Soil or Coco?

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

Hey there guys! I've been doing some research on (mostly) coco, and it sounds amazing! I figured I'd start off with it after I had found several threads and grow journals about it and beat the learning curve it has. My budget doesn't allow for a $100+ pH meter though, and probably only one in the range of $30-$50. It would be for 1 grow and I could save for a nicer one after that.

Or would soil be a better idea? I'm really looking for which will be cheapest in the long run of a grow for 2 or 3 plants. If I were to go soil what would you recommend? I've heard fox farm the most, as of this minute I can't remember the other brands haha. I've looked into and studied this so much that I have a good understanding of how to grow, and have had 2 cousins and a buddy grow and show me a few things.

This will be an indoor grow in a grow tent btw, and my setup will consist of a 3x3x6' 7" grow tent, a 600W HPS/MH cool tube, a 6" inline fan 400 CFM, etc. All the bells and whistles for it. I just need a bit of advice on the medium and some opinions of what would suit this grow the best.

Thanks for any input guys and happy growing!

 

[Resinhound]

Starting out in soil teaches watering dicipline,and lets you grow with minimal ph hassles and less nutrients if you get a decent soil.Hell you can just feed plain water in some soils.I think if youre on the cheap and your first grow stick to soil.I like a mix of ffof and happy frog mixed 50/50 and run that 50/50 mix with %20perlite.

 

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

Starting out in soil teaches watering dicipline,and lets you grow with minimal ph hassles and less nutrients if you get a decent soil.Hell you can just feed plain water in some soils.I think if youre on the cheap and your first grow stick to soil.I like a mix of ffof and happy frog mixed 50/50 and run that 50/50 mix with %20perlite.

Thanks for the reply Resinhound! Do you have a preferred soil and nutes? I've read quite a few things on FFOF and it sounds good any input on this? Getting everything for the setup plus seeds are what's really putting the budget at its cap. If I could find some bagseed I'd just use it but not an option atm. A good soil that I can use plain tap would be preferred

 

[thumper60]

promix u cant go wrong

 

[Resinhound]

Ive been wanting to try kind soil,when I get on my soil kick again ill probably try it

 

[MickFoster]

I'm a coco-nut so you can figure what I recommend. If you're on a budget use the GH pH drops - they work well - I have been using them for years - don't need storage solution, 4.0 or 7.0 calibrating solution. I also use the KISS method for nutes - 7 grams of GH MaxiBloom in tap water for a mature plant and you're good to go for the whole grow. Only costs $0.11 per gallon.

 

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

promix u cant go wrong

I'll give a look at it, thanks for the reply!

 

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

Ive been wanting to try kind soil,when I get on my soil kick again ill probably try it

I'll look into this as well, have you heard good things about it?

 

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

I'm a coco-nut so you can figure what I recommend. If you're on a budget use the GH pH drops - they work well - I have been using them for years - don't need storage solution, 4.0 or 7.0 calibrating solution. I also use the KISS method for nutes - 7 grams of GH MaxiBloom in tap water for a mature plant and you're good to go for the whole grow. Only costs $0.11 per gallon.

Understandably! I've seen some beautiful girls grown in coco! Could you provide a link to the KISS method? I'm fascinated by coco haha. Thanks for the input! If there's any advice you can give me on the medium from experience it'd be much appreciated!

 

[MickFoster]

Understandably! I've seen some beautiful girls grown in coco! Could you provide a link to the KISS method? I'm fascinated by coco haha. Thanks for the input! If there's any advice you can give me on the medium from experience it'd be much appreciated!

If you google KISS method you'll get all the info you need - it's discussed extensively on another forum. I plant my seeds in straight coco in 18 oz. solo cups and water with 1/8 strength nutes. After 2 weeks from sprouting I transplant into 80 oz. containers with a 75%/25% coco/perlite mix - nute strength is increased to 1/4 strength. After another 2 weeks I transplant into 2 gallon buckets with the 75/25 medium ratio - nute strength is increased to 1/2 strength. I water/feed every day to run-off and I never have a discolored leaf throughout my grows. You will receive a lot of different opinions on how to water/feed - some people believe you have to let it dry a bit before you water again and some even do it several times a day. Coco is hydroponics - if you treat it like soil (letting it dry) you will get soil results. In addition - letting it dry will build up salts in the medium - watering/feeding daily replenishes the medium with fresh nutes and pushes out the stale oxygen and brings in fresh. That's just the way I do it. Hope that helps.

 

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

If you google KISS method you'll get all the info you need - it's discussed extensively on another forum. I plant my seeds in straight coco in 18 oz. solo cups and water with 1/8 strength nutes. After 2 weeks from sprouting I transplant into 80 oz. containers with a 75%/25% coco/perlite mix - nute strength is increased to 1/4 strength. After another 2 weeks I transplant into 2 gallon buckets with the 75/25 medium ratio - nute strength is increased to 1/2 strength. I water/feed every day to run-off and I never have a discolored leaf throughout my grows. You will receive a lot of different opinions on how to water/feed - some people believe you have to let it dry a bit before you water again and some even do it several times a day. Coco is hydroponics - if you treat it like soil (letting it dry) you will get soil results. In addition - letting it dry will build up salts in the medium - watering/feeding daily replenishes the medium with fresh nutes and pushes out the stale oxygen and brings in fresh. That's just the way I do it. Hope that helps.

I'll Google that here in a bit thanks! That is probably one of the most in-depth answers I've ever read on any forum that answers what is asked, and for that I tip my hat to you MickFoster! Thank you! Soon as I can get everything ordered and set up I'll be sure to start up a grow journal here on RIU!

 

[Craig1969SS]

Do soil first and foremost. When you can grow them there, bud and harvest them then go to coco.

 

[MickFoster]

Do soil first and foremost. When you can grow them there, bud and harvest them then go to coco.

Why????

 

[Craig1969SS]

Success is why and soil will provide more space for newbie error than coco will. Once you gain some confidence that you won't trash your plants and start posting pictures of healthy ones and not sick ones asking for help. You need to be a nutrient and pH ace with coco for plants to reach harvest especially during the flip and beyond. Sure it's possible but reading is not doing.

 

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

Success is why and soil will provide more space for newbie error than coco will. Once you gain some confidence that you won't trash your plants and start posting pictures of healthy ones and not sick ones asking for help. You need to be a nutrient and pH ace with coco for plants to reach harvest especially during the flip and beyond. Sure it's possible but reading is not doing.

I appreciate your concern on my success with my first harvest! The reason I feel I'd like coco better is (at least from what I've read) it's pretty hard to over water and it's forgiving in that aspect. I'm pretty confident in growing in it for my first grow, the first thing I'll do is test my tap here so I can dial it in the best I can so I know where I need to have its ph, then test the drops in some coco to make sure it's good to go.

I realize that reading isn't doing, and with soil I still have that chance to make an error and still end up posting pictures of sickly plants. As for being a ph and nutrient ace, I've no doubt that you gotta understand what you're doing for an almost perfect grow and harvest with minimal error.

I still have to learn the curve either way with nutes and ph and I believe trial and error is the best way for it. Especially hands on first time, since I'm not going in head first thinking I'll have a perfect crop, I'll stumble plenty my first grow or 2 but that's to be expected haha.

If there's a few pointers on coco you could add to with the above method that MickFoster gave me it'd be much appreciated! Thank you for being concerned about my success with my first grow like I said, I think from everything I've read on coco though I gotta give it a shot. If it's the siren in the sea that ends up sinking my ship I'll go with soil a few times before tackling coco a second time haha.

 

[MickFoster]

Success is why and soil will provide more space for newbie error than coco will. Once you gain some confidence that you won't trash your plants and start posting pictures of healthy ones and not sick ones asking for help. You need to be a nutrient and pH ace with coco for plants to reach harvest especially during the flip and beyond. Sure it's possible but reading is not doing.

I have to disagree. He doesn't need to be a nutrient and pH ace with coco for his plants to reach harvest. If he follows what I outlined in my above posts and controls the environment (lights, temperature, humidity, etc.) he'll have a perfect grow. The advantage that coco has over soil is that any nutrient or deficiency problem can be addressed and fixed immediately because coco doesn't hold nutes. If he uses the KISS method with his tap water or if he uses R/O with a cal-mag supplement, he'll never have a problem. I see more deficiency and over-fert problems on these forums from people in soil than any other method, yet they are all led to believe that it's the best way to start.

 

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

That's another reason coco sounds good to me, if somethings not right I can always flush, find the problem, and start a new with nutes! What made up my mind was reading Ed's coco guide, and all the benefits of coco, even the down sides he mentioned weren't that bad and could be easily corrected. I was looking more for price and an easy method to check pH without having to buy an overly expensive meter. MickFoster gave me everything I needed for this. I've also seen what he's talking about with soil deficiency, both reading and my buddy's plant he grew from bagseed. The leaves were curled and had rust spots on em and he had a bit of a bug problem (not huge, but was still apparent). I haven't seen a coco grow up close and personal, but from the pictures and stories it seems like a great option.

Remember I was looking for price as I'm on a budget, and it seems you can buy a larger amount of coco than soil and it's easier on the pocket, not to mention if you flush it out its reusable!

 

[thumper60]

I woul ,d start with promix it is soilless and very forgiving no fucking around with ph,i have been growing it I bet longer than u been breathing not trying to b smart ass'i hve never owned ph pen big bale 27.00 about 50 gals

 

[Philip.J.Fryed3000]

I woul ,d start with promix it is soilless and very forgiving no fucking around with ph,i have been growing it I bet longer than u been breathing not trying to b smart ass'i hve never owned ph pen big bale 27.00 about 50 gals

I'll probably go with coco for my first try, but I'm going to try all the different mediums at some point or another so I appreciate the recommendation! Are there any similarities of promix and coco besides them being soilless? Nah haha I'm sure if you're over 30 then you have been! I don't doubt promix, but is there a link or pics you can provide so I can get a look at how the plants look grown in it?

 

[Feisty1UR]

We've started our first grow in coco pro+ and the little girls are already flourishing. It's been only 2 days and they have already shown their first set of true leaves. Don't forget to use pH down liquid if your water is a little hardy, Ours is 7.9.

PS: Water the coco the night before you pop the germed seeds in. Don't put them in too deep, don't listen to the people who say knuckle deep or half inch. 5-7mm is more than enough. Our last attempt screwed up from the knuckle deep method and the seeds rotted (They never sprouted)

Out of our 3 seeds, all sprouted nice and healthy.
Happy growing