Soil to Coco Coir - PH concerns

Discussion in 'Coco Coir' started by Mark-it-Zero, Mar 14, 2014.

  1. #1 Mark-it-Zero, Mar 14, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 14, 2014
    So I was going to attempt to transplant from a 2 gallon nursery pot filled with cheap low quality potting soil into 5 gallon grow bag filled with 70/30 mix of coco/perlite but I am starting to wonder about a few things. If the root ball is too dense to remove the existing soil will transferring the plant into coco cause a PH imbalance?
     
    How will the roots still in the soil contend with the lower PH levels of growing in coco, will it cause a big lockout if most of the roots are still technically in soil? Will the existing soil build up too many nutes with using lower doses of nutes every watering? It is the best looking one I have got so I don't want to murder it :smoking:

     
  2. im wondering the same thing man
     
  3. #3 Mark-it-Zero, Mar 17, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 17, 2014
    Well yesterday I went ahead with it anyway, waited until the plant got so dry it started to show a slight wilt so I could get as much dry potting soil off the root ball as possible but only managed to get around 25% off since the root ball had grown so large it was practically root bound. I grabbed some scissor and roughed up / stabbed the root ball a few time to encourage new roots to grow and then planted it into the 5 gallon grow bag with coco and perlite.
     
    After getting it properly planted in the new medium I flushed about 5 gallons of water through the bag with Calmag at 1 mL/L and a PH of 7.5 and at the end of the flush runoff PH showed to be right around 6. I had previously transplanted a pineapple chunk clone into a 1 gallon grow bag of coco and perlite but there was quite a big difference this time around, when I was flushing it the water was coming out the bottom of the bag in a really dark yellow sickly looking color (<-- is this bad?). But when I flushed the pineapple chunk after transplant the runoff was practically clear.
     
    Also the plant perked back up within 12 hours of transplanting into the coco so I think I am safe in assuming the transplant process went well so far. I will update this thread with more information if I run into any issues with conflicting medium PH requirements.
     
  4. #4 angusbeef, Mar 18, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 18, 2014
    grab some liquid karma from botanicare for the next transplant if ya can afford it i'll swear by the stuff...
     
    As you figured out its not that complicated they are hardy plants and I know growers who actually use coco primarily as a filler with more expensive soil blends?? IDK why? They put out top shelf though.  Many ways to rope a goat and welcome to coco mang I think you'll enjoy it.
     

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