GDB: Old Dog -- New Tricks

Highya GDB,

Grand Daddy Black said:
Doh! It was the lights!
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Don't you love it when you find the answer that easy?!? And I always feel disappointed with myself for not doing right. But, always nice to get on with growing gorgeous ladies!! I don't have any experience with coco coir. I love learning new things also!! Never give up!! Happy Smokin'
 
Grand Daddy Black said:
I'm starting to feel like I need to review some past journals to see what I've forgotten!
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As I grow outdoors, this is what is like for me every year when I have forgotten what I remembered last year. :hmmmm:

Congrats on the new light!
 
Bode said:
Highya GDB,


Don't you love it when you find the answer that easy?!? And I always feel disappointed with myself for not doing right. But, always nice to get on with growing gorgeous ladies!! I don't have any experience with coco coir. I love learning new things also!! Never give up!! Happy Smokin'
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Yeah, I like it when finding the answer is that easy. And even though, IMO, I was late to turn up the lights, I am growing according to my philosophy. I try to let the plants show me what they need! :Rasta:
 
Stunger said:
As I grow outdoors, this is what is like for me every year when I have forgotten what I remembered last year. :hmmmm:

Congrats on the new light!
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IKR!

Imagine if someone could develop a strain that would aid in improving one's memory instead of doing the opposite! We might all be growing that shit with nary a peek at our notes! 🙂

They light is awesome. Bright as all get out!
 
Well GDB... if it makes ya feel a bit more confident in the coco grow, I'll admit, I have no idea what people even mean with the term "buffering" coco.

I've been growing in coco for about 5-6 years now and have never done anything special to it. I hydrate my bricks with tap water, and only use tap water for the seedling's first week or so, then introduce nutrients at 1/4 dose for a couple days, then 1/2 dose for a couple days and work my way up from there.
:thumb:
 
Preston9mm said:
Well GDB... if it makes ya feel a bit more confident in the coco grow, I'll admit, I have no idea what people even mean with the term "buffering" coco.

I've been growing in coco for about 5-6 years now and have never done anything special to it. I hydrate my bricks with tap water, and only use tap water for the seedling's first week or so, then introduce nutrients at 1/4 dose for a couple days, then 1/2 dose for a couple days and work my way up from there.
:thumb:
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That's helpful 9mm.

Is the coco you use pre-buffered? It should say on the bag if it is.
 
Carcass said:
Good Lux with that sweet new light, GDB.... see what I did there..?
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Unfortunately, yeah I saw it.

And I have to wonder if our humor can get any "dimmer." :Rasta:
 
Grand Daddy Black said:
That's helpful 9mm.

Is the coco you use pre-buffered? It should say on the bag if it is.
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I just buy the generic compressed bricks from Amazon.

1000002580.jpg
 
Hello all.

Yeah, I'm back again. But I remain confused about whether to buffer my pre-buffered coco and it's hard for me to stop plugging away for the correct answer.

I thought I might spur some more feedback on my question by showing you a little bit of what I've been reading today.

From the online mag, Coco for Cannabis:

Why You Need to Buffer Coco Coir​

There are cation exchange sites in coco that will interfere with nutrition until they are buffered. The cation exchange sites in coco naturally come loaded with sodium (Na) and potassium (K) cations. However, the Na and the K are only weakly held to the exchange sites. In the presence of calcium (Ca) or magnesium (Mg), the sites will release their Na or K cations and lock onto the Ca or Mg. These processes are known as “cation exchanges”.

Buffering coco is accomplished by soaking it in Ca and Mg. This allows the cation exchanges to take place prior to adding plants. Simply soak your coco in a solution of Cal/Mag water and the exchange sites will release their K and Na cations and lock onto the Ca and Mg. When the cation exchange sites bond with Ca and Mg rather than Na and K, it is “buffered”. The bonds that hold the Ca and Mg to the sites are very strong and cation exchange will largely stop. This means that all of the nutrients that you add to the water will be available to the plant at the ratios that you provide.

Dehydrated Brick Coco Products​

Plantonix Organic Coco Bliss

There are numerous products available online for dehydrated coco bricks. All compressed bricks of coco should be rinsed and buffered before use regardless of the brand or claims on the packaging. If you follow the instructions below you can transform any brick of coco into a superior growing medium for cannabis. However, some bricks provide a better product to begin with and you end up with more quality coco fibers in the end. I recommend the Plantonix Organic Coco Bliss. It is an excellent deal and after rinsing and buffering it becomes a very high quality coco product. Each brick is ten pounds, which produces more than enough coco for six 5-gallon containers.


From an Amazon ad for Coco Bliss:

Suggestions​

When using growing medium we recommend buffering. This involves pre-soaking the coir for 12-24 hours with a cal-mag buffering solution. This will help displace the excess sodium and balances the naturally occurring potassium. After soaking, rinse the media with water to remove the displaced sodium while leaving the calcium.

-------------------------------

Yet, there are folks here telling me that they've never bothered with buffering!

I even searched on @Bill284's thread for references to buffering, but found only a few. In one instance, he was telling another user that they needed "pre-buffered" coco. Maybe @Bill284 84 buys his pre-buffered.

@StoneOtter might be able to provide some insight, but I read today that his computer is busted and he'll be offline for a minute.

@Preston9mm weighed in and said he doesn't buffer his coco either. And the type of coco he uses does not appear to be pre-buffered. Yet his plants look like they could give a buff. They're fantastic!

--------------------------------

Oh, the hell with it. The coco I have is pre-buffered. I'm not going to buffer it again. But I will make sure to include calmag in my feeds from the outset.

This is fun! :Rasta:
 
Carcass said:
Oh, I'm sure it could..unless we pull the plug on it right now.. ;)
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Well by all means let's do that before this gets revolting! 😁
 
Grand Daddy Black said:
Hello all.

Yeah, I'm back again. But I remain confused about whether to buffer my pre-buffered coco and it's hard for me to stop plugging away for the correct answer.

I thought I might spur some more feedback on my question by showing you a little bit of what I've been reading today.

From the online mag, Coco for Cannabis:

Why You Need to Buffer Coco Coir​

There are cation exchange sites in coco that will interfere with nutrition until they are buffered. The cation exchange sites in coco naturally come loaded with sodium (Na) and potassium (K) cations. However, the Na and the K are only weakly held to the exchange sites. In the presence of calcium (Ca) or magnesium (Mg), the sites will release their Na or K cations and lock onto the Ca or Mg. These processes are known as “cation exchanges”.

Buffering coco is accomplished by soaking it in Ca and Mg. This allows the cation exchanges to take place prior to adding plants. Simply soak your coco in a solution of Cal/Mag water and the exchange sites will release their K and Na cations and lock onto the Ca and Mg. When the cation exchange sites bond with Ca and Mg rather than Na and K, it is “buffered”. The bonds that hold the Ca and Mg to the sites are very strong and cation exchange will largely stop. This means that all of the nutrients that you add to the water will be available to the plant at the ratios that you provide.

Dehydrated Brick Coco Products​

Plantonix Organic Coco Bliss

There are numerous products available online for dehydrated coco bricks. All compressed bricks of coco should be rinsed and buffered before use regardless of the brand or claims on the packaging. If you follow the instructions below you can transform any brick of coco into a superior growing medium for cannabis. However, some bricks provide a better product to begin with and you end up with more quality coco fibers in the end. I recommend the Plantonix Organic Coco Bliss. It is an excellent deal and after rinsing and buffering it becomes a very high quality coco product. Each brick is ten pounds, which produces more than enough coco for six 5-gallon containers.


From an Amazon ad for Coco Bliss:

Suggestions​

When using growing medium we recommend buffering. This involves pre-soaking the coir for 12-24 hours with a cal-mag buffering solution. This will help displace the excess sodium and balances the naturally occurring potassium. After soaking, rinse the media with water to remove the displaced sodium while leaving the calcium.

-------------------------------

Yet, there are folks here telling me that they've never bothered with buffering!

I even searched on @Bill284's thread for references to buffering, but found only a few. In one instance, he was telling another user that they needed "pre-buffered" coco. Maybe @Bill284 84 buys his pre-buffered.

@StoneOtter might be able to provide some insight, but I read today that his computer is busted and he'll be offline for a minute.

@Preston9mm weighed in and said he doesn't buffer his coco either. And the type of coco he uses does not appear to be pre-buffered. Yet his plants look like they could give a buff. They're fantastic!

--------------------------------

Oh, the hell with it. The coco I have is pre-buffered. I'm not going to buffer it again. But I will make sure to include calmag in my feeds from the outset.

This is fun! :Rasta:
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I should give it a try anyhow. What could it hurt?

I grow how I grow because "that's how I've always done it". I could be totally wrong. I've just never had any trouble to make me research buffering.

I'm a creature of habit
 
Preston9mm said:
I should give it a try anyhow. What could it hurt?

I grow how I grow because "that's how I've always done it". I could be totally wrong. I've just never had any trouble to make me research buffering.

I'm a creature of habit
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It probably wouldn't hurt anything and could provide some benefits!

Did you use calmag as part of your regular feeding schedule?

It seems clear that calmag is needed with coco.

Go ahead and really mess my head up by saying you never used it! Do that, and I'll turn off my computer for the night. 😁
 
The Coco warrior's will bust you up if they see you re doing what they just did 🤣
I've used my Coco 3X back to back so I rinse and buffer reset it after I use but never out the bag.

Nice score on the light too! She's a beast! 👌
 
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