Unofficial Coco Coir Growers Thread

[jocat]

is coco growing "dead" i think not my friend....

 

[thal]

I switched from soil to coco last January and haven't looked back.

I veg and flower in flood and drain. My veg plants are in 1 gallon plastic containers. My flower plants are in 3 gallon roots pots or 5 gallon smart pots. I flood once per day for 15 minutes at the start of flower, and twice per day for 15 minutes from the middle to end of flower.

I top dress all of my containers in sand as a means of gnat control. So far this has worked beautifully. I get huge plants, tight buds, and great potency.

 

[Bobbo4200]

Hello!!,
I see that noone has posted in this thread in a bit, but I am new to the Coco scene and kinda need some help. I bought a bag of Roots Organic Coco Fiber Hydroponic Soiless Media, and transplanted some clones into solo cups filled with it. I thought I'd just dive in lol, but looking at the beginning of this thread-I need to learn a few things... I am wondering a couple things, what should I use for a ph? It says to use a ph of 5.5-6.5 on the bag. On the first page it says to use Nutrients for coco, am I using coco-or just a blend of coco? I have grown in soil before, and am on my second Hempy bucket. I am using Flairform's Greendream in soil, and Ionic in the Hempy bucket. It say's on the Flairform bottle that it can be used in soil, or hydro-can I use it with the coco fiber, or should I get specific coco nutes? Should I feed every watering? What about strength, work up to full strength like in Hempy bucket's? Sorry about all the questions... Thanks for your help, it is greatly appreciated!

 

[HighBurn8]

so I just switched to coco after doing a lot of reading about it here.

would it be safe to say that consistency of ec and ph are the most critical aspects of coco growing? followed by watering frequency?

You are definitely safe to say this...

with clones, is 1.0 ec a good starting point?

.7 ec is best for newly rooted clones...

i want to veg for 2 weeks max and get them flowering asap, but want a good harvest.
I plan on slowly working my way up to 1.8ec by week 3 or 4 (not sure when is better) of flower. ive started with a ph of 5.8 and plan on raising that to 6 by week 3 or 4 as well for better P flow.

1.1ec is the sweet spot in coco ime...when i add boosters it'll spike to 1.4 but thats the Highest i'd ever want to feed My plants... are your plants heavy feeders or ??


sound like a good plan? my coco was flushed twice no 3 times with hot water then soaked in 5.6ph 1/4 strength nutes. bc nutrients recipe for success. which i plan on using till i run out.

what kind of coco you usin? you may want to precharge with calmag if you are using bricks or cheap stuff..

(then off to maxibloom!)

Good Luck, H8

 

[ChaChaChiba]

Very interesting thread here. I think I screwed up by getting roots organic coco because I'm not finding the ease in using it as most of the posters here are. The roots is so full of perlite that the coco and perlite literally floats up when I water so the new clones are basically in water for the long time it takes for the water to soak in; anyone else have this problem and how do I fix it? Should I add Turface MVP on top? THanks.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

solution is not to mix perlite with coco.

 

[farmdalefurr]

25% or so of perlite wont cause you any problems.

that roots organic "coco" is shitty. we use it at work just to start seedlings in since it has somewhat of a "charge" to it.

the reason we dont use it for anything else is because of it being so "floaty". who wants to water their containers and have to keep waiting for the water to drain through?

not me ! ! !

 

[joejusttyped]

I was actually going to try that Roots Organic Coco mix the next time I go shopping. Would Canna Coco or BioBizz Coco Mix be the better choice?
And do I need "coco nutes" if I go with straight coco? I'm totally new to coco/coco mixes and am interested in trying and comparing it to soil.. Going to be reading up when I'm not surfing IC with my phone.

 

[Reg Dixon]

Hi growers. Have just finished flushing my coco coir chips which along with coco coir dust and a little superpeat will make up my mix.

I plan to use Maxibloom all the way through the grow for feeding and worm tea/molasses water for the rest of the time.

If it looks like there is a need I may mix a little 25-5-5 into the feeding also.

Sound like a good plan? I will be hand watering SCRoG.

 

[ChaChaChiba]

I'm updating my 3-week ago comments about the coco; seems it was me in getting used to slowly hand water & waiting til the water/nutes soak in, which, unlike soil, the roots organic coco coir takes it's time to absorbe the water but now those sog-clones are full & perky,healthy colored-whispy leaves~basically couldn't be better. I've been nuteing with assortments of organic and chemical products to see which does the best but they all worked fine -no issues whatever,so i couldn't distinguish which was best - and the water they get is either straight outta the faucet (kinda lime-ish area here) or rain water. I have em in pots outside now hoping they start flowering, though the dark lacks 34 min. I'm gonna reuse the coco add brick coco & ferts to it, not perlite cause Roots has a seemingly excessive amount of it in it. Anyways thats where i'm at now, thanks to all the help from here and Bonecarvers thread.

 

[homeboxdeluxe]

nice diggar.

 

[arcane420]

When using drip tubing, should I be worried about uneven distribution of nutrient solution through 3 gallon pots? I figured I would place 2 holes for every pot to be on the safe side. First grow by the way.

 

[Snow Crash]

I have been using the Roots Organics Coco mix for a while also and right from the get go I could tell it was too "floaty" as you guys put it. As it happens, there was some used coco laying around from a previous harvest so I just added a little of that to the RO mix. Ever since then I have taken to using about a single small brick of compressed Botanicare Cocogro as an amendment to add a little more water retention value. In my current grow I am going organic and added General Organics Ancient Forest Humus as well.

I do like the RO Coco mix but for what is really in the bag it is over priced. Pure coco is great but I tend to have soggy feet in larger containers when it isn't cut with perlite and that's why I have kept using the product, it is effective. This is why I am trying out a sort of Organic Coco Hempy. It has been my experience that a large healthy root system and plant that is up taking a large percentage of the solution retained in the coco then tends to be larger and happier than those that are sitting in excess solution day after day. Nailing the right cycle of wet to somewhat dry between waterings has quite a bit to do with using the right amount of media and having a completely rooted plant in its container before flipping to flowering.

With the Coco Hempy, in place of Perlite I am using a somewhat new product called GrowStone Soil Aerators. It is made from recycled glass, a lot kinder to the Earth as a result, and completely resuable. They are like very small lava stones, but smoother, like perlite, and very porous. With coco the bottom inch or so tends to stay completely saturated for a long period due to the pressure of the water retained above pressing down on it. This is refered to (as far as I know) as the phrenetic zone. By using GrowStones I am providing a better air:solution ratio at the bottom of the planter for the roots to thrive in.

The phrenetic zone is an issue in some coco grow rooms, but not most. Many times Nitrogen Toxicity is misdiagnosed when "eagle claw" appears during flowering. It is actually more likely to see evidence of Epinasty (if you don't know go google it) during mid to late flowering as a result of frequent waterings during a stage when the plant is not focused on root growth and the maintained saturation of the phrenetic zone rotting the roots at the bottom of the container. I think this is the inherient benefit to the Coco-Hempy and why perhaps it is better to layer Coco and Perlite than to mix the two together.

Just high and talking shop...

 

[lester chester]

Hi i got one question about coco. Im doing 2nd run with the same coco and i want to ask do i have to precharge it again after final flushing it before harvest or its already precharged after 1st run ?

 

[Blaz3]

It should be ready to rock after your first run..remember we should keep things as simple as possible..I dont personally "charge" my coco...I just flush it with un-phed tap water..then start giving it very weak strenghth nutes..obvisly its not ideal..but I'm just saying to those who worry..OMG I didnt flush..omg I didnt "charge"....

it is coco..it is simple...the second time I reused coco..I jsut threw it in my pots..flushed with hot tap water..stuck plants in..bingo.

This is my current grow...ak48,herijuana,and ko kush...

7 days old :



21 days old :

 

[Granger2]

Lester chester,
People do it differently with success. If I'm reusing coco and it was heavily flushed last grow, I start with a low to med grow charge including Ca, Mg, and trace mins. That works for me. Good luck. -granger

 

[TonyHurt31]

Coco mixes?

Coco mixes?

HI there. I currently run coco with perlite but was looking to use readygro and was wondering if anyone out there has mixed any type of coco and readygro. If so please share

 

[lester chester]

B3 & G2 thanks for help.

 

[siftedunity]

Hey growers and tokers,

I am looking to drop some seeds in a coco mix that I made, it's a bag seed pilot project that is going straight to 12/12 outdoors in a 1.5 Gal pot.

65% coco,
15% compost
10% soil
5% Horse manure+woodchips composted down
5% Full coconut compost
Plus a lil bit o' Bone meal, Coffee grounds, Epsom salts (1tsp) per gallon, some charcoal and maybe some vermiculite/perlite.

On the one hand it has to be able to happily survive at least a day outdoors without any attention, but on the other hand I don't want the coco to be too saturated with the soil, displacing the air and the whole reason for using coco in the first place. In your experience, how light is that mix? Is it in need of any perlite?

Also, I only want to add compost as a top dressing through flower as the main fertilization, maybe some fish & seaweed emulsion 2-3-1. Do ya think that would work alright or am I setting myself up for crappy yields?

that will be a very nice mix. completely defeats the point in using coco though.

 

[Bud-Boy]

does coco mix well w amendments
water w blumats
and supplement w just teas?

Ive used straight coco for years, relied on what I put through it