Growing in coco question

May give a shot on trying a grow in coco.
Only doing 2-4 plants in a 3x3 tent. wondering if I do fabric pots should I do it in 3 or 5 gln pots.
And how many 3 or 5 gln pot will one brick fill. Will be adding perlite.This way it gives me an idea how many to order. Am familiar a little with coco as far as how it expands from using it as reptile bedding. Also will it hurt to add a small amount of vermiculite to it as well

3 gallon pots. That bale will fill 5-6 pots if using it straight.

I stopped adding perlite to coco years ago. Just one less thing to buy. Skip the vermiculite.

xtsho said:

3 gallon pots. That bale will fill 5-6 pots if using it straight.

I stopped adding perlite to coco years ago. Just one less thing to buy. Skip the vermiculite.

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tks for the info

There is no need to add vermiculite to your coco.
I have used Mother Earth coco before with good success.........although it was the bag, not the brick.
I suggest you rinse it thoroughly to eliminate any powder and soak it in a weak nutrient solution or calmag solution overnight to be safe.
Good luck.

MickFoster said:

There is no need to add vermiculite to your coco.
I have used Mother Earth coco before with good success.........although it was the bag, not the brick.
I suggest you rinse it thoroughly to eliminate any powder and soak it in a weak nutrient solution or calmag solution overnight to be safe.
Good luck.

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tks for that and yeah used to soak before use my it in the reptile bedding to eliminate the dust

Autodoctor said:

tks for that and yeah used to soak before use my it in the reptile bedding to eliminate the dust

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We soak coco in calmag or weak nutes because of cation exchange sites, its called buffering.

don't use cloth pots with coco, unless you want to water at least twice a day, every day. they dry out too fast, and coco cannot be allowed to dry out. if you miss one day of watering in cloth pots, you will get root damage.
never use vermiculite in coco, it's counter productive, vermiculite absorbs water, and so does coco....perlite is ok, but you don't need it.
hempy buckets aren't the only way to go with coco, but they're just so good for it...seems like a waste to go any other way to me

ps, look at home depot for coco bricks, they deliver to your house....or you can ship to your local store for pick up if you have nosy neighbors

I would read up on the differences between coco and regular potting "soil" too if this is your first time with it. It can take a little time to get used to. This guy has some good info: https://www.icmag.com/forum/marijuana-growing/growing-in-coco-coir/308425-the-chemistry-behind-coco-coir-a-strange-journey-from-ferts-bottle-to-to-buds?t=307683

There's coco and coco some holds water/nutrient better than others, imo the better holding (premium) benefits from some perlite for the early stages of seedlings/clones, once potted on I don't bother with it.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

don't use cloth pots with coco, unless you want to water at least twice a day, every day. they dry out too fast, and coco cannot be allowed to dry out. if you miss one day of watering in cloth pots, you will get root damage.
never use vermiculite in coco, it's counter productive, vermiculite absorbs water, and so does coco....perlite is ok, but you don't need it.
hempy buckets aren't the only way to go with coco, but they're just so good for it...seems like a waste to go any other way to me

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I've never watered more than once a day unless they were under three gallon pots.

Me too, and I’m running 30-40% rh usually.


unless you’re growing massive plants three gallons will be plenty watering once a day.

100% coco, cloth pots, and Blumats. I found that to be a winning combination and maintenance free. The key is feeding properly. Most people overfeed regardless of how they grow.

I don't recommend it for the first time using coco. Something to think about if you stay with coco and get tired of hand watering, collecting runoff, or dealing with some irrigation system that requires pumps , timers, etc... and want to simplify things.

Good luck. Coco is great for growing cannabis as well as most plants.

I've grown in coco, wick system (AutoPot), 50/50 coco and clay pebbles. Those are plastic pots, but they're permanently watered, so that's not an issue for me anyway.

After transplanting I had to hand water, but it was only once or twice in 2 weeks; the coco holds plenty of moisture.

xtsho said:

Coco is great for growing cannabis as well as most plants.

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Yes, it's great, I will never grow in soil again.

Autodoctor said:

May give a shot on trying a grow in coco.
Only doing 2-4 plants in a 3x3 tent. wondering if I do fabric pots should I do it in 3 or 5 gln pots.
And how many 3 or 5 gln pot will one brick fill. Will be adding perlite.This way it gives me an idea how many to order. Am familiar a little with coco as far as how it expands from using it as reptile bedding. Also will it hurt to add a small amount of vermiculite to it as well
View attachment 5010781

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5 gallon pots are overkill for coco, 3 gallons will be fine. If you can get bagged Canna Coco locally I'd do that, shipping bags would be expensive.

You can skip the perlite if you want and I'd definitely not add vermiculite.

What are your plans for feeding nutrients?

There is no cheap way to get coco shipped. I bought a bunch of bricks, and it was still fairly expensive. Luckily I’m using 1 gallon pots with Blumats, so I only used around 3 bricks to fill 20-something pots. I was using rockwool and prepackaged coco cubes for the last few years, but preparing the coco wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as I remembered. It’s nice not having to flush the hell out of it anymore. That was always the most laborious part.

lusidghost said:

There is no cheap way to get coco shipped. I bought a bunch of bricks, and it was still fairly expensive.

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Huh? Those bricks weigh next to nothing and they're super compact. You can get them on Amazon with free shipping. Available in every garden center and grow store.

ComputerSaysNo said:

Huh? Those bricks weigh next to nothing and they're super compact. You can get them on Amazon with free shipping. Available in every garden center and grow store.

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Look at the prices online compared to a local grow shop. At least that’s what I hear because I don’t have a local grow shop anywhere near me. The bags are insanely expensive. Bricks are a little cheaper, but still, it’s coco fiber.

lusidghost said:

Look at the prices online compared to a local grow shop. At least that’s what I hear because I don’t have a local grow shop anywhere near me. The bags are insanely expensive. Bricks are a little cheaper, but still, it’s coco fiber.

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Canna Coco Professional bagged coco is $24 a bag locally. It's $50 on Amazon.

lusidghost said:

The bags are insanely expensive. Bricks are a little cheaper, but still, it’s coco fiber.

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The bricks are available in every garden center where I live. The garden centers are usually attached to hardware stores. The bricks are not used very much as it seems, because I only see them on small shelves in the specialty section. I haven't seen bags of coco.

Typical price for a brick that yields 9 ltr of substrate is around €3.
70 ltr bag of buffered coco is €16.
Just pulled those numbers from a quick Amazon search.

Checking some "specialty grow shop" (= online hydro store) gives me €2.40 for a brick and €19 for a 50 ltr bag of Canna Coco. Shipping is usually in the range of €5, unless it's getting bulky (> 20 kg and such), then you pay €20 or some such.