The Unofficial "Official Coco Thread!!!!

Alright, you lost me here. Did you originally plan on using 60/40 coco/perlite and change to strait coco coir?


The only difference between starit coir and coir/perlite is how long the coir holds water? Mixing it with perlite keeps the coco moist longer thus allowing longer periods of time between waterings. Is this right?


Also, are you planning on using the GH nutes as are discribed in your PMs? OR do you have something else in mind?


Thanks for all this,


-Slugg

 

I don't know about that one apprentice... and slugg i won't be using the coco straight man.. I just mean No more soil period..


Also I have not decided on any nutrients as I don't know if I want to switch yet... I am just going to order the Nitrogen and calcium formula's from Metanaturals and give them a go in the coco as they can be used for it...


I change my mind alot


Look at this link to expand your knowledge of coco beyond this thread..


http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=23140&highlight=coco+coir

 

The following is posted from a Guest at International Cannagraphic.


(The link that WnB posted) Just felt these were some important steps.


It all looks right to me, correct me if Im wrong.


----------------------------------------------------


1.Don't cheap on the coco, bricks are good for ebb and flow but you have to watch the compressed stuff, sometimes it's too salty. Canna is very good.


2.Do an initial wash with a light cal/mag solution.


3.The best results in coco are using ferts designed for coco like Canna series, I've just completed a run with PBPro series with added calmag and it works well too.


4.You cannot overwater with coco but it does help to cut it with hydroton or 20%perlite for grit and oxygenation.


5.You can reuse you medium up to 3 times and coco is a renewable and eco friendly source of substrate.


6.The typical increase in yield from soil to coco is ~10%, typically this is from increased aeration in the root zone but also from it's nutrient web that favors cationic exchange.


7.It actually works well with hard waters wich typically can lead to ph fluctuations in hydro.


8.Coco can harbour a thriving microherd and is ideal for organic or inorganic grows alike.


Well that's all for now, i'll look into some links I used to have.


Coco and organics has occupied my thoughts for awhile now, it's relatively unchartered teritory when applied to 100% hardcore organic regime based on ammendments like kelp meal, worm castings, guanos and teas etc.


It is unclear to me yet whether dolomite lime is a compatible source of calcium and magnesium as well as a good ph buffer for the coco.


Dlime had a clear role in peat based mixes as ph of peat is low and lime buffers to upper 6's so we get an even 6.-6.5 range.


Coco is self buffered, it easily takes on the ph of the nute solutions we feed it.


Jinx

 

Intersting idea my man!

Yes, that could be a possibility i would think , as a medium you ask???? yea?


Iff so, thats sounds a good idea to be tested and tried, as HEMP STALK Itself, has many many uses!!!


Very good thinking The Apprentice!!!


And a very good question for peeps who know about this perticular stuff to answer too!!!


Peace Out,


UrBigBuddie.......... :sign13:

 

Great thread Mr.WakenBake indeed sir....


Fantastic "unofficial","official" thread on coco coir!!!


Very Very interesting indeed my man....


Got to be said.


Peace Out


UrBigBuddie.......

 

Ordered my stuff


Well, I just ordered all my new stuff. I am now awaiting Coco coir, new and improved pH tester, GH Flora series nutes, calmag, liquid karma, and a new 400w HPS (to replace my 250). The coco is pretty cheap, 4.5kilo was only 13 bucks (should last a very long time). I am pretty excited about this seeing that out here I can only get Mirical Grow soil. Coco appears to be the most simple solution to hydro and (based on the thread WnB posted) offers the most flexibility for newbs like myself.


I probably will not get anything in for a month (mail out here really sucks) but I still have my soil grow going.

 

Okay... nice post up there cab.. just make sure to correctly give credit to the person on icmag for it... and to the site.


also.. make damn sureSlugg that you get yourself some perlite man.. you want to mix it about 3 cups of coco to 1 cup of perlite. One large bag of perlite should be fine for 1 block of coco coir... make damn sure you wash the perlite and the coco before use... the coco should be flushed out thoroughly to remove salts as i said before.


Let's keep up the good work guys.. just think.... my next thread will be the OFFICIAL GK COCO GROWER"S THREAD... All of you guys and gals are welcome to learn the coco with me..I am sure there will be a learning curve to follow.. But if we all work together with the already experienced growers we should be OK!


Keep it up guys and gals just make sure to give credit where credit is due to other's work just like cabinetgrower did...

 

Yes, perlile will be mixed in. The garden shop down the street has some (so they say). I'll be heading there tomorrow to see. Otherwise I'll go ahead and order some tomorrow night.


I am planning on using the same setup described in your PM's and following a nute schedule based on a conversation in an icmag thread. (the link you posted) http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.p...ight=coco+coir


My only concern in not having a ppm meter. But I am reading this is not absolutly necessary. I will just have to be strict with my waterings and observant of my nute measurments.


Side question: I have not read of anyone using FF organic nutes. Do you have any reason to believe these would cause problems?


Slugg

 

I don't know about the fox farms products in the coco... I think you should use something that can be used either hydroponically or in soil. Or something specifically for coco as the canna nutrients.


I think the Meta's will be fine for it but we'll see ..cause it may not work as welll as i woul like...but like i said anything has to be better than the results I am getting in soil.. anything....

 

This was posted by Blatant on ic mag.. explains what cation is...


*Cation atom or group of atoms carrying a positive charge. The charge results because there are more protons than electrons in the cation. Cations can be formed from a metal by oxidation , from a neutral base by protonation, or from a polar compound by ionization. Cationic species include Na+, Mg++, and NH4+. Salts are made up of cations and anions.)

 

I read about these, from what I understand as long as we water till there's 20% runoff and prevent the coco from getting TOO dry (3 days??) there should never be a problem with salts.


The salts are a byproduct of the water evaporating/being sucked up by the plant and leaving the nutes behind. This is my understanding of it as of now. But as your earlier PMs said, we should be able to flush and start over at any point. (this is what I'm betting on)

I have FF nutes for soil and will probably try one plant on those. The rest I will use the GH Flora stuff as described earlier in the thread. So I'll let you know how this all works out.


Slugg

 

this is courtesy of jinxie over on icmag.com


For all you hand watering folks remember that just because coco cannot be overwatered it doesn't mean you HAVE to water every day or second day.


Coco is suitable for soil like applications where hand watering occurs every 3-4 days on average.


Watering until some runoff occurs is always good, 25% runoff is a waste just alittle runoff is fine unless you typically overfeed them.


I feed PBPro with calamg @5ml/gallon every 2nd or 3rd watering depending on the growth stage, I used worm casting teas with molasses and some kelp meal as a plain watering between feeding but this is overkill.


You can also feed coco from the bottom up, just fill the saucers under you pots and watch it dissappear.


Remember to rinse the initial medium with calmag as this will release the potassium that occupies most of the initial food web, often young clones/seedling start twisting from overly high K until they are big enough to uptake the high K levels and that calcium ans magnesium start binding in the K's place.


I wish I had not deleted all my grow pics and budshots so I can show you the results and to alesser extent the problems that can occur like calcium def for users not feeding with a coco designed nute regiment.


I am not uploiading pics to any server anymore so others will have to fill in with pictures.


****this also is from over on ic mag and i thought it should be here too:***


this was a post by gaiusmarius


Registered User


Join Date: Feb 2005


Posts: 1,656


Current Mood:


Hey Bramski


looks like you have been treating the coco like earth? letting it get dry in between waterings is not good for the plants in coco. at least one watering per day till some run off, is essential. i know one guy who runs his water once every two days. his plants look healthy and everything, but he yields about half what i do with watering 4 times a day. even if the pot feels heavy and the coco looks wet, it still benefits from watering, as it causes an exchange of air in the root zone. that's why multiple waterings works so well in coco, because each watering causes the old air to get forced out, to be replaced by new fresh air as the waters drains off again. under those conditions the plants make hydroponic roots. if you feed once a day or even every 2 days, your plants will make normal earth roots. so decide on a system and stick to it and the plants will recover in no time.


if the return ec is above 1.8, then a good flush with phed tap water is in order, after which you should give them a normal watering with nutes.

 

http://www.canna-uk.com/dhtml/images/products/coco_growschedule.jpg

 

So you decided on going with the canna nutes?

 

No man i will be using the metanaturals line of products for the coco as they can be used for it with no problem.My calcium product should be arriving in the next couple days from wormsway.

 

With you MrWnB All the way.....

With ya all the way on this one MrWnB, i would never go hydro, for the simple reason im used to what i do just now, get good results, But always get that THING that we sorta got in common with the BUDS thing...lol


But apart from that, my weed is FINEE Shit, sticky Icky shit man, and thats through SOIL n PERLITE mixture.


But im dying to find out more about COCOCOIR and the easier it can make growing for me than soil, without going HYDRO, as i cannot afford it at this time, or should i say, "someone" would NOT be happy with me...hehe:laughing5:


Anyway as for the coco coir, im all up for learning this and finding out what its all about, as it sounds very good and advantagous from what ive heard already about the stuff!!!


Lets go n research more about this stuff,


Peace Out for ow,


UrBigBuddie......... ottytrain1: