Any differences in watering between the cut and straight coco overall?

Thanks for the kind words and k+, appreciate that!

I didn't notice any difference in the water requirements of the cut or straight coco, though I like to water before they've used up the majority in the pot which makes it hard for me to say. Some stress testing would reveal which holds on the longest, though I suspect it would be the perlite cut, as its been documented that perlite itself holds more water than coco.

The mixed coco on the other hand definitely held less water and occasionally required watering ahead of the others. That stuff might be better in a recirculating drip or something, but for my methodology it didn't work out.

Zoolander · Apr 30, 2009

Nice test Mr B , I told folks the perilite in coco helped and they thought I was full of poop

knna · Apr 30, 2009

Great thread, Mr. Bongjangles. I just can tall your results agree with my observations. Good results for both, but a little better for coco plus perlite. So for my style of growing, my results match with yours.

Keep on the good work!

Weedman Herb · Apr 30, 2009

Take 2 - 1 gallon pots fill 1 with coco and 1 with the coco perlite run 3 gallons of water through each and catch the run off (separately) ... Measure what's come out and the remainder is the amount of moisture the medium and pot will Hold.

split kooks · Apr 30, 2009

I REALLY GOTTA HAND IT TO YOU.... This is one of the most compelling and important threads on IC.
INSTANT CLASSIC & BOOKMARK...
:yeahthats

Ive already been using coco, but after just seeing your posts before I made the switch & cut with perlite :woohoo:

-sk

Mr. Bongjangles said:
The results are in.. 12% yield increase for coco/perlite.

A (coco) - 47.2 grams of good nugs, 2.5 grams fluff - 49.7 grams total
B (coco/perlite) - 53.8 nugs, 3.5 fluff - 57.3 grams total

1 (coco) - 46.2 nugs, 1.8 fluff - 48 grams total
2 (coco/perlite) - 51.9 nugs, 1.7 fluff - 53.6 grams total

X (coco) - 46.3 nugs, 3.3 fluff - 49.6 grams total
Y (coco/perlite) - 50.5 nugs, 3.5 fluff - 54 grams total

Mixed coco - 30.7 nugs, 2.7 fluff - 33.4 grams total - *not really part of the trial and all, but imo, that stuff sucks!

----------------------

Coco total (A + 1 + X) - 147.3

Coco/perlite total (B + 2 + Y) - 164.9 +12%

The 2 ounce or so average on the coco/perlite plants is what I have been getting with this strain in the past, so the result there is right on track. The pure coco came up a bit short, but still did very well.

So, who's going to run some clones in a top fed coco setup?? I'd love some independent verification of these results.

Thanks again for dropping in everyone!

Teeg420 · Apr 30, 2009

nice job bojangles, what i noticed with coco i get better root growth all the way to the top, as opposed to the coco perlite mix my roots only fill 2/3 of the pot. Is that the same for your plants?

Mr. Bongjangles · Apr 30, 2009

Teeg420 said:
nice job bojangles, what i noticed with coco i get better root growth all the way to the top, as opposed to the coco perlite mix my roots only fill 2/3 of the pot. Is that the same for your plants?

Thanks!

I broke them all down to reuse the coco and examine for differences, and what I noticed was that the coco ones made more vigorous roots on the outsides of the pot shape, but seemed to make less on the inside compared to the coco/perlite plants. At first I really thought the coco plants had made more roots, but once I broke them down, it was clear the coco/perlite plants had more uniform roots throughout the rootballs. The pure coco ones really broke down easily once i got the sides out of the equation.

That said, I can't say which made more, just that there was a legit difference in the structure.

Regardless, they both made strong roots to the bottom of the pots, even if in different places, so I did not experience what you mentioned.

As an aside, I've been hesitant to reuse coco, but it was much easier to break them all down overall than I expected, and I'm currently trying a half and half mix of new and old coco to break myself in and see how it goes.

been · Apr 30, 2009

100% perlite for the win!

split kooks · May 1, 2009

been said:
100% perlite for the win!

YUP!

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Perlite cut vs. straight coco - a documented trial w/ clones

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