Who left coco and is glad he/she did so?

[hydrodreams]

I'm growing in 1 Gallon DTW pots with 80/20 coco mix of a renowned brand for some time now. I have had good results in terms of yield. In terms of nose (intensity) I feel like I have a lot of room for improvement. And to be honest, I'm losing a bit the pleasure of this growing style in coco with all the waste of drain and the high ammount of fertilizer and water being wasted constantly and even more in cases of necessary flushes if the ec from the drain starts to move away to much from the feed.

If I look around in the forums, it seems that coco is the most popular style of growing....I'm wondering if my impression is just wrong....And I feel unsure if the notion that living soil or no till will always produce stronger smelling weed with a higher amount of terpenes. Many say it does, many say coco does just as much...

So that's why I wanted to ask who left coco and why? What medium did you end up with? Why are you happier with your new medium?

 

[Itscheese94]

I'm growing in 1 Gallon DTW pots with 80/20 coco mix of a renowned brand for some time now. I have had good results in terms of yield. In terms of nose (intensity) I feel like I have a lot of room for improvement. And to be honest, I'm losing a bit the pleasure of this growing style in coco with all the waste of drain and the high ammount of fertilizer and water being wasted constantly and even more in cases of necessary flushes if the ec from the drain starts to move away to much from the feed.

If I look around in the forums, it seems that coco is the most popular style of growing....I'm wondering if my impression is just wrong....And I feel unsure if the notion that living soil or no till will always produce stronger smelling weed with a higher amount of terpenes. Many say it does, many say coco does just as much...

So that's why I wanted to ask who left coco and why? What medium did you end up with? Why are you happier with your new medium?

i find soil flowers all ways taste, better but thats just me personally. i have had some nice coco bud/ buds as coco buds tend to yield bigger size buds. but still prefer soil, less hassle and less water times once maybe 2 times a week. where coco can be a lot maybe every day. if your hand watering.

 

[hydrodreams]

Another thing I start to question is the claim that coco can't be overwatered (even grown plant in mid/late flower in 1 gallon pots)....

 

[cannafarmer420]

Soil is for terps and ease of growing imo

 

[hydrodreams]

Soil is for terps and ease of growing imo

Did you grow in Coco and notice this yourself? For how long did you grow in coco?

 

[cannafarmer420]

No, just anecdotal evidence from people I know who have converted over. You can still grow awesome plants in coco of course, some real monster. Its all preference, but I think it is wayyy easier than feeding with coco. You can use microbes in coco as well, but it is a lot more effort. Results are subjective in the end, but water once in veg, top dress once before flower, add occasional tea or microbes to me is a lot easier than the whole coco deal. In the end the one YOU feel most comfortable with is what you should do. Happy growing ✌

 

[hydrodreams]

You can use microbes in coco as well, but it is a lot more effort.

That's what I start to realize. if you want to get the most out of coco in terms of quality, you have to also feed microbes and more from the organic side which is a lot of additional work since you can't feed it trough drip irrigation....

 

[cannafarmer420]

That's what I start to realize. if you want to get the most out of coco in terms of quality, you have to also feed microbes and more from the organic side which is a lot of additional work since you can't feed it trough drip irrigation....

microbes work in symbiosis with plants, plants are optimal with happy well fed microbes. Imo

 

[hydrodreams]

In another forum one guy got more specific about microbes and other organic feeds in coco:

"A lot of people might disagree, but my coco stuff tastes just as good as my organic soil buds. I do add kelp extract, amino acids, fulvic acid, and I use mycorrhizae and a bacterial inoculant (or aact, if I'm not being lazy). You can cultivate a microbiome even while using 2 part inorganic nutrients, and I think that microbiome has a huge impact on plant health and flavor. In various studies looking at ISR/SAR, you find that by stimulating those responses, various nutrient levels, antioxidants, and essential oils (terpenes) increase. High phosphorus is the thing that suppresses the microbiome the most, so Jack's and Megacrop are actually perfect because they are already using intelligent amounts of phosphorus, and by using a lower PPM solution and feeding multiple times per day, you can create favorable conditions for rhizobacteria/myco growth. I see certain people claiming that the microbiome has zero impact on plant growth when using inorganic nutrients, and that trying to cultivate a microbiome in such circumstances is utterly pointless, but nothing could be further from the truth. It's foolish to think that plant signaling stops and that rhizobacteria cease pumping out enzymes and secondary metabolites simply because the population is slightly smaller than in an organic grow."

 

[cannafarmer420]

This will answer your microbe questions, totally worth a watch. I've watched it a few times already and took notes. Don't give up! it's a beautiful plant to get to know !

 

[hoobastank_enthusiast]

Not to be terse, but as you said it sounds like you have room for improvement. Not fair to blame the media for that fact. I grow exclusively in coco, waste very little (10% of a gallon is about a soda can's worth) and never have to flush my plants because of EC. In fact, in a typical grow I'll only check run-off EC twice during the entire grow cycle. If your inputs are correct then your outputs follow.

 

[Sunin]

Soil here. Had a short, two grow affair with coco. Get back to dirt and microbial/fungal brew on knees In this matter I agree with advise- you should do whatever you're good at Coco wasn't my cup of tea.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

In my opinion, the medium and the methods should be determined by the grower's goals. For me, a few plants at a time are more than enough. That certainly isn't true for others. I use coco coir as an amendment for organic soil to adjust porosity, much as I use rice hulls or perlite. I've even used twigs from fruit trees. I prefer organic amendments because they decompose and support microbial life as they do so.

As for flavor, my organically grown weed has never failed to receive positive reviews from all who have partaken. That's not to say there wouldn't be comparable results from other methods. I'm simply glad that I've found a growing style that consistently works well and requires relatively little effort.

 

[hydrodreams]

Not to be terse, but as you said it sounds like you have room for improvement. Not fair to blame the media for that fact. I grow exclusively in coco, waste very little (10% of a gallon is about a soda can's worth) and never have to flush my plants because of EC. In fact, in a typical grow I'll only check run-off EC twice during the entire grow cycle. If your inputs are correct then your outputs follow.

I absolutely have room for improvement, that's the case without a doubt. Especially in respect of my climate during the summer months that just finished. Besides that, I think I have a certain level of experience.
I just remember a friend about 15 years ago when I told him that another friend is switching from coco to soil (peat substrate with mineral fert) he answered my that this is what everybody is doing that he knows. And we were talking about people who mostly had around 10 lights...this conversation remained in my head. But I have to admit that the common knowledge that time (with ittle info in the internet) was rather scarce...

In any case, I would never dare to blame the medium....

Soil here. Had a short, two grow affair with coco. Get back to dirt and microbial/fungal brew on knees In this matter I agree with advise- you should do whatever you're good at Coco wasn't my cup of tea.

Can you be more specific what went wrong during your coco affair?

 

[Kraken.headz]

I've moved more towards amended coco, I like to have lots of dark material in there, but I love the structure of a coco dominant mix. The bio365 biococo is a really nice foundation, I've been mixing that 1-1 with some heavier, darker soilless mix like the CoM Stonington. Generally I finish in 3-5 gallon smart pots