Hey, Ledtime! You will be happy. Coco rocks. To me, it's easier than soil, but it kinda handles like a soil, so I can't imagine anyone who's figured out "dirt" having any problems with this stuff. If I use larger pots so I don't need to water as often, the growth rate is more comparable to good soil. If I keep the pots smaller and "water" (with nutes, heh, heh) twice a day, the growth is freakin' unbelievable. If you screw something up, the next watering fixes it. It's not like having to re-balance a whole hydro circulation system.

I have some coco I've been using over a year now without problems. The fibers seem to get broken down to a finer consistency but still transport water just fine. I've also re-used it, but for indoor gardening I only run it once, then it goes to the outside potted vegetables. Sweet peppers love it. I just let it dry out and half-ass sift the roots out with some .25" screen. Anything left behind becomes "beneficials" eventually, IMO.

I've used only Botanicare coco in the small bricks. It's the most expensive way to buy it, though. For me, the storage / transport convenience is worth it, YMMV. But I test it every time, and it's never had salt. Some kinds do, so be careful.

Also, on Weezard's recommend I tried the Dyna nutes and I will buy them again. I've used Botanicare PBP before (in DWC, too) to see how organic treated me, and I liked the Dyna better, for potency and flavor. It produced better tasting peppers and tomatoes, as well. I like to run a pretty sterile grow environment, so I guess for me the chemical nutes offer better bioavailability than stuff that needs to be fermented, putrified, or otherwise decomposed first. Although I think Weez said that already with different words. :thumbsup:

In soil, letting your medium dry out a bit so your roots can breathe is a necessary evil. My "problem" with it is: as the soil slowly dries out, the nutes tend to become much more concentrated. PH gonna change just because of that, also. If you try to run hot nutes you'll scorch your plants a bit each time the pots dry out.

But in coco, you can run a fairly stiff (heh, heh) nutrient solution that gets flushed out / displaced by your next watering, before it has the chance to concentrate to stressful levels for the plant. It's like hydroponics; and each time you water you're giving the plant a new reservoir(?)

What was I talking about?

Oh, yeah. Search some of Sarah Louise's posts; she's been using coco for awhile and always has good advice.

Coco be da next big thing, mon. The big box stores' small houseplants are all arriving in coco all of a sudden. Vegetable plants that used to ship in "peat pots" are now arriving in "coco fiber pots."