[Pig-Pen]

I hear everyone say to rinse or pre-wash coco to get the salts out, but I've not heard much mention on the best ways to actually do it, especially working with bales.

I've used coco in organic soil mixes for years and never washed it, and never had any real problems, but I never use salt ferts, either.

But...

How do you go about rinsing a load of coco without clogging drains, making big messes and being generally conspicuous?

Good question an I learned the hard way because genius me caused a clog deep in my drain pipe, prolly very much from rinsing coco and just a little chunk here or there washing down each time. Luckily a 30 or 40 foot unclogger at home depot saved me from having to think about how/who to call to come in my basement and unclog it....

Since then, I got a big 5 gallon bucket, drill small holes in it, and slip pantyhose over it.....I fill it up with water (as it drains more slowly than fills up) and let it drain 3 times......

[Pig-Pen]

And...

Do most folks just use tapwater?

Does anyone know what kind of salt levels, or EC readings are actually present before and after rinsing?

[Pig-Pen]

Originally Posted by stoned teacher

Good question an I learned the hard way because genius me caused a clog deep in my drain pipe, prolly very much from rinsing coco and just a little chunk here or there washing down each time. Luckily a 30 or 40 foot unclogger at home depot saved me from having to think about how/who to call to come in my basement and unclog it....

Since then, I got a big 5 gallon bucket, drill small holes in it, and slip pantyhose over it.....I fill it up with water (as it drains more slowly than fills up) and let it drain 3 times......

That's basically what I had figured to do myself, but I didn't know if there were any advanced coco-nerd methods I was missing out on.

[Goat]

I put my brick in a rubbermaid tub full of warm tap water to fill out and then squeeze it handful by handful squeezing to drain the first time. Then it goes into the sink with the disposal to get rinsed again. My whole process makes my kitchen smell like the ocean. For smaller amounts i just use a colander. Its a fairly messy process but i do it in one big batch.

My run-off ec levels were still really high after a few rinses but I didn't experience any lock out issues directly associated to the medium. This is my first time with coco btw.

- Goat!

[Smoke68]

Much of the Coir you find at your local hydro store is flushed long before it gets to the bag. I would think using RO'ed water would be your best bet in creating less buildup in the media.
Even without rinsing, I have yet to get nutrient lockouts or obvious buildups, even with the use of my ~230ppm tap water.

This subject has been covered several times already, use the search button.
Like Smoke68 said, most of the coco out there is already flushed.
That said, i place a brick in a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with straight tap water, until its like soup. Then i scoop it out by hand and into whatever pot i'm gonna plant in.
Alittle messy, but no more so than scooping dirt out of a bag.
I've never fluashed my coco (i use botanicare) and ive never had any problems.

I should have mentioned, when I used bcuzz coco I didn't flush, but now I've switched to compressed coco and got a higher ppm reading out of it....My method may be overkill, but it definitely works..... my runoff ppm was 700 ish (1.4 EC), a good bit over my hard water base ppm of 270. After 3 waterings runoff is only slightly higher than the 270 pm....

I use tapwater for the flushings, put the plant in, and begin regular ph'd , nuted watering the next day......

[bounty29]

I've never checked before and after runoffs of PPM, but I usually soak it in a bucket, and then somehow try to flush it without it all going down the drain.

We just had a serious clog in our apt last night, and I knew it was either coco or perlite, and I felt like an idiot. I got a snake but couldn't work the damn thing, luckily the "Main Line Cleaner" stuff I got worked well, which leads me to believe it was coco, and not perlite. This stuff breaks down organic matter, which is why I was a little worried. If it was perlite and I couldn't snake it there would be real problems.

I've tried a few different ways, none too successful. After the initial soaking, the runoff is a pretty dark red. I buy coco bricks, I really like how fine the consistency is, and bricks are much more subtle than bags of moist coco. I rinse tap water through it until it comes out clear, as stated before. This most recent time I did alright, I was using the coco for hempy buckets and jsut used them as a filter. The bottom few inches of 2 liter bottles were filled with perlite, and a hole was put in the side, just below the top of the perlite. I scooped handfuls of coco from the soaking tub to the 2 liters, and put them under the drain. It worked alright, some stuff did get out but I didn't think too much.

I'll definitely be trying something with pantyhose next time, I'm going to need to buy a few more bricks in the next couple of days for a few transplants.

Guest, the topic of flushing coco is covered several times, but the actual action of flushing it is rarely discussed. This is good information for people that don't want to clog their plumbing with grow materials and have to have someone come fix it. This could be a serious security concern if done improperly, so I think it's a pretty good topic.

This is a good topic. Your stealth can be compromised by a plummer having to poke around in your home. I had to unclog my own drain a while back...with 5 family members in my house who are not privy to the closet next to the clogged shower drain and confused about why I could not just call the landlord and get a pro plummer over here.

Do yourself a favor...buy the name-brand model at HD that is orange and you crank by hand. You can handle nearly every problem yourself. Buy the cheaper generic, and you will find yourself in the return line with a broken tip trading it in for the thicker-wired name brand...now that I did it myself, I will always have one of these on hand.