Fortifiying COCO with CALMAG soak

FmSwayze

FmSwayze

Well-Known Member
Does anyone soak thier coco in a calmag solution prior to use, specifically if you run dry amendments? Thanks
 
TCH

TCH

Well-Known Member
Are you talking dry amendments as in mixing them in like soil? If you are draining to waste, I rinse and buffer my coco with a weak pH'd nutrient solution.
 
FmSwayze

FmSwayze

Well-Known Member
I will be using Dr earth with coco medium. Aside from the initial amendment with nutrition are you *charging with calmag only. That's the question
 
TCH

TCH

Well-Known Member
FmSwayze said:
I will be using Dr earth with coco medium. Aside from the initial amendment with nutrition are you *charging with calmag only. That's the question
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You don't amend coco and use it like a soil. It is a hydro medium and should be fed daily (multiple times) and done so to considerable runoff.
 
FmSwayze

FmSwayze

Well-Known Member
Coco based soil* I should been more specific. I appreciate the quick responses. I love this community for that reason. Looks like an experiment is needed.
 
TCH

TCH

Well-Known Member
FmSwayze said:
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That's coco coir. You'll want to do drain to waste with that. Take it from somebody that has tried to use coco as soil. It will work but not well. And then just when the end is in sight, it will become a colossal pain in the dick. You can try it. But if you want to save the headache, either do drain to waste with decent runoff or get soil.
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
FmSwayze said:
Does anyone soak thier coco in a calmag solution prior to use, specifically if you run dry amendments? Thanks
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No I purchase prebuffered coco.

The reason you don't run dry with coco is dry amendments feed every time you water. Coco requires watering at least once to multiple times/day. When the plants are small and they aren't drinking as quickly you'll be fine but soon you'll reach a point where you are having to give them more water so they get too much nutrient and burn OR you let them dry and the salts dry up and burn them that way.

That's why coco and dry nutrients don't work well together. If you want to use dry amendments try a peat based mix that holds water longer. I hope that helps.
 
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bgsixxniner

Well-Known Member
FmSwayze said:
I will be using Dr earth with coco medium. Aside from the initial amendment with nutrition are you *charging with calmag only. That's the question
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Im using dr earth with coco too. I mix other stuff in too, but the most important is ewc and some kinda microbes. I also mixed in about 20% ffof soil. To give the coco some extra life and nutrients ready for plant, until amendments break down. Theres benefits to growing this way compared to soil, but there's pros and cons to both. Im in sip buckets so i think coco wicks a lil better than soil and is less hydrophobic. Jmo everyone has their way.
 
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bgsixxniner

Well-Known Member
curious2garden said:
No I purchase prebuffered coco.

The reason you don't run dry with coco is dry amendments feed every time you water. Coco requires watering at least once to multiple times/day. When the plants are small and they aren't drinking as quickly you'll be fine but soon you'll reach a point where you are having to give them more water so they get too much nutrient and burn OR you let them dry and the salts dry up and burn them that way.

That's why coco and dry nutrients don't work well together. If you want to use dry amendments try a peat based mix that holds water longer. I hope that helps.
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Ive never burned plants with dry amendments. 2-3tbs/gallon of soil. And coco and dry amendments work great together. As long as u add microbes and ewc or compost, you should be good. Usually the dr earth tomato veg blend has extra calcium in it, that helps with the cation problems with coco. You can use coco just as you would amend an hp promix, or any neutral soil(no nutes). Coco good, soil good too!!!
 
FmSwayze

FmSwayze

Well-Known Member
bgsixxniner said:
Ive never burned plants with dry amendments. 2-3tbs/gallon of soil. And coco and dry amendments work great together. As long as u add microbes and ewc or compost, you should be good. Usually the dr earth tomato veg blend has extra calcium in it, that helps with the cation problems with coco. You can use coco just as you would amend an hp promix, or any neutral soil(no nutes). Coco good, soil good too!!!
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Thanks man. I used a blend of compost, coco, perlite and vermiculite. It's going great, love the dry amendments. I'm testing now on top dressing frequency. 14 or 21 days? We shall see, this is my first go with Dr earth.
 
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bgsixxniner

Well-Known Member
FmSwayze said:
Thanks man. I used a blend of compost, coco, perlite and vermiculite. It's going great, love the dry amendments. I'm testing now on top dressing frequency. 14 or 21 days? We shall see, this is my first go with Dr earth.
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Yeah i love dry amendments. All ive used is dr. Earth and down to earth. They both work great. For me i usually do every3-4 weeks topdress. And if it gets close to the end, i either mix up some foxfarm big bloom or roots organic terp tea to carry them to the end. Never tried vermiculite. Will have to research it.
 
twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
bgsixxniner said:
Im using dr earth with coco too. I mix other stuff in too, but the most important is ewc and some kinda microbes. I also mixed in about 20% ffof soil. To give the coco some extra life and nutrients ready for plant, until amendments break down. Theres benefits to growing this way compared to soil, but there's pros and cons to both. Im in sip buckets so i think coco wicks a lil better than soil and is less hydrophobic. Jmo everyone has their way.
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What exactly are the benefits of growing with dry amendments in coco?
 
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