Soil/Coco mix problems, advice please

[paranoidnz]

Hey guys, just on to my second grow now,
first grow was a home made soil.
I have flushed out the soil totally,
then I thought hmmm, lets mix in some coco and get some of these coco results (not happening)
so now its


%50 old soil I just used,
%10 new soil
%40 percent coco


started off good, ladies just at knee level now.
BUT, lots of yellowing going on now, lots of purple stems on the fan leaves, random spots. Over watering somehow, pots stay heavy for days on end, think I also have nitro def.




Im starting to think its ether a soil mix or a coco mix, don't mix the two together, and it kinda makes sense not to, since you ph different levels for ether straight, ive just started going mid way between soil and coco required nutes and ph,


has anyone tried soil and coco mix, do you have any actual tips or hints I can use to help my grow out?

 

[Levitationofme]

Many mixes have a % of coco. but using spent soil is your problem.

Yea, Coco is no miracle nutrient, its a soilless medium on it's own.
You have to add nutrients.

 

[Levitationofme]

Think of it like this...

If you just brewed a nice pot o Joe and drank it, decided you wanted more so you
added 10% more fresh ground coffee to the used grinds and expect awesome results from the next brew?

 

[paranoidnz]

yeah, kinda, I see your point, my bad I should of been more specific
Im using nutrients to feed
I thought it would be better to use a flat soil with next to no nute value so I could go all mad scientist on the nutrients.
reason why I made my own soil in the first place was because most places that sell anything considered decent to grow in are a while away or have long term slow release fertilisers in them, and in my opinion buying 200 litres of soil from a actual grow shop just looks down right weird

 

[Levitationofme]

Indeed, Then it's a matter of dialing in what you got.. Nothing wrong with that plan.
Light nute solution at 1.2 EC at 6-6.2 Ph to start with.
With tons of coco in soil you will be able to water and feed fairly often
and perhaps get some faster growth.
I mix up manufacturers specs then dilute with water to the desired EC then I pH the whole shebang. Water a couple times with that then once with basic water PH'ed the same.
Lots of plants will take more nutrients then that but you can raise the EC until they show some signs it's too much, then back off.

 

[Iamnumber]

Hi,

My plan of action is to recycle my soil via composting. This gives you nutrient rich soil which you can mix with old soil to give 'good' soil (= rich enough but not too rich). This can be again mixed with coco (or other) to build up medium with characteristics you want.

Worm compost is fairly easy to manage indoors so I would recommend that as a staring point.

 

[Iamnumber]

.. And if you are aiming for 'hydro' kind of a setup (nutrients from bottle).. the depleted soil acts (afaik) like a filter in tobacco meaning that the plant dose not get full access to given nutrients. In this case it is better to switch to hydro mediums (or at least increase ratio in mix heavily)