Coco, I don’t know. The package just says it’s ph’d to 6.0. I never looked into it further.
As far as mixed mediums, I borrowed that idea from another good grower when trying to find “tricks” of the trade. I found it in their grow diary. They’ve since stopped using that but I bought my coco in bulk. So I’m running it until my coco is gone. You and I have discussed this before. I plan to run straight soil once the coco is gone.
As far as ph’ing the nutrient mix. That’s all I’ve ever read or watched. Hundreds of hours spent reading and watching. All of the charts of optimal Ph for nutrient uptake etc. Of course, all from cannabis related sources. I didn’t go school for botany nor study the subject. I haven’t even read anything that wasn’t related to growing cannabis. That’s where I received that from.
I never discredited you or said what you were doing was wrong. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. You’re obviously doing things the right way for what works for you and your conditions. Your plants show that and I respect your opinion on subject matter.
I just said it probably wouldn’t work for me. Maybe it’s bro science, but I’ve read plenty that suggest growing in DWC, or coco, requires a lower ph. So considering 40% of my medium is coco, while not needing excessively lower ph, I figure it needs to be lowered some rather than treating it like 100% soil and letting the soil buffer it.
My first grow I was ph’ing to 6.5-6.7. I had issues. I lowered it to 6.2 and things got better. Granted it was my first grow. So maybe the early issues weren’t all ph related, but that was a suspect cause. Also, I purchased homemade, in-house, medium from the hydro shop for my first grow. I didn’t learn until the end of my grow that is was a soil/coco blend with other additional amendments. So technically, I’ve never grown in straight soil yet. But it is in my future plans like mentioned above.
I’ve had far less problems this run ph’ing to 6.2 from the beginning in relation to my first grow. I’d be hesitant to change that now. Not to mention I have a whole set of other variables that are new to me and I’m trying to learn. Like the switch from HPS to LED and a change in nutrients all together.