Stunned
Well-Known Member
I've now had experience with four different manufacturers of coco and I'm seeing a clear winner at least from what I've seen so far.
The 4 in no particular order are....
Botanicare bricks and bales (bricks twice and bales once)
Bosmere F489 compressed bale 11 pound
Canna Organic Coco Substrate Bag RHP Certified, 50 L (2 orders)
Coco Earth 5kg Coconut Coir Compressed Bale
All were purchased from Zon, and the last product is no longer available in Canada, perhaps for good reason.
I am currently growing in the last of this discontinued product, and my last grow was done in the Coco Earth.
While the plants did ok with this medium, I had to flush this to a considerable degree just to get it running clear.
It seemed dirty and EC was high when hydrated.
Particulate consistency was all over the place from fine to what I would call too large of chunks.
There was also bits of waste like plastic in it.
Since the plants seemed to grow alright in it, I decided to use it all up, being the tightwad I am.
The price was competitive with other product.
I wouldn't buy it again.
The Canna product appealed to me because there was no hydration required. It just came in a very heavy duty bag.
Particulate consistency was good with the medium ranging from fine to course and the course was good in that it was entirely of long strands as opposed to chunks. There was also no waste in this product.
As with the Coco Earth, the EC was quite high out of the bag, and I had to flush it quite a bit to settle it down.
Plants thrived in it, and the price was in line with competition.
I grew my first crop with Botanicare coco bricks.
I didn't need to flush this very much before use
Particulate consistency was good, but on the fine side
No waste at all and no large chunks.
My plants loved this stuff!
I have since purchased the Bales and have had similar results
It's very uniform, tending to be a finer consistency, low EC, with little flushing required.
One thing is that it tends to be more expensive than some of it's competitors.
The Bosmere F489 compressed bale is the newest to me and I have only used it to start seedlings in solo cups.
It comes in an 11 pound bale, so I hacked off a portion to re hydrate for the solo cups.
Dealing with it, I have found that it seems to have a good consistency, similar to the Botanicare
I did need it flush it thoroughly.
Pricing was affordable. Quite good actually. It was 8 dollars cheaper than the Botanicare and 6 dollars cheaper than the Coco Earth.
Seedlings are doing fine in it so far.
I hope this helps for anyone considering a purchase of coco coir on Zon or at your local B&M.
I highly recommend growing in coco and will probably not grow in anything else.
Regards Peeps
The 4 in no particular order are....
Botanicare bricks and bales (bricks twice and bales once)
Bosmere F489 compressed bale 11 pound
Canna Organic Coco Substrate Bag RHP Certified, 50 L (2 orders)
Coco Earth 5kg Coconut Coir Compressed Bale
All were purchased from Zon, and the last product is no longer available in Canada, perhaps for good reason.
I am currently growing in the last of this discontinued product, and my last grow was done in the Coco Earth.
While the plants did ok with this medium, I had to flush this to a considerable degree just to get it running clear.
It seemed dirty and EC was high when hydrated.
Particulate consistency was all over the place from fine to what I would call too large of chunks.
There was also bits of waste like plastic in it.
Since the plants seemed to grow alright in it, I decided to use it all up, being the tightwad I am.
The price was competitive with other product.
I wouldn't buy it again.
The Canna product appealed to me because there was no hydration required. It just came in a very heavy duty bag.
Particulate consistency was good with the medium ranging from fine to course and the course was good in that it was entirely of long strands as opposed to chunks. There was also no waste in this product.
As with the Coco Earth, the EC was quite high out of the bag, and I had to flush it quite a bit to settle it down.
Plants thrived in it, and the price was in line with competition.
I grew my first crop with Botanicare coco bricks.
I didn't need to flush this very much before use
Particulate consistency was good, but on the fine side
No waste at all and no large chunks.
My plants loved this stuff!
I have since purchased the Bales and have had similar results
It's very uniform, tending to be a finer consistency, low EC, with little flushing required.
One thing is that it tends to be more expensive than some of it's competitors.
The Bosmere F489 compressed bale is the newest to me and I have only used it to start seedlings in solo cups.
It comes in an 11 pound bale, so I hacked off a portion to re hydrate for the solo cups.
Dealing with it, I have found that it seems to have a good consistency, similar to the Botanicare
I did need it flush it thoroughly.
Pricing was affordable. Quite good actually. It was 8 dollars cheaper than the Botanicare and 6 dollars cheaper than the Coco Earth.
Seedlings are doing fine in it so far.
I hope this helps for anyone considering a purchase of coco coir on Zon or at your local B&M.
I highly recommend growing in coco and will probably not grow in anything else.
Regards Peeps
