Grow Mediums A lesson learned the hard way

Archaic

Flushing is a myth!
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Coco Coir is not soil. Now this is pretty obvious to all of us but it's a point I apparently missed. Coco is not soil, it's a substrate medium for hydroponic growing.

The reason I'm posting this is to keep you from making the mistakes that I've made. Twice about a year apart I've mixed up a batch of coco and added all sorts of amendments and promptly failed miserably. The most recent go round I thought I'd jazz up my coco with kelp meal, azomite, barely meal, and mycos. I mean if coco is good surely super coco is better right? Right??

Coco doesn't have the same structure and constitutes as soil, it's not alive and it's not made to be a soil replacement. All I ended up with was a rotten stinky pH disaster that was probably hot as hell. Basically I turned the coco into raw compost. It took fucking up twice for me to grasp this because I am slow and missed the short bus.

My best coco grows, and I've had some good ones were when I kept it simple and let the liquid nutes do their job with coco as simply a medium. Don't be like Archaic, adding dry amendments to coco is like putting gravy on a plate and trying to eat the plate. Coco supports roots and holds water and gives nutes a place to work, but it will never be the meal - just the plate.

This PSA has been brought to you by the society to prevent cruelty to canna.
 
:nicethread: and good points :thumbsup: not seen much shabby come outa yer cupboard A :pass:why they confuse things to start with by calling whatever we choose to put in the pot the medium :shrug:
when mixing mediums say coco and soil.coco 30% soil 70%,50%50% coco and soil,then 30%coco and 70% soil.coco and soil are feed 2 different ph ranges.
at what point do we feed as coco and what point we feed like soil ?
but perhaps the better question would be why mix coco and soil to begin with ? just pick ya favorite and stick to it :coffee:
good luck n keep er lit
:pighug:
 
Lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up sit down fight fight fight. Goooooooo coco.
 
Coco Coir is not soil. Now this is pretty obvious to all of us but it's a point I apparently missed. Coco is not soil, it's a substrate medium for hydroponic growing.

The reason I'm posting this is to keep you from making the mistakes that I've made. Twice about a year apart I've mixed up a batch of coco and added all sorts of amendments and promptly failed miserably. The most recent go round I thought I'd jazz up my coco with kelp meal, azomite, barely meal, and mycos. I mean if coco is good surely super coco is better right? Right??

Coco doesn't have the same structure and constitutes as soil, it's not alive and it's not made to be a soil replacement. All I ended up with was a rotten stinky pH disaster that was probably hot as hell. Basically I turned the coco into raw compost. It took fucking up twice for me to grasp this because I am slow and missed the short bus.

My best coco grows, and I've had some good ones were when I kept it simple and let the liquid nutes do their job with coco as simply a medium. Don't be like Archaic, adding dry amendments to coco is like putting gravy on a plate and trying to eat the plate. Coco supports roots and holds water and gives nutes a place to work, but it will never be the meal - just the plate.

This PSA has been brought to you by the society to prevent cruelty to canna.

Thanks for informational post. Hope this helps others avoid.

Peace,
OB
 
Lots of successful growers using Coco mixed with organic soil amendments.

Mr. Canuck on YouTube kills it with Coco and Gaiai Green fertilizer with nothing other than some calmag and tea here and there.
 
Lots of successful growers using Coco mixed with organic soil amendments.

Mr. Canuck on YouTube kills it with Coco and Gaiai Green fertilizer with nothing other than some calmag and tea here and there.
I was actually just watching his vids and considering giving it a try and then saw this post. I've never grown in strait coco before, but from what I understand is you need to ph your water to 5.8 to 6.0 for coco ? And this guy, Mr.Canuk is ph'ing his water to 6.8.
 
I was actually just watching his vids and considering giving it a try and then saw this post. I've never grown in strait coco before, but from what I understand is you need to ph your water to 5.8 to 6.0 for coco ? And this guy, Mr.Canuk is ph'ing his water to 6.8.


Its because of how he's feeding. Straight coco is never "watered" always fed. Salt based nutes uptake best in hydro 5.6 to 6.2. Standard soil 6.2 to 6.8ish...

Benefits to coco, almost impossible to overwater, and push plants well past there normal limits. Run into issues, flush till empty and reset to correct values...Trying to make it an organic "soil" seems a little backwards.

Says the guy sitting here running NFTG in coco... @6.8
 
Its because of how he's feeding. Straight coco is never "watered" always fed. Salt based nutes uptake best in hydro 5.6 to 6.2. Standard soil 6.2 to 6.8ish...

Benefits to coco, almost impossible to overwater, and push plants well past there normal limits. Run into issues, flush till empty and reset to correct values...Trying to make it an organic "soil" seems a little backwards.

Says the guy sitting here running NFTG in coco... @6.8


Pretty much this exactly. Every time I try to get cute and reinvent the wheel, I get taught a lesson.
 
Pretty much this exactly. Every time I try to get cute and reinvent the wheel, I get taught a lesson.


It can be done...
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