Unofficial Coco Coir Growers Thread

[gaiusmarius]

gausmarius, i grow in dirt (all-mix) using the full canna terra range. I am on day 65 of flower and i did follow the NEW canna chart. All i can say that it seems to work as the NL are much fatter this time around. Both yield and potency seem to be better. I fed them pk 13/14 only 2 times over 1 week. I did notice a little yellowing though but it doesent seem to have hurt them.

like i said before i'm sure canna tested the new way before they recommended it. so i'm not at all surprised that you got a nice harvest using their newest recommendations.

although i must say i have recently stopped using the pk 13/14, i use a product called call gel, which is a flowering complex that is added as of 14 days of 12/12 till about week 6 or 7 of 12/12. but people would be surprised what is achievable yield wise without using anything other then A+B at the correct ph.

the other thing to remember is that earth and coco are not the same. when you added the pk it was a one or two time thing. when i add it t my res it means a week of pk being added every time the pump runs till the tank is used up.

i might well do an experiment with the pk according to the canna recommendations, just at a lower dose.

I've amended my coco coir with about 1/3 - 1/2 EWC.
Can I still water frequently? or do I need to treat it more like soil now?

what is EWC?

this would depend on what you have been treating it like. you can't or shouldn't change watering rhythms half way through.

peace

 

[axel neek]

Earth Worm Castings

 

[gaiusmarius]

you know i have no idea how the coco would react to earth worm castings. if you added 50% of the stuff, then i would think your coco will be very muddy no? you probably need to treat it like earth now. but i need to see the plants and the medium mixture to really be sure. why did you add so much ewc? i thought you were only supposed to use a small amount of that stuff in a earth mix?

i really find coco works the best on it's own.

 

[cough_cough_eer]

I've amended my coco coir with about 1/3 - 1/2 EWC.
Can I still water frequently? or do I need to treat it more like soil now?

My plants didn't like the earthworm castings at all, ended up flushing and eventually transplsnting some of them into new coco.
Like gaiusmarius said, really works best un-amended..

 

[axel neek]

yes the runoff of the mix is quite muddy. I'm not sure why I used so much, just experimenting really, I can add a new bail of coco to my rubbermaid "stock" bin. Although at that point I'm not sure what I would do with all that coco.
I transplanted seedlings that are just starting their 3rd set of true leaves into the mix, I'm just running this batch for seeds, hence why I don't mind experimenting a little.

I've heard of people growing in straight EWC, so I'm sure it's not going to burn them.
My reason for using the EWC was because I wanted a good source of beneficial bacteria, micronutrients, and organic matter. Maybe I overdid it a little, I guess we'll see.. or I'll see, sorry guys no pics. (I'll try to work on that)

 

[Guest]

So how much perlite should I mix in if I want to feed multiple times a day? Right now I ignore PH because I'm in soil with extra lime added. If I add lime to the coco perlite mix will I be able to get away w/ not checking/changing PH? Or will checking ph make my plants happier?

 

[gaiusmarius]

in a coco grow your ph is very important and should be around 6.0.

in earth you can preset your ph with addatives, but it's still better to keep any water you give them at ph 6.5

i would not water a earth grow more then once a day, even with 30% perlit.

 

[gaiusmarius]

hey axel, i would start using the coco pure, you will love the results.

but as you say, for vegging plants it's not so important as long as they can live. not that i have any idea if they will be ok in the long run, as it seems like it might well be too wet.

 

[jimjay]

Hey Gaiusmarius,
I have a couple ?'s for you. Im about to switch to bloom. I currently have my drip on 4 times a day for 1 min every six hours with the lights on 24 hrs. When i switch to bloom i was thinking to run the pump maybe 3-4 times during lights on for 1 min. Will this mess everything thing up considering i will be watering every 3-4 hrs instead of every 6 hrs like they get now or can they handle it?
Also i am growing ww and i know you have grown it a few times. My plants are from a foot-17''. Is it a good time to flower? how big will they get? I am hoping to get 2 oz's a plant.
And one last question. What do you think of hygrozyme vs. cannazyme? I believe you said you were trying hygrozyme.
thanks

 

[gaiusmarius]

Hi jimjay,

it will be fine, because you watered on a regular basis. the time during lights off will be break enough. you can chose if you want to go 3 or 4 times per light phase. the important thing is to make sure you increase the watering time as the plants use more water.

 

[jimjay]

thanks. What do you think about the plant sizes? should i flower now? could i get 2 oz's a plant? how much did your widow stretch?

 

[axel neek]

hey gaius, I use straight coco regularly, it's all I use, even all my houseplants are in coco.
Like I said before, I'm really just experimenting.
I don't see how it could have negative effects in the long run, if anything I would expect things to go wrong shortly after transplant.
I agree that it's probably too wet, I'll be watering a couple plants a few times today to see if I get any droopy / over watered looking leaves.

 

[gaiusmarius]

it all depends how the castings react with the coco over time. some things are not ideal to add to coco.

if it's only an experiment then there is nothing to worry about anyway right. have fun, let us know if you learn anything.

i know that my pure coco can practically not be over watered as long as it can drain freely, but with the worm castings it might well be different specially at a high concentration.

 

[Bongojaz]

i'm helping my brother (long distance) with a grow in coco. he called and said he was getting a droop. i immediately thought too little water/food. told me he was feeding five six times a day. said he was at 50% feed strength. i told him to increase feed strength and decrease watering frequency. no more droop. the plants looked healthy enough, just drooping. he was hand watering about a quart each time. i would never water that amount but i guess it just goes to show, you can overwater in coco if you don't use common sense.

 

[Kenny Lingus]

Gaiusmarius

peace

Amazing how hashish makes a creative man, right GM

-I'm so thankful for your threads on coco-slab growing, as it seems I've found a very easy and productive way to work in me garden. (Just gotta find the right strains first. (As of now, it seems my Sour Bubbles are way too slow in veg/rooting so they're not the best ones grown this way. JLP's Phoenix project Haze crossed with Sour Bubble, that's a whole other story. Huge tasty buds all over the place.)

 

[Mikey]

well I have just decided to switch to coco myself and this thread has been very informative to me. However I will be using the metanaturals line of products for my coco/perlite grow.

I am growing Mandala's speed queen in it and an experimental from Mike called P1... I have them in soil now and as soon as they outgrow their little cups they are going into 1 gallon poly grow bags. anyways just thought i would let you guys know even yet another line of nutrients being used with it.

I will let you people know how well i do with it ..

 

[stikky budz]

Anyone any experience of PLAGRON COCO ?

I used the b'cuzz stuff last time but my fav hydro supplier had this stuff instead. Anyone used it? Results ok? etc
____________________________________________

Earlier in the thread a couple of ya's mentioned having your drippers on for only a minute or 3 at a time, at whatever frequencys it was. How much solution is being pumped through those drippers in that short period of time (1 min)????

Btw,,,i was wondering,,,, does the power of the water pump effect the output of the emitters at all?

 

[gaiusmarius]

plagron has a good rep with folks i know who use it. i didn't know they got into the coco business, but it should be good, they are a reputable company. when you first saturate it with water measure the return ph and ec, if the ec is around 1.0 and the ph is around 6.0 then you have good coco. if the ec is higher then 1.4 i would give it a flush till it's down to about 1.2

have fun watching the amazing growth rate in coco.

 

[stikky budz]

Cheers Gaiusmaurius.

 

[acidblue]

Anyone any experience of PLAGRON COCO ?

I used the b'cuzz stuff last time but my fav hydro supplier had this stuff instead. Anyone used it? Results ok? etc
____________________________________________

Earlier in the thread a couple of ya's mentioned having your drippers on for only a minute or 3 at a time, at whatever frequencys it was. How much solution is being pumped through those drippers in that short period of time (1 min)????

Btw,,,i was wondering,,,, does the power of the water pump effect the output of the emitters at all?

Good question about the drippers, I like to know myself.
Thinking of switching to coco and a drip system.
My local hydrostore caries the Grotek coco fro Gh, which
i hear is ok stuff, just needs to be flushed.
Right now im doing some durban in an ebb & flow setup
with rapid rooters in netcups surrounded with clay pebbles.
Can I use coco in an ebb & flow? Can I put the coco in the
netcups and place them in the flood table on top clay rocks?
or would a drip system be better?
I have a 159 gph pump i can use it's adjustable so i can raise or
lower to my needs or is that too much for 4 plants?
and what kind of timers are you guys using?
What are your drip times?