Coco Recirculation

Howdy,

This thread didn't get any responses in the indoor forum. There have to be some of you on here that have experience with coco recirc?

Original post:
Most who choose to grow in coco seem to use a drain to waste system. The clear benefit is the decreased chance of salt build up, but if you're running a larger system you have to have a lot of water to do that. My well water is already at .7mS and RO water is limited for a couple of reasons. So, I'm left with recirculation as my best option.

My set up:
-8, 25gal bins in the top level of the bulding
-1, 50 gallon res on the bottom floor with a sump pump
- each tub is fitted with spray bars coming off the main feed line with valves for individual pressure control
- 6, 1000 watt lights on an inline vent system, roughly 4.5 feet above the tubs
- plants are Hazeman's hippie headband, under a scrog, looking good 4 weeks in bloom
- Dutch Master gold line nutrients with zone added 3 weeks into the grow due to an off smell detected in the return runoff (smell is gone now, zone works)

My questions:
- For those of you that have done coco recirculation what nutrients do you choose and why?
- How often do you flush to prevent excess salt build up and with what flushing product?
- Do you run a nutrient solution up until harvest or flush near the end with a smoother smoke in mind?
- Do you find the need for additional cal/mag even with nutrient lines that already have it?

The nutrients are what I'm most curious about. Is there is a line that is more prone than others to build up in a recirculation system. I may run House and Garden next time as I've had good results in drain to waste. So far Dutch Master has to be used at a way lower concentration than anything I've seen or read (.7mS right now). If I raise it I get signs of over feeding. If I fed at the rates the company advises (2.0mS and higher) my plants would be dead in a week...

Nutrients are the least of your concerns, filtering out the fiber dust is the main problem. I grow in coco coir and a while back I did some research into this possible solution. What I general found was a trail of failures. Those that had some semblance of success, spent way more on a complex filtering system and choose some substandard (IMHO) lines of coco.

What are you trying to accomplish here? To save money on not wasting nutes? The cost of the system will way outweigh that in what I read. Are you looking for a better automated system? Because properly dialed in blumats are excellent for coco coir. I think when most people that hear of DTW they think of the old standard infrequent, but very heavy watering. But IMO frequent light watering are key, which is shown by the success of using blumats.

Now I am still interested in if someone has developed a solution that is not overly complex and economical. So I would be interested in following the answers here. Yet I am pretty set on my brand of coco and it would not lead itself to a recirc system.

Blumats woah... never seen those before. My set up would require about 40 of them though and the spray bars that I made out of pvc put an even wash over each container.

I do agree with you that frequent watering are better. I've seen plants go herm from what seemed to be drought stress and the pH swings that resulted. The plants are watered 2-3 times a day and the bins are always saturated.

What I was trying to accomplish with my first post is whether or not running the nutes in recirculation is a no no in coco and if there are brands that work better for recirculation than others. My goal is to save the precious RO water that I can only make 100 gallons of a week.

What brand of coco do you get akula? Are you saying that using it for recirculation would be difficult due to the dust. I should have explained that my 25 gallon grow bins fit right inside a second 25 gallon bin that has been lined with a mesh that is sold for furnace filters. It works great. I'd post a pic but i can't pull the top bin out now that the plants have been scrogged.

The brand of coco I use is Roots Organic Soiless mixed with their coco fiber, I don't remember that brand name.

Honestly I use fabric root pots and still see noticeable coco dust in the runoff. I don't know about your system , I can just recal the experiments I saw where no amount of filtering was workable. You also bring up a good point of runoff of coco. I do know runoff of coco has wide fluctuations iph. I know people that obsess on ph testing hate cco because of this. I quit even testing ph at all long ago without ant problem and am over the whole ph obsession.

As for nutes, most circulating hydro nutes are good , for the most part for dtw coco. I do hope you can find the answer here because I would live to hear a success story.

So far Dutch Master gold flower A&B are working alright. There is a Mg deficiency (interveinal chlorosis) but it's not severe. I can say that the plants looked healthier with House and Garden nutes but that is in drain to waste. It's just weird that I can't take the nutrients above .9mS without getting "the claw" on most of the plants.

Yes, the pH swings are nuts and will drive the meticulous person mad trying to correct it. Right now I just adjust the res to 5.9 or 6.0 and water. The first two weeks of flower the run off was around 6.4. Now, in week 3 and 4 of flower its coming back around 5.7. Whatever, as long as they look healthy and the run off smells clean.

I use coco but in a drain to waste system, i have read that a rec with coco only spells
disaster! But there are some threads out there of folks doing it.

i use coco in pots, but i have chosen technaflora nutes because they precipitate less than others and offer fully water soluble nutrients. Using a pH stabilizer would help prevent the build up. Also, try adding unsulphated molasses to the solution. You could also put in another tub for a settling area to collect all the fragments.

I've been recirculating in strait coco or coco mix 50/50 with perlite for years. Cant believe people are downing this method. I always used canna coco a and b and the whole line how it is said on feeding schedule. fill up reservoir once every 1-2 weeks, double check ph the next day, then not worry about it till its time to refill. i would always use some cal mag as well, at a low dosage. Haven't grown indoors for about 5 years so i was looking to see if any advances in nutrients since then, was thinking of trying home and garden.

Coco, imo, is a poor medium. Just skip it now and thank yourself later.

Deep water culture ftw.

I used ROOTS ORGANIC SOILESS in a recirc for many years. I used GH flora micro and bloom and would add calimagic and diamond nectur during veg. For flowering I would do micro and bloom and add liquid kool bloom. I flushed every third day with flora shield. My ph was always right on the money ppms would go up as water depleted, just add water to get in your range. Never had salt issues until I tried the flouraliscous additives.

SnapsProvolone said:

Coco, imo, is a poor medium. Just skip it now and thank yourself later.

Deep water culture ftw.

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Wow well this is a coco thread so go back to dwc threads

hellraizer30 said:

Wow well this is a coco thread so go back to dwc threads

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Recirculation on coco is begging for salt buildups. Enjoy your coco.

If you're set on a recirculating system why not just use 100% perlite?
IMO drain to waste gives you way better control over what your plants are eating, better PH management (I believe a steady and consistent PH is crucial in a soil less medium) and you're not really wasting THAT much. I use coco in dtw and the runoff is always a tea color, i'm not sure i'd want to recirculate that.

SnapsProvolone said:

Recirculation on coco is begging for salt buildups. Enjoy your coco.

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Only if you use a salt based nutrient like GH otherwise you will be fine. I like the botanicare KIND line or the Pro line, neither are salt based and I have crushed w both

recirculating in coco is more forgiving than most soil-less mixes. I think the way it stores nutrient for the plant to take when needed is the reason. just make sure to have a lil bit of calmag on deck and your good.