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Coco coir - should I make it or buy it?

E

eatyourhartout

New member
I grew with soil previously but for my third grow I think I'm going to try coco.

I'm planning on using General Hydroponics FloraNova nutrients. I like having just one nutrient bottle for the vegetative stage and a different one for flowering, instead of having to use little bits from a lot of bottles when adding nutrients to the water. I haven't tried FloraNova yet, and I know some growers think it's too thick, but I've seen people getting results as good as the regular General Hydroponics trio, and I want to capture some of that magic in a simpler option.

My question is, what's your favorite coco?

I've seen GWE recommend premade 70% coco with 30% perlite mixes like Mother Earth and Cultivation Nation 70/30. I've also seen they recommend making your own with up to 50% perlite. They said the more perlite, the more often you water, since perlite holds less water.

I'm thinking for my first attempt, I'll go with 30% perlite. I plan to get auto watering pots so that I only need to water once a week once they get bigger, and the coco will take care of wicking the water from the reservoir to the roots. I think I have "keeping them alive" down. I want to keep it simple enough I actually do what I need to do, so I can focus more on bending and tent coverage.

For the coco growers out there, do you buy premade coco mix or make your own?

Is there any advantage to buying premade? How much cheaper is it to make your own by putting coco bricks in a bucket with boiling water and adding perlite?

I'm leaning buying a done-for-you coco mix for my first coco grow, just in case they do some kind of magic with their mix. But I do see at Amazon they sell 10 lb "Coco Bliss" coco bricks for $30 plus 24 quarts of perlite for another $30. Or about $60 on total.

If I mixed those directly together, would that DIY mix be the right proportions for growing weed? And how much coco potting mix would it actually make? If i made extra, can I store it or do I have to use it right away?

I saw 2 cubic feet of premade Cultivation Nation 70/30 mix is $40. How many gallons is that?

I'm struggling to understand how many cubic feet I will need. I'm thinking I'll do 3 x 5-gallon fabric pots, so I need a total of 15-16+ gallons (it's nice to always have a little extra).

Any insight from coco growers highly appreciated!
 
Been there, done that. Bricks are less money but take a lot more time and effort to make them usable. Rehydrate, no need to boil the water, rinse 3 times to remove salt, remove sand, buffer with calmag, very important!, mix in perlite. A day long operation requiring large tubs to mix in. Then if you mis-calculate what you need, your pots are short and start over again to make more. My time is worth more that the $ I could save buying bricks vs pre-prepped coco/p. I use mother earth 70/30. Even the prepared coco/p should be buffered before using even if they claim it has already been done. So It depends on the value of your time vs value of your money. One bag of ME coco/p will fill about 3.25 x 3 gallon pots.
 
Thanks for sharing the actual gallon amount you can fill!

So if one bag makes about 9 gallons of pots, then 2 bags should be plenty to fill 3 x 5-gallon pots. So $82 for the coco, $31 for FloraNova duo nutrients, $7 for fabric pots. That's only $120 for everything. But the auto watering pot bases are $60 for 4. So that would bring it up to $180 but I wouldn't have to buy the bases again. I'm thinking I might go that way.

I've heard if I have some coco left over, I can store it and use it later. Has that been your experience?
 
eatyourhartout said:
I've heard if I have some coco left over, I can store it and use it later. Has that been your experience?
Click to expand...
If you are talking about rehydrated bricks, yes it can be stored. I would recommend letting it mostly dry out to prevent mold growth. It needs to be checked before use that mold has not taken hold. If you mean a partial bag of ME, just roll the top closed tight.
 
I've tried using a few different brands of coco. I have shied away from the brick because of the mess as @Ckbrew mentioned. I use a 5050 blend of coco/perlite in 5 gallon cloth pots. I grow using the autopot system with a reservoir. I have mixed my own blend every time. If you do your own mix buy #3 perlite. I use Mother Earth coco mainly because it is readily available and inexpensive. I mix by volume with a coffee can, 1 can of perlite for every can of coco. Easy Peasy. Coco can be recycled but it needs to be dried, washed, rinsed, and buffered. It's worth the effort but can take a while.
 
golfnrl said:
Coco can be recycled but it needs to be dried, washed, rinsed, and buffered. It's worth the effort but can take a while.
Click to expand...
Just curious, do you know of any tutorials on how to reuse Coco? I couldn't seem to find anything about it on growweedeasy.com, but it might be within a page and I missed it.

I was curious how much coco can be reused vs how much gets used up in the grow process. I know when I grew with soil it all became a giant root ball that was almost solid. I wanted to reuse the soil, but there was only a tiny bit of loose soil left so I ended up just tossing the whole root ball after harvest.

Is coco easier to shake off the roots?
 
Coco can be reused indefinitely so long as it doesn't crumble into powder. If you can get it out of the giant root ball. Coco is inert, has no nutrient value so there is nothing to use up. It only has what you give it. Imo my time is more valuable than the used coco so I toss it when done with it.
 
eatyourhartout said:
Just curious, do you know of any tutorials on how to reuse Coco? I couldn't seem to find anything about it on growweedeasy.com, but it might be within a page and I missed it.

I was curious how much coco can be reused vs how much gets used up in the grow process. I know when I grew with soil it all became a giant root ball that was almost solid. I wanted to reuse the soil, but there was only a tiny bit of loose soil left so I ended up just tossing the whole root ball after harvest.

Is coco easier to shake off the roots?
Click to expand...
I used the info at this link and some vids on youtube. I was surprised at how much can be reused. Really don't lose much during the process. Yes, coco is easier to shake from the roots.

www.cocoforcannabis.com

How to Reuse/Recycle Coco Coir - Coco For Cannabis - Video Tutorial

Coco coir is good for more than one cannabis grow! Learn how to recycle used coco back into a superior medium for your next cannabis crop. Video Tutorial!
www.cocoforcannabis.com www.cocoforcannabis.com
 
Lots of valuable coco stuff here! I swear by it. Here is my experience.
I have 12 x 7 gallon fabric pots needing 84 gallons of grow medium.
(BTW, your phone's calculator likely has a measurement conversion feature. One cubic foot = 7.48 gal.)

Anyway, I bought enough coco brick and perlite , 50/50, for the job. The coco easily hydrated within minutes in my wheelbarrow. Was super simple to use one gallon garden pots to mix with perlite (wear mask) and transfer to the fabric pots.
Note: I'm a greenhouse grower with outdoors garden space to do this in. If I were growing in a tent, I'd buy it. I don't think 70/30 or 50/50 makes a difference, since both are inert and just provide root and plant support and aeration.

Yes! Coco/perlite is reusable. I do it every year. After harvest, I let pots dry out and rehab the c/p before the next grow by taking a hand gardening fork to remove old roots then throughly fluff up. I don't wash it or do anything special. I simply transplant new seedlings into it from 4" or one gallon pots, water, fertilize, and off to the races.
I mix 26 gallons of nute solution and pH'd water every week, using GH Flora Trio and some CalMag. I find it simple to mix using a 3 ml disposable plastic pipette (cheap). I use a grocery store wine six pack carrier to haul around the bottles, pH down, pH pen, pipettes and GWE mixing printout.
 
Buy the bags.

Flush it with a calmag mixture pH6.0 till it runs clear.

Done.

Add perlite if growing autos for a quick start
. If vegging for 60 days or more I wouldnt add perlite but some do. You dont need it for photos.
 
Bluey said:
Buy the bags.

Flush it with a calmag mixture pH6.0 till it runs clear.

Done.

Add perlite if growing autos for a quick start
. If vegging for 60 days or more I wouldnt add perlite but some do. You dont need it for photos.
Click to expand...

Just curious, what happens if you use the mix without flushing it? Will the plants get nutrient burn, or will it cause lockout/deficiencies, or some other problems?

I just wonder if I soak 5 gallons of coco, how long it will take to dry enough before it's ready for seedlings. I don't want to put them in a soaking wet 5-gallon pot. I learned with soil that seedlings don't like that haha

Or is that what the perlite is for? To help loosen up the coco and add air?
 
Lots of questions. 😎
- Sorry, no pics
-Yes, buy the bags. Easier for a tent grow.
-Coco/perlite is inert, no nutes to burn the plants.
- Washing eliminates possible cation exchange issues and helps set pH.
-May I suggest transplanting vs direct seed sowing in final grow pot? Main reason is you know a healthy plant is going to grow. No non-sprouts or weak plants!
I paper towel sprout, transplant it immediately to a rehydrated, compressed peat disc (Jiffy Pellets).
When roots grow out, into 4" pot. When roots grow out bottom, into one gallon pot. When roots show out bottom, into 7 gallon fabric pot for final grow out. I pre mold a one gallon hole in the final pot of coco/perlite. To transplant, simply drop in hole and start full nute watering. It starts flourishing overnight. A healthy one gallon plant is fully rooted and will not be overwatered.
-Both coco, perlite and fabric pot contribute to aeration and delivery of oxygen to the roots. Essential.

Don't OVERTHINK this. Buy the mix. Grow out and transplant healthy, well-rooted seedlings. With the proper tent environment, they'll grow.
 
eatyourhartout said:
Just curious, what happens if you use the mix without flushing it? Will the plants get nutrient burn, or will it cause lockout/deficiencies, or some other problems?

I just wonder if I soak 5 gallons of coco, how long it will take to dry enough before it's ready for seedlings. I don't want to put them in a soaking wet 5-gallon pot. I learned with soil that seedlings don't like that haha

Or is that what the perlite is for? To help loosen up the coco and add air?
Click to expand...
Don't dry it out.

And never let it dry out when growing, unless it is harvest time. Soil grows are very different to coco grows. A coco grow is technically a hydro grow most of the time. The coco just holds the plant up and gives the roots and nutes somewhere to do their magic.

pH management is critical to plant health, unlike a soil grow. Ensure you have an Apera PH60 or equivalent, syringes to measure nutes, calibration solution, a rain water source is prefered and an EC meter to measure nute strength.

Your plants will also grow faster and 20% larger than they did in soil, allow for that

5 gal pot size is good for autos. Go bigger for photos if chasing a pound a plant (60 day + veg)
 
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Bluey said:
I dont use fabric pots with coco. Coco grows are very hard to drown once the plant gets to a decent size...high frequency fertigation is the gold standard with coco.
Click to expand...
I've read high frequency fertigation is watering with nutrients multiple times a day and using coco with lots of perlite so it drains. The idea being plants grow faster with constant streams of fresh nutrient water, like DWC hydro lite.

It's intriguing and I can see how it could work, but I had some questions about the technique.

How much faster would you say plants grow in high frequency fertigation compared to if you just watered the plants every few days like normal?

I worry about getting fungus gnats from the coco being wet all the time. I saw that's a problem for some high frequency fertigators on Reddit. Especially before the roots colonize all the coco.

Have you ever run into that? Do you fertigate 3x a day, or less often like once a day?

How do you keep plants from getting over-watered or droopy?

My other worry is what to do with all the runoff water. Specifically how to collect it and reuse it so I'm not putting tons of nutrients down the drain. Some growers say the water can be reused but others say you must flush it and start fresh, which seems like a huge waste of nutrients.

I guess that's too many questions in response to a short comment. Probably I should start a new post about high frequency fertigation in coco.
 
Eatyourheartout,
I believe you are OVERTHINKING your grow. Buy the bags of c/p you need to fill your 5 gal pots. Sprout and transplant 4"-6" seedlings to final pots. Water daily with GH Flora Trio, pH'd to 5.8-6.2. Basicallly all you need to do. Just do it. You can play around with the variables once get a grow through cure under your belt.
Seriously.
 
eatyourhartout said:
I've read high frequency fertigation is watering with nutrients multiple times a day and using coco with lots of perlite so it drains. The idea being plants grow faster with constant streams of fresh nutrient water, like DWC hydro lite.

It's intriguing and I can see how it could work, but I had some questions about the technique.

How much faster would you say plants grow in high frequency fertigation compared to if you just watered the plants every few days like normal?

I worry about getting fungus gnats from the coco being wet all the time. I saw that's a problem for some high frequency fertigators on Reddit. Especially before the roots colonize all the coco.

Have you ever run into that? Do you fertigate 3x a day, or less often like once a day?

How do you keep plants from getting over-watered or droopy?

My other worry is what to do with all the runoff water. Specifically how to collect it and reuse it so I'm not putting tons of nutrients down the drain. Some growers say the water can be reused but others say you must flush it and start fresh, which seems like a huge waste of nutrients.

I guess that's too many questions in response to a short comment. Probably I should start a new post about high frequency fertigation in coco.
Click to expand...
So, lots of Qs.

High frequency fert can easily lead to a bit of overwatering, especially early to mid veg.

The plant will get a bit droopy in mid veg...thats ok

Fungus gnats too...that's ok, they dont hurt and will go away when you reduce the water a little and/or the plant rockets off growth wise. Bit of algae on top of the coco, mushrooms galore sometimes too....but no issue.

Coco you must water at least twice a day...at maturity Id recommend at least 3 times a day.

No need to water to runoff....runoff once or twice a week is sufficient, which flushes out salt build up. I used to plumb to waste but with reduced to no runoff I just drain the dishes with a syringe when I give them a bit much
 
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