Coconut coir anyone?

What I think I know about coir. I'm talking about "guerilla bricks". The kind you soak in water and it turns into something that looks like coffee grounds and dog hair. I know there are other grades but this seems to be the most popular and it's the one I ran across in the store.
I know some people use just the coir and others use 20 or 30% perlite.
I know this is made from coconut husks. Some people say it must be rinsed repeatedly because it's been floating in the ocean and some people say thats how it used to be.
I know it retains alot of water, drains very well and has rooting and sprouting hormones in it from being a seed casing once itself. I put some in my bubbler and the roots on the non-mj sprouts I'm using to test with are impressive to me, but what do I know?
I know that some people treat it like soil you can't over water, just letting it drain well. Some people only water every couple days. It does hold water well.
I know some people use it like a hydroponic medium especially in ebb and flow pots. Then again some people use a constant drip system because the capillary action spreads the small amount of water so evenly and quickly around the media that there aren't any areas that are soaked.
I know there are a number of very good threads on this site about this stuff. Some I've found and others I have not. Some are very informative and some wander off into discussions of who's got the hairiest buds. For myself it has often been a chore to get the good solid info out of the 1000 pages or so of a thread.
I know I'd really like a back and forth dialog with someone who uses this stuff. I'm using it as a soil additive and just started using it in some germinating and sprouting. I think I really like it but while trying to learn more I find I have too much information or not enough. I'll keep messing around with it and will likely start something in 80/20 with perlite soon.
So do you use coir bricks? Name the 3 best coir nutrients. (I don't think fox farms makes one...) Come on folks, whats the real world doing with this stuff?

i use grotec coco coir i use advanced nutrients sensi grow and bloom to part with a bunch of bloom boosters in flower i hand water put i ph it to 6.5 like hydro and found it yeilds a smooth smoke like soil grows but yeilds like hydro dont use perlite use hydrotron rocks keeps the coir super airy and can be re used i dont wash nothing expand it plant it

ledgrowing said:

i use grotec coco coir i use advanced nutrients sensi grow and bloom to part with a bunch of bloom boosters in flower i hand water put i ph it to 6.5 like hydro and found it yeilds a smooth smoke like soil grows but yeilds like hydro dont use perlite use hydrotron rocks keeps the coir super airy and can be re used i dont wash nothing expand it plant it

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Good example of what I mean. Hydroponic nutes and hydroton rocks with hand watering. I've had others tell me to only use coir specific nutes but you are using hydro supplies. At 6.5 your PH is closer to soil levels than recommended hydro (I think 5.5-6.5 hydro with 5.8-6.0 being ideal?). Do you PH with a soil meter? Mine reads either a perfect 6.5 or it doesn't register at all in coir. Hard to tell which since my meters default position when not in use is 6.5.
When do you add more water/nutes? You don't use PPM or EC on your runoff do you? It seems like the coir would throw that out the window...
I do my soil by meter, I water when my reading is below 3. Usually every 2 days in soil.
Anyone doing things differently in coir?

Ok fella, For a start get your self to the Canna website those fellas are the coco kings! so much info on this amazing medium. I been using Canna Coco ( this or galuku are the only 2 i would recomend 2bh fella as they have not been heat treated but sterilized and decomposed to the correct degree) You dont need any other supliments and deffo no perlite or vermiculite. the subject get v complicated but when using coco the big bricks you are not buffered so you shud do this when soaking ( i use loose stuff as already done. When watering coco you are not just watering the plants but also think of it as feeding the medium to thats why you really shud be using coco neuts as they are specificaly designed to use the salts in the medium combined with correct feeding. Once you have buffered your coco you shud never give plain water ( apart from flushing in final weeks as this will ruin the ph and salts compsiton. Coco can hold 1000 times its own waight in water but has fantastic air retention ( i give 2.5 liters every 2/3 days in 7.5 liter pot) All you need to know is that its clean easy to use and gives great results and you can use for upto 3 crops! ( use Canazyme to clear old roots). Its so simple pot up and use the same nuets ( in my case Canna coco) at 2ml per liter from start to finish ( i use pk 13/14 four to five weeks into flower for 2 weeks as aboost) in pots or 4ml per liter in slabs or in reserculating drippers. Like i said give it a go fella and ask away if you need any info!.

The first pic is root ball after only 4 1/2 weeks from seed in Canna coco and second is after 4 weeks of flower under 400w. Ps sorry 4 my spelling!

I'll hit the Canna site. I'm also putting some tomatos (really) in coconut today. I just happen to have some seedlings around. As a soil grower I find this media very attractive. Anyone using coconut as a ph buffer additive to soil? I'm likely to go all coco or hyroton/perlite mix but I find the soil additive uses interesting as well.
Any other approaches to coir use out there?

go canna! so far best nutes and coco ive seen on the market, there are oither companies putting out good coco tho, personally i would buy canna cos its already been flushed, and who really wants 200L of coconut husks in thier bath?

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/163510-coco-growers-unite-71.html


ive been using it for near 5 months and never looked back 20% perlite. dope frickin loves coco!

i use grotek coco coir husk mix with amazing results and pretty much water like soil when the medium is dry on meter add water nice and simple huge rewards my nutes for veg are sensi grow 1 and 2 with organic b and for flowering i use sensibloom 1 and 2 bud factor x ,big bud, sensizyme ,bud candy ,over drive,bud ignitir, and hamer head a little sythetic and natural comined

Today I was balancing some water before making the rounds and I thought"my water is really alkalie. what happens when I soak coir in it?". After letting some 8+ph water sit for a minute in some coir I tested it. Around 6.0. Then I squeezed the water back out of the coir. Still about 6.0. That's pretty cool. The only thing I tried that really threw it off was adding vinegar directly to the coir. That was a bit acid... If people are using hydro nutes don't we need hydro PH? Hard to bring this stuff down...

i just use the nutes in the coir as they say in the marijuana cannabis guide bible it works for me is 6.5 and i flush once a week or so with ph 5.5 what kinda coco u using cuz mines netural ph 7.0 whe i fist buy it

Im pretty new to coir, and was wondering how dry to let the coco get before watering? i am now on my fourth day of not watering and it still seems a bit wet.

figtree said:

Im pretty new to coir, and was wondering how dry to let the coco get before watering? i am now on my fourth day of not watering and it still seems a bit wet.

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I'm too new to give you a good answer but my opinion is that you may need to worry about your plant sucking out all the nutes before it goes dry...
They say it's hard to over water and the schedules I hear are usually 2-3 days...
Ledgrower can you answer this?

hey ledgrowing you said in "the marijuana cannabis guide bible ". I own "marijuana horticulture...bible" by jorge cervantes and "The cannabis grow bible" by greg green. Do you mean one of these? if so what pages. The only reference I remember just said to add "nutrients". Not very specific.

i am new to coco coir also. i havent used it but i just purchased some today...i also picked up some soluble mycorrhizae. can this be used with the coco coir? is there a list of nutrients that can be used with coco coir? i use GH maxi grow, GH maxibloom, GH koolbloom. i also use GH floranectar, Age old grow, age old grow fruit, pura vida organics grow, and humboldt countys own snow storm ultra. are any of these safe additives to coco coir? what should be done when preparing to use cococoir?

i pretty much just water when the meter hit 3or 4 not 2 dry cuz it cant be over watered and yes the nutes can be gone before the water depending on temps also it wasnt the bible my bad it was a hightimes book on coir my local headshop had my apoligies on that i relized this when i went to grab the page number coir is easy dont over think it think soil quality smoke with hydro type results close to it anyhow.. i think way better as i know my yeilds from hydro and soil and coir blows them all away like 2 to 2.5 ounces per plant 8 weeks veg under 90 watt ufo and flower under2 400w elcotronic ballast hps with430 watt bulbs.....but just have fun with it my ppm for my A.N nutes are 900 upto 1200 in the peak of flowering but watch your plant of course this is what works for me so try it and if u can prefect beautifal cuz my results a really really good now so if u can help me make it better sweet if i can help improve your results even better

p.s the strain was twista 108

Does anyone know... Why hydro nutes and not soil? Whats the difference really? Absorption rate? Just wondering if there is a real basic difference between soil and hydro nutes...

Bubba Kush, in Hydrofarms coco, drip system hydro, ph 6.0, rh 55, temps 68-78. right now drain to waste, but pondering a recirculating system. are there any benifits to recirc?

I was wondering if the nute would be gone before all the water is absorbed, i just got over a problem i discovered was a ph issue so i"ve been very careful with my nutes and ph, i"m at 1/8 strength right now at ph 6.0. looked like an over nute to me.... curling twisting leaves, thought it was an overwater or something but overwater in coco? i heard you cant overwater, but have heard all kinds of contradicting info too so am confused. I almost think i"m under nuting now, when i foliar spray they turn a nice lucious green, but i am so scared now of over nuting or over watering. am i playing it too safe?

the new growth coming in is kinda warped as well but i think its just the remnants of my ph issue that affected the new leaves coming in. I'm waiting on a fresh set of leaves to do it before i say they are still warping.

figtree said:

Bubba Kush, in Hydrofarms coco, drip system hydro, ph 6.0, rh 55, temps 68-78. right now drain to waste, but pondering a recirculating system. are there any benifits to recirc?

I was wondering if the nute would be gone before all the water is absorbed, i just got over a problem i discovered was a ph issue so i"ve been very careful with my nutes and ph, i"m at 1/8 strength right now at ph 6.0. looked like an over nute to me.... curling twisting leaves, thought it was an overwater or something but overwater in coco? i heard you cant overwater, but have heard all kinds of contradicting info too so am confused. I almost think i"m under nuting now, when i foliar spray they turn a nice lucious green, but i am so scared now of over nuting or over watering. am i playing it too safe?

the new growth coming in is kinda warped as well but i think its just the remnants of my ph issue that affected the new leaves coming in. I'm waiting on a fresh set of leaves to do it before i say they are still warping.

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Never take my word as gospel but it sounds like a nute deficiency. Possibly from lock out. When you sat "ph 6.0" you must mean the solution going in. Coir maintains 7.0 fairly solid. Now that I can read my tester better, I'm convinced of that. I've read that a PH change of more than .5 in 24 hours can cause stress and nute lock out, where-in the plant does not absorb the nutrients present because of PH shock. If your solution is 6.0 and your medium is 7.0 it may be difficult for your plants to access. Did that in soil once... I COULD BE WRONG but I'd try PH 6.5- 6.8 or so for your solution and I'd go at least 25% on young plants, but thats just me and I'm pretty new.
I've been doing some experiments with coir. When they say you can't over water coir they mean it is very difficult to over water. coir absorbs a large amount of water in a loose enviroment for good aeration and not any more. Given a place to go any excess will drain away quickly. Coir will also likely stay damp for days. I had some radish shoots in a 1" deep cup for 5 days with no additional water. Coir also transfers available liquid thru the mass evenly. No soggy spots or dry spots. You'd probably have to get really excessive to over water enough to drown or suffocate the roots.

ok so i bumped up my nute strenght to 1/4 and they are loving it, i was being too careful. like i said i just got over a serious ph issue, my meter was over 2.5 off so i thought i was going in at ph6 but actually it was 4.5 or less. ouch acid bath anyone? threw that meter against the wall!

as for the watering, the past few days i've been watering every other day and it doesnt seem to get too wet to drown the roots, again im from the dirt so overwater scares me, but i think with the amount of water i put through since friday i would have drowned them if they were going to drown. so i feel a bit more comfortable watering. i have been feeding every water and it does look like the nutes run out before the moisture so i will keep that up.

thanks for all the posts guys, you all have been a bunch of help....much apreciated! i am absolutely loving coco.

figtree said:

ok so i bumped up my nute strenght to 1/4 and they are loving it, i was being too careful. like i said i just got over a serious ph issue, my meter was over 2.5 off so i thought i was going in at ph6 but actually it was 4.5 or less. ouch acid bath anyone? threw that meter against the wall!

as for the watering, the past few days i've been watering every other day and it doesnt seem to get too wet to drown the roots, again im from the dirt so overwater scares me, but i think with the amount of water i put through since friday i would have drowned them if they were going to drown. so i feel a bit more comfortable watering. i have been feeding every water and it does look like the nutes run out before the moisture so i will keep that up.

thanks for all the posts guys, you all have been a bunch of help....much apreciated! i am absolutely loving coco.

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You should up your nute strength as they grow too...Happy grow.

appleseed said:

You should up your nute strength as they grow too...Happy grow.

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Oh and, I've read that you should water about as much as it will hold with 10% runoff. example: 10L in with 1L runoff...