Rockwool vs. Coco

[RedEye69]

Using flood and drain. Right now I am using rockwool, because that is what a friend of a friend recomended. But lately I have been thinking about going to coco because I heard it is easier to deal with pH in it. Who has used BOTH and can give me a head to head comparison to help me make a decision? If nobody has used both how about some coco users giving the pros and cons of their medium.
Peace Out :hippy:

[Chabnoc]

Yah,, What he said....

[RedEye69]

So what, nobody use coco in hydro?

[BoomBoom82]

i have grown in soil, rockwool, but 4 me the best in a mixture of silicone and coco balls the keeps the ph stable at least 4 24 hours in my 90 litre tank. the silocone helps 2 keep the coco moist 2

[PharmaCan]

RedEye - I'm growing in coco. I would suggest that you read this thread: Another pH question (http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-problems/116304-another-ph-question.html) and you can get some insight into the down side of coco.

Bottom line on the plants discussed in that thread is that they are mothers and I still grow them and I seem to have def/lockout problems almost under control - I feed the plants for a couple of weeks then pure H2O for a week then cut clones then repeat cycle. So the plants are constantly undergoing a feed/starve lifestyle anyway. The run-off pH is still around 7.6 for those plants and nothing seems to want to bring it down. For my particular purposes, the plants are growing well and making many happy clones. I usually feed/water these plants with pH 5.2 - 5.4 and it does nothing to lower the run-off pH.

For the clones, I bought what is claimed to be a better grade of coco. Even so I flushed the hell out of it with tap water - coco can have a lot of salt in it - then soaked in pH 5.7 water before use. The run-off from those plants is right around pH 6.5 - 6.9. The bag says that the pH of the coco is 6.7, so I guess the run-off is about what one should expect.

Personally, I really enjoy growing in coco. More importantly, my plants seem to enjoy it too.

Oh, another thing, Canna makes some coco-specific nutrients. As I run out of my A/N nutes' I will replace them with the Canna coco nutes. Some coco growers advised that Canna's coco-specific nutes resolved a lot of the pH issues.

There are a couple coco growers that commented on the thread I gave you. You can maybe see if any of them is actively posting on another thread and rattle their cage and see what they have to say about your question.

Hope this helps a little.

PC :smokin:

[armbar]

have used both, coco works great, been using over a year now

[MajMike]

I am switching from rockwool to coco also, and have ordered some of the CocoTek AB cubes for my ebb/flow.

I will use them for rooted clones, then plant into a 5 1/2 inch sq pot with some Ready Gro and loose coco filling up the pot. So far I have been using the rockwool cubes with the Ready Gro in the same manner (no coco).

Good luck, and I'll report on how it goes.

[spectrum balanced]

I get the impression that coco should only be used in ebb/flow and DWC systems, is that right?

can/is it advisable to use it in say.. a drip system on a flood table?

[PharmaCan]

I am switching from rockwool to coco also, and have ordered some of the CocoTek AB cubes for my ebb/flow.

I will use them for rooted clones, then plant into a 5 1/2 inch sq pot with some Ready Gro and loose coco filling up the pot. So far I have been using the rockwool cubes with the Ready Gro in the same manner (no coco).

Good luck, and I'll report on how it goes.

Be aware that coco puts a lot of particulate matter in your solution. You might want to play with some loose coco in a bucket of water and make sure you want all that crap going through your pump, etc.

PC :smokin:

[PharmaCan]

I get the impression that coco should only be used in ebb/flow and DWC systems, is that right?

can/is it advisable to use it in say.. a drip system on a flood table?

Read my post above. Also, coco can be used in pots. Just glancing at it you would think that it is just another soil/grow medium.

PC :smokin:

[MajMike]

I use a piece of capillary matting to line the bottom of my pots, it helps keep the material inside but allows roots to grow right through. Thanks though.

spectrumbalanced

The CocoTek AB cubes I ordered are for ebb/flow, but their regular cubes are supposed to be good for drip systems.

Good luck!

[spectrum balanced]

thanks maj and pharma! I appreciate it :thumbsup: