Hempy bucket: coco w/ perlite, or perlite alone?

Dirk8==D~Diggler

Dirk8==D~Diggler

Well-Known Member
What are the pros and cons of using perlite mixed with coco in a hempy setup vs. just using perlite by itself? I saw a post that said putting the coco in there slows down the root growth. Also I’ve had problems in the past with coco robbing me of calcium and I wondered if I could avoid that by using perlite alone. I decided to go with one plant in a big
tote. Gonna run a FB Zkittlez in there but when I order next beans I’ll try to find a super auto and get a real monster.
A2E71736-44FF-43AE-BB47-35E6A5279D53.jpeg
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i've run coco by itself, hempys with perlite, perlite/vermic, hyrdroton, growstones, and hydroton/growstones.

i think the perlite/vermic 3;1 gave the best results and held the most water.

i hated coco. tried 2 grows with it and threw it all in the garbage. refused to use a medium that was so finicky. inert mediums are superior IMO
 
Dirk8==D~Diggler

Dirk8==D~Diggler

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
i've run coco by itself, hempys with perlite, perlite/vermic, hyrdroton, growstones, and hydroton/growstones.

i think the perlite/vermic 3;1 gave the best results and held the most water.

i hated coco. tried 2 grows with it and threw it all in the garbage. refused to use a medium that was so finicky. inert mediums are superior IMO
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Gonna go with petite and vermiculite then. Thanks for the help.
 
J

JoeRogan420

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
i've run coco by itself, hempys with perlite, perlite/vermic, hyrdroton, growstones, and hydroton/growstones.

i think the perlite/vermic 3;1 gave the best results and held the most water.

i hated coco. tried 2 grows with it and threw it all in the garbage. refused to use a medium that was so finicky. inert mediums are superior IMO
Click to expand...
what brand of coco did u use? thinking brands would have to differ with quality and there are alot of options, did u end up trying a different brand
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
Dirk8==D~Diggler said:
Gonna go with petite and vermiculite then. Thanks for the help.
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you want to prepare things right.
with perlite it's getting all the fine dust out
with coco coir its rinsing, sifting, precharging, and pH balancing
good luck! You may have a hard time starting in such a large tote, I would start in something smaller so you don't have to wait so long for the roots to find that reservoir
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
JoeRogan420 said:
what brand of coco did u use? thinking brands would have to differ with quality and there are alot of options, did u end up trying a different brand
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i don't remember. this was probably 5 years ago maybe? but i rinsed it and pre charged it with cal/mg like you're supposed to
 
Dirk8==D~Diggler

Dirk8==D~Diggler

Well-Known Member
Nizza said:
you want to prepare things right.
with perlite it's getting all the fine dust out
with coco coir its rinsing, sifting, precharging, and pH balancing
good luck! You may have a hard time starting in such a large tote, I would start in something smaller so you don't have to wait so long for the roots to find that reservoir
Click to expand...

I’ve adopted a mad buffering process for the coco I put into fabric pots. After rinsing with a hose for like 20 minutes I fill a big tote up with ~4.0 pH water and submerge the fabric pots. Then after letting them soak for a half hour or so I put my hands in the coco and mix it up into a slurry and tickle it? Massage it? Not sure what the verb would be but I really work it to make sure all the coco is getting soaked with that low pH. Then after I let them dry for a day or so (occasionally squeezing the pots to speed things up) I run pH ~5.8 water through with 5 mL/gallon cal-mag added.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Dirk8==D~Diggler said:
Do you use Rockwool? Should I start a seed in a 3” Rockwool cube or cut it in half?
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rockwool sucks too IMO. it's either too wet or too dry.

rapid rooters. i start my seeds in a small aero unit and then it goes right into the hydroton/growstones/soil/coco/perlite/ etc.
 
Kndreyn

Kndreyn

Well-Known Member
MickFoster said:
You might want to look it up.........just google "is coco coir inert".........and you'll find the correct answer. :rolleyes:
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I've been researching Coco Coir myself and articles I've read agree with rkymtnman. I googled "is coco inert" and also "coco coir natural phosphorus and potassium" and found lots of articles on the subject. This one is pretty interesting https://coir.com/growing-medium/most-beneficial-coco-coir-nutrients/#:~:text=Coco coir contains significant amounts of natural phosphorus and potassium.&text=Potassium works to regulate metabolism,potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen.
 
MickFoster

MickFoster

Well-Known Member
Kndreyn said:
I've been researching Coco Coir myself and articles I've read agree with rkymtnman. I googled "is coco inert" and also "coco coir natural phosphorus and potassium" and found lots of articles on the subject. This one is pretty interesting https://coir.com/growing-medium/most-beneficial-coco-coir-nutrients/#:~:text=Coco coir contains significant amounts of natural phosphorus and potassium.&text=Potassium works to regulate metabolism,potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen.
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I agree that coco contains some potassium but there isn't a significant amount of nutrients in it like soil. Therefore, soil requires no nutes for 3-4 weeks and coco requires nutes from day one.

I guess it depends on what article you read.....www.epicgardening.com/coconut-coir/
It specifically states that coco is inert and requires watering with nutrients.

Here's another one for you.....www.growweedeasy.com>coco-coir
Just to quote part of the article......."coco coir is an inert growing medium with no inherent nutritional value,".
 
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Kndreyn

Kndreyn

Well-Known Member
MickFoster said:
I agree that coco contains some potassium but there isn't a significant amount of nutrients in it like soil. Therefore, soil requires no nutes for 3-4 weeks and coco requires nutes from day one.
I guess it depends on what article you read.....www.epicgardening.com/coconut-coir/
It specifically states that coco is inert and requires watering with nutrients.
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I agree. I've seen several articles that specifically say to never water coco with just water. Always with nutrients. I'm just tipping my toe in the water at this point with coco. I started a few different strains of seeds in it and I found some love it and some didn't do well in it at all. I treated them all exactly the same, but saw vastly different results with them. The ones that aren't doing well got transplanted into an aero system to try rescuing them. At $20 a seed for some of them I gotta try to save them. I'll use some self made seeds to experiment with the coco until I figure out what I did wrong.
 
MickFoster

MickFoster

Well-Known Member
Kndreyn said:
I agree. I've seen several articles that specifically say to never water coco with just water. Always with nutrients. I'm just tipping my toe in the water at this point with coco. I started a few different strains of seeds in it and I found some love it and some didn't do well in it at all. I treated them all exactly the same, but saw vastly different results with them. The ones that aren't doing well got transplanted into an aero system to try rescuing them. At $20 a seed for some of them I gotta try to save them. I'll use some self made seeds to experiment with the coco until I figure out what I did wrong.
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If you want to know the best way to grow in coco, this is the best site with the best advice.......www.cocoforcannabis.com.
I've been growing in coco for many years and it's simple........feed daily to run off, pH'd to 6.0......never plain water......and never, ever let it dry out.
Good luck.
 
Kndreyn

Kndreyn

Well-Known Member
MickFoster said:
If you want to know the best way to grow in coco, this is the best site with the best advice.......www.cocoforcannabis.com.
I've been growing in coco for many years and it's simple........feed daily to run off, pH'd to 6.0......never plain water......and never, ever let it dry out.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
I've been going with pH between 5.5 and 5.8. I was feeding to run off twice a day, then switched to once a day when I started noticing a problem. I'll try bumping the pH to 6.0 and see how that goes. Thanks for the link! I'll go check that out.
 
Gemtree

Gemtree

Well-Known Member
MickFoster said:
I agree that coco contains some potassium but there isn't a significant amount of nutrients in it like soil. Therefore, soil requires no nutes for 3-4 weeks and coco requires nutes from day one.

I guess it depends on what article you read.....www.epicgardening.com/coconut-coir/
It specifically states that coco is inert and requires watering with nutrients.

Here's another one for you.....www.growweedeasy.com>coco-coir
Just to quote part of the article......."coco coir is an inert growing medium with no inherent nutritional value,".
Click to expand...
How can you grow mushrooms in straight coco if there's no nutritional value?
 
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