Why is no-one ever using a Coco/Vermiculite (and some Perlite) Mix?
- Thread starter flexy123
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- coco perlite soil vermiculite
Stink Bug
Well-Known Member
Yep. Even though straight coco can look boggy and compact.. It still has a great air to water ratio. And is very root friendly. Only thing I add is about 10% EWC.
xtsho
Well-Known Member
That's what got me to start using one. Back when I was mixing coco with perlite. I'd get 4 cu ft bags and you'd have a dust storm working with that. I did it outside but and the dust would drift across the yard.
Same here. Now that I'm mixing supersoil I don't want to be breathing in bat guano or azomite. But bat guano has the most "yuck" factor.
Thegermling
Well-Known Member
I used to amend coco now I dont after I learned that amending coco with anything can affect the cocos exceptional buffering capabilities and cation exchange and capacity.
Sithlord88
Well-Known Member
When i used to make a soilless mix id use it. It and the perlite would get washed and wetted asap.
Yep seems like all of ca and parts or or and wa are turning into hyper liberal leftist commie "progressive" shitholes.
Pig4buzz
Well-Known Member
Wha
What is ewc Ugh earthworm casting sorry
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Apical Bud
Well-Known Member
I just mixed some small grain vermiculite with coco. It just "looks good". Hopefully it "grows well", too.
Thank you.. I thought the same.. Doing a grow now with some Vermiculite /Coco. 20/80. Will post updates.
Herb & Suds
Well-Known Member
Jeez I miss the fascist
Offmymeds
Well-Known Member
In the popular Dr. Bugbee video while discussing a SOIL mix he states vermiculite has silica which would be needed for cannabis trichomes. Perlite would require a silica additive he stated. Then Luke, the organic gardener on MIGardner, adds that a 1/8" layer of vermiculite over the top of soil prevents fungus gnats. It's also a great seed starter because it holds onto the water and the seeds have no problem pushing up through it.
Sooo... I'm using peat moss + vermiculite for my hand-watered autoflower & and a planned mother; then coco + perlite 70/30 with 1/8" layer of vermiculite on top for my bucket system drain-to-waste; & finally dropping the rooting plugs in favor of vermiculite to avoid plug bits dropping off in my cloning machine. I don't plan to get a silica additive for now.
End of debate in my head. I hope. Except for the silica bit.
Sooo... I'm using peat moss + vermiculite for my hand-watered autoflower & and a planned mother; then coco + perlite 70/30 with 1/8" layer of vermiculite on top for my bucket system drain-to-waste; & finally dropping the rooting plugs in favor of vermiculite to avoid plug bits dropping off in my cloning machine. I don't plan to get a silica additive for now.
End of debate in my head. I hope. Except for the silica bit.
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bEelzeBosS
Well-Known Member
Straight coco works the best in my experience and I've tried it all at least once. No need for perlite either, just wastes space that more roots could be using.
redman1pimp2
Member
If I'm not mistaken, vermiculite holds moisture, so people tend to not use it in combination with coco just because of the excess moisture.
Roy O'Bannon
Well-Known Member
I'm using coco70% and 30% vermiculite. Why? New and didn't know different.
I water it more like soil.
I didn't even notice a difference until in mid flower, when I started getting some deficiency signs. Since it is coco, I didn't think you could water too much. I was tracking run off ph and ppm, feeding 3x a day, and........ a bit too wet once the plant gets flowering. It is happier being watered once a day at most.
I do have a dry layer of vermiculite on top as well, I read the same stuff about it helping prevent pest. Idk, it still lets me get close
I water it more like soil.
I didn't even notice a difference until in mid flower, when I started getting some deficiency signs. Since it is coco, I didn't think you could water too much. I was tracking run off ph and ppm, feeding 3x a day, and........ a bit too wet once the plant gets flowering. It is happier being watered once a day at most.
I do have a dry layer of vermiculite on top as well, I read the same stuff about it helping prevent pest. Idk, it still lets me get close
Most growers don't use it because of the cost or the fact that they're uneducated about vermiculite. Utah State University has done lots of research on growing mediums and vermiculite is far better than perlite for many reason. Not only does it retain water better so that you don't need to water as often, but it also contains silica which is absolutely essential to large yielding plants. Perlite doesn't contain silica so you'd need to add this to your medium to get the best potential from your crop.
What I like:
50 % peat
30% vermiculite
20% worm castings
+gypsum
+dolomite lime
or
40% coco
20% peat
40% vermiculite
+gypsum
+dolomite lime
What I like:
50 % peat
30% vermiculite
20% worm castings
+gypsum
+dolomite lime
or
40% coco
20% peat
40% vermiculite
+gypsum
+dolomite lime
I can't answer for others, but I find with pots 7 gallons and smaller. Pure coco drains great already, if i added anything else, my pots would get dry too fast which means I need to be feeding more than I already do which is 6 times lights on 7gal.
I've never needed to add cal/mag before so I'm not too sure about that as my base nutrients provide enough already.
Treat your coco like hydro with coco having the cationing ability as a redundancy battery system as well as the coco being the foundation for your roots.
In larger pots I would purely use perlite or whatever to increase the aeration/drainage as the middle of a large mass of coco would take a lot longer to dry out unless you have a full root system.
In this photo the hydroton rocks are PURELY used to prevent my drippers causing water changeling. These 7 gallon plants uptake about 7 litres a day so any clumps added to the mix is just going to force me to feed more often and waste more nutrients.
Why add stuff when it's not really necessary? I haven't seen any professional greenhouses in my state use anything besides coco or rockwool.
The key in hydro is feeding roots not the medium.
I've never needed to add cal/mag before so I'm not too sure about that as my base nutrients provide enough already.
Treat your coco like hydro with coco having the cationing ability as a redundancy battery system as well as the coco being the foundation for your roots.
In larger pots I would purely use perlite or whatever to increase the aeration/drainage as the middle of a large mass of coco would take a lot longer to dry out unless you have a full root system.
In this photo the hydroton rocks are PURELY used to prevent my drippers causing water changeling. These 7 gallon plants uptake about 7 litres a day so any clumps added to the mix is just going to force me to feed more often and waste more nutrients.
Why add stuff when it's not really necessary? I haven't seen any professional greenhouses in my state use anything besides coco or rockwool.
The key in hydro is feeding roots not the medium.
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VincenzioVonHook
Well-Known Member
I love how you can never address issues without talking about trump. Mentioning trump doesn't make the rapidly rising homelessness, unemployment, taxes, riots, racially motivated attacks and violent crime rates disappear in democratic areas.
I swear its the same shit every time someone wants to mention the rapidly rising social issues in democratic areas.....just a bunch of weirdos raging about trump without any actual discourse.
The issues in these states need to be rectified for the good of American citizens and obsessively mentioning trump doesn't fix them at all. Fair enough trump was a farce, but saying that every five minutes is not taking responsibility for the rapidly surfacing social issues being pushed by the democratic party.
twentyeight.threefive
Well-Known Member
Herb & Suds
Well-Known Member
Some asshat is calling Americans Commies I have a say
Don't like it ? I could care less
dreambomber
New Member
Yo! Just again want to mix coco w vermic. to water it less often. Who knows if it is a good mix yet?