ok, so last grow i used a mixture of coco and ocean forest soil and ran ph of around 6.4. this grow i'm using straight coco and perlite at a ratio of 60/40 and am running a ph of 6.2. is this too high, what does everyone else use? i'm starting to get a lockout of manganese and i think it's because my ph is too high. i'm not going to flush and change my ph until i get feedback. everywhere i check i run into different opinions of what the ph should be. so if you use or have used the same medium i am please respond. thank you

coco has a tendancy to have nutrient lockout issues, your only solution is to flush.

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Why would you put perlite in coco. VV

You'd use coco in perlite for the same reason you put in in damn near every other soil/soilless medium..and that is to promote airspaces for the roots/larger root mass. Even the magical Ocean Forest mix will benefit from the 60/40 ratio of perlite to soil. (and so will yer wallet) A lighter mix will also help if you find an infestation of pests or experience root problems. (overwatering)

FWIW, I've not experienced any lockout..nor have I ever flushed my coco/perlite mix. I keep it about 6.0...add in a small dose (1/3 strength) of a good micronutrient with my ferts (organic) and just let it fly.

it is also important to note what starain you are growing. Some of these ladies are just damn finicky and the meduim used has nothin at all to do with what ya see.

good luck

bt dt

same type of prob I'm having did you figure out what to do. I herd coco spec nutes. I use sensi grow a and b

yeah i have had some nute lock out issues with coco, it can be tricky at times but here is what i have come up with and it seems to be working pretty good, before i plant i add perlite/vermiculite and about 1/3 cup of lime for each of the roughly 4 galloln grow bags i use, the biggest was switching over to a hydroponic fertalizer, im using fox farm hydroponic grow big as opposed to the regular grow big, it seems to have some stronger ph reducers in it and when i mix it at 50% with filtered water that starts out just above 7 i get a 6-6.3 reading which is ideal for coco, also i water at 50% strength every time as opposed to full strength every other time and that seems to help out quite a bit, and last coco tends to collect salts faster than soil so a nice flush once a month is needed. coco is also an inert medium so i have added beneficial organisims to this latest go around and so far they look better than last time but i have yet to do a side by side

I only have PH drops but my 1/2 coco / perlite is hovering nicly at 6.5 I keep adding 5.0 ph water in hopes that it drops it down a bit but it has yet to do it... at first I mixed 5 gals on nute water when plant was young and the water PH went to like 8.5 and I nailed it there a few days because I didnt check it. Now, however I only mix one gallon at a time right before I water. I check every feeding PH and EC before it gets in the coco and I check the pan water to as to make sure Im not over nuting it. Ive noticed watering with nutes everyother day will raise your EC up very high. So Im mixing at 1.0 EC and even then a little distilled water flush. Im new to coco too man so hopefully we can gain some good knowledge.

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