Coir and nutes

[maspino1]

I bought some coir and expanded it using pre-treated water.

I used the recommended dose for seedlings on the Liquid Karm bottle. It's like 5mL per 4L. I think that's like 1lq. oz per gallon... If I got
that wrong, sorry, I'm Canadian lol

Soooo should I be adding anything to my coir or just let my plants
grow out as if it were in soil?

[maspino1]

bumpity bump

[stinkyattic]

You're going to want a nutrient made for coco coir because it has unusual interactions with potassium and calcium. It is NOT an inert medium like perlite or pre-treated hydroton.
It also contains no nutes except potassium, and even that is not necessarily a good thing because crappy brands of coir leach salts out.

[twoguysupnorth]

you have to fertilize and water often. i dont know the answers but i mixed mine with verm and wormcastings making it almost soil. i had a little mold trouble using fish emulsions, but a small dose of peroxide seems to help that. right now doing watering and then fert alternating. it really isnt soil.
[attachment=o177990]

[attachment=o177991]

almost like soil.

[BlueBear]

you have to fertilize and water often. i dont know the answers but i mixed mine with verm and wormcastings making it almost soil. i had a little mold trouble using fish emulsions, but a small dose of peroxide seems to help that. right now doing watering and then fert alternating. it really isnt soil.

I grew in coco for about a year with good results. I used GH 3 part, but if I did it again I would use GH 2 part at 8 ML per gal. Stinky is right though, coco spacific nutes wwill be the best, but I didn't use them because in spite of the short comings of using regular nutes normal nutes were just more cost affective IMO.
Adieu

[twoguysupnorth]

same here about being cost effective and available. and mostly organic.

[BobBong]

It's like 5mL per 4L. I think that's like 1lq. oz per gallon...


4L = 1gal.

30ml of liquid is one ounce. don't give seedlings anything more than 5ml.

If you're using coco and pure blend with liquid karma you're going to need some cal-mag+

:)

[twoguysupnorth]

actually, 5 liters is a gallon. 4 quarts is a gallon. measure from there.

[maspino1]

oh god, empirical confuses me!!!
well my coir stinks, i don't know why, has anyone else had this problem?
it smells like dirty towels that have been scrunched up and been wet for hours

[twoguysupnorth]

how is your drainage? it sounds like some standing water is getting funky.

[maspino1]

actually the drainage is great
i cant' even water past 10mL without getting it running out of the bottom
it wicks water really great when it's wet, as soon as i drop the water in the whole thing
absorbs the water, i see it through the white sides of the cup, it gets darker all over

[twoguysupnorth]

i finally got some stink to mine too. it is better now, but it started when i placed the cups in a bin with water/ferts in it. it was suposed to drink the water from the bottom but instead it went stagnant and stunk. i flushed real well and dont water that way anymore, it is back to normal now. these drink a qt of water/ferts every other day for 9 cups. i still get drainage but not alot runs off.

[maspino1]

oh my god, my adventures with coco have lead me to great new heights
this is my plant lucy, at i think 11 days old, she popped out of the ground on feb 29
http://www.snapdrive.net/files/470781/Grow2/11daysold.jpg
what i do is for like 3.5oz or 100mL of feed water i use half a mL of hydrogen peroxide (3%)
it's almost like my plant is growing in hydro
im sure if i had a bigger pot and brighter more powerful lights than t5 that i'd have it at
twice its size
you gotta try it out!!!
but that's the thing though, pot size doesn't matter with coco cuz it's like handwatered hydro,
it'll grow big anyways

[twoguysupnorth]

true, you can grow bigger in little pots if you are willing to do the work everyday.
[attachment=o185254]

i didnt stay with coir as i transplanted these into soil, but i really like it for starting clones.