Jalisco Kid said:

I loved empires line long hairs plus the chunky style to mix it with. Texture wise way better then that canna pith. Problem was I also got some bugs that noone knew,sent pics to davis. I had to nuke my system after that run,soaked all my plumbing for 3 days in malathion. Owner bailed on me after buying $300 in spinosad which he claimed would cure my ills. JK

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Some good info JK, thanks man.....yea the canna coir, no way again.

Did the bugs show up via the media you described? And the owner bails....was he callin the bugs thrips, by using spinosad, or what? Thanks for hollarin JK



Quitters, some good info here....hope this helps some man, and the best of growin to ya.

I have been growin in coco for over 10 years and tested them all and believe me everything. When it comes to the best coco for the best price for any application its Empire all day... Aged, Low EC, Superwashed from Sri Lanka not Mexico like most crap these days...(you listening ezcoco, royal garbage?) EO leads the pack on hydro-coco. How many warehouse growers you think pay $20/ 50L of canna/atami... Nobody I know. Lookin forward to the new line to hit this spring.... Bummer theyre out till then..

I am using Royal Gold 100% coco and is some pretty great stuff. Very similar to Canna and has been pre washed and rinsed. THis is my first coco grow so I can't really say how good any of it is but the salts were low and it was clean so i am happy.

Botanicare and Canna make great stuff too! THe RG was all that was available to me at the time. paid $19.95 a bag.

Thanks!

COCOLOCO said:

I have been growin in coco for over 10 years and tested them all and believe me everything. When it comes to the best coco for the best price for any application its Empire all day... Aged, Low EC, Superwashed from Sri Lanka not Mexico like most crap these days...(you listening ezcoco, royal garbage?) EO leads the pack on hydro-coco. How many warehouse growers you think pay $20/ 50L of canna/atami... Nobody I know. Lookin forward to the new line to hit this spring.... Bummer theyre out till then..

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I have another rounds worth of the Royal Gold but I will most def. look into buying some Empire. Thanks bro!

Sunshine Just Coir...tried several and this one works just as well for me as stuff priced twice as high. I put it in the container right out of the bag and go, never had a problem. Plus I can get it at the local nursery as opposed to the local hydro store.

My experience:

GH Cocotek - Good!
Botanicare bales - Good!
Atami - too fine, too expensive
Pro Coir (Earth Juice brand) - requires manual breaking up after expanding
Hydrofarm - requires manual breaking up after expanding
Roots Organics coco soilless - Good, but a different animal, almost a small perlite chow mix, also has pumice

I have rinsed and not. Never can tell a difference. Maybe because I run to waste.

gisisi

SunShine is the best ive come across, bound to be a nation wide favorite. The mix is great, i just add 20+% of large SunShine perlite. and the mix you have is of the Very best quality! Dont forget bucket size is everything! i use 7 gallon buckets, but my rooms small.

ibTheMan said:

Dont forget bucket size is everything! .

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I use an ebb and gro system with 2 gallon buckets that fill and drain from the bottom. I am planning on switching to coco(from hydroton). Will this work? Would 5 gallon buckets work better?(see quote)

vonwolfen said:

I use an ebb and gro system with 2 gallon buckets that fill and drain from the bottom. I am planning on switching to coco(from hydroton). Will this work? Would 5 gallon buckets work better?(see quote)

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If you use the right coco. You need HD coco like Coir Fiber or Chips. Pith products (Canna,Atami etc.) will not work.
Also look into cocopots to line you buckets so your lines dont clog..

thanks for the reply..I was talking to a couple of "farmers" and they talked me into smart pots(or the CAP or auroua(sp?) knock-offs) for my first time(said it wouldn't be as painful the first time).

canna 100% for me to. A couple things hear though, The way canna treats and composts its cocos is the cleanest and longest by far of any company. They also dont steam there coco like Bcuzz for example which kills off tricoderma mould. The tricoderma mould in canna coco is a natural mould and not lab grown like they put in products like great white. Tricoderma is a benifitial Fungis and will match up well with other benifitial bacteria or mycorhizae.

been using canna for yrs and have no complaints at all... for the price, i might check out empire and see how it works.

Anyone ever here of "Just Right"?

I've used Canna pro, bricks and biobizz. I only liked the Canna. I guess the brick was ok.

Empire composts and ages their coco and also do extra washes but dont buffer and dont steam. I get a 3.8 cu.ft Bale of their CocoPeat for $25.. It would cost me atleast $50 for 3.8 cu.ft of Canna or close to $60 for Atami. Only difference is I have to use Cal/Mag which I do anyways... Media adds up quick.

Once you use sunshine #4, you'll use it for ah long time.

True North

northone said:

Canadian Tire soil block..

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Soil Block doesn't seem to be in their catalogue any longer, but they have Mulch Block and Cocopeat Block. Also, Home Depot has PlantBest Co.'s BeatsPeat and PeatExceed.

Any experience with these others and how they may work with a 50.5*N Swamp Scenario (with Iranian G13)?

And nice pics of the veg'd out ISS, btw. Inspiring...


Muse

I strictly grow with coco only in smartpots and I hand water them. While my yields were always better than average when using ss #4, castings and perlite, they have really exploded with coco. Coco is quite an exceptional medium. I have tried many many different brands of coco. B'cuzz, botanicare, earth juice, royal gold, teufel (local landscaping supply co), and bio-bizz just to name a few off the top of my head. Royal gold was the worst by far, it has great porosity but is still full of salts. My smartpots became stained with white salt dust at the bottom after watering to run off the first few times. Botanicare and Earth Juice are quite similar and are the better ones that I have used, no lingering salts and a similar particle size and porosity. Earth Juice is the best that I have used. It appears to be of a slightly larger particle size than the botanicare, and in side by side comparisons the plants seemed to have enjoyed it most. Now the B'Cuzz and Bio-bizz are by far the most expensive coco that I have used. IMO the steaming process used by b'cuzz is costly and actually causes the coco to underperform by killing bene's. The b'cuzz coco isn't good and is a HUGE waste of money. I should say that I use mostly bio-bizz nutes and have found them to be of a superior quality if properly used. If improperly used, you'll have out of control deficiencies. With that being said, the bio-bizz coco is an inferior product. I have experienced lower yields and lower quality with the bio-bizz coco. At first I was sure it was my fault, but after more side by side comparisons of the same strains and feed, it appears that it is the biobizz coco itself. Ive just started using the teufel coco, its cheap and has a wide size range of the particles. It seems to work really well. Now the botanicare, ej, and teufel dont come precharged and are much cheaper. Imo opinion they outperform both the b'cuzz and biobizz. So this is the order from best to worst, of coco brands that I have used:
1. Earth Juice Companion Pro-Coir Bricks
2. Botanicare Coco-Gro Bricks
huge difference in quality between above and below
3. Atami B'cuzz (purple bag)
4. Bio-bizz Coco-Mix
5. Royal Gold

A hint on hydrating the 5kilo coco bricks. If you have access to a saw cut the bricks into 8ths. It'll make your life a lot easier.

Thx bd, that's some good intel. Smaller piece sizes would help speed things up considerably. Bandsaw FTW!

Great stuff! I switch to this from Canna