Growing with Coco: Questions, Answers & Scuttlebutt

Dr.McNugget;1193175 said:

HorseBadortiz;1192495 said:

Here's a tidbit I found from Slimm:

"Thanks. I have good news! I resolved the Mg lockout thanks to knna and an old post of his on growing in coco. According to knna, 5.8 is the inflection point for unlocking Ca and Mg in coco, due to coco's unique CEC. Lower than 5.8 releases more Ca, higher makes more Mg available. 3 mg of Epsom salts per gallon helped, but the kicker was two feedings with ph at 5.8. The first feeding was more of a flush. I ran normal nutrient solution to flush rather than plain RO. The reason being that coco does not respond well to plain RO flushing because the CaMg buffer will have to be re-established after the flush. This morning I fed again with the same mix at 5.8 and the plants are doing great!

I'm not sure yet if I will stay at 5.8 or I will alternate between 5.5 and 6.0. I will watch for signs of Ca or Mg def and ph accordingly. I' pretty surprised that this was an issue since i am only using 30% coco but now that it's understood I don't think it will be a problem any longer. I will just manage the ph."

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YES! Learned this the hard way. I bought a bag of 'pre-rinsed' that was anything but. Then found out about the Cal/Mg issue way too late...so now I prep like this:

1.place coco in container with holes at bottom
2.rinse until clear
3.wait 20 mins
4.second rinse till clear
5.let sit full day (so its somewhat drier for precharge)
6.then i mix a gal with 15ml cal/mg+, 2ml Flora Nova grow & 5 drops superthrive, ph'd to 5.8
7.then I add perlite and while mixing I add the precharge a little at a time
8.while mixing, i stop every so often and 'dust' the top with Great White

Rebuilding the buffer after flush is key, basically the way i understand it is: The coco likes to hold on to the Ions of Ca and Mg so you must satisfy the coco before you can satisfy the roots.

I give everything at 5.8 always, water feedings always have a little cal/mg and hygrozyme in them.

Also, I clone straight into coco and I've gotten 100% success rate. When I got root aphids, I took a few clones of a mango that was a decent size teen, then cut the teen at the base and dipped into clonex, rolled it into Great White and stuck it into some coco, compacting around the cut just a bit to ensure contact. I put the little container into a dish with water in it so it would constantly wick water and the whole plant rooted without fuss. Roots love this stuff, and so do I an I!

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