Idiots Guide To Coco Coir
- Thread starter Outkast Seeds
- Start date
happy smoker
Active Member
I have done 2 grows using coco, the first was straight coco and second was 50/50 coco and perlite. The first grow i had issues with overwatering ( always had the dreaded claw). The second grow and my first complete grow, I had cal/mag def. I used the floraduo A&B nutrients. I have never checked the ph of the water mainly because i dont have pen to check it. Besides the cal/mag def. the only problem i had was when i switched to the flowering nutes.I waited about four weeks into flower and dropped my nitrogen (part A)to a 1/3 of what had been giving them and doubled up on the phos. nute ( part B) and they immediately started to go yellow. So i went back to my veg nutes and everything was fine, of course i also did a flush the last 10 days. I only had 3 plants which where white widow from dinafem, purple haze from G13 and an unkown, and ended up with about 6 oz. This worked for me but i have seen better coco grows. For my next grow i am going to buy a ph pen and use the canna coco nutes. If anybody has a suggestion or question fire away.
Highocaine
Well-Known Member
Benefit over soil:
Drains better
Has near-ideal aeration (better than perlite/vermiculite mixes)
Inert in terms of nutrients, allows hydroesque control of nutes
Reusable, or can be made into soil using compost
"Greener" than buying soil, when you look at where it comes from and the fact that it's shipped compressed to save on volume
Cons:
Can't find it at Walmart (yet)
May require rinsing
Cal/Mag supplementation needed
No automatic nutes for seedlings
Easier to overfert if you don't know what you're doing
aeterrabyte
Member
The GH nutes have enough calicum and magnesium for coco similar to the canna brand. I think your main problem was keeping the EC to low or not steady. You should start coco at an EC of 1.0 for seedlings and clones. Veg gets 1.5 and flower up to 2.0. If your running low EC you will see the calcium magnesium and or iron def in coco.
I started with the canna brand coco and it did not work well. It held a very high PH. I switched to the Bcuzz brand and it works very well. Running 50% large perlite chunks.
snakekeeper
New Member
The roots organic "soil" is actually a majority coco. If you want some pure soil go with happy frog or ocean forest.
The advantages are a much bigger plant by growing in coco and watering daily. You can get monster leafs and stalks in very small pot size. You don't need to go bigger then a 1.5 gallon in coco.
zzwasted
New Member
nice guide, im doing 1 seed in coco to test my ppms for pre washing it , but i hate the slow growth in coco i had 1 seedling in coco about a week ago witch i threw out due to slow growth the one i had in soil planted the same date had 4 node's and the one in coco had just about its second set of leafs after 2 weeks , i don't know if anyone else has noticed slow growth in coco for seedlings ?
jondamon
Well-Known Member
Did you pre charge your coco with nutes?
If not this can cause slow growth.
I use CANNA in coco but I don't use the COCO specific nutes.
I use the recirculating AQUA VEGA nutes 6-3-8 from start to finish along with added Ca Mg silica PK1314 Rhizotonic and cannazym.
Its a more balanced nutrient profile IMO.
I just harvest 4x2ft tall cheese plants and before curing I weighed 439g dry from 400w with around 3weeks veg from clone and near on 12weeks of 12/12.
I like to monitor my feed strength going IN vs my feed strength OUT to see how the rootzone is. Any increases in EC then I back off a little next feed. If it decreases too far then I up the feed next time.
I hand water.
Start of 12/12
End of stretch start of week3
My nutrients
Start of week4 12/12
Bud shot
Harvesting. There were 4 trays like this.
Time to jar
During curing
Enjoy.
J
Mister Black
Active Member
I'm currently growing using coco coir mixed with coco chips with a little Vermic and guano plus ground oyster shells. The PH going in is 5.5 and EC 1.2 but I'm getting much higher PH and EC readings on the runoff, +2 on the PH and x2 - x3 on the EC. Is this normal? Did I make my mix too hot? Do I need to flush em out so that the runoff is closer to the run in?
happy smoker
Active Member
Is EC and PPM the same thing ??
jondamon
Well-Known Member
Yes. They are both a way of testing your nutrient strength.
However ppm has2 different conversions.
1EC is the same as 500ppm on the .5 calibration or 700ppm on the .7 calibration.
With ppm you need to know what conversion .5 or .7 that your meter uses.
EC=electrical conductivity
Ppm=parts per million.
There is also CF
CF=conductivity factor.
1EC = 10CF.
J
hovering
Active Member
Having a few issues moving to a partial coco mix.. 40% Mix4, 40% CoCo, 20% Perlite.
I have always used just Mix4 w/perlite but wanted to try adding coco. I nute with BotaniCare's PBP advanced line at 75% strength.
Everything looked fine for 2 months of veg in 10-15 gallon SmartPots, now some strains are showing seriously rusty leaves, from the veins out.
I have always pH'd to 6.6 when using Mix4/Perlite and assume that this could be my issue now.
Anyone with similar experience here? I would love suggestions and/or help...
Thanks!
I have always used just Mix4 w/perlite but wanted to try adding coco. I nute with BotaniCare's PBP advanced line at 75% strength.
Everything looked fine for 2 months of veg in 10-15 gallon SmartPots, now some strains are showing seriously rusty leaves, from the veins out.
I have always pH'd to 6.6 when using Mix4/Perlite and assume that this could be my issue now.
Anyone with similar experience here? I would love suggestions and/or help...
Thanks!
jondamon
Well-Known Member
Rustiness sounds like a magnesium deficiency.
Coco has a tendency after around 6weeks to hold onto Ca and Mg, which in turn needs to be fed to the plant to sustain healthy growth.
One thing I always tell people to do is make sure they have Ca and Mg on hand when growing in coco.
J
hovering
Active Member
I have CaMg in my BotaniCare lineup... are you saying I should maybe bring that to 100% strength while the other bottles stay at 75% so I get more CaMg?
Or am I locked up and need to flush and use a different pH for my reservoir to get the CaMg flowing again?
Thanks for the response.
Or am I locked up and need to flush and use a different pH for my reservoir to get the CaMg flowing again?
Thanks for the response.
jondamon
Well-Known Member
If you have a bottle of CalMag then yes bring it up to 100%.
If you're talking about having Ca and Mg within the nutrient formula then you'll need to add extra.
The CANNA AQUA VEGA that I use has ample Ca and Mg but I still have to add more to sustain growth in coco.
J
burgertime2010
Well-Known Member
one thing that coco needs is good drainage everytime you water 10-20%, this keeps the medium at the ppm as the water you put into (it roughly) and keeps the ph from drifting. I do not use as much ppms in a coco grow..about 75% of a hydro and regularly give a feeding at 1/2 strength to keep from building up salts. Without a pic it's hard to say but sounds like a cal deficiency. If you have a lockout and want to flush (I would) never use straight water. 100 ppms of cal-mag, 100ppm of A, 100 ppm of B. So flush with 300 ppms. I use perlite @ 30% and never let it completely dry out. Also, check for gnats and pests regularly....hope this helps you.
thewhitelotus
Active Member
What do you guys do to flush your coco when runoff EC is getting high? My 2 gallon coco hempys are climbing in runoff EC so i wanted to do a good flush, but i am not 100% sure the best methodology for doing this....
weak nutrient solution? just base nutes or base with additives?
Just PH'd water?
flush with a few gallon....test EC? flush with another few gallons if runoff EC is still quite a bit higher than EC of nutrient solution?
I guess im just trying to figure out what everyone else does when they run into this issue.
I am trying to avoid having to dump the 10gal res i just filled up yesterday....im about 5 weeks into flowering
weak nutrient solution? just base nutes or base with additives?
Just PH'd water?
flush with a few gallon....test EC? flush with another few gallons if runoff EC is still quite a bit higher than EC of nutrient solution?
I guess im just trying to figure out what everyone else does when they run into this issue.
I am trying to avoid having to dump the 10gal res i just filled up yesterday....im about 5 weeks into flowering
jondamon
Well-Known Member
If its serious, then I have before now taken my plants to the bathroom and ran them under the baths faucet until runoff is pretty much the same as the source water(0.2EC) then back to my room and gave then a low dose nute.
Is the hempy's a top feed setup, or bottom fed? I can't remember.
If its bottom feed this could be the issue.
Is your res recirculating?
This can cause nutes to increase over time if you're feeding a little too strong.
I very rarely exceed 1.5EC around 750ppm or 1050ppm depending upon conversion factors.
And then that only in my PK1314 week/s.
I hand water and drain to waste.
J