Does calmag count towards your target PPM or EC in distilled or RO water?

[PeaceLove&Buds]

Yeah JP c’mon man!

 

[PeaceLove&Buds]

@joshua311 what and how have you been growing before this decision to try something new?

 

[JP1]

I'd trust manufacturer buffering and quality control way before that done by end-users. To me, this rinsing, soaking and charging is increasingly not needed as more manufacturers pre-buffer their coco products or otherwise have to compete

Why would you trust the manufacturer? Ever checked a bag of buffered coco and it's 900+ppm because they didn't wash the salt off the coco enough? It's hard to find consent coco locally and until recently it was very expensive to ship loose coco. So it's easy for me to start the way that I do instead of chasing problems down the road. I like to soak for a day in calmag solution and then soak for a day in light nutes before dropping a seed. Easier to do that then overfeed the calmag since calmag also adds extra N

 

[joshua311]

But would this same baseline (presumably of the water held by the coco) be achieved if you simply did a good drain-to-waste initial charging of the coco with your initial nutrient formulation containing your preferred level of Ca/Mg? I presume yes.

What instructions do you use, and do you recommend this for other coco users?

I'd trust manufacturer buffering and quality control way before that done by end-users. To me, this rinsing and charging is a ritual that doesn't actually buffer the coco (vs. the water it holds) and seems increasingly not needed as more manufacturers pre-buffer their coco products or otherwise have to compete. In the current market, there is no need to use coco actually needing end-user buffering. For example, recently in another thread it was generally agreed that Canna coco is among those good to go right out of the bag.

Canna coco is the coco I am using

@joshua311 what and how have you been growing before this decision to try something new?

dry amendments, worm castings, and some low ec soil. I want something more hands on. Coco seems like it gets the best results.

 

[BII]

Why would you trust the manufacturer? Ever checked a bag of buffered coco and it's 900+ppm because they didn't wash the salt off the coco enough?

No! In 10 years with ≥4 grow cycles/year (lots of bags of coco) I've never had a problem. Were your problems with Canna? As noted in another recent discussion, there is consensus that Canna coco is good to go right out of the bag.

I presume only manufacturers can actually buffer coco, with this done during often months-long controlled fermentation/composting and repeated rinsing, likely with some proprietary/trade secret processing (controlled addition of Ca/Mg) along the way, with the surface chemistry (metal ion binding affinities) of the coco fibers long-term if not permanently altered.

Isn't the core goal of buffering to avoid having to regularly add cal-mag, particularly the Ca? End-user rinse/soak/charging methods I presume mostly just affect the water held by the coco, are just temporary. To me having to add Ca (and perhaps Mg) during the grow indicates inadequate coco buffering.

The end-user ritual of buffering followed by charging with nutes at desired EC and pH seems overall harmless, but unlikely to long-term buffer the coco.

 

[JP1]

To me having to add Ca (and perhaps Mg) during the grow indicates inadequate coco buffering

I don't use any calmag during the grow and buffering my own at least lets me know it's good

 

[BII]

I don't use any calmag during the grow and buffering my own at least lets me know it's good

It seems likely that your buffering and charging hasn't really affected the pre-buffering done by Canna (as it should be), and that you'd likely get the same results without the buffering, if you just did a good drain-to-waste with your charging nutrient feed water.

As I noted, this end-user buffering seems mostly harmless, so keep on doing it if it gives you increased confidence, "lets [you] know it's good."