Coco Coir Quality

[Loc Dog]

I am poor so try to get everything as cheap as possible. Bought several large bricks of coir at best price, and has a lot of what I guess is husk. Is it bad for the grow??? I have been trying to get as much as I can out. Now wondering if it is very bad for plants or maybe actually good.

 

[Cerathule]

Is it washed and buffered? It needs to. Check EC & pH, if it's high and alkaline, then there's still sea-salt in it.
Then, depending on how fine/coarse it is, you may wanna mix in some perlite

 

[Loc Dog]

Is it washed and buffered? It needs to. Check EC & pH, if it's high and alkaline, then there's still sea-salt in it.
Then, depending on how fine/coarse it is, you may wanna mix in some perlite

What is acceptable EC and PH?? I always mix a lot of perlite in. Most concerned about the stringy crap. Have been trying to get, but wondering if it actually matters. Wondering if I should pickup some cannazyme.

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

@Loc Dog Just wash n buffer your coco. I’ve never used bricks but have been forced to reuse coco because like yourself I’m bloody skint. I’ve only done it a couple of times. EC yer water with calmag to about 1.2 pH 6.0-6.2. Soak for 8hours then repeat …. There’s an old Irish saying “to be sure to be sure” …. Okay I made that up lol

Buffer twice. Pot up. Bit of water to lower yer EC a wee bit then what your normal feed for the stage of growth yer at until yer run off is reyt.

Reads a bit convoluted. Sorry about that but it’s pretty simple. The plants I potted up into my reused coco are flying Good luck buddy

 

[Lumpy-Gravy]

Just to add. I washed n drained the coco using the cullender from the kitchen …. And put it back … tee hee hee hee

 

[Raho]

The "stringy crap" is the good stuff. The COIR.
That fibrous structure creates lots of voids for a healthy air/water ratio.

What you don't want is "powdery crap" or "dust."
That type of coco can sometimes hold too much moisture leading to unhappy roots.
You may not even need perlite if it's all the good stringy crap.

Follow Lumpy's advice on hydrating the brick with cal-mag. If you already hydrated it with water, do it again with the cal-mag solution. Drain well before use ;-)

For reference, what brand of brick did you wind up with?

 

[Loc Dog]

The "stringy crap" is the good stuff. The COIR.
That fibrous structure creates lots of voids for a healthy air/water ratio.

What you don't want is "powdery crap" or "dust."
That type of coco can sometimes hold too much moisture leading to unhappy roots.
You may not even need perlite if it's all the good stringy crap.

Follow Lumpy's advice on hydrating the brick with cal-mag. If you already hydrated it with water, do it again with the cal-mag solution. Drain well before use ;-)

For reference, what brand of brick did you wind up with?

I am going back to general hydroponics. Should have plenty of air using air pots. The cheap stringy bricks are Hydro Crunch brand. Will need to hydrate a new brick this week and will check EC and PH.