Re-Using Coco???

[MrMarley]

I noticed Ive been going through a good amount of coco.. I was reading my books and got a little information but wanted the communities input on success rate..
Whats the best way of to reuse coco??

I pulled out most of all the old roots.. Should I add guano or any other nutrient used during the last grow??
Im using basement mix mixed with half coco half perlite... 1:1:1 ratio

Any info will help!!
THX

 

[up yours]

Yes you can watch ph and flush it completely between runs my custom soil maker uses a lot in his mommy mix I designed for my store good luck and no adding to it I do add fresh mycco and lime but I just feed off the go I with fresh soil I don't give nutes for twoo weeks hope it helps I do not use more than three times and then it is tilled into outside plot for garden :damnhippie:

 

[Darth Fader]

I've reused twice w/ no problems. Wouldn't add guano as that's a booster additive, right? And you want to rinse it well to get rid of any booster residue that might be left from the previous use, esp if it's really hot (Shooting Powder, Kool Bloom, etc). After rinse, charge/soak w/ CalMag & light base nutes . I've read you can add lime for ph buffering. If you're doing organic, add your worm castings & the rest. I mix in myco as well. The most important thing is the rinse.

 

[cocoJoe]

I would use my coco 3 times.
The coco is flushed clean during the last week of flowering.
After that it is for the flower beds or vegetable garden.

 

[ent]

I've reused twice w/ no problems. Wouldn't add guano as that's a booster additive, right? And you want to rinse it well to get rid of any booster residue that might be left from the previous use, esp if it's really hot (Shooting Powder, Kool Bloom, etc). After rinse, charge/soak w/ CalMag & light base nutes . I've read you can add lime for ph buffering. If you're doing organic, add your worm castings & the rest. I mix in myco as well. The most important thing is the rinse.

Good info here. But I probably wouldn't reuse it if you used shooting powder. Never used kool bloom, so I cannot comment on that.

 

[waywardson]

How well/easily can the roots be removed. I am using smart pots and the root mass is unbelievable. I can see letting it completely dry and shaking most of it loose but I don't see that being anything like a simple process...but since I went to 20 gallon pots my level of interest has risen considerably.

 

[Azzazal]

Wash the roots clean in a tub, then use some root breakdown and leave it for a day or 2, coco is good to go!

 

[WonkaBuds]

I continually reuse coco for over two years now and counting. I just add a little new stuff as needed. I also use pond enzymes after each grow. I generally remove the large debris. I have a tub of used coco I just keep rotating old and new into. I use a rake and turn it over onece every couple of days.

 

[Darth Fader]

I would use my coco 3 times.
The coco is flushed clean during the last week of flowering.
After that it is for the flower beds or vegetable garden.

Yep, good point. It is pretty clean just from the pre-harvest flush. Why only 3 times? Have you had issues trying to re-use it too much?

Good info here. But I probably wouldn't reuse it if you used shooting powder. Never used kool bloom, so I cannot comment on that.

This is my first round w/ H&G, first time w/ shooting powder. I know it's not recommended by H&G, but igured it's generally the same stuff. I'll have to compare labels/ingredients w/ the koolbloom. Thx

 

[budboy299]

On one of the UK boards there is a senior farmer that says he is on his 8th or 9th run using the same coco. He flushes till the coco is drained of all nutrients, harvests, and then runs an enzyme (hydrozyme, grozyme etc) through it. Then repots as usual.

I am currently just into my fourth run with reused coco and the new roots simply shoot through it like new. I do not run any enzyme through it and seems to work fine. Always be aware of pests though as they could be continued from one run to the next

 

[Seamaiden]

Budboy, et alia, I've had a consistent problem with fungus gnats, so I began incorporating Azatrol into my coco charge regimen. It works to keep them out of it initially, but after a period of a couple of weeks, if the coco is still damp they'll re-establish.

Good info here. But I probably wouldn't reuse it if you used shooting powder. Never used kool bloom, so I cannot comment on that.

If you use a flushing solution, with just about any chem salt fert in coco, you can rest fairly assured that there is little left after the final flushing phase. If you're in doubt, just do the test (low EC water, record pH & EC, mix with coco, agitate for 2-3 minutes, let set, strain off and test parameters).

Guano wouldn't bother me as long as it's used relatively quickly (the coco with the guano in it), left in a more dry rather than damp state or at the very least kept closed up so no spores are released into the air. I used to use a lot of soil amendments in my coco, I've moved away from that and prefer the results. I *still* add mycos, though.

 

[cocoJoe]

Yep, good point. It is pretty clean just from the pre-harvest flush. Why only 3 times? Have you had issues trying to re-use it too much?
Thx

Not really but it does break down and lose the fibery texture.
I guess I could just add new to it.

If you have not tried it I highly recomend use a mix of piece coir with the regular coir. No perlite!

 

[haole]

canna coco, reusing it now on several runs.... plants develop severe k deficiency about 3 weeks into flower, never experienced with new medium.

 

[MrMarley]

Wow! Thanks Farmers! I really appreciate the information!!

Needed to reassure somethings..

Happy growing

 

[budboy299]

haole, I will take a guess at why that is....and mind you its only a guess.

This is from Canna's blurb....
"Canna's enhanced coconut matter involves the addition of special elements for rapid growth including the special Trichoderma mould. Trichoderma is a natural plant booster and is scientifically proven to protect the plant against soil diseases."

Since the coir was already pre-treated with stuff, you "may" have been deficient in some aspect of your nute regime, and the company added stuff carried you through fine. On subsequent runs when it was totally flushed out, was when you started to run into deficiencies. Just have to determine the source of the deficiencies and bump up whatever is lacking.

Once flushed, coco is very much inert in respect to nutrients. You almost have to treat it like hydro, with the exception that coco requires considerably more calcium due to the fibres locking this up.
This is also why all coco designed nutrients use almost exclusively calcium nitrate to build their nitrogen bases. Simply to compensate for the fact that coco coir demands a higher level of calcium than regular mixes (soil, hydro etc.)

 

[budboy299]

Oh and while Trichoderma is very important, try to take the hype with a grain of sand. Anyone who has ever grown indoor mushrooms will tell you that this is the primary mould that they battle against when incubating mushroom spores. It simply comes from almost everything. Trichoderma spores are plentiful in the air and on almost every surface we touch. Kind of grosses you out a little if you think about it too much

 

[budboy299]

I run great white with my coco, and beside the plants that have none...growth is noticeably accelerated. And I am in full synthetic nutes at a max EC of 1.8

 

[Hylife]

Ok so I've been reading quite a bit on this lately and I still have a few questions on reusing coco. I am currently on my 3rd grow, and pretty much all of the coco was reused from my last grow (first was rockwool...ugh) all of my plants now are currently doing great with no signs of any deficiencies, I treated the coco in between runs with just the conventional method I had heard of, take enzymes (went with cannazyme) and treat the coco to break down the built up salts and start to break down the dead root material as well. After the enzyme treatment I flushed the medium and then transplanted. Now, some people were saying that the proper way to treat coco is an alternative to mine, is what i'm doing adequate to treat my coco between runs? Note, I use Kool-Bloom a few times during flower.

canna coco, reusing it now on several runs.... plants develop severe k deficiency about 3 weeks into flower, never experienced with new medium.

I read in the coco flush thread that coco contains a high amount of K to begin with. How many runs have you used the coco?

Nitrogen is all but completely cut out at this time as well, it's practically nothing but phosphorous, mainly because coco already has so much potassium in it I like to keep those numbers lower unless I see a problem.

I'm assuming that abundance of K isn't coming from nowhere and will probably run out after about 3 runs it sounds like for others? So if you have a feed that you really like its almost just worth it to say fuck it and just pitch the coco after a few runs. Thoughts?

Thanks