Affordable Coco Bale!

just discovered this last night after reading about it on another forum...
could not believe what I had been missing...
(someone might have already posted this here....wanted to spread the info though)

HyperGrow 2.5 Cu. Ft. Coco Peat​

-------
Pros.
+Easy to get if in Canada or the US
+Free shipping for larger amounts
+Less expensive than Botanicare 5kg block

Cons
-Unknown contents-might have more salt/not be flushed as well as competitors' products
-tough to find testimonials here, but if you look around town you should be able to find several

Have fun picking out nails, stones, and seperating the dust/sand from the useful larger particles.

My advice... buy a more reputable brand! My more useful advice... soak the bale in a garbage can, let the pith sink to the bottom and scoop up the good stuff that floats.

Is this stuff any good? Does anyone have any first hand experience with it?

I really would expect and assume that this product would be of reasonably good quality seeing as Home Depot literally must plan on selling many tons of this "Hypergrow" branded Coco coir in their 2,200 garden departments, (currently apparently available online only) although I bet that the special order desk there would be most accommodating.

I see that the Home Depot is also offering the Hypergrow brand of the Leca clay balls / hydorton/ stones in ten liter bags and also a 1/3 Cu. Ft. bag of the mini Hydro Cubey Rockwool thinga ma jiggeys all at a very, very competitive delivered price.

I have found that if one inspects the various brands of coco peat while they're still dry and compressed with a strong magnifying glass under a bright light source the dried sea salt will actually sparkle for you and reveal its presence visually in the lesser grade products that have been processed using sea water.

My son just ordered some coco peat and I will report back if their are any issues with this brand.
I genarally soak the compressed bales in 50 gallon +/- plastic tubs and use it all, not just the floaties as recommended above.
The initial light nutrient charge is provided by1/2 teaspoon of Maxibloom per gallon of H20 when re-hydrating the coco..

Grow Well And Be Well,
IMB

awesome! Report your findings whether good or bad, i'm very interested.

Great find.

I'm gonna give that a try...

maryanne3087 said:

Have fun picking out nails, stones, and seperating the dust/sand from the useful larger particles.

My advice... buy a more reputable brand! My more useful advice... soak the bale in a garbage can, let the pith sink to the bottom and scoop up the good stuff that floats.

Click to expand...

hey everybody

glad some people found this.

maryanne: why would I separate nails? they add iron to the soil. just stab a rusty one through your stem and bada-bing-bada-boom, all your Fe needs are met............

Well, I broke up about 8 or so of the bricks by hand that I put out, and they feel pretty consistent so far. They wouldn't want that heavy stuff in there anyway, it would increase shipping weight and cut down profit.

'Reputable' sources, maybe like botanicare? I know there are others, but botanicare is about twice the price (more if shipped) in stores near me. I saved a few hundred pieces of paper getting these instead of higher end stuff, and it got to me quicker than i could get the other stuff.

maybe ill throw a brick of that and a brick of hypergrow in bags next to each other and see how they perform.

I plan on leaching out the coco, once expanded with a rinse or two.

Thanks for your concern. Hopefully I can show whether these are worth the discount or not.


louie: That's the other reason I'm using it man! not just cheaper, but I get to test it out. I'm looking forward to reports results, positive or negative, to you all.


IMB: I might try that magnifying glass/salt trick out with one of the bricks I have left and check it out back to back with one of my botanicare bricks. good idea!

I'm using 18gal containers for mine (2.5 cubic feet~17.5gal give or take a little) They expand pretty quick, though I've read 24 hours for full expansion. I threw just under 3 gallons of water in with each of them. I think they might need a little more, but I may just have to be more patient with the expansion. I put 4+gals in a few of those, seemed closer to right.


Start Tangent:

Hauling those bricks is deceiving. I thought it'd be really easy, but because of that, I brought in a lot more bricks than if I would have used bales of peat. ended up being almost as tough as hauling in peat, once I add in the trips back and forth getting water, bringing in bricks, and bringing in containers.

I figure its

2 Lb for a hard container
11 lb brick
25lb for 3 gal water

=38lb for 2.5 cu ft

peat bale doesn't need water or hard container, so if a 3.8 cu ft bale (7.2 expanded) weighs 80lb, thats all you carry.

guess i'm saying that it takes about 3 coco bricks to equal 1 3.8->7.2cu ft peat bale.
so 114 lb coco OR 80 lb peat.

A big advantage is the smaller space they take to carry.

/Tangent

FirstTracks said:

A big advantage is the smaller space they take to carry.

/Tangent

Click to expand...

HOWEVER, coco is reusable, and from my understanding (I've never used it) peat is not. So you're only hauling once.

nice price. I've been picking up Down to Earth Coco bales at $20/4cf. They are excellent quality, and require only a bit of flushing/conditioning prior to use. I'm reusing it and showing no problems, but i use clearex(soon to be dripclean) at every water, which should flush the salts.

I see no reason to spend a fortune on coir products like cannacoir...

Good luck on your grow!

Hi bobblehead and Harinama.

The ability to re-use coco is definitely an advantage. However, outdoors, I think the advantage is reduced. I say this because once I dig a hole and loosen up the soil with peat, I can keep coming back, year after year, to use the same hole. Just need to amend with nutrients and go.

I'm not going to be cleaning out rootballs from my containers or anything. The most I'm going to do is dump the coco at the end of the season in a big depression so its there for next year and haul the containers back out (only leave organic that can break down, never trash).

what do you guys think on the re-use of peat vs. coco outdoors?

shiiit... had I realized it was an outdoor grow I would have kept quiet. The thing I like about coco outdoors is that if you have a water source nearby, it's pretty convenient to carry out a few bricks as opposed to big bales... If you have to haul water, then I would go with peat. You just gotta lime it...

how did this shit work anyway? dude never reported back...

Good stuff, passed the magnifying glass visual salt test with flying colors.
A standard issue coir product at a good price from a relatively discreet source.
Good texture with a nice balance of shortish to perhaps longish (hehe) pith fibers present, not all screened fine and smooth like some coco peats are. Me likee.
Hypergrow coco peat 5 kg.blocks:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

IMB

good to here!! picking up some today for my first coco grow. gonna mix 50% w perlite. and use technaflora bc nutes with some extra cal mg.

let me ask man, did you flush the shit out of it? or charge it? poking for advice lol.

yea. never reported back due to a season failure.
No plants were left at the end so I don't know if they were wiped out before harvest, ripped, or what.

I would provide details if I could

Do they actually sell this in the actual home depot store by you guys or are you going to order it? I see they have free shipping on orders over $250.00, but that would be a lot of coco just to try it out for the first time.

yeah its at the store. got 2 bails yesterday.

Different Cocos For Different Locos

Different Cocos For Different Locos

Update:
They no longer deliver free with a $250 order.
These Hypergrow 5kg. bricks/blocks are priced cheaply, order three and they'll come in at under 40 bucks delivered.
My friend ordered 32 blocks from them and got free delivery, all 160 kilograms (352 pounds) worth.
I suspect that somebody caught on they weren't making any money on these free shipping transactions as these blocks presently no longer qualify for free shipping
(fyi)
These Hypergrows are actually compressed pretty tightly and are advertised to expand into 2.5 cubic feet. (actually about < three.)
I haven't seen them stocked in a store, but then I ain't sailing in Cali, I grow in a "Just Say No!" zone.
If one has arthritis of the hands this product may not be for you as it pretty much demands to have its compressed coir pith be broken up by hand to achieve its optimum consistency.
My friend with the 32 blocks is apparently going to get some very strong muscles developing in his hands.
A much more processed product such as Botanicares Coco Grow brand of compressed 5kg blocks tend to more easily expand out into about four cubic feet and breaks up rather easily into into a well sieved smaller fibered consistency. Don't get me wrong, me still likee the hypergrow, even if it needs a good literal manhandling.

IMB

Coco-Tek 5Kg block...... $11..... done deal

bobblehead said:

HOWEVER, coco is reusable, and from my understanding (I've never used it) peat is not. So you're only hauling once.

Click to expand...

i reuse all my peat based mixes and have for years