budboy299
- 684
- 43
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.
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.