Reusing coco questions.

[altimood]

My new found love is growing in coco. My new found angst is buying 40 bags every sixty days. I would like to reuse my coco and I'm thinking I need to sterilize it. Is it good to reuse coco? What about salt build-up? How do you coco pro's reuse your coco? I'm flooding 4x4 and 4x8 trays that hold 3 gallon soft pots, usually about 21 pots per tray. I'm not cutting it (perlite) right now because I am afraid I'll need to water more. Maybe cut it and go to a larger pot size? Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated. Just trying to be efficient and save money if possible. Thanks!

 

[bentley]

I usually flush for 2weeks and just pull as much root out as possible and water with a enzyme like cannazyme or hygrozyme 1-2 times 2-3 days apart then transplant and and add cannazyme or hygrozyme to the nute mix for the 1st 2 weeks then once a week after that I've even did a 1 week flush and pulled the roots and transplant right away and use the enzymes 1st 2 weeks and had no problems coco is great as for adding perlite I've notice bigger roots with perlite but straight coco works fine as for the watering I've notice healthy plants when I water at least once aday and coco didn't dry

 

[altimood]

I usually flush for 2weeks and just pull as much root out as possible and water with a enzyme like cannazyme or hygrozyme 1-2 times 2-3 days apart then transplant and and add cannazyme or hygrozyme to the nute mix for the 1st 2 weeks then once a week after that I've even did a 1 week flush and pulled the roots and transplant right away and use the enzymes 1st 2 weeks and had no problems coco is great as for adding perlite I've notice bigger roots with perlite but straight coco works fine as for the watering I've notice healthy plants when I water at least once aday and coco didn't dry

Thanks bentley.

 

[Bud Spleefman]

You can buy pond enzymes at WalMart that do the same thing as Hygrozyme for waaaaaaaaaay cheaper.... the main issue you will have is finding somehwhere to soak the 40 bags of used coco in those enzymes for a month or however long is required, since I assume you are paying rent somehwere, hard to allocate space to a process like this.

 

[altimood]

I will def check that out BS. I do have the space for sure. I prob should yank root masses, right? Or do the enzymes handle that? I was also thinking about using one of these if its cost effective.

A half yard soil cooker. Still researching. But the enzymes take care of the salt is what you're saying?

 

[freegrow]

flush then charge

im on my 6th or 7th run same coco .I flush last week of flower with 400ppm lucas .After hearvest I flush to 80ppm and charge to 400ppm
( to charge its like flush in reverse add 400ppm nute mix till runoff is at 400ppm ) workes like a dream

my chemical romance's day before flip:bow:bow hope this helped

ps sorry forgot the older the coco the more K it releases so be carefull
my SSH had some trouble . To much K and calcium gets locked out then from the looks of the plant most asume its a cal. def. and add cal mag and then cal. builds up and locks out mag. can be a hard cycle to get out of look at my SSH's in this thread its what happend to them but their coming out of it now sorry for rambling :bow

 

[budboy299]

I've lost track of the number or times I reused the coco....either 6 or 7 runs now.

I simply pull out the larger rootball (tons of small roots are left in), then I repot and away they go.

Used to do the enzymes, but now all I do is flush for the last 1-2 weeks of the plants life...then chop and replant. simple and works well for me.

 

[mittenmedgrow]

I just flush at the end of flower pick out the large roots and reuse very similar to budboy, I just water in nutes when I replant. Easy peasie.

 

[OGONLY]

I do the same. Just remove as many roots as possible, you can't get them all. I transplant right into it and start watering with what ever strength the plants can handle. I do use hygrozyme every watering for a couple weeks.

I had 0 issues with this method until 2 weeks ago. Only 1 of the 10 plants I transplanted didn't take right away to the coco. It just sat dormant for 10 days. It finally snapped out of it and started growing. Not sure if it was due to the used coco being a shock to the clone, but it may have been I guess?

Other than that, no issues. It is a bit of a hassle shaking coco out of the roots, but good coco is expensive.

 

[altimood]

Thanks for all the input. It sounds pretty easy to reuse so I'm going to give it a try. Thanks again. I love growing in coco for sure.

 

[Dz1PnK]

i flush mine before i replant, i get as much of the rootmass out first and then i repot, then flush with ro till runoff is below 200ppm, dig a hole, sprinkle in some great white and plant, water @ full strength...

 

[xrob415x]

Its possible to reuse it. Just give a extensive clearex flush and Use an enzyme like hygrozyme. Trust me use the enzyme. I didnt use it once and the dead/decaying roots from my previous harvest started to give my plants some root rot( it didnt help that it was summer and my rez temps were high) But then I gave em hygrozyme and it helped clear em up.

 

[true grit]

I'm with the flush thoroughly and just re-use method. Believe OBs said he did thorough runs with enzymes and without and found it wasn't worth the $$/effort. Now just flushes and rolls.

 

[altimood]

Thank you very much for the input guys. I look forward to reusing my canna coco over and over. Thanks a lot again!

 

[bloads]

Does H&G's Multizen have the required enzymes?

 

[Peacheater81]

I would think so

 

[Confuten1]

Id pay 5$ jus to buy a Hig-Times mag with this info in it but insted i get to lerk for free and soak this ish up fir free on the farm!!! Love this place!!!

Confu...

 

[dankworth]

Since I am running chow, 75% hydroton, and rocking a bucket system these days, I am doing 6-7 gals of media per 27 gal tote or so.
Solves my coco problems. I will be disposing of around 24 gallons of coco per run. I can live with that. I have all the coco I need sitting there ready to go from the last time I rinsed the shit out of and baked my coco that I de-bricked. One day of work and I have enough coco for like a year the way I do things.
Bucket systems are not for everybody, but my dtw chow swc gig is 100% reliable, is very high performance for growth rates, allows usage of teas and organic amendments, and has healthy white roots despite tolerating irrigation temps of up to 77 degrees, and swc water temps in the totes of 78 degrees this one time I checked on the hottest day in there so far.
Let's see if I can go another 30 days with healthy white roots, I think I can.

I had to fuck with 300 gallons of media for the 12 27 gal totes while really sick. Though I am doing much better and can handle way more physical exertion, I am pretty unenthusiastic about the idea of ever having to handle 300 gallons of media in order to turn a room over.

This way I will have 1 27 gal tote of coco to dispose of. I could just spread that outside if I wanted. Pretty easy. Perlite mixed into the coco is a dead giveaway, don't want that again. Clay pellets can of course be reused.

 

[Prime C]

I reuse mine but after a few runs it needs to be mixed with new coco/perlite or it will retain to much water.