How to grow in coco loco?!

[JAB]

Im wanting to start a grow in coco loco. Is there anyone that can share with me the how to and give tips and tricks? Does it come with starter nutes? Should I add more perlite and/or EWC? When do i start feeding? How to go about watering? Etc. Lol all the advice you can give me ill soak up!

Seeds are gorilla glue auto and bubblegum auto from growerschoiceseeds.com

3 gallon fabric pots

2 Bestva 1000 lights (totals 210watt from wall)

Environment is a 2x3 closet grow with fan, 4" ventilation. Steady temps and humidity. Temps stays around 72° at night and 76° during day. Humidity is around 50% give or take.

 

[DCLXVI]

Well, that stuff isn't soil and it isn't coco coir only. It looks like a mix of several things. I'm not sure how I would approach it. I tried a coco/soil blend once and it, eh, didn't go well. I know there are people who have success with the blends but I don't know where to point you for help with it.

I initially was going to offer some coco coir help but that stuff won't work with the standard coco regimen. Are you wanting to try coco coir? If you want to return that and pick up a straight coco product there are several good, no, great!, coco growers on here who can help.


Straight off the Fox Farms website:

Plants growing in Coco Loco® will not require water as often as your usual potting mix. Whether you’re growing in hanging baskets, vertical gardens, containers, or seedling trays, extend your watering schedule. In most climates, every two to three days will be enough. Always adjust your watering schedule as needed.

 

[JAB]

Well, that stuff isn't soil and it isn't coco coir only. It looks like a mix of several things. I'm not sure how I would approach it. I tried a coco/soil blend once and it, eh, didn't go well. I know there are people who have success with the blends but I don't know where to point you for help with it.

I initially was going to offer some coco coir help but that stuff won't work with the standard coco regimen. Are you wanting to try coco coir? If you want to return that and pick up a straight coco product there are several good, no, great!, coco growers on here who can help.


Straight off the Fox Farms website:

Plants growing in Coco Loco® will not require water as often as your usual potting mix. Whether you’re growing in hanging baskets, vertical gardens, containers, or seedling trays, extend your watering schedule. In most climates, every two to three days will be enough. Always adjust your watering schedule as needed.

Luckily i havent purchased it yet. Lol i am familiar with growing in living soil so i figured this would be a medium that would be a good start to switching to soilless? I heard that straight coco could be bad for beginners so it kind of steered me away. I cant really find a whole lot on people using coco loco so im assuming maybe i shouldnt use it. Lol

 

[DCLXVI]

Coco is just high maintenance. You will need to check ppm/EC, pH, and runoff volume everyday. It's basically hydro but without the reservoir. Depends on how much work you want to do and if you have time to spend on your plants everyday. Water quality is essential too. I found that switching to coco, r/o water, and a good nute line was far easier for me than soil. But I have lots of time to play in the greenhouse.

 

[throxic]

Treat Coco Loco as a pre-amended soil. It has enough juice to take 3 gal pots to week 3 or 4 in veg without nutes. After this point, you have two options, dry amendments or a synthetic line to finish them out. Watering every two to three days, though in 3 gal you may need to water daily when they get bigger. If you go synthetic, be sure to get 10-20% runoff. Because of the cation exchange with coco, you'll, more than likely, need to supplement with calmag.

 

[Olderfart]

Luckily i havent purchased it yet. Lol i am familiar with growing in living soil so i figured this would be a medium that would be a good start to switching to soilless? I heard that straight coco could be bad for beginners so it kind of steered me away. I cant really find a whole lot on people using coco loco so im assuming maybe i shouldnt use it. Lol

If you have not purchased it yet, I suggest that you don't. If you want to go with coco, go with straight coco, not a coco/soil mix. The best source of information on growing in coco is at Cocoforcannabis.com.

Straight coco is widely available. I just use cheap brick and rinse and buffer it myself, and have not had a fail yet. The last round was in solos, and I averaged a couple ounces per plant.

Bottom line is that coco is hydroponics with root support. Don't confuse things by trying to make soil out of it - doing that typically does not go well.

Good luck with it, let us know how you make out.

 

[JP1]

Bottom line is that coco is hydroponics with root support.

Never heard it said that way, but that's spot on

 

[JAB]

Coco is just high maintenance. You will need to check ppm/EC, pH, and runoff volume everyday. It's basically hydro but without the reservoir. Depends on how much work you want to do and if you have time to spend on your plants everyday. Water quality is essential too. I found that switching to coco, r/o water, and a good nute line was far easier for me than soil. But I have lots of time to play in the greenhouse.

I want to move to coco because i want to spend more time in there. Lol my escape room! I also want control i grew in living organic soil and did not like that it had amendments in it from the start i had way to many issues with it def and toxicity right out of bag. So coco straight it is! I have fox farm trio liquid nutes i want to use up before i get anything else. What is the best feeding schedule for that with coco/perlite mix? Like a feed, feed, water or what?

 

[JAB]

If you have not purchased it yet, I suggest that you don't. If you want to go with coco, go with straight coco, not a coco/soil mix. The best source of information on growing in coco is at Cocoforcannabis.com.

Straight coco is widely available. I just use cheap brick and rinse and buffer it myself, and have not had a fail yet. The last round was in solos, and I averaged a couple ounces per plant.

Bottom line is that coco is hydroponics with root support. Don't confuse things by trying to make soil out of it - doing that typically does not go well.

Good luck with it, let us know how you make out.

I had some old seeds didnt know if they would germinate or not so i just dropped them in little folgers cans for the hell of it! Hoping they pop think its cool the solo cup challenges and what not fun to follow and see what they do. Anyways back to coco talk. Only thing im worried about is the feeding and how i should go about it.. Do you feed everytime etc. I have fox farm trio and calmag. Little worried ill burn them thwt fox farm trio is some strong stuff hard to get the right amount down.

 

[Olderfart]

I want to move to coco because i want to spend more time in there. Lol my escape room! I also want control i grew in living organic soil and did not like that it had amendments in it from the start i had way to many issues with it def and toxicity right out of bag. So coco straight it is! I have fox farm trio liquid nutes i want to use up before i get anything else. What is the best feeding schedule for that with coco/perlite mix? Like a feed, feed, water or what?

I can't help you with the program with those nutes, but you may get specific information from others.

What I can suggest at this point is that you will find the process easier and more effective with pH and EC meters. The pH meter needs to be decent, the EC meter not so much. I use an Apera PH60 which has a replaceable probe. After a couple years, it is finally slowing down enough that I have grabbed a replacement for the next round. My EC meter is just a cheapie, but it is calibratable which helps in comparison with my original cheapie.

To keep the pH meter happy, you need to make or buy some storage solution and keep the probe in it whenever it is not being used. As in never let the probe dry out.

My apologies if you are already on top of the meter thing, and good luck with the transition.