Best way to wash and buffer coco?

Pauly1118

Pauly1118

Well-Known Member
I understand some of you will say look it up or watch YouTube.. too which I’ll have to say, There is a million different brands or coco coir and also the same for cal-mag.. Also I have watched plenty of videos but it’s usually a run around when I’m looking for a simple and straight answer lol. I’d rather get my answer from this forum, from a grower that’s done this a million times lol

I bought the General Hydroponics 11 pound brick... does this brand need to be rinsed? It says low EC and salt.. if so,

What ph water should I rinse and soak with ? How long do I soak ? How many times should I repeat the rinse and soak ?

I have Botanicare Cal-Mag.. How many ml/gallon of solution should I use ? and how many gallons ? How long do I let it soak ?
 
BobThe420Builder said:
Should say on the bag

Got a pic of it
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Yes I read the directions lol but usually the company don’t even know their own product and what it’s being used for lol and doesn’t say anything about buffering with cal mag
 

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twentyeight.threefive said:
I won't tell you to look it up or watch YouTube. Buy Canna Coco Professional in a bag. Problem solved.
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Mannn.. lol I know, you’re so right. I tried the past few months, literally.. every time I tried to buy it, it was sold out and took 2 months to get it in stock/delivered. It’s expensive but it’d would take the hassle out of the equation lol
 
What I would do with questionable coco is hydrate it with 10-12ml gal calmag/water (calcium nitrate works better if you have some) @ 6.0PH in something that doesn't drain (soak it). Wait 24-48 hours, dump into something that drains well, water with nutes of choice at ~300PPM 6PH until runoff ppm comes down to 300-400PPM.

That's what I do with old dried coco that I haven't run in a while.

For future referrence, if you can't find bags, Canna bricks are fine. Hydrate and go.
 
Pauly1118 said:
Mannn.. lol I know, you’re so right. I tried the past few months, literally.. every time I tried to buy it, it was sold out and took 2 months to get it in stock/delivered. It’s expensive but it’d would take the hassle out of the equation lol
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Find a local grow shop if possible, it'll be way cheaper local.
 
CocoTek is an old brand and it's surprising that they haven't started washing or buffering their coco.

Expand it, then put it in a cloth laundry bag and flush the crap out of it with a hose or shower sprayer. Then put it in the pots and flush them with ph'd water with a dose of cal mag. Let the pots dry for a day before transplanting.

Next time by Canna and skip most of those steps.
 
All I can say is that most claims of "low EC and salts" are a complete load of shit. For example, pinegro makes hydro grade, "washed and buffered" Coco coir with added cal-mag.
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I mixed 60/40 with perlite and Potted them up, gave them a water to runoff and tested the ppm. 6500. Not joking. Tap water was going in at 180ppm and coming out at 6000 a few seconds later. After running 30L though every pot, it was down to 2500...and after 60L ran through, it was around 500ppm. Complete joke. They say specifically not to rinse it. I was wondering why my seedlings were twisted lol. I'll be forking out the extra for Canna Coco next time for sure.

Crazy as I have a peat medium here with added 14-2-13 controlled release, and a bit of blood/bone meal, guano phosphorus and potash mixed in the bottom. Ran through tap water, and this hot ass mix came back at 955.
 
I soaked it in a bucket with calmag water overnight then drained it and poured it into a cloth pot and ran water through it for a minute. Let it drain, add perlite if you want then pour nutrient water and go.
 
That’s just what the guide said to do. It’s quite a bit of calmag so I’m assuming it would be too much for the roots.
 
I've used that brand before. I just rehydrated it with a mild nutrient solution and used it without any problems. Both General Hydroponics and Botanicare are owned by the same company so I'm pretty sure that they've consolidated their supply chain for economical reasons and it's the same coco as Botanicare just in a different bag. I'm not 100% sure but I can't see how any business would have seperate supply chains for the same product being sold under different brands that they own. It just doesn't make sense that they would have seperate sourcing for the coco. Botanicare bricked coco is as good as Canna coco and can be used right out of the bag or rehydrated brick.

Pretty much all name brand coco is ready to go without the need for extended rinsings. This isn't 10 years ago when they just threw it in piles on the beach and it got full of sand, trash, bugs, dead animals, etc... They now keep it clean after harvesting the coconuts and process it under much better conditions. It can always be rinsed again if wanted as it won't hurt anything.
 
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