For any one considering coco

[joxter]

I just want to give my testimony to coco use, for those of you that are considering using coco as your medium. first off, I along with many others consider coco as hydroponics. and if you treat it like hydro you will get hydro results with your growth. I as with a few people that i know that use coco like to use the lucas formula for nutrients, with a little bit of added cal-mag every so often. and also i hand water because i do not have the means to setup a drip system. i was told to water twice a day, and that has worked great for me. in a #5 smart pot i water with half a 1/3 gallon twice a day, and flush every 2 weeks. with a gallon container, i water twice a day with about a liter each time. sometimes i am not home for the morning watering, and even if i miss that watering it doesn't dry out enough to hurt the plant. then i just water a little more at night time.

So anyways i want to show you some pictures now of some clones i have. the first 4 plants are in coco, in a gallon container, getting water twice a day with the lucas formula, with added cal-mag once a week.

The other 2 plants are in soil in a gallon container, getting watered when soil gets dry with botanicare's pure blend pro, with added cal-mag every third watering.

And keep in mind ALL the clones are EXACTLY the same age. i took many clones and these ones all rooted at the same time and were all planted into their medium on the same day. they are all under the same conditions, 250W MH, with a temp. of 76. and a nice breeze blowing on them all day.


here is the first clone in coco, Super Silver Haze.





here is the next coco clone, God Bud.




here is coco clone number 3, Purple Shaman.




here is clone number 4 in coco, Sour Diesel.





and here is clone number 1 in soil, Super Silver Haze.




here's soil clone number 2, God Bud.







i didn't make this thread to say soil growing is inferior, i just wanted to show people my experience with coco growing, to give people that were considering coco a little more info. to help their decision making. so that when people search "coco" they can look at this and get just a little more info. about coco. so i hope this helps, even if just one person gets help from this thread i will be happy.

Stay High

[weedman040]

very nice pictures man... keep up the good work. will you keep this thread alive with updated pictures? I'm very interested in starting a grow now with coco and i could always come here with questions if you dont mind?

[joxter]

i wouldn't mind at all, i would be glad to help you with coco as much as i can.

[weedman040]

awesome... i may have missed it before, but i don't think you ever stated exactly how old they were?

correct me if i am wrong... but with the setup you have it is a basic and simple hydro grow without as much prep?

[joxter]

Originally Posted by weedman040

awesome... i may have missed it before, but i don't think you ever stated exactly how old they were?

correct me if i am wrong... but with the setup you have it is a basic and simple hydro grow without as much prep?

they are all 6 weeks old since they were cut off the mother plants, rooting took a little while longer than i expected.

no prep at all really, just get some good coco, rinse it with Ph'd water (~5.7). and if you hand water all you need to do is make a batch of nutrient solution. no pumps, hoses, electrical components to mess with. its just as simple as growing in soil.

[joxter]

any one else have any comments, questions, or opinions on coco as a medium by its self?

[OldSkool1010]

does the water drain through like a drip to waste system or does it hold the water more like soil?

Those results you posted are impressive. So far though, the only Coconut coir I have found at Home Depot was those disks you use to line wire frames for potted plants. I'm going to look around for ground up coir. This nutrient solution you use, is there a recipe for it?

[joxter]

Originally Posted by OldSkool1010

does the water drain through like a drip to waste system or does it hold the water more like soil?

Those results you posted are impressive. So far though, the only Coconut coir I have found at Home Depot was those disks you use to line wire frames for potted plants. I'm going to look around for ground up coir. This nutrient solution you use, is there a recipe for it?

it holds a lot of water, the same is not more than soil. but it dries out pretty quick, at least for me it does. and thats why I, along with others i know, either water twice a day, or have a drip style system set up.

do you have any grow stores nearby? i have never seen growing coco at home depot. I just picked up some general hydroponics coco tek compressed bricks, to test this brand out. since I'm using general hydroponics nutrients it makes sense to me.

the nutrient solution is a 3 part from general hydroponics, the flora micro, flora bloom, and flora grow. but the flora grow is not needed. this is the recipe i use. for veg: 5ml per gal. of flora micro and 10ml per gal. of flora bloom. and for flower: 8ml per gal. of flora micro and 16ml per gal. of flora bloom. a good friend of mine told me to google lucas formula, and thats what i found. and it works wonders.

[weedman040]

got any updated pics bro? do you know about the avg growth from week to week or for every two weeks is? (don't know if you keep a grow log or anything, which brings me to a question) are grow logs(don't know if that's what they are really called, but just something were you have measured growth either weekly or bi-weekly) helpful for current grows? or are they better in the longrun for experienced growers? <-which is something i would like to eventually be...

also, i am trying to talk a friend into using coco instead of hydro... mainly because we aren't very experienced (3-4 grows by the time we get ready to do it) and the complications of using a hydro system. are there any advantages that you could point out to me for use in our debate? thanks

peace

[joxter]

hey, i just took some pics of those clones, i will post in a minute.
i like coco because you get pretty much teh same growth rate as any hydro system, there are no hoses to get clogged up, no pumps to fail on you, no weird res. Ph swings, no big clunky hydro tables, pvc pipes, etc... coco is just a pot, fill with coco, and add nutrient rich water, and watch it grow.

and yes keeping grow logs helps very much, write down everything you do, what went wrong and how you fixed it, all that kind of stuff. then you can dial in your new grows by going off of what worked last time. you know?

[twistpro420]

what exactly is coco? like coconut or something?

[joxter]

Originally Posted by twistpro420

what exactly is coco? like coconut or something?

yeah more or less, it's made from the coconut. search coco coir.



here are some updates!!
these pictures were taken 6 days after the last ones. and all are showing a good amount of growth, i have topped recently, so they would bush out a little more, and they are!

purple shaman in coco




sour diesel in coco




super silver haze in coco




god bud in coco




and the soil super silver haze next to the coco super silver haze.





again all these clones are exactly the same age, treated the same(except the nutrient Ph) and they are all topped, the soil clone was topped once, and the coco clones have all been topped a few times.

[twistpro420]

so the coconut coir comes in bricks? so how many bricks would i need to replace 23 18 oz party cups of dirt?

[joxter]

Originally Posted by twistpro420

so the coconut coir comes in bricks? so how many bricks would i need to replace 23 18 oz party cups of dirt?

i have no idea, do the math, what size bricks are you looking at? it should say what it will expand too. and it also comes in bags just like soil, not just the bricks. why are you using small cups anyways? are they seedlings?

[twistpro420]

yeah they are only like two inches tall right now. why is that too small for seedlings? where can you get this coco stuff, would it be at walmart?