Grow Mediums Is my Coco Buffered?

[TexasGrows]

I purchased some coco from a local soil/compost company. I have used their soil blends and they are wonderful products. Several of their blends could almost be considered living soil with just a couple more adds.

I am an autopot grower using hydroponic research Veg/Bloom Tap/Hard.

I have been wanting to switch to coco and want to give their coco a try. I like to use local products.

The bag says it's washed and buffered using a "cool buffering" process.

My question is how can I tell if it is buffered? Will checking run off ph and ppm tell me anything?

I have an Ethos banana auto in a solo cup of it. It's on its third set of true leaves and look really nice. Is that too soon to see signs if the Coco is not well buffered?

 

[DCLXVI]

If it says buffered I would belive it. Whether or not they did it correctly or with what you would choose to use would be hard to tell. IF the plants look good and are growing fine I would not worry about it. I buy bagged coco just for ease and I always run seedling strength nute solution through it and check the runoff PPM. Some have been low and some have been high. I flush the initial pot until I get lower ppm runoff in the 300-400 range, which is the seedling strength I mix up.

That said, if they look good let them be! You would probably notice mg deficiency first if it was not buffered. Solo cup will grow a nice plant in coco, you will just have to fertigate very very often. Keep the pH in that 5.8-6.2 with plenty of runoff and you'll be good. Solo cup doesn't hold much volume so keeping steady runoff isn't hard plus that keeps everything in the cup fresh.

 

[JP1]

I never trust coco to be cleaned and buffered enough for autos. Tough to find the same brands of coco around here consistently and I've had a few that were supposed to be washed and buffered and the runoff is 900+. You'll feed enough with runoff to fix it on its own but it can stunt seedlings, which isn't ideal with autos. But it's easy to check. Just poke some holes in a solo, fill with coco, run some distilled water through it and check the ppm of the runoff

 

[TexasGrows]

I plan to use it in my Autopots. So will be transplanting to 3.9 gal final home soon.

I ran my 250 ppm well water thru a pot of the coco and tested the run off.

It tested at 300 ppm so ,I am thinking it should be fine. I could buffer it but am really wanting something I can just use right out of the bag. I hope this local product works out.

 

[JP1]

I plan to use it in my Autopots. So will be transplanting to 3.9 gal final home.soon.

I ran my 250 ppm well water thru a pot of the coco and tested the run off.

It tested at 350 ppm so ,I am thinking it should be fine. I could buffer it but am really wanting something I can just use riggt of the bag. So I.this local product works out.

350 runoff sounds good to me

 

[DCLXVI]

@TexasGrows - Have you grown with that high ppm water before? It seems like it would make nutrient balance difficult.

 

[TexasGrows]

@DCLXVI yes I been using it indoors and out, its well water. I have tested it and it's mostly cal/mg. No iron,sodium,etc.....Clean water other than being on the hard side.

It's ~250-260 ppm and 7.0 Ph.

I started growing using my well water and a locally made "synganic" fertilizer called Hasta Gro. Hand watering in soil.

I then moved to Autopots and convinced myself I needed to be using RO. Then noticed I was having to add epsom salt and/or cal/mag.

I swtiched back to well water and no more epson or cal/mag.

Now I want to try coco again. I did it once several years ago and had problems. Now I realize it was the unbuffered brick coco.

I plan to use Hydroponic Research Tap/Hard. I contacted. them told them what I wanted to do and they recommended Tap/Hard at 5 grams per gallon for Photos, 3 -4 for autos.....Tap/Hard Mixed with my water at 5gr/gal it takes the Ppm to low 800s and the Ph is 6.6

 

[DCLXVI]

Good luck! I would suggest maybe keeping that pH a bit lower for coco, 5.8-6.2, hope it's a solid run for ya. Start a thread and drop me a tag when you get going.

 

[Nadnerb]

I've been using BioBizz buffered coco for my last few grows and have been having issues at the flower stage in the grow. This run I couldn't get BioBizz so I bought a brick of coco and buffered it myself. The coco I buffered looks to be giving my plants a healthier look than the "pre buffered" coco did. I followed this method, it's really easy and I think it's worth it to buffer any coco you plan to use for growing whether it states being already buffered or not. I wasn't aware that coco will strip the calcium and magnesium from your plant if it's not buffered causing deficiencies later in the grow cycle.

 

[BII]

Not able to view the video. But I presume any home-brewed buffering will not be as permanent as treatments done during coco processing, that the Ca/Mg salts used will be more easily washed out of the coco rather than being more permanently adsorbed/bound to and within coco fibers. I presume self-buffering adds Ca/Mg in solution to the coco vs. Ca/Mg (and/or other manufacturer buffering to adjust desired pH) being held and slowly released by the coco. [How much right or wrong am I?]