coco coir vs potting soil

i started out in coco coir and i just switched to a mix between the 2 50% coco 50% potting soil but in you opinion what one do you think is best for future grows?

thanks in advance

COCO all the way bro.

Just constantly feeding monitoring EC's or PPM's etc.

No need to mix it with anything.

BUt you can mix it with Perlite or Vermiculit or Clay Pebbles if you wanted to.

I dont see the need to mix it with potting soil or any other pre nuted soil....

Coco coir is a hydro medium and therefore you just constantly feed no need to have plain water days like with soil just monitor your strength and grow grow grow.


J

Coco is the fucking shit

Would you still recommend coco if hand watering pots?

because it holds the nutrients better and allows the plant to get bigger faster in coco than in soil..

and yes i handwater in coco

oh and if youre gonna miss it with anyting mix it with sunshine mix #4 50/50

I hand water with coco plaNts grow faster and there's no difference in taste pot outta coco taste lime pot outta soil

I hand water with coco plaNts grow faster and there's no difference in taste pot outta coco taste like pot outta soil

When you hand water make sure you water them enough that you get good runoff

How often do you have to water, with my soil mix its ever other day. (Very aerated)

I hand water coco. 3 litre airpots 2ft tall plants 4th week of 12/12 every other day getting 20% runoff each time.


link to what im doing right now.

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/325988-4-plants-seed-experiment-63.html

J

Think ill give it a try, what kind(brand) of coco you recommend? Do I need coco specific nutes?

Botanicare cocogro is what I use with all general hydroponic nutrients

I think the guys voting soil have probably never used coco

Humboldt or house and garden ok to use? I remember reading something about coco toxicity, what causes that? Does it have to be Ph'd? Sorry for hijacking this thread with all my questions. I've been curious about coco for a while but thought it was for ebb n flow type setups.

420forme said:

Humboldt or house and garden ok to use? I remember reading something about coco toxicity, what causes that? Does it have to be Ph'd? Sorry for hijacking this thread with all my questions. I've been curious about coco for a while but thought it was for ebb n flow type setups.

Click to expand...

dont be sorry man you are learning like the rest of us in this section

COCO usually comes pre pH'd at 6.

Personally i always use COCO specific nutes simply because they contain the extra cal/mag thats needed with coco. IF you plan on supplementing the cal/mag then you can use pretty much any nutes.

This is the process i always use with my coco and the brand that i use.

ATAMI B'CUZZ COCO SUBSTRATE
I fill my 3 litre airpots with the coco and run pH6 1/4 strength nutes through it to get it saturated around 3litres of nutes. THen i transplant into the pot and water it in.

COCO is very forgiving. One thing i would recommend that anyone growing in coco does is to use an EC meter or PPM or TDS so that you have a way to test your nutes going in.


Another important thing with COCO is that if you hand water you need to create 20% runoff this 20% runoff should be tested against your feed going in for the strength coming out. SO for example if your EC going in is 1.5 but coming out is higher then you know you are overfeeding. IF it is lower depending by how much you may not be feeding enough, but if its only 0.2EC difference going in to coming out then you are feeding correctly and the plants should be happy. Any big differences in EC in vs EC out should be corrected over the course of a couple of feedings.

SO for instance if you have an out EC that is around 0.5 higher than whats going in then reduce your concentration by 0.2EC each time until you are stable in and out EC testing.

Hope this makes sense and please feel free to ask me any questions regarding COCO.



J

I tried Coco once but didn't have success. I found the medium dries very fast so watering is more constant. Also it takes a lower PH than soil. Coco is between 5-5.5ph and soil is 6-6.5ph. Because of this i would not recommend mixing them. The grow shop i go to always tries to get me back on Coco and one day i might try it again. But i've had success with soil and other than a little mess when repotting and possible bugs (knock on wood i haven't gotten any) soil is just as good imo.

Slurpy said:

I tried Coco once but didn't have success. I found the medium dries very fast so watering is more constant. Also it takes a lower PH than soil. Coco is between 5-5.5ph and soil is 6-6.5ph. Because of this i would not recommend mixing them. The grow shop i go to always tries to get me back on Coco and one day i might try it again. But i've had success with soil and other than a little mess when repotting and possible bugs (knock on wood i haven't gotten any) soil is just as good imo.

Click to expand...

Actually slurp coco hand watered is anything from 5.5-6.5 i currently run around 5.8 and up it whenever i need to make a certain element more available to the plant. A friend of mine runs his coco constantly at 6.5 going in and has no problems. Yes the medium does dry out a little more than with soil so mixing i wouldnt recommend either.

Coco has much better aeration than soil used straight out of the bag. Soil generally HAS to be mixed with something in order to help it aerate better. COCO can be used straight out of the bag which is what i do.


J

<<Yes the medium does dry out a little more than with soil so mixing i wouldnt recommend either.>>
Sorry to drag up an old post but mixing coco with soil and perlite is an idea I&#8217;m tossing around for outdoor pots. I haven&#8217;t found much about it.
If coco dries out quickly and needs more fertilizer , wouldn&#8217;t mixing it with soil make a &#8220;less maintenance&#8221; medium?
Is this just a bad idea?