From 70/30 coco to 100% coco

[Vesti]

Coco with dry amendments.

Coco with dry amendments.

100% coco or imho better off just doing the Promix. Newly transplanted will not need to be watered everyday but once the roots are established at lest once a day for best results. Don’t let it dry out once the roots are established. I’ve done every hydro and soils and soilless over past 30 years and I’ve landed on 100% coco. Done all manner of feed methods with trays w/o trays diff sizes you name it. I‘ve gotten over 7 zips in a 3/4 gal pot albeit needs multiple waters per day. Currently just hand watering once a day in 3 gallon pots with plants that are 2’ x 2’. Did a room tear down and Just didn’t have time to set up the trays and drip. Prefer DTW in trays.

Oh yeah and the room is edge to edge two layers of net trellis so how to water you ask? Well my buddy built me a piece of pvc (maybe 1 1/4”) with a funnel like fir beer bongs on end. The length is just enough to reach everything while I roll around on my craftsman seat fir working on cars. The end of the pvc has a curved rubber hose that I think is the drain that you use fir washing machine. Got my bucket of nute in a flat plastic thing w wheels and and 2 liter pitcher. Easy peasy.

Just to include another option, and food for thought...

About a year ago I began using and reusing mostly pure coco (I had a partial bag of vermiculite I threw in just because I had it on hand), but the difference is I used what is basically a "water only" strategy by amending the coco with dry organic ferts. Of course it needs inundation with calmag, but other than that it is so simple it amazes me it is not more commonplace.

The coco is reusable, and just seems to be getting better and better. For watering I typically use a very light compost tea, more for microbial benefit than nutes, although there is certainly some micronutrients.

To give a sense of cost, the last grow in a 2x4 area included basically free recycled medium, and somewhere between $10-15 of FF dry organic amendments, add to that maybe $10 in molasses for a whopping $20-25 in feed/nutrient cost.

This also produced my highest yield to date - not saying it broke any records, but I was happy with it.

Different strokes, as the saying goes, but anyone looking for a really inexpensive and streamlined method should think about giving it a try.

 

[medicalmj]

Just to include another option, and food for thought...

About a year ago I began using and reusing mostly pure coco (I had a partial bag of vermiculite I threw in just because I had it on hand), but the difference is I used what is basically a "water only" strategy by amending the coco with dry organic ferts. Of course it needs inundation with calmag, but other than that it is so simple it amazes me it is not more commonplace.

The coco is reusable, and just seems to be getting better and better. For watering I typically use a very light compost tea, more for microbial benefit than nutes, although there is certainly some micronutrients.

To give a sense of cost, the last grow in a 2x4 area included basically free recycled medium, and somewhere between $10-15 of FF dry organic amendments, add to that maybe $10 in molasses for a whopping $20-25 in feed/nutrient cost.

This also produced my highest yield to date - not saying it broke any records, but I was happy with it.

Different strokes, as the saying goes, but anyone looking for a really inexpensive and streamlined method should think about giving it a try.

Thanks for bringing this up! I think you may have just saved me time and money. Vermiculite can help keep coco from drying out, which is a problem for me since I hand water. The question becomes what's the ideal percentage to use.

So not only will this help prevent any drying out between waterings/feedings, I might be able to use 2 gallon instead of 3.

 

[Vesti]

Glad to add some value!

I don't have any idea about the percentage of vermiculite, but it couldn't be more than 10-15% - basically I had this old partial bag and it was either getting thrown out with some other clutter or put to use here or outside in the veggie garden, hence the experiment.

I have a couple of buckets with almost all coco, and honestly they don't dry out as quickly as everyone seems to claim, probably because they are 5gal pails rather than 1 or 2 gal containers in a drip system. Coco used this way is really more like a water-only super soil, so larger containers probably work better. I suspect the amendments help with water retention as well, as would most carbohydrate additives (I just use molasses) if only slightly. Last harvest, for what it is worth, I managed barely under 2oz per sf.

Check out the YT channel "Mr.Canuck's Grow", which is where I first ran into the idea. His videos are pretty well organized and don't tend to "ramble on" in the stoner mode of some (nothing against stoners, but I'm guessing you know what I mean...).

I've used Fox Farms dry amendments, but currently have some going with Geoflora, which seems to have a wider spectrum of nutes, minerals, and beneficials. It's not super cheap, but check out their website, as of a couple months ago they were giving away free samples of their veg (4lbs), and bloom (4lbs) for a shipping cost of around $13. I suspect the Mother Earth line of dry org amends would be pretty good too, and the YT guy I mentioned uses Gaia Green, which I wasn't able to get my hands on here in the States.

In any event, especially because it's reusable and "rechargeable", coco seems like the cheapest option. I use Cyco bricks, a couple of which cost me around $25-30 a little over a year ago, and I haven't spent a penny on medium since.

 

[Vesti]

And THAT is an awesome looking space!