First off, I know this thread is worthless without pics- I'll be uploading them eventually. I'm just so excited I had to share, this is my first time playing with coco. I've been converted 
I did a side-by-side comparison with Botanicare coco and Promix HP. I have a 4' 8-bulb HO T5 light fixture that I use for early/mid veg. The plants are now under a 1000W MH for 2 more weeks, I'll update again when they get moved into 12/12.
Basic Info:
30 clones total - 15 in Coco, 15 in Promix HP
2 seperate 2' x 2' trays, one with all coco plants, one with all promix plants
18/6 light schedule
T5 within 1" of tops of plants at all time
~82 degrees during the day, ~ 77 degrees at night
Nutes:
Fox Farm Grow Big Hydroponic (~1-1.5 tsp / gal)
35% Hydrogen Peroxide (very little ~1/4 tsp / gal)
Purple Maxx (once a week, ~1/4 tsp / gal)
Foliar Feed (2x a week):
Dutch Master Liquid Light (2 tbsp / qt)
Dutch Master Penetrator (2 tbsp / qt)
Purple Maxx (every other foliar, 1/4 tsp / qt)
Now to the fun stuff... So the plants all started off as rooted clones in rapid rooters and were all planted at the same time. They were planted into 6" magnum pots and placed directly under a T5 for two weeks. All plants were hand watered 3 days in a row, then 1 day of no water, then 3 days water, etc... I do not flush weekly or bi-weekly. I flush once after the first week of bloom, then again a week before harvest so these plants have yet to be flushed. Water temps at feeding time were about 74 degrees, pH 5.9-6.1, EC 1.3. Lucky for me my tap water comes out at roughly ~400 ppm so I didn't need to add any Cal-Mg supplements to my mix.
Results:
I'm sold on coco! I've been using Promix HP for years now and I'd say I've got my system pretty dialed in but DAMN!!!! Every root system in the coco looked like it was on steroids! There was literally 5 times the root mass in the coco pots than the Promix pots! The roots in the coco pots were whiter, thicker, healthier, and far more prominent. The bottom of each coco pot had 'swirls' of roots from the explosive growth of the root system.
The plants themselves look about the same, with the ones on the coco side being maybe 10-15% larger than the Promix counterparts. Not a very noticeable difference above the growing medium, but still a slight improvement. So basically, to make a long story short- COCO ROCKS!!!! I'll keep this thread updated every couple weeks or so until harvest when the final results are in. I'm getting ready to setup a 4KW grow and I'm going to do it all in coco. Clones are rooting now so its only a couple weeks away
I did a side-by-side comparison with Botanicare coco and Promix HP. I have a 4' 8-bulb HO T5 light fixture that I use for early/mid veg. The plants are now under a 1000W MH for 2 more weeks, I'll update again when they get moved into 12/12.Basic Info:
30 clones total - 15 in Coco, 15 in Promix HP
2 seperate 2' x 2' trays, one with all coco plants, one with all promix plants
18/6 light schedule
T5 within 1" of tops of plants at all time
~82 degrees during the day, ~ 77 degrees at night
Nutes:
Fox Farm Grow Big Hydroponic (~1-1.5 tsp / gal)
35% Hydrogen Peroxide (very little ~1/4 tsp / gal)
Purple Maxx (once a week, ~1/4 tsp / gal)
Foliar Feed (2x a week):
Dutch Master Liquid Light (2 tbsp / qt)
Dutch Master Penetrator (2 tbsp / qt)
Purple Maxx (every other foliar, 1/4 tsp / qt)
Now to the fun stuff... So the plants all started off as rooted clones in rapid rooters and were all planted at the same time. They were planted into 6" magnum pots and placed directly under a T5 for two weeks. All plants were hand watered 3 days in a row, then 1 day of no water, then 3 days water, etc... I do not flush weekly or bi-weekly. I flush once after the first week of bloom, then again a week before harvest so these plants have yet to be flushed. Water temps at feeding time were about 74 degrees, pH 5.9-6.1, EC 1.3. Lucky for me my tap water comes out at roughly ~400 ppm so I didn't need to add any Cal-Mg supplements to my mix.
Results:
I'm sold on coco! I've been using Promix HP for years now and I'd say I've got my system pretty dialed in but DAMN!!!! Every root system in the coco looked like it was on steroids! There was literally 5 times the root mass in the coco pots than the Promix pots! The roots in the coco pots were whiter, thicker, healthier, and far more prominent. The bottom of each coco pot had 'swirls' of roots from the explosive growth of the root system.
The plants themselves look about the same, with the ones on the coco side being maybe 10-15% larger than the Promix counterparts. Not a very noticeable difference above the growing medium, but still a slight improvement. So basically, to make a long story short- COCO ROCKS!!!! I'll keep this thread updated every couple weeks or so until harvest when the final results are in. I'm getting ready to setup a 4KW grow and I'm going to do it all in coco. Clones are rooting now so its only a couple weeks away
