The coco challenge.

budboy299 · Aug 5, 2011

I've run another brand of cheap coco for over 6 consecutive runs now. Local home depot carries it and usually at the end of summer it goes on sale for half price. On sale it runs about 7 bucks for a cube which is about 10 lbs.

What I did notice though was that for the first couple weeks was a deficiency of calcium/magnesium. I attribute this to it being un-charged to start with and took a couple weeks of fertilizing till it all balanced out.

I learned later to pre-charge the coco with cal/mag which probably would of alleviated that. Oddly though every run after that original one, did not need the pre-charge. I "guess" that means the coco got its fill of binding calcium within that original couple weeks.

Cheaper coco is the way to go for me and it seems to get better with successive runs. I think some of the fungi and bacteria used stay within the coco on additional runs. Only recommendation is to get a couple blends of coco sizes for additional air retention. Home depot has both coir and chunks in the compressed state.

cheech · Aug 5, 2011

Good lookin on the home depot coco. Had no idea they sold it. I'm there enough, I'll have to check that out! Especially those croutons assuming they they make a difference. I'd like to be done with perlite.

Have you compared growth rates in the fine coco compared to the fine coco split with the course stuff? I compared fine coco to coco with perlite, and the straight coco stomped the coco/perlite in initial growth. Doing this experiment one more time to make sure the results are conclusive.

Venom818 · Aug 5, 2011

superjet said:
been running staight canna coco for about a year and i've just recently started amending with the empire which is realy junky and my plants (not to mention my roots!) have never looked better. drainage is soo much better. i wasn't sure of the source of the empire coco as i got it from the local gardening center so i did fllush/rinse it before i used it though.

nice maybe ill try that as well i usually run a 50/50 canna coco/perlite mix

cemchris · Aug 5, 2011

Weird canna only got me around 100 ppms are less with RO right out of the bag. I use canna because im lazy and got tired of the compressed bricks. Coco is coco. All comes from the same place.

Empire ehhhh pretty sure where i got some bugs from. Used to get the big blocks of chips.

Cooking the bricks is a good idea. Microwave them its easier.

Im tagged and cant wait to see the outcome.

budboy299 · Aug 5, 2011

I think the retention of nutes/water is the same for all the grades of coco. Or at least to me it appears so.

BUT I love chunks of coco for this reason: In straight coir, my plant roots usually grow out with a vengeance till they hit the side of the container then head down. Much of the coco is untouched. BUT with chunks the roots hit the pcs and have to go around them. Alot of the time they hit a chunk and head down. This seems to use up much more of the available area of coco in the pot.

tough to put to words but hopefully the point is not lost. -BB

superjet · Aug 5, 2011

budboy299 said:
I think the retention of nutes/water is the same for all the grades of coco. Or at least to me it appears so.

BUT I love chunks of coco for this reason: In straight coir, my plant roots usually grow out with a vengeance till they hit the side of the container then head down. Much of the coco is untouched. BUT with chunks the roots hit the pcs and have to go around them. Alot of the time they hit a chunk and head down. This seems to use up much more of the available area of coco in the pot.

tough to put to words but hopefully the point is not lost. -BB

wow, that's funny i wanted to say the exact same thing but thought i was crazy. i have noticed the same thing, the roots really do spread better within the pot with the chunkier coco mixed in with the finer. with the better drainage there's probably more air getting to the roots because they DO look better, but i am watering/feeding twice as often now.

superjet · Aug 5, 2011

another thing i have noticed, it's been much easier controlling my EC/PPM levels from getting too high. they respond faster and better to a lighter nute or even straight water rinse.

EuDiesel · Aug 6, 2011

Hm..the higher EC is worrisome to me since everything I have read indicates you want lower sodium levels. I can't find where I originally read that but here's a nice article over here about the quality.

Interested in seeing how this turns out!

iscrog4food · Aug 6, 2011

One thing about canna the justifies their higher price and why it is loose fill is that it is pre inoculated with benes. I use block coco and just pre charge with great white and mag and I never have a problem! Also perlite will slow growth if you are not feeding often enough because the dry spots essentially air prune this roots. That being said with proper feeding perlite aerated much better than the chips. I'm tuned in!

cheech · Aug 9, 2011

5 day update

Canna is the 6 on the right.

GreenThumbBill · Aug 9, 2011

WOW, dramatic difference in growth. BOO Canna.

cheech · Aug 12, 2011

My sentiments exactly. I just pulled 3 of the plants in canna for plant count reasons. And because they were the furthest behind of course. I've already fim'ed all the plants in the generic coco.

I'm about to transplant 10 ss chronic clones, and will put 2 in the canna mix just to be certain that it does in fact suck.

TrichromeFan · Aug 12, 2011

Cheech,
are you using perlite with the canna? I like a good 30-40% in my mix with canna coco. Otherwise I get slow wet to dry cycles, and slow growth. Especially when they are small. I like how you describe the drainage in the cheap coco. That sounds beneficial.

-TF

cheech · Aug 12, 2011

To be honest. The plant in the perlite was the farthest behind.

And the reason I only had 1 plant in perlite, was because the last time I ran this experiment with 16 plants, 8 were in straight canna, and 8 were in canna with probably 30 percent perlite. The plants in straight canna grew twice as fast - until I nute burned all of them, which brought me to this new experiment with the straight canna vs straight generic, then the one with canna/perlite.

I won't try to explain it, but I'm no longer using perlite in the early stages of growth. I'm going to compare the next transplant into 2.5 gallons of straight coco, and then 30 percent perlite and coco to see if there is any point in even using perlite at all.

devilrays · Aug 12, 2011

excellent thread! has anyone used the compressed bricks from Sunleaves?

cauldron · Aug 12, 2011

heya cheech, first post and all. thanks for the side by side; nice thread. i use CocoGro loose, this makes me want to try it compressed. maybe one day :).

Prime C · Aug 12, 2011

cheech said:
Canna is the 6 on the right.

That is a huge difference!! Wow. I use the Gh brix but haven't used anything else yet. Nice to see the comparisons especially with and without perlite. I mixed mine with hydrotone too but if it dont help I'd love to use just straight cheap coco. Kick ass thread man!:banana1sv6:

cheech · Aug 12, 2011

Thanks guys.

The results sure do seem conclusive, but just to make sure I am running this experiment one more time.

I just transplanted 14 of the same clones. 12 went into the generic mix, and the BEST 2 clones went into canna.

mrdizzle · Aug 12, 2011

homedepot coco FTW just saw that shit, a 5kg brick is $8 bucks, makes 2 bags worth of canna, plus no hydrostore visits to grab 10bags of coco

Venom818 · Aug 12, 2011

cheech said:
Canna is the 6 on the right.

could it be that canna retains more moisture thats why its falling behind

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