Proper Blend of Coco For Hydroponic Grow

I'm currently doing my first coco grow, and while I'm extremely pleased with the results, it's not going the way I'd hoped. I did a lot of research before I started, and from everything I read I thought the medium would drain more quickly than it does. I had planned on doing 2 or even 3 feedings a day, in the manner of a hydro grow, but it just doesn't dry out quickly enough to get away with that. As a result, I've been running this more as a soil grow than a hydro grow, with one feeding a day or even every other day. As I said, I'm happy with the results so far in week 6, but still think I can do much better if I had a medium that drained better and allowed me to feed more often.

I think the problem is that I used 100% Coco Coir from Sunleaves, and the coco is just too fine and powdery to drain well. I'll be starting my second grow in a few weeks, and am planning to use coco chunks in addition to (or even instead of) straight coco coir. I think it will drain much better and allow me to feed more often.

I wonder if other coco growers could share some of their experiences with me. Am I on the right track with that line of thinking? Should I try a 50-50 mix of classic coir and coco pieces, or maybe even go with 100% coco pieces? What sort of texture do you other coco growers prefer? Fine, or coarse?

Thanks in advance...

chunky perlite u will love it,i have been using coco few years now,i go 50-50 coco pro-mix but that's me

Skunk Baxter said:

I'm currently doing my first coco grow, and while I'm extremely pleased with the results, it's not going the way I'd hoped. I did a lot of research before I started, and from everything I read I thought the medium would drain more quickly than it does. I had planned on doing 2 or even 3 feedings a day, in the manner of a hydro grow, but it just doesn't dry out quickly enough to get away with that. As a result, I've been running this more as a soil grow than a hydro grow, with one feeding a day or even every other day. As I said, I'm happy with the results so far in week 6, but still think I can do much better if I had a medium that drained better and allowed me to feed more often.

I think the problem is that I used 100% Coco Coir from Sunleaves, and the coco is just too fine and powdery to drain well. I'll be starting my second grow in a few weeks, and am planning to use coco chunks in addition to (or even instead of) straight coco coir. I think it will drain much better and allow me to feed more often.

I wonder if other coco growers could share some of their experiences with me. Am I on the right track with that line of thinking? Should I try a 50-50 mix of classic coir and coco pieces, or maybe even go with 100% coco pieces? What sort of texture do you other coco growers prefer? Fine, or coarse?

Thanks in advance...

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Ever since coco came out, i've put some perlite in it. 2/3's coco, 1/3 perlite. Not the only way to do it, but it has always worked great for me.
When plants are young, I let them dry out a bit before watering, ALMOST like you would with dirt or soil, but don't let them dry out as much.
I'm currently using tupur, a coco blend, straight out the bag.

Canna coco has pretty decent drainage at peak flowering Ive watered 3 4 times a day but the best results from coco come from having the medium dry out in between waterings it is dtw hydro technique not recirculating .. I know some ppl do dtw with many drip feedings throughout the day but it I've noticed coco likes to be watered to 30 percent runoff and then let dry out... this leads to eventually everyday watering... I am now using canna COGr which has better drainage and porosity which helps the medium dry oUT quicker I get max 2 watering a day at 30 percent runoff I get 2 g per watt depending on strain and I only veg my plants for 21 days tops

If ur are set on multiple waterings a day maybe use a recirculating method which will save u on water and nutrents and do what was stated above with 50/50 perlite coco some people even use hydro ton on The bottom of the pots ..w.e way u choose just dial ur setup in and most of all have fun happy growing

Chrissa said:

If ur are set on multiple waterings a day maybe use a recirculating method which will save u on water and nutrents and do what was stated above with 50/50 perlite coco some people even use hydro ton on The bottom of the pots ..w.e way u choose just dial ur setup in and most of all have fun happy growing

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I end up dripping (basket drip stakes)3 times a light cycle when i'm in 1gal mesh bottom pots. Usually 16 plants per light, when in 1gals, run to waste.
When I'm in 7gals, I end up every other day at peak flower.
It can work great every way in between. Love coco.

Yeah, I am using a recirculating ebb and flow system, and that's clearly not the way to go. Maybe if the coco was more coarse and drained better, but with the finely ground coco coir I'm using now, it leads to salt buildups and doesn't give me the oxygen exchange I was expecting. It just saturates the bottom half of the pot, then wicks upward to moisten the upper half of the pot, and as it evaporates it leaves salts behind. Which means I have to flush fairly often, and every time I do that it's 2 or even 3 days before the coco dries out enough to get back to a regular watering/feeding cycle.

I think top watering has to be the way to go, and I'm actually considering just handwatering the next run. And at the very least, the medium has to be coarsened for better drainage, drying, and oxygenation. The Canna CoGR sounds intriguing, and I'm going to take a hard look at that, but despite the problems I've had with drainage, I'm getting really good results with what I'm doing now. I just know they'd be better if I was getting proper drainage and drying. I'm used to this nute line already, and I only have a couple of weeks to get set up for the next run (half of which I'll be out of town), so I think I may just keep it simple and do the next run with a blend of coco coir and coco chunks.

Still thinking it over, though, and I'll be reflecting on the suggestions in this thread. If anyone else has any other ideas, please keep 'em coming. I'm going to be giving this a lot of thought over the next couple of days, and discussing it with my wife to see what she's comfortable with, because she has to handle it while I'm on the road. Thanks, everyone! A round of "likes" for the house on me!

Aeroknow said:

I end up dripping (basket drip stakes)3 times a light cycle when i'm in 1gal mesh bottom pots. Usually 16 plants per light, when in 1gals, run to waste.
When I'm in 7gals, I end up every other day at peak flower.
It can work great every way in between. Love coco.

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Nice when u end up doing 3 feedings a day are you root bound obvs I know mesh bottom pots roots would be hanging out so not really root bound but cleary at this point there's more root mass then coco correct me if I'm wrong but at this point r u pH at 5.5 or do u find 5.8 still optimal and do u find u waste a lot of nutrients doing it this way or are your feedings short withe minimal drainage just wondering because not that it didn't work but I had trouble when I tried it that way

Chrissa said:

Nice when u end up doing 3 feedings a day are you root bound obvs I know mesh bottom pots roots would be hanging out so not really root bound but cleary at this point there's more root mass then coco correct me if I'm wrong but at this point r u pH at 5.5 or do u find 5.8 still optimal and do u find u waste a lot of nutrients doing it this way or are your feedings short withe minimal drainage just wondering because not that it didn't work but I had trouble when I tried it that way

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I end up at 3x's a light cycle in 1gals because they need it. Usually no later than the beginning of week three in flower. I up the feeding frequency as they need it.
Roots don't really grow much out of the pot, they end up staying air-pruned. I ph to 6.0 with coco. Veg and bloom. I don't think it wastes nutes any more than any other run to waste setup, which is usually going to be a little more than most recirculating setups. Although I've ran recirculating setups that wasted almost nothing.

Skunk Baxter said:

I'm currently doing my first coco grow, and while I'm extremely pleased with the results, it's not going the way I'd hoped. I did a lot of research before I started, and from everything I read I thought the medium would drain more quickly than it does. I had planned on doing 2 or even 3 feedings a day, in the manner of a hydro grow, but it just doesn't dry out quickly enough to get away with that. As a result, I've been running this more as a soil grow than a hydro grow, with one feeding a day or even every other day. As I said, I'm happy with the results so far in week 6, but still think I can do much better if I had a medium that drained better and allowed me to feed more often.

I think the problem is that I used 100% Coco Coir from Sunleaves, and the coco is just too fine and powdery to drain well. I'll be starting my second grow in a few weeks, and am planning to use coco chunks in addition to (or even instead of) straight coco coir. I think it will drain much better and allow me to feed more often.

I wonder if other coco growers could share some of their experiences with me. Am I on the right track with that line of thinking? Should I try a 50-50 mix of classic coir and coco pieces, or maybe even go with 100% coco pieces? What sort of texture do you other coco growers prefer? Fine, or coarse?

Thanks in advance...

Click to expand...

Coco chips are where its at. I use em and water twice a day for 15 mins ea. Never a worry of overwatering. I do recirculating drip feed. It is fucking amazing!

I started doing ebb and flow. Then I said fuck it and made my own drip rings and went that route. I get such amazing growth that I am needing to switch to air pots. I am actually waiting for my maXX yield pots to arrive. I was/am using geo pots, but the roots go so crazy they grow through the pots and make them difficult to clean and get ready for the next cycle, as well as making it tough to get the coco/rootball out of the pot. I figure these maXX yield pots will be a lot easier, as well as giving me an easier ability to transplant out of those pots. Not that I ever will, but options are good. I currently am using 2 gal geo pots and am going to 3gal pots with the maXX yield.

I did hand water coco coir and perlite for a couple years, but this beats that hands down. I don't forsee changing anything in quite awhile. I have this dialed in, and I love the recirculating. I hated hand watering so much that it wasn't fun anymore.

I change the res every 2 weeks which works well because the PH kind of gets stable so I don't have to dick with it very often. I just top off occasionally and all is good. I use pond protector enzymes and 30% peroxide too to help keep things clean as possible.

researching said:

Coco chips are where its at. I use em and water twice a day for 15 mins ea. Never a worry of overwatering. I do recirculating drip feed. It is fucking amazing!

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May I ask what brand you use? Because there seems to be a lot of variation between the consistency of different brands, and since I'm ordering the coco online, I can't feel it and run it through my fingers. Also, do you just use straight chips/chunks, or blend it with the more finely ground coir?

I'll be looking at drip systems for future grows, but right now I've found that handwatering is best for my particular situation. Because the coir doesn't drain well, some pots dry out much faster than others. Also, I'm not helped by the fact that this is a pheno hunt that I'm growing from seed, and I have 5 distinct phenos. I have some indica-dominants that are 3 feet tall and bushy, and some sativas that are 6 feet tall and stretchy as hell. Their watering needs are vastly different.

Obviously, I could have maintained a more uniform growth rate if I'd gone to handwatering earlier instead of feeding them all the same amount, but I reacted too slowly, and here I am. If I flood and drain, the sativas dry out in about 6 to 8 hours, and the smaller indicas are still wet 24 hours later. So I handwater them. I was just completely blown away by how these things just blew up in coco - I've never seen that kind of growth before.

Roots organic. There is a place out of Canada that has the best prices and I may start ordering from them. I used to reuse my coco coir but the roots are so insane with my new setup there is no way to re use the chips. Which sucks in a way because it adds to my cost. Well worth it though.

I use straight chips. I originally was going to go with hydroton, but I get all the advantages of hydroton, without the weight, and nothing changed because I already had my coco dialed in. All that changed was the medium.

I have different tables amd reservoirs for either a perpetual and or sativas vs indicas. That being said I just adjust my flow for the more hungry bitches. Lol

Yeah, I'm growing 'em all in one 4.5x4.5 tent under a 1K, with one flood tray. I've got sativas bent over and woven in between the colas of the indicas and everything. I'm ashamed to let anyone see it, because it's the most fucked up looking grow I've ever done, but despite all this I think I'm going to pull a solid pound and a half. This coco shit is the bomb. I can't wait to do a true SOG with one pheno, with a uniform growth rate and canopy height. Next grow should be over 2 pounds, and by the time I have it completely dialed in on my third grow, with the right mother, I expect 3 pounds per light.

Thanks for the headsup. I'll look for that brand of chips. Do they need any special kind of pretreatment or buffering, or is it just standard coco preparation?

I just soak em in tap water. I am in colorado so my tap water is only 75ppm