Cool, looks like it's pretty much the same as the coco I get from that picture.
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Should I flush cheap supermarket soil?
- Thread starter Hubbleman
- Start date
Soil margin- I’m curious why you prefer coco over peat. Many ways to skin a cat and I know people that add a percentage of coco along with peat.
The main reason I’ve used peat is because it has microbial activity included and you need that anyway. I can see coco because it’s more renewable and basically a blank slate once flushed of salt.
@Hubbleman, I went back and looked at my last mix, and I was off a bit. Made it a couple years ago, and have made and altered several mixes.
It was 40% peat
40 drainage/ pumice
10% casting,
10% Canadian forest humus
And then 1.5 cups per cu ft of an equal four way blend of kelp, neem, crab meal, alfalfa
And 1.5 c per cubic ft of an equal four way blend of soft rock phosphate, glacial rock dust, gypsum, and wollastinite.
The main reason I’ve used peat is because it has microbial activity included and you need that anyway. I can see coco because it’s more renewable and basically a blank slate once flushed of salt.
@Hubbleman, I went back and looked at my last mix, and I was off a bit. Made it a couple years ago, and have made and altered several mixes.
It was 40% peat
40 drainage/ pumice
10% casting,
10% Canadian forest humus
And then 1.5 cups per cu ft of an equal four way blend of kelp, neem, crab meal, alfalfa
And 1.5 c per cubic ft of an equal four way blend of soft rock phosphate, glacial rock dust, gypsum, and wollastinite.
Microbial activity?
Well I just been to the biggest and best garden store out of town, the place is huge, cafe.... souvenirs shop, lots of grannies drinking coffee and eating cakes.... they do not have any peat based compost without nutes added :/
So it's coco and perlite for me
Well I just been to the biggest and best garden store out of town, the place is huge, cafe.... souvenirs shop, lots of grannies drinking coffee and eating cakes.... they do not have any peat based compost without nutes added :/
So it's coco and perlite for me
Bro, theres no way you cant find a bag of 100% peat moss in the UK, you should also be able to find some worm castings or compost there, if you cant find it there, you can probably order it off of amazon, same with perlite, even though there are many replacements for perlite such as lava mulch, rice hulls, pumice, hydroton, etc
Only one stopping you from growing good cannabis is yourself! Get the work done my friend, nobody gonna do it for you!
Only one stopping you from growing good cannabis is yourself! Get the work done my friend, nobody gonna do it for you!
I like coco because it's cheap, convenient and organic. Seems to be more renewable/sustainable than peat from my understanding. I also like having complete control over what my plants are growing in. As you said with coco you're starting with a blank slate. You do want microbial activity in your growing medium but that's easy to get from compost/teas/inoculation/etc. I like building my own custom soilless medium.
Now that you're definitely going to want to rinse before planting. Many condensed coir products are rather high in salt.
Buy coir and you still gotta flush.
If it ain't buffered.
It should say if it is.
https://www.maximumyield.com/contributors/mark-wittman
If it ain't buffered.
It should say if it is.
https://www.maximumyield.com/contributors/mark-wittman
Coir also has the advantage of being largely reusable. I use blocks like you showed. Soak it in water to let it expand. I have a plastic bucket I cut large holes in that I covered with fiberglass mesh. Lets the bucket drain while holding the coir in. First time you use it, rinse thoroughly - I probably run 100 gallons through the 5 gallon bucket. Best is to measure the EC of your runoff and rinse until it's zero or close to it.
After it's rinsed, you have to add back calcium and magnesium. You can either make a cal/mag solution or use mixed nutes. Soak for at least 24 hours and drain.
Don't let coir dry out when you have plants in it.
After it's rinsed, you have to add back calcium and magnesium. You can either make a cal/mag solution or use mixed nutes. Soak for at least 24 hours and drain.
Don't let coir dry out when you have plants in it.
Soak it in cal/mag to displace the salt.
What RB56 said sounds like an excellant method.
I personally don't use coir. It didn't work for me.
The one time I used it, I decided it wasn't sticky enough. It didn't hold anything. It didn't hold water.
I started making dirt tea. AKA dirty water. Basically fine clay particles, adding to what I didn't know at the time, adding to the CEC of the coir.
Making it stickier.
What RB56 said sounds like an excellant method.
I personally don't use coir. It didn't work for me.
The one time I used it, I decided it wasn't sticky enough. It didn't hold anything. It didn't hold water.
I started making dirt tea. AKA dirty water. Basically fine clay particles, adding to what I didn't know at the time, adding to the CEC of the coir.
Making it stickier.
H h, I heard u need to water coir medium daily
Depends on your mix and the light/heat/humidity. If you're using 100% coir to grow something then yeah you should be watering every day or two as it dries out quickly. However, if you've mixed up a soilless medium that has earthworm castings, biochar, compost, etc. in it and is more like a soil than just pure coco coir, then you shouldn't need to water everyday. My coco mix can probably go at least 3-4 days between waterings.
