Unofficial Coco Coir Growers Thread

[Coco Nuts]

I run a perpetual with about 8 different strains in a 2x2 (kinda crowded) and never seem to have a problem satisifying the needs of all the plants, which are spaced about a week apart. However, I do move the plants that are 14 days from harvest to a different "table" which is farther away from the light. Otherwise I target plants with foliar feeding.

 

[Kenny Lingus]

Q's on the Canna Coco

Q's on the Canna Coco

I've been trying to find some answwers to a few of my coco-related questions, but sadly it's been too poor results for me to decide whether I should go nuts or stay safely to the peat/perlite based soil mixes.

I have used coco for peat on some occasions, but went back to peat because of the economy, safety and availability.
-A few of these factors have changed recently and I'd like a "cleaner" approach to the sweet natural taste I've had so far...

1​

I've noticed the nute schedule at Canna's website indicate how many ml/10L of water. This almost the same as the other fertilizing plans I've seen on Biocanna and Terra series. But this two-part formula is new to me and I read two values for the coco nutes.
-Is this the maximum dosage for A and B?

2​

I see alot of different opinions on the subject of flushing the coco between feedings and according to percentage of solution run-off.
-In an automated run-to-waste drip system; would only 1 water-flush a week suffice? (This would be very convenient as I have to refill the res. at such intervals. I would maybe need to reduce the nutrition value of my feeding water since this seemed to work with hand-watered organics on peat-based soil(less)-mix blended with perlite.)

3​

Is there any organic nutes for a coco-grow fed by such a drip-system that is rinsed with water only once weekly, and runs to waste. I don't wanna leach much more than 5-10% at each feeding, but could easily run a nice 50-100% flush with weak nutes or plain water once a week (or every other week). That's when I have to change the resorvoir anyway.

4-5-6​

Canna say there coir is buffered and trichoderma inocculated but COGR-slabs are not. Then I see some buffering agents and this woman at a sales point say I shoyld use substra-series on the COGR-slabs....
I get soooo confused.

-Do I NEED CalMag for Cannas coco-coir?

-Have anyone used the COGR yet, and is it just to buffer it with this CalMag you guys talk about?

-One website for horticulture claimed to be BioBizz-experts and said that even though BioBizz carried their own coco-medium they preferred Cannas coir. They also claimed that BioBizz-nutes were fully compaible with plain coco-coir, but I think they talked about tomatoes and peppers...
-Is BioBizz programme really enough to grow cannabis on coco-coir?

7​

Reusing Canna coco seem to be almost problem-free from the info on their website. Then again I read in here that the coir releases P+K during latter flowering stages...
-So how come recycling the slabs don't cause build-up's, lockouts or at least imbalance between nutrient elements?


Thank You very much if you're still reading my seemingly endless array of questions regarding coco growing. I realize that there are a lot of information at the internet, but it's exactly like this
experience is king InMyMostHonestOpinon.

 

[cough_cough_eer]

We recently started using coco and have questions..


. We mix 1 part earthworm castings, to 3 parts coco(Botanicare) 30-40 % perlite, kelp, marine cusine and some garden lime. Hand watering, all didfferent strains at different times of flowering , and some are still in veg.


Should I be mixing all this into the coco or should I leave it as it is(coco and perlite) and add nutrient teas as needed?? I have bat guanos (one for veg and one for flower) for teas..

thanks all

 

[bonecarver_OG]

answers.. i hope

answers.. i hope

kenny lingus -

1 - the questions is a bit messy - what values are u talking about? with canna coco the max amount of a+b (meaning u use same amount of both botlles) is 40 ml /10 L - but in most ocasions is enough with much less. just feel ur way thru the first harvest and u get tha hang of it - start low and go up all the time untill end of flowering then stop

2 - for flushing the coco u can water in excess every time u water so u get run-off - or flush it properly every once in a while - but i STRONLGY recomend to get 25% run off every time u water. that way no problems should occur ever because of buildup etc.

3 - canna coco nutes are not organic, but they are made out of certain plants extrected on all their goodies. its in the base a natural raw material refined into canna coco. other than that atleast there isnt any good organic alternatives in europe - experiement!

4 - 5 -6 - try it and tell us

7 - since coco is a renewable source of fiber thats natural and resistant - it can be flushed out to use again. but we use cheap GOOD coco and we dont feel the need of recycling it. afterall theres lots of coco palmtrees out there. but many do with great results. i imagine bug controll is a key to sucess in these cases since the fibres might become a source of infestation of bugs - if it has eggs etc after bug attacks. it would mean allways getting same problemsover and over. just better throw it oout and buy more.


seriously - i have tried cannacoco coir - and i use canna nutes - but i dont think its necesary to use their coco brands. it works great anyway..

as i stated before - soak the coco in distilled water with the nutes u would use for the moment, ph check and then - for clones i soak with very little a+b, for fullgrown plants i put full dose of nutes - maybe 25+25 if its in veg or 30 in flowering.

for people who want to learn to grow in coco this thread has all the info they need.

remeber this is just the way i do it

peace

 

[bonecarver_OG]

cough cough err - i tried similar method as u mention up there - but i got later in flowering problems with buildup.

then trying just to use coco specific nutes i got it sorted out.

coco doesnt have any nutes in it self - really and to get succes make sure those teas are complete with nutes. including ur secondary ones too.

good luck and have lots of fun with ur coco hehe

peace!

pst - mampi - good post mate.

 

[Guest]

I created the same thread because I didn't see this one...sorry:

good stuff.I was used to using soil and changed to coco.I had many problems due to overwatering though, using atami compressed coco.The coco itself started rotting.So I found it hard to get accustomed to.

nice info there ! :texas hydro coco info

On this first use I feel like it actually made my plants grow/finish faster than they do with soil, I wonder if I'm right about this.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

its very od if the coco starts rotting - since coco nut fibers are some of the few natural fibers resistant to rot in salt water.

seems atami coco is no good

i think also in coco the growth and also the flowering is more explosive than in soil. .

 

[Guest]

yes I use the compressed stuff too.Well, I was new to it.I have now found out that growth is better when I keep the medium rather dry.I take it as a mark of inexperience with coco.Hopefully I'll be able to water more, with more nutrients.Atami are amongst the best cocos with canna.
Water actually goes down the containers and kindda get stuck down there , with seemingly very little oxygen.Also I dont wanna use any chemical or mineral food, so I stick to biobizz grow/bloom and algamic for micro nutrients.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

maybe biological nutes can have added to the decompsition?

peace

 

[Guest]

clever thinking bonecarver, I hadn't thought of it...
the use of algamic seems to have solved the problem so far though

 

[Guest]

It would be nice if someone like Bonecarver( hint, hint) would write up an article on the do's and don'ts of coco growing. maybe the techniques that have worked best, so others can avoid the pitfalls.

I am still learning about coco so I am not experienced enough at this point. But I do love the medium much more than peat based mixes.

Cheers,
SH

 

[bonecarver_OG]

i dont want to seem like a coco expert - i think i need a lot more time to know it all - ony thing i can say is what worked for me and other coco-growers i know. at the moment i think reading the threads i have in my link can propably give u some info of the method we use.

we (the co op) have been talking about writing things down for others - to make some kind of manual based on our method. however it would include more stuff than only coco growing - also the way of "training" we use. its a mixed method and we want to make sure it works under these conditions we are in now.

in a while we will start that thread. coco-based hydro outdoors is quite new, as far as we can tell from the boards etc on the net, that new infact it doesnt seem to be able to find info about outdoor coco hydro growing of weed - and still thats one of the main ways vegetable and fruit crops are grown in green houses over here.. . so there might be some ideas to share to other interested growers.

the things we think about:
- salt-build up because of evaporation or other heat and sun related probs
- the nutes and watering schedule
- price and effort compard to yield
- qaulity


the first 2 we got controlled now and the 3th and 4th after the harvest....
..

but untill that just ask away and ill se if i can answer - and hey - there is a LOT of other good coco growers here on IC. not saying im good anyway.

peace

 

[Guest]

alrighty then. I still think you're more qualified than most, as I have seen your threads at other places besides here.

I think the one question that I think most people have trouble with is when to water, with or without nutes? I'm talking indoors, hand watering. There seems to be many views in this. Do you keep it wet...or let it get fairly dry before another drenching like a peat based mix?

I have recently purchased a coco specific nute line, as I was tired of guessing when to add cal-mag with my gh line or pbp kline or teas. I am running a side by side with two seperate strains, 2 plants of each. One of each gets coco nutes, and the other two of each strain gets regular nutes. Should be interesting to see the results.

Cheers,
SH

 

[bonecarver_OG]

i let the coco get dryer before i water - its more economic and works really well. but thats because my system is drain to waste. i dont let it dry too much since that leads to buildup of salts.

with canna coco and good water quality i have never had problems worth mentioning with nutrition.

peace

 

[mosca negra]

bc-- How often do you feed your plants per day? and for how long?

Mosca

P.S. Excellent thread!

 

[Guest]

yes I'm happy the coco thread lives.

mosca: It depends on your setup; plant size,container size, heat, ventilation.
seedlings put straight in 12/12 in 1 liter pots need heavy watering everyday for instance under a 400w hps

 

[bonecarver_OG]

mosca - if i use drippers i have it on 1 hour a day. as i said before its a drain to waste. when i hand water - i water every 1 - 2 days.

peace

 

[stikky budz]

bonecarver - im curious, how much do you drip through the plants (per plant) in that one hour?
I'm growing in coco at the moment, hand watering, but thinking about setting up drippers one day and i'm trying to work out res sizes etc.

 

[bonecarver_OG]

i water untill it spills out a bit in the end. sometimes i let about 30% flow out dto drain.

peace

 

[Guest]

and yet another cinnamon seedling overwatered/stunned with coco.There's no way I can water small plants efficiently, because the water goes stays at the bottom of the pot and the roots are not deep enough yet.Starting seedlings in jiffy pellets (which suck) and putting them into coco is too much stress.The jiffy cups suck too since they mold very easily.I guess I'm buying another canna terra plus soon for seedlings and mums