Soil coco mix benefits?

[HigherTheHigh]

Can someone help me, iv heard and seen people use soil/coco mixes and wondered what the benefits were from mixing the pair together.

Im growing some new strains and iv only got 1 of each seed so i dont really want to encounter any problems along the way.

Do the benefits include better veg time and does it affect the taste overall compare to 100% soil?

Thanks .

 

[fanleaf]

Can someone help me, iv heard and seen people use soil/coco mixes and wondered what the benefits were from mixing the pair together.

Im growing some new strains and iv only got 1 of each seed so i dont really want to encounter any problems along the way.

Do the benefits include better veg time and does it affect the taste overall compare to 100% soil?

Thanks .

The overall taste will not be a factor unless you are growing a 100% Organic Crop. Once any type of synthetic nutrients hit the scene you kind of lose that all organic flavor. Adding Coco to soil can help with drainage, aeration, pH buffering etc.

 

[TorturedSoul]

The biggest benefit is probably that it isn't peat. "Coco" is another way of saying/typing "coconut coir," which is made from - you guessed it - coconuts, and takes about as long to make as a coconut, plus a little processing time. Peat, on the other hand, is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or other organic matter. But a peat bed "grows" at a rate of only a millimeter per year - so a bed approximately ten feet deep could take somewhere around 9,000 years.

It has a relatively decent pH, absorbs ~30% more water than peat, and contains a lot of potassium (along with small amounts of manganese, copper, iron, and zinc). But it also tends to contain a lot of sodium. However, you can deal with that. After initially hydrating, rinsing, rinsing, and rinsing it (or just hydrating it, I suppose, if you trust that the anonymous employee cared as much about your plants as YOU do), you can soak it in a dilute calcium nitrate solution and the calcium ions will displace most of the sodium (and a lot of the potassium, but your nutrients will contain that); calcium nitrate is a common fertilizer and can be found at most good plant nursery centers and probably almost all "farm and feed" type businesses that sell stuff by the pound and 50-pound bags. Throw a little magnesium in the mix while you're at it, and you have "pre-charged" your coco coir with two elements that are important to cannabis plants (which consume more calcium than just about anything else other than nitrogen).

 

[HigherTheHigh]

Thanks for that, i just thought id ask just the plants im growing now are in soil and there taking a lot longer than coco (i know there faster) but never thought it would be this slow, im nearly 14 days into flowering and maybe 2-3 hairs per branch, the previous round iv just grown were around 10cm clusters of hairs, i just cant understand if its me doing something wrong or the seeds are a bit off.

So iv got these choice of soils to choose from for my new strains,

Canna Terra PLus

BioBizz Light Mix

Im currectnly running BioBizz All Mix but dont not really taking to it.

 

[MassMedMan]

Canna Terra while slightly more expensive is the bees knees if you ask me. I run Canna coco myself and it's the best out there.... so they say.

 

[HigherTheHigh]

Hello buddy,

Yeah iv ran canna coco, thought it was great but never had the taste, ill try the Terra .

Should i go use clay pebbles or perlite?

 

[MassMedMan]

The pebbles can get pricey but they're reusable. I've used both it's growers preference I say.

 

[HigherTheHigh]

The price isnt really an issue at the moment, i think they do a pebble mix.

Another question i have is there going in 11L square plastic pots, would by drilling 10mm holes all around the pot ( a good 50-100 per pot) think that would help the roots?

I was thinking of putting some black fibre around the inside of the pot once the holes have been done so the roots arent getting direct sun light.