B
Busybee817
- 22
- 13
Ive been growing in coco for a year now so im not an expert, im just sharing what works for me. I watched many clones transfered to coco and do great the first 2 or 3 weeks then go belly up and just die. I watered more, i watered less, more nutrients, less nutrients, dead plant after dead plant. Coco coir is a calcium loving, but calcium deficient medium as it arrives to most of us. They sell pre-buffered coco but ive always had to re buffer it so no matter what coco i have pre-buffered or unbuffered, this is what i do.
Get the Coco wet and seperated. I use tap water for this. My tap water is hard and on average reads about 400 ppm on just the water. I then check the tds of the runoff water and rinse the coco until the water runoff is under 700 ppm ( my water is 400ppm, 700-400 =300ppm of residual salts. That is the maximum i allow. After its been rinsed to lower the residual salt i put it in a plastic tote fill it with the same 400ppm water i rinse with until the water is at least an inch or two higher than the mass of coco. I add 1 tablespoon of calcium nitrate per kilo of dry coco. For example i usually start with a 10 kilo coco brick, so i add 10 tablespoons of calcium nitrate to the water and coco mix. Then i let it sit for 18-24 hours. After the 24 hours i drain the water then rinse the coco until the tds are around 700-900ppm in the runoff water. REMEMBER!!! My rinse water is already 400 ppm so if runoff water tests at 800ppm, subtract the 400 ppm already present from the water and my coco's starting point is 400ppm of residual salts which works for me.
After the rinsing down to 700-900 ppm i let it dry for a day then add 1 tablespoon per kilo of coco of the following: Bloodmeal, Bonemeal, and garden lime.
I also add 1 teaspoon (not tablespoon) per kilo of mychorrhizae bacteria.
Per the initial example, i have a 10 kilo brick of coco to start with. Now its all buffered and rinsed so I add 10 tbs bloodmeal, 10 tbs bone meal, 10 tbs of garden lime, and 10 teaspoons of Mychorrhizae. Then I take my buffered and now ammended coco and mix it with compost, perlite, and worm castings so my medium is 50% Coco coir, 20% compost, 20% perlite and 10% worm castings
Ideally you want this medium to sit for a few weeks before using it, but you can use it immediately if you have to. I do nothing else but water (unless i have some discoloration then ill add 2-3ml cal-mag per gallon of water) Ive used liquid nutes, dry nutes, fed once a week, twice a week, and murdered countless clones and seedlings along the way. Ive never had bigger healthier plants then i have now.
I use this recipe for veg stage medium and flowering stage.medium. in flowering I do add some super bloom (12-55-6) (2 tsp per gallon of water) after week 2 of flower, and week 4 of flower. And thats it. My last harvest yielded 6.3 oz per plant and thats dry weight.
It takes a bit of work. Growing with coco isnt as easy as getting it wet, throwing a plant in and reaping the benefits. If you want to grow the best plants you need the best medium and that doesnt come without a little work and good planning.
Garbage in=Garbage out.
Get the Coco wet and seperated. I use tap water for this. My tap water is hard and on average reads about 400 ppm on just the water. I then check the tds of the runoff water and rinse the coco until the water runoff is under 700 ppm ( my water is 400ppm, 700-400 =300ppm of residual salts. That is the maximum i allow. After its been rinsed to lower the residual salt i put it in a plastic tote fill it with the same 400ppm water i rinse with until the water is at least an inch or two higher than the mass of coco. I add 1 tablespoon of calcium nitrate per kilo of dry coco. For example i usually start with a 10 kilo coco brick, so i add 10 tablespoons of calcium nitrate to the water and coco mix. Then i let it sit for 18-24 hours. After the 24 hours i drain the water then rinse the coco until the tds are around 700-900ppm in the runoff water. REMEMBER!!! My rinse water is already 400 ppm so if runoff water tests at 800ppm, subtract the 400 ppm already present from the water and my coco's starting point is 400ppm of residual salts which works for me.
After the rinsing down to 700-900 ppm i let it dry for a day then add 1 tablespoon per kilo of coco of the following: Bloodmeal, Bonemeal, and garden lime.
I also add 1 teaspoon (not tablespoon) per kilo of mychorrhizae bacteria.
Per the initial example, i have a 10 kilo brick of coco to start with. Now its all buffered and rinsed so I add 10 tbs bloodmeal, 10 tbs bone meal, 10 tbs of garden lime, and 10 teaspoons of Mychorrhizae. Then I take my buffered and now ammended coco and mix it with compost, perlite, and worm castings so my medium is 50% Coco coir, 20% compost, 20% perlite and 10% worm castings
Ideally you want this medium to sit for a few weeks before using it, but you can use it immediately if you have to. I do nothing else but water (unless i have some discoloration then ill add 2-3ml cal-mag per gallon of water) Ive used liquid nutes, dry nutes, fed once a week, twice a week, and murdered countless clones and seedlings along the way. Ive never had bigger healthier plants then i have now.
I use this recipe for veg stage medium and flowering stage.medium. in flowering I do add some super bloom (12-55-6) (2 tsp per gallon of water) after week 2 of flower, and week 4 of flower. And thats it. My last harvest yielded 6.3 oz per plant and thats dry weight.
It takes a bit of work. Growing with coco isnt as easy as getting it wet, throwing a plant in and reaping the benefits. If you want to grow the best plants you need the best medium and that doesnt come without a little work and good planning.
Garbage in=Garbage out.
