Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

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BigIrishDoode

Fallen Cannabis Warrior
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January 2014
for all us coco "nuts"!!! a dedicated thread for all things coco coir

ok so i decided to start this thread since i cant find a consolidated thread about growing in my favorite medium coco!
since its not totally inert its not hydro but its not soil either so at the least i think it deserves a thread where we can gather and consolidate our data, findings , experiences, and tips, recipes etc etc
feel free to paste valid coco coir info and data i will be adding as much scientific data as i can find and reporting on good coco based products and things that work with coco well

what is coco coir you may ask? well i lifted this description
Coco coir is the fiber that results from the processing of coconuts (the removal of the "nut" from its fibrous encasing). The coir fiber is a by-product of an existing process and is quite renewable when compared to peat moss sources. The fiber is arguably more bio-active than peat fibers resulting from bog conditions. The coconut, as we know it from the grocer's, is surrounded by tough fibers in a green casing where it is attached to the tops of coconut trees swaying in the breeze in tropical conditions. The coconut tree is a well adapted plant, in its ability to populate an area through the "seed"; the coconut. As the coconut matures on the tree, it breaks free and may fall a considerable distance. It may roll down an elevation before coming to rest, or it may become water borne and float for many months and wash up far from its origin. In any case, the coconut is able to germinate and root itself in sandy and often saline (salty) conditions miles away from its parent conditions. We are talking about a 6 to 8" high octane seed here! As a matter of fact, sterilized coconut milk is often added o the growing media as a source of hormones and nutrients in plant tissue culture.
The coconut is teaming with naturally occurring growth hormones and other bio-stimulants that are inherent to the survival of the species, which fortunately for growers may be found in the fibers surrounding the "seed" which may be processed for use as a growing medium. As with peat, there are factors affecting the quality of use of the coir as a growing medium. The origin and age of the parent material largely plays a role in the fiber qualities. Coconuts harvested when fully mature contain more lignins and cellulose. These fibers are tough and durable enough to manufacture rope from. Interestingly, coconut fiber is the only natural fiber resistant to breaking down in salt water. This helps make it ideal for indoor gardeners, as nutrient solutions, particularly popular inorganic varieties and the salts they contain, play a role in the erosion of growing medias over the course of the crop.
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from here where you can read more details
and more from wiki


im fixing on testing a new recipe i have concocted heres what i have put together
3/4 of a 5 kilo block gh cocotek fine coco pith
1/2 gallon pearlite
1 tbps blood meal
1 tbps bone meal
2 tsp root magic mykos
1/2 cup azomite
1/2 cup gypsum
1/4 cup epsoma garden lime
3 gallons recycled used coco
i will mix water in and cook a week minimum
then i will run weak bpn organics ,teas, foliar sprays of seaweed,and teas

i have learned its good to add old coco to new it helps with the calmag issues of new coco and more yeild on recycled due to less stress from the calmag issue, seems coco gets better with age,
im hoping all the coco growers find this and contribute perhaps we can get a section dedicated same as the hydro & soil guys have im also here for questions for new old whatever coco growers, i dont know all but i think i have a pretty good feel for coco, it is what i get my best results with
ok guys post away
 
re: Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

I am also trying to perfect my coir skils and appreciate you taking the time to start another tread. I'll be back with an update from tonights working with coco and what im putting in it. Subbed up bro
+Reps
Front row bfam

So the test plants flowered 8 full weeks as of yesterday 4/5/13 so now I've been mixing my special h2o blend plus 3/4 final phase and will flush until the tricks go amber, there 1/2 milk 1/2 clear. Thinking next friday the 12 th will get em pretty close but the plants resin glands will make the final decision. This plant and one more were rooted clones with zero veg time. The day i was satisfied with the roots i transplanted and straight into the 12/12 tent. The next round got over 30 days veg and what a difference. This was just a test and helping me find my standard
image1376.jpg

So what your seeing is my way of flushing the airpot into a bucket to take outside to test and drain.
I now am soaking my coco coir bricks in water plus cal mag supplement, then flushing with a week b1 booster and watering with a compost tea plus mycos and for now that how im using coco
 
re: Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

s1ingblade said:
I am also trying to perfect my coir skils and appreciate you taking the time to start another tread. I'll be back with an update from tonights working with coco and what im putting in it. Subbed up bro
+Reps



Front row bfam
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excellent the more coco"nuts" we get in here the better:thumb::circle-of-love::thumb:
 
re: Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

I can't wait to figure out a better way to put seedlings out of the paper towels and into the coco. I guess I should call em popped beans. The 55 gallon drum has two bales that i threw in some cal mag with the water, will slightly flush with some 1/4 strength bloom food. I will know when I get it, mycos of course. Yeah I added two gallons of manure based compost tea.
 
re: Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

Split a straw and place the seed inside root down and slide it into place. Cover. Finished
 
re: Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

high 420kwats said:
I was thinking along those lines myself, but I wanted somebody else to confirm my suspicion. Thank You!! I bumped them up and saw on the chart from BPN shoot the cal-mag up along with the N. Just what it needed. I have been defoliating pretty heavy. Thanks again.
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right on glad it worked, i just thought hungry plant as soon as i saw the pic,

s1ingblade said:
I can't wait to figure out a better way to put seedlings out of the paper towels and into the coco. I guess I should call em popped beans. The 55 gallon drum has two bales that i threw in some cal mag with the water, will slightly flush with some 1/4 strength bloom food. I will know when I get it, mycos of course. Yeah I added two gallons of manure based compost tea.
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sounds like the makings of some good coco i pop beans in root plugs as you know, when i did paper towels i never let the tap get over 1/4 inch before i had em in coco

high 420kwats said:
Split a straw and place the seed inside root down and slide it into place. Cover. Finished
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thats a cleaver idea


keep the coco new coming guys:thumb:
 
re: Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

BigIrishDoode said:
right on glad it worked, i just thought hungry plant as soon as i saw the pic,


sounds like the makings of some good coco i pop beans in root plugs as you know, when i did paper towels i never let the tap get over 1/4 inch before i had em in coco



thats a cleaver idea


keep the coco new coming guys:thumb:
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Sorry guys I meant to say something else, my problems lie in once the seeds hit the coco that im using as of now something is going on. I dont have an issue actually getting it into the coco, its actually germinating them in the coco that I am struggling with. I am going to try the rooter plugs I have and go from there. If I could get a real set (or 2) of leaves on the plant before I put em in the coir I think they will be able to battle the "Draw Down" better. That and a $ load of Mycos, looks like I'll be getting ahold of Corey at Blue Planet Nutrients for soe more
 
re: Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

I have noticed that the OG Kush in the smaller 3+ Gallon airpots did better in the bud quality, I'm pretty sure it was the fact that they had an easier time drying out more and the bigger 5 gallon ones stayed wetter and had less O2 hitting the root zone. These are in 100% coco coir and did fine no leaf burn, no PM, light gnats but the stickys and the drench kept them well in check and overall I really like the quality its the quantity that needs improvement. The same clones in the next round are doing alot better. Overall I enjoy growing in the coco but this next round the coco will be full of castings, guano, mycos and Trycs. SO far I am seeing other growers do awesome with the coir on a feed every time. I have been feeding almost everytime but at a little under 2/3rds. of the recommended amounts.
I am anxious to see the diff. in growth rate in the coco once I start hittin them with some gas. Co2
 
re: Lets Talk Coco! Organics & Salts

good report brother, keep the data coming, i have found i can feed extremely heavy in coco with organics,and actually a bit higher with bpn nutes ,since i only use bpn, i have no comparison with other brands of nutes ,since i started with coco, now i did use some fox farms trio in my first run of 2liter hempys and i burned them a bit if i used ff at full rec dose, but it was not long after that i got my first 2gal of blue max 2 part and fell in love with bpn, prior to that i was using everything from AN,HUMBOLT,MIRACLE GRO,SHULTZ,OSMOCOTE, ETC ETC ETC, but that was all in cheap bag mix potting soil, i have learned so much since then.im finding i can load the coco with all sorts of goodies (see recipe in my thread starting post) i find a 1/4 tsp blood meal top dressed and watered in does wonders for N hungry plants and bone meal same for kicking up flowering so long as i have plenty of active mycos in the coco, i truely believe with proper tweaking/testing/experimenting a true organic high brix plant can be acheived, with that and the accelerated growth,high o2/water holding capacity of coco a hydrospeed high brix is not to far off, i will call it hycobrix" growing but were not there yet, maybe someday i will be able to offer a coco blend of my own to the world along with my genetics! yes i dream big!
 
Air pots are key with coco. If not, a 50-50 perlite-cooc mix always worked well with me. Coco can handle high EC. Perlite can't handle the EC as well. I like watering more offten with a weaker solution (-900ppm), so I supplement perilite. Saves $$$$ on food by 30%.
 
Good Thread BID

Let me drop my hat and offer what help I can. I have quite a few coco grows under my belt. I think I have covered most uses in the garden, from cloning to germinating to harvest. My garden has thrived in straight Canna Coco. Variety of nutes along the way, from dry salts to liquid nute. Organics I have yet to try in coco, although I have dabbled with Bene Tea a bit.
 
FlySwordzman said:
Air pots are key with coco. If not, a 50-50 perlite-cooc mix always worked well with me. Coco can handle high EC. Perlite can't handle the EC as well. I like watering more offten with a weaker solution (-900ppm), so I supplement perilite. Saves $$$$ on food by 30%.
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i have problems with airpots and coco unless i water min once a day my plants wilt, but in smartpots i can go a couple days i have tried several mixes of coco/pearlite best was 100%coco or soil, in my diy air/bid pots i dont have the problem i can control the number and size of holes, i know others have not had the poblem i do, i have only 1 3 gal airpot so i cant speak for the other sizes, but im considering closing off some of the holes next time i use it, but for now im really liking the smartpots, they are cheap and washable/reusable and i can store 40 in 1 3 gallon pot no need to dismantle , thanks for your input , i have only used regular nutes in coco once, been using organics for a long time

SmokzAlot said:
Good Thread BID

Let me drop my hat and offer what help I can. I have quite a few coco grows under my belt. I think I have covered most uses in the garden, from cloning to germinating to harvest. My garden has thrived in straight Canna Coco. Variety of nutes along the way, from dry salts to liquid nute. Organics I have yet to try in coco, although I have dabbled with Bene Tea a bit.
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glad your here hopefully this will become the goto thread for coco growing:thumb:
 
oh great coco gods, please enlighten me! :adore: :blalol:

I'm going to be transplanting my mothers soon, and want to get some advice on how to prepare the soilless mix. I'll be using coco, perlite, and vermiculite. I've been mixing it until it is just on the verge of staying clumped when I squeeze it in my fist. I want it to fall apart, but just barely. I think it works out to about 3:blushsmile:2 coco,verm,perl ratio. Looks like soil with that coco!

Back when I grew in the 90's, I used a soilless mix of just perlite and vermiculite. I do think I was amending it, but I can't recall with what. I put some fine dolomite lime in the mix when I put them into the 1g pots their in now, but I'm not sure I put the right amount, and I didn't mix it very much. It's just sort of near the bottom of the pot.

Are there any recommendations specific to keeping a mother in a coco mix? It's a different goal since I won't be flowering, but I will be keeping her alive longer than normal.

I'm pretty open to what sort of pot too, but I'm leaning towards an airpot or a cloth bag. My hydro shop also sells a plastic pot that offers many of the advantages of the air pot, ie air pruning and stopping roots from circling. I am also undecided on 5g vs 8g.

Thanks in advance for any advice. :Namaste:
 
Hiker said:
oh great coco gods, please enlighten me! :adore: :blalol:

I'm going to be transplanting my mothers soon, and want to get some advice on how to prepare the soilless mix. I'll be using coco, perlite, and vermiculite. I've been mixing it until it is just on the verge of staying clumped when I squeeze it in my fist. I want it to fall apart, but just barely. I think it works out to about 3:blushsmile:2 coco,verm,perl ratio. Looks like soil with that coco!

Back when I grew in the 90's, I used a soilless mix of just perlite and vermiculite. I do think I was amending it, but I can't recall with what. I put some fine dolomite lime in the mix when I put them into the 1g pots their in now, but I'm not sure I put the right amount, and I didn't mix it very much. It's just sort of near the bottom of the pot.

Are there any recommendations specific to keeping a mother in a coco mix? It's a different goal since I won't be flowering, but I will be keeping her alive longer than normal.

I'm pretty open to what sort of pot too, but I'm leaning towards an airpot or a cloth bag. My hydro shop also sells a plastic pot that offers many of the advantages of the air pot, ie air pruning and stopping roots from circling. I am also undecided on 5g vs 8g.

Thanks in advance for any advice. :Namaste:
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i have grown in coco and pearlite in various ratios ,never used vermiculite, but the main thing with coco is you need some form of calcium and magnesium supplement calmag,garden lime,gypsum, epsom salt will help with a mag deficiency, but mixing in some garden lime is what i do. for a mother just enough veg nutes to kep her healthy, and for a few days to a week before you take cuttings starve her of nitrogen so the cuts will root faster ,hope that helps, oh i would rinse the coco real well before use to be sure theres no salt lingering around, and my favorite is the cloth smartpots:peace:
 
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