Im looking to get some kind of Coco to use for my next grow and I would like to get a few ideas from a few folk here that have/are using Coco to grow with.. Pro's and con's of Coco? Whats the best kind/brands? The best way to use it? Mix with worm castings, gunno or hydro nutes? Best PH factor/ PH tips? Anything at all that will help.. I am doing five 5gal hydro D.W.C. bubble buckets and four 2gal. vegging bubble buckets and I am running myself nuts trying to keep everything up and running as it should be.... Im looking for an easyer way and I think Coco just might be the rout to take.. Any opinions on this? Thanx folks...
I'm fond of Canna's products. CANNA - THE SOLUTION FOR GROWTH AND BLOOM I've used their CoCo system and it works really, really well. PH and nutrient concerns are non-existent. Problem is, they are hard to come by in many areas. Check their web site and see if their is a dealer near enough for you to purchase from. Don't even think about shipping anything related to medium or nutes because it costs a fortune. There are many threads that will give you exact instructions on how to use these... If you can't find a Canna dealer nearby you may want to try House & Garden. Premium Quality Dutch Plant Nutrients & Stimulants - House & Garden
Thanks for the info... I just checked the hydro shop here and it only has some Botanicare coco brick, 3 cu/ft premium coco medium.. Have you ever heard of this brand? I think its a compressed block of coco medium.. Have you ever used the blocks before? I am thinking of just using some coco medium in my 5gal buckets with some holes drilled in the bottom.. Do you think this would work or should I use something smaller? Maybe just sit the coco 5gal bucket inside of another 5gal bucket to let the water drain... Maybe I could see if they can order the canna products for me at this hydro shop..
i find that if you mix perlite in with coco coir it really helps with drainage.. you should never let it completely dry out.. when its first hatched i water once every 3-4 days.. i only nute on the 3rd watering (because we treat coco like hydro, even tho its got a soil consistency) and once the plant gets bigger you can water once every other day but only give her nutes every 3rd watering
Thanks tkb-man.. Do ya think this would work if I used the coco and perlite in 5gal buckets with holes drilled in the bottoms.. I am also thinking of setting the 5gal bucket inside of another 5gal bucket so it can drain the water into it... Do ya think this a good idea?
yes this will work...and the bucket on the bottom is a good idea... this is my method... when i water i leave about an inch of run off in the bottom of the bucket until the next time i water.... this cause the roots to chase the water during the veg cycle...you cant go wrong with this method.... great results... if you can go with canna coco and canna coco nutes...if you dont use these..atleast make sure you use coco specific nutes..cuz the coco doesnt hold potassium very well and it builds calcium..so the special nutes are formulated for this..
Thanks for the info.. I have alot of Technaflora BC hydro nutes like boost, grow, bloom, Thrive alive b-1 red and green lable, awesom blossom, root 66, magical and sugar daddy.. Soo, it wouldnt be a good idea to use any of these with the coco?
i use crop circles coco.duno the exact company but u can google it.comes in 4 or 5 pack of profit disks.ive had em shipped from company's and the cost isnt too bad..maybe 12 bucks or so to ship.my local hydro shop carries em most of the time though. coco dries out very fast so you have to keep an eye and make sure the plant has enough water.it is a hydro medium pretty much.its great to mix with soil to, to give it some aeration.
your fine to use that lineup with coco.funny cuz thats the exact lineup i use..except i dont use root66 or majic.for coco you want to use nutes that can be used with hydro mediums.i would do a feed water feed water or a feed water water feed schedule..the techna chart says you can feed every watering with hydro but i wouldnt overdo it.for the feed i use the nutes and for the water i like to use supplements like sugar or hormones. for coco i would flush atleast once every 2 weeks.
a good runoff would be 5.8-6.0 ph yeah? ive had a runoff of 6.8-7.0 for the first four weeks of my grow, would this dramatically stunt there growth? when should you start using veg nutes? 4-5 weeks in at 1/4 strength just like soil? please help
the runoff is gonna be higher in most cases...i dnt even worry about my runoff... as long as the water your putting in is ph'd between 5.7-6.3... some say 5.8-6.2..but i give it a point or 2...as long as its in this range and you keep a runoff of 20-30% you should be fine... hold on man i got a good thread from another site all about anything and everything coco... i dont know if it owuld be appropriate to post it in here though..hit me in the PM if you want it...
..yeah you can use anything with the coco... but if your not gonna use the coco specific nutes..its a must you test ppm and such..yes you can use any boost or other supplements without a problem.... but as far as the npk,,,if using hydro nutes you have to use a little extra potassium and mag i think it is.... im not sure its been a while since i read up on it... my advice is go ahead and buy the coco nutes and use these until youve read up on the coco enbough to know how it acts with regular nutes... but if your money is tight and you already have a ppm tester... jus use the hydro nutes you have and keep and eye out for defeciencies..mainly potassium def.. and calcium build up
My hydro shop sells the crop circles, its a 5 pack but how many of those will expand to the size I need for my 5gal buckets? Or can I use them in a 5gal?
im not exactly sure..ive never used the blocks....if you buy those just ask or make sure its prerinsed..if its not you have to rinse it prtty good with ph'd water..... the billgates dude up there said he uses crop circles..im sure he could assist.. i think botnicare and biobizz is prereinsed...
In my 5gal bubble buckets I use them mostly for flowering and I dont go by the technaflora chart at all.. I just use water at first when I switch to the 5gal's and then after they start to get going I add 3tsp of the boost, bloom and about 1/2 tsp of the awesom blossom, migical and 1/4 tsp of thrive alive b-1 red.. I fill my bucket up to the bottom of the net pot and just let em feed.. Im not sure if this is the best way, but I do know they will double in size really quick as long as they have a nice and full root system going on.. Im still learning but hell arent we all..lol... Its a never ending story just like this book im writing here in this post..haahahahaa.. Im haveing a conflict with my roots sitting in the water and nutes constantly though.. It seems like they might need a little time to breath without all the water.. In my oppinion.. Thanks for you info.. Im looking for all the info I can get..
Im not sure about the coco, but in my hydro buckets the ph get all fucked up due to me using tap water.. Some times it gets up to around 7.7 or so and some of my plant act like they like it better than the 5.5 I adjust it to.. Like my jack-47's seem to like the higher ph.. Or maybe there just really strong strains.. Either way there doing great regardless..lol I recomend the jack-47's from sweet seeds. Mine have indured some harsh shit and are still kicking it LIVE! lol
Hell yeah man.. Thanks for all the usefull info.. I dont have a ppm meter yet. Just a ph meter and drops.. Thats about it on that... But I for sure need a ppm meter.. No dought about it.. Every time I bid on one though, I get out bid so I said fuck it and just got the ph meter...lol Ive been going by eyeballing it.. Its been pretty ruff on em but Ive had some pretty reasonable yeilds. sofar... I just flush really good before I harvest..
Im almost to the point where I dont even read the packages anymore on grow products.. Its hard to tell the truth frome the folks trying to make more $$$... lol If and when I go coco, whitch Im sure I will the next grow,, Im going to soak it in pre ph'ed water just to make sure all the sault build up is gone.. Ive been reading nightmares about this and Im looking to drop as much hassle as possibe.. Especially after the 5gal dwc set up.. Damn that shits alot of work! LOL.. But It does pay off in the long run. Im just looking for an easyer way waith out all the water as Im using tap water and its a real bitch..