@sixstring you ever check the runoff on a fresh bag of
canna coco. I have a friend that switched from canna to
house and garden awhile ago because he can get it cheaper and he says he sees no difference in the plants. I buy canna by the pallet 70 bags at a time and get it for under 14 bucks a bag.
From a document I got from a hydro shop a couple years ago...
"THis is from a store that did a runoff test: We tested four 100% coco fiber products for three things: PPM of total dissolved solids, PH, and hardness. To test these we filled a 5" square pot with the coco fiber then ran a 1/2 gallon of water through each collecting the runoff in a large saucer. The PPM was tested using a Hanna EC pen, this reflects the overall "salt" content of the runoff. The PH was tested using a Hanna PH pen. The hardness of the runoff was tested using litmus strips from Hydrologic (measured in % of PPM) and this tells us how much of the "salt" is calcium/magnesium which is added by the manufacturer to buffer mix. The four coco products tested were:
Roots Organics Coco Palms, H&G Coco, Royal Gold Coco Fiber, and Just Coir.
Results:
Roots Organics Coco Palms: PPM 980, PH 6.2, hardness 40%
H&G Coco: PPM 325, PH 6.3, hardness 75%
Royal Gold Coco Fiber: PPM 570, PH 6.3, hardness <10%
Just Coir: PPM 445, PH 6.2, hardness <10%
Based on this it is clear that H&G and
Roots Organics do add calcium/magnesium to buffer the cation exchange properties of coco and to offset the natural sodium/potassium salts that exist in coco. Royal Gold and just Coir do not add buffering agents. All four had stable PH numbers. The H&G coco is clearly the cleanest as far as "salt" content is concerned and Roots is the worst."