How to grow in coco

I've been looking into this for a little bit, cause it sounds really cool. I just found the best guide ever for how to grow in coco, step by step. Check this out:

http://www.growside.nl/pdf/kweken_op..._potten_en.pdf

That looks like some really good info, Splifted. Thanks for posting it. I will be checking that out soon for sure, as soon as I get a minute. Don't forget to check out the updates coming out any minute now. :)

:rastasmoke:

The Fog

a very good link thanks mate

nice...i am going to try coco.. i like dirt..but this looks promising

I have been researching growing in coco for a while now and took the plunge, I am loving it, so feel free to shoot some questions my way and I will try to help, or research some answers.
The growth seems to be on par with hydro, but it is not full proof so do your studying.
Adieu

bluebear, so your using coco coir? How do you think it will work in a hand watered application. Im stuck on soilless mixes and wanna do my next grow in coco. I read somewhere you have to use nutes specifically for the coco. Is this true?

Hand watering applacations give excelent results, but depending on if you want to develop a hydro type root system, you will need to water every day. The nice thing is you can get away with smaller pots, meaning you can pull 3 to 4 ounces off of a 2 gallon pot which would be more difficult in soil.
Coco spacific nutes are probably the way to go if you want to start your whole garden on coco. Canna coco nutes seem to be the most stable and give excelent results. Advanced has a line, but I have hurd allot of bad problems with their line.
Coco really needs a good zink and mag supplament so CalMag is a def safe gard in my opinion to avoid any defs. Lastly, a good brand of coco is paramount because companies harvest and process their coco differently. There is low grade which contains alot of salt from the ocean and then there is inland coco that has been flushed. I use GH coco it is middle of the road, I would use canna, but my local store does not carry it. Batanicare, bad spelling has a good grade as well.
Hope this helps some.
Adieu

Hey bear, coco sounds ideal for a drip system. According to that link i posted, you should have like 20% run-off out the bottom of the pot or something each time you water. Does that mean coco could be used in a recirculating drip system? Or would you just have to just discard the run-off? I'm seriously considering trying this out, and i was gonna do hand watering, but I think i'd like to build a drip irrigator. I understand that you only have to run the drip 1 time each day instead of 3-4 like with most substrates.

Drip is one of, if the not the best way to go IMO, but I think the better results come from a twice a day 2 minute drip. Now companies are saying 10% run off is attaquit. It really depends on the grade coco you get if you want to recirculate IMO, you will find that many do run to waist, but more skilled growers just recirculate, but with most of them they do a run to waist for the first week in order to give the coco a nice flush. Right now I am using GH 3 part with CalMag and havn't had any defs.
IMO cloning and starting seedlings in coco can be a little tricky compared to soil. Many start clones in RW and then put the RW into the coco. If you do a drip set up they have coco bricks that have a pre cut insert for RW or rappid rooters. Coco can also be used for more than one grow, I usually find growers reusing it about 4 times.
I start my clones and seedlings in the little 4 pack tray and once a root ball has started I rince most of the soil/perlite off and put into my coco, but I use GH coco and it is mid grade and I think that it is why I have a harder time with clones/seeds.
People are even switching over from DWC to coco because many say that their yields are comprable but with out some of the DWC facters. I remember reading a guys thread who swiched over, he said that when he had a heat wave in his city he went over to his bros and his coco was thriving even under the hot temps wile he was battling heat problems with his DWC buckets.
I will dig up a few threads and post them here later.
Adieu

OK, here are a few coco threads that should give you a really good idea of what to expect and so on.
Hand Watering coco, http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=46490
Coco and Drippers, http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=46279
A guys first run with coco, note, he now uses coco nutes I believe, http://www.planetganja.com/highsocie...ead.php?t=1685
Adieu

bluebear, i havent read these threads but I plan on switching to coco next grow. Thanks for digging up the links.

I am no were close to a great grower, however everytime I start some seed I throw some in Coco and Some in promix.

Everytime I have had better results with ProMix. really the only reason I keep trying Coco is its so easy for me to get. Like the Grow shop doesn't carry ProMix but they stock Coco out da ass.


I use groteK Coco and Botanicare Nutes. So far ProMix wins for me everytime. But Like I said I am no where near a great grower. So perhaps with more time I will become more comfortable using it. As well im gonna read this Article.

kd

see, i am having am issue in promix bx. my plants are getting red veins and leaf stems(forgot the tec. word p.sumthin). My plants are showing a lockout or something, N i think because of the peat pH maybe. The bottom leaves yellow and die and they are only like less than a foot tall. i use FF nutes with supplemental fish emulsion for xtra N

yes I get red and Purpal veins and stems as well. To be honest I found this more with coco. But I went over a few things in my Head, As I was losing my head over this.....

It could be lockout or not enough of Nutrients. Micronutrients etc... Wrong Ph shitty peatmoss Or coco or whaever.. It could be so many things///

the bottom line and conclusion I kinda came up with after talking with my grow shop. Is... Plants grow purpal Petoiles. Its natural...

there is such a flood in the =Seed Market. Breeders spend such amount of efforts in making a Starin that say has a Mint taste and a big yeild. Anything else besides that "and all bets are off", Less well known Breeders are taking seeds from a repituable seed company breeding them togeher and calling it the same starin (F2) this allows for a flood of un stable genitics into the market.

I believe this is where some of the purpal Stems and Veins come from. I recently have 2 plants from the same seed line and they have totally different characteristics. one is purpal as fuk in the viens and the other has very little. I have feed them the same and treated each plant equally from the start.

I have sorta come to a new conclusion about growing. Purpal veins and stems will happen with unstable Lines of seeds. Such as any seed that cost under 100 bucks for 10. i can expect unstable plants and genitics in plants from that seed line. They guy at the grow hop told me flat out.. Purpal petoiles (Fan leafs stems) can and will go purpal even if you have all the right stuff in the soil or res of your grow. Its =natural and can stem from anywhere most likly the unstable strains that float around the seed market.

So when purpal stems happen I am not saying that nothing is wrong and that it should be ignored. But what I am saying is that I believe now that it isn't somthign to flip out about and try and find all possible solutions possibley harming you plant even more by adding or taking away things that it is used to having.

I am by no means a great grower but from what I have read and learned so far is that far too often I panic and react instead of just reacting and watching my plants to let them tell me what they need and don't. If that makes any sense at all.

I can't proof read this so I appoligize in advance for any confusion, As I type fast at work...

kd

Soilless mediums are prone to defs especially in the Zink/Mag and that is why many add lime or CalMag and coco really needs to be of a good quality to get dialed in, it is just like soil with crappy muddy/clay soils that arn't going to do much for MJ, but some just think if it is soil then I can grow. That is not the case as many know by now and it is the same with coco.
If you are serious about growing in coco then you should take the time to look into those links even if it is just for a second IMO. I mean do you want to pull a QP/4 zips off a plant with one month veg without having to grow in hydro? I am getting dialed in to that point and am finding folks who are pulling more than that without fancey proonning techniques or 1000W's, but 600W's.
Some coco porn http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.p...highlight=coco


Adieu

yes I always add about 30ml of dolomite Lime to my Coco per Gallon. It usually keeps my Ph around 6.5 to 7.

I think for me personally to get the hang of Coco. My main thing is I don't add enough food. From what I understand is that Coco is missing Certin Miconutrients Or perhaps MAcronutrients that peatmoss has naturally in it.

I could be wrong though... It was just a thought I had while reading some stuff about different mediums..

Im gonna read more about it cuz I can get it so easily, I can spit on the grow shop next to my partment where ProMix I have to travel to get it.

kd

i am sorry guys but if ask me ur going to far into this for my liking. cocofibre or coir as it is otherwise know if a great and very stable medium . it had a neutral ph to start with and does not need any thing added to it to adjust its ph . i use a 50/50 cocofibre and claypebbles mix , i feed general hydroponics 3 part feed and i use 1200 watts hps in a 4x4 room. i use a 11/13 flowering light cycle. when i water i fed and only water when the pots are truely dry . its as simple as that . growing weed is as tuff or as easy as you want it to be but from personal experiences when growing weed less is more . keep it simple and u get results like this
http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=96132

Hal, I think that you have had tremendous success with your coco grows and the only thing that I am really doing different than you right now is using CalMag with the 3 part to supplement the micro nutrients and doing an everyday watering, but I don't think that the information I am passing on is irrelevant by any means, coco does have different grades just like soil, and depending on weather or not it was harvested by the ocean, or inland and how it was processed can play a significant role in the success of a persons grow, because of different salt/sodium build ups, and the difference between loose coco and brick coco that expands. Also coco processes P and K differently than soil or any other soilless mediums so I think that if a person understands some of these things that I am bringing up, one may be a little better informed in case they think coco is fool proof, which IMO, no successful MJ growing is.
Also, when veging for short amounts of time like you are doing you are less likely to encounter some of the defs like when veging for weeks. I think your grows are awesome and it was your grow some months back that really motivated me to take the coco root, but I believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Sometimes people get off on the wrong foot when trying a new style of growing and they give it up, but like in your case, you started off on the right foot with out the headaches, but after reading dozens of threads on failed coco grows and threads on successful ones, I am confident that I am not trying to complicate the issue, but rather help assist some people with an interest in growing coco on the ins and outs of it, and I hope that even with seeing the great success that you have had they will be more confident to go coco.
Adieu and in the famous words of GK, Iloveyou

yeah bear i understand what u are saying mate . sorry i wasn't meaning to sound as if i was having a go at u . all i am trying to say is to keep it simple. the failed grows u have read about are more than likely people who just make life hard for themselve either by messing about with the plants too much or not just reading up enuff. its highly unlikely that these grows failed because of the coco fibre. i read about people adding this and adding that , then i see posts like "HELP ME MY BABIES ARE DYING!!". soil and coco growing can be as easy or as difficult as u want it to be and by this i mean i keep it simple . SIMPLE is the main word here. always remember with weed ,less truely is more.
Hal
and trust me if i can succeed at coco any1 can

Not a prob Hal, and thanks again for your incoraging grows.
Adieu

Shallow Hal has just convinced me to go Coco for the next grow. We were considering doing like 4 or 5 soil plants but we know how messy soil is and a pain in the ass to mix. Only problem is that we have a 400W HPS light. Is that something that would be a problem cause I keep seeing 600W and 1000W lights being mentioned. Thanks for the help

Coco is the shit.
I wish I could get a grow going and post pics again... fuck...
The combination of coco and liquid organics is even easier than my old compost mix!
Deftdrummer, no prob, the only thing is that you will have to flower your plants at a smaller size than if you had the big guns, or train them so the total canopy is a ~3x4 area.. totally doable!!!

I might give coco a shot one day. It sounds good :).