Re-use or just replace?

[BCrocker]

Finished a round of Coco / Prelite @ 70/30 mix... in 7 gallon pots. The pots were quite root bound and they are full of em. I'm thinking just scrap the pot contents and replace with new stuff? I can't really see an easy way of getting the roots out and re-using this stuff.

I used a fair bit of cannazym the last couple weeks as well... kind of a waste!

 

[El Cerebro]

This is the exact reason I started using chow mix (coco + hydroton) instead of perlite. I think the perlite can be bad on your lungs with regular exposure/mixing. After harvest I shake roots free and enzyme-soak what's left, comes apart a lot easier than media without the clay. Only been through one round like this, so can't swear to long term results, but learned it here from others who do it regularly.

 

[Seamaiden]

I just chop it up, perform a media test and off I go. I've also stopped using perlite in favor of rice hulls, though they do decompose. Once it becomes too fine, it goes outside into my raised beds or my compost pile.

 

[SweetTooth]

I have heard of guys just ripping out the old root ball and re-planting in the hole with some fresh coco. Apparently the plants love it. Maybee try it on 1 or 2 and see how they like it. Could save you a shit tonne of work.

 

[BC_Bud]

I'm on my 3rd run recycling the same coco, but mixing it with about 30% fresh stuff. Also thinking about giving up on the perlite... On a side note, most plants take it just fine, except maybe for some strains that are a little more sensitive to the nutrients that may be left in the coco from the previous run. In my case, some plants got a little burned up (probably from the PK boosters left behind) but all recovered and started growing nicely within a couple of weeks.

I've also ripped some plants from their pots (males) and planted new ones straight in with no ill effects.

 

[El Cerebro]

I just chop it up, perform a media test and off I go. I've also stopped using perlite in favor of rice hulls, though they do decompose. Once it becomes too fine, it goes outside into my raised beds or my compost pile.

Do you get more than one round with the hulls? Are you mixing with coco or soil?

I'm heating my neck with a rice pillow from the microwave right now :emo

 

[bloads]

I just chop it up....

What do you use for that? One of those infomercial root-grinder things?

 

[HydroRocks]

One of the reasons we switched to Growstones and have not looked back since! They are like lava rocks which makes a PERFECT home for biological life and it is VERY easy to resuse over and over again. They are made in the USA from recycled glass. They have an excellent water/air retaining factors, and they also provide trace amounts of silica.

The only down side is they are a bit expensive but this goes away when you factor in the fact that they can be reused many times.

Another thing we did was use a mix of growstones to soil and/or coco. It not only improves the quality of the media but you can use half as much.

We also found that soil or coco media mixed with growstones was MUCH easier to flush and clean for reuse. Probably because there is only half as much present to clean and flush.

Give them a try!

Cheers!

 

[Seamaiden]

Do you get more than one round with the hulls? Are you mixing with coco or soil?

I'm heating my neck with a rice pillow from the microwave right now :emo

Yes, and I can't say how long til they fully break down just yet because mine haven't quite broken down just yet.

What do you use for that? One of those infomercial root-grinder things?

A shovel. If I could get a giant one for free, though, I'd use one of those Slap-Chop-a-Bitch things from Vince.

 

[El Cerebro]

Nice. And ha, bet you couldn't hear the inflection in my voice on the second part, try it like this: coco, or soil? You're in coco, right? What other (highly) recyclable amendments can be used with coco? Never really thought past straight chow..

Oh, and so how many rounds from the rice hulls so far? Are they still intact after enzyming?

 

[blackcat]

Be careful I got bad root aphids from rice hulls by PBH but that's prob cause the supplier left open packs sitting in parking lot

 

[greenfrond]

if I use coir, I reuse it for several grows. as long as the pH is right and it's not harboring mould or anything, it's all good.i usually give it a good few rinses though to eliminate build up of salts and so forth.

 

[BCrocker]

Thanks for the all the info.. gives me some ideas to try out

 

[monkeymun]

I think coir is a great product. Saw it being produced when I was in Sri Lanka a few months ago, pretty interesting seeing it.

I sometimes reuse it, but often will just toss it into the garden as mulch, which it is great as. Sometimes with outdoor grows I'll mix some of the old stuff I used indoors in the soil where the outdoor plants are going to go, to help build and enrich the soil (and give it better water retention qualities. Either way, it's pretty cheap so I don't think it matters all that much.