The Hexapus's Garden

santb;2907535 said:

This is the stuff I've just started using: Nutrifield Mega Brick.
Apparently anything with the Dutch "RHP" Standard is the stuff you want. It guarantees you getting coco properly prepared and washed - meaning no salts (coco is grown and processed mostly on coastlines), no pests, no diseases. Many use it as a soil-less hydro type media, and use specific coco nutes.. It can hold a high percentage of it's own weight in water, yet is free-draining, simultaneously able to hold a lot of air(esp. with help of some perlite, rice hulls, bentonite whatever)..
I make a mix up of coco (approx 60-70% of total mix) with some home-made compost, EWC, hand-fulls of rock dust, lime, gypsum, blood and bone; tablespoons of seaweed/kelp, epsom salts, oven-baked eggshell powder and small amounts powdered store-bought organic pellets, some perlite and some bentonite. Let this sit in a warm spot for 3-4 weeks minimum...I also recycle my old potting mixes as you'll (apparently) get 3-5 uses out of coco. This also allows the rock dust and eggshell chance to actually breakdown enough to be useful, although how quickly this happens is debatable. I choose to use rock dust and eggshell because they're natural, and I assume that at least SOME of the fine dust must be relatively quickly available in the soil. Your finished moist mix should crush together in your hand when you make a fist, and puff back out on release.
I turn my coco into soil (sort-off) doing this mostly to avoid having to measure nutes etc. I also allow the plants to dry out quite a bit between waterings to encourage root growth so in a 20-odd-litre container I mite only need to water every 4-6 days. (Be careful, tho - on its own,esp. in smaller pots, coco can dry out quickly also, esp. if you usually water in small amounts. I water till it's soaked, then let dry out..) Coco can be forgiving like that; there is always a little bit of moisture in there somewhere... Could buy you an extra day or even two if you're away longer than expected.. From there I treat it like any other valuable, fast-growing houseplant.. I keep an eye out, train as I like and every 3-4th watering I add weak-solution organic nutes just to make sure; usually powdered pellets in water or fish-based organic liquid ferts.
Water is usually aerated tap water or rain water; sometimes straight from the tap. I have a cheap, inaccurate pH meter, which I rarely use. The hardest part for me is to just leave the plants alone... I'm a fiddler. I kinda envy you being away for such long periods - guaranteed differences every time you look, for better or worse. Looking at your plants every fifteen minutes does NOT make them grow any faster. I sometimes force myself not to look for 3 days just so I know they'll definitely be bigger...
Coco is also organic obviously, and, unlike peat, sustainable.
Yay Coco!

Click to expand...