What to add to water when rehydrating Coco Brick

I've always used the bags of pre-buffered coco but this time I only had access to the bricks.

Should I rehydrate them with anything other then RO water like perhaps CalMag or Rhizotonic?

I just use half strength nutrients. I use tap water. Have for years. I never use calmag with coco because my nutrients use calcium nitrate for the nitrogen.

I've only bought one bag of coco in my life. I've been using bricked coco for years. I used to rinse it with plain water before soaking it with the half strength nutrients but unlike years ago almost all coco has already been rinsed. The salt issues are from years ago.

in the pass I have added Aloe Vera Juice as a surfactant

and with deminerlized water

clean but with all the minerals required

good luck

xtsho said:

I just use half strength nutrients. I use tap water. Have for years. I never use calmag with coco because my nutrients use calcium nitrate for the nitrogen.

I've only bought one bag of coco in my life. I've been using bricked coco for years. I used to rinse it with plain water before soaking it with the half strength nutrients but unlike years ago almost all coco has already been rinsed. The salt issues are from years ago.

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but its still a good idea to rinse it out your self before use

It doesnt hurt to wash it fully before use. There are people in this world that will buy coco block for lizards and sell it to us for growing. It has huge amounts of sodium in it.
I only used block a few times and the process pissed me off too much. But i would wash it then add cal/mag prior to use.

vostok said:

but its still a good idea to rinse it out your self before use

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It can't hurt but the coco I use is already double washed. At least that's what it says. But years ago you had to wash coco. They piled it up on the beach and it would be full of salt. In fact I remember finding plastics and other garbage in it back in the day. That stuff needed to be rinsed with a garden hose for five minutes. Which is what probably gave coco a bad name to many people.

Now that coco has become so popular they take better care of it because growers demand clean coco. The small bricks of Cocogro from Botanicare are made so you can just cut a couple of holes and plant in the bag. While I agree it can't hurt to rinse it most of the name brands are already double washed and pre-buffered. I haven't tried growing right in the brick but I think I'll give it a try and see how it turns out.

This is the small brick I'm talking about. It weighs about 1.5 lbs. I keep a half dozen or so of them on hand for when I need some coco but don't want to rehydrate a 5 kg block.

Recommended techno coco readings.

Coco College...
https://cocoforcannabis.com/how-to-prepare-and-buffer-coco-coir/

The brick I have is from Canna (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0081/7528/8431/products/50405-B_b884d451-73b2-44d4-937e-f71c571b3f65_2000x.jpg)

I trust their products and I don't think they need to be washed or anything, I just want to know if I should add anything else to the RO water I will be rehydrating them with. My tap waster is very hard so I will be using RO throughout and just adding the appropriate supplements that tap water would otherwise add (like CalMag).

I just didn't know if it was advantageous to just rehydrate with water that has some CalMag in it or just reserve it for each feeding if necessary. Same for rhizotonic and root growth.

guitarguy10 said:

The brick I have is from Canna (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0081/7528/8431/products/50405-B_b884d451-73b2-44d4-937e-f71c571b3f65_2000x.jpg)

I trust their products and I don't think they need to be washed or anything, I just want to know if I should add anything else to the RO water I will be rehydrating them with. My tap waster is very hard so I will be using RO throughout and just adding the appropriate supplements that tap water would otherwise add (like CalMag).

I just didn't know if it was advantageous to just rehydrate with water that has some CalMag in it or just reserve it for each feeding if necessary. Same for rhizotonic and root growth.

Click to expand...

If you have an EC / ppm reader, i'd check the water from the coir when you expand the block. If it's salty at all, you'll know right away.
Rinse again if the ec is high.

Likely add some dolomite lime too.

Small amount of nutrient to start them off.

I've used rhizotonic with coir before, very expensive, but had a good experience using it, i must say.
I'd just start using it once your seedlings have their first leaves.

Thank you both, that's a great guide and why didn't I think to check the EC of runoff, duh good idea thanks (and of course I have a conductivity meter, it has been as invaluable to me as a good pH meter).

Rhizotonic is good stuff, I've always used it and it's one of the few supplentals that I add along with coco A/B (and some CalMag as needed).

I'm just not sure if I should put it into the rehydrating water or just rehydrate with plain water and add rhizotonic to their feed as needed. Same with CalMag etc. I'm not talking about the amont to feed them, i'm talking about the amount that is in the coco (always since it was rehydrated).

I had nightmare experience putting dolomite into my coco in the past so I just avoid it altogether now.

How to Prepare and Buffer Brick Coco Coir
Rehydrate and Rinse
When starting with a dehydrated brick of coco, it should first be rehydrated in tap water. Rehydration is fast as coco loves to absorb water. The slurry that is produced should then be rinsed over a screen to remove the finest coco particles, known as “coco peat”, which retain too much water. Your goal at this stage is ending up with larger coco fibers. Use a 1/8” mesh screen or a perforated strainer. I use a perforated strainer which you can see me doing in the video above. This is my new strainer, which is perfect for rinsing coco. It is not the strainer I used in the video.

Buffer Coco to Satisfy the Cation Exchange Sites
After rinsing the coco, you need to buffer it prior to use. I recommend double buffering, which ensures that the cation exchange sites are fully satisfied with Ca and Mg. After buffering, cation exchange will no longer interfere with your grow and the plants will take nutrition (including Ca and Mg) directly from the nutrient solution.

To Double-Buffer Coco:

1. Prepare buffering solution:
   • Tap water may be used for buffering solution
   • Add at least 7.5 ml/Gal of General Hydroponics CaliMagic
   • Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the buffering solution should be 1200-2000
   • pH of the buffering solution should be greater than 6.2
2. Place coco in a fabric pot - and then place that into a 5-gallon bucket
3. Soak coco completely submerged in buffering solution for 8+ hours
4. Raise fabric pot and allow to drain - dump bucket
5. Soak again completely submerged in fresh buffering solution for 8+ hours
6. Drain and it is ready to be mixed with perlite

All good information but like the site linked above states:

"Pre-buffered products are available that allow you to skip the steps for rinsing and buffering. You simply rehydrate the coco and add your perlite."

Botanicare, Canna, and other name brands all rinse and pre-buffer the coco they sell it. The one thing I don't do is use perlite. I did in the past but I don't use perlite anymore. Just straight coco. But regardless, it won't hurt to rinse again and re-buffer if you're so inclined. I don't and I haven't noticed any ill effects.

guitarguy10 said:

The brick I have is from Canna (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0081/7528/8431/products/50405-B_b884d451-73b2-44d4-937e-f71c571b3f65_2000x.jpg)

I trust their products and I don't think they need to be washed or anything, I just want to know if I should add anything else to the RO water I will be rehydrating them with. My tap waster is very hard so I will be using RO throughout and just adding the appropriate supplements that tap water would otherwise add (like CalMag).

I just didn't know if it was advantageous to just rehydrate with water that has some CalMag in it or just reserve it for each feeding if necessary. Same for rhizotonic and root growth.

Click to expand...

I would wash the canna bricks, I checked runoff on a canna coco brick and it was 800ppm while flushing with 180ppm water. That's definitely enough to cause problems. I just tried a roots organic brick and got 200ppm run off with 180ppm water.

TintEastwood said:

How to Prepare and Buffer Brick Coco Coir
Rehydrate and Rinse
When starting with a dehydrated brick of coco, it should first be rehydrated in tap water. Rehydration is fast as coco loves to absorb water. The slurry that is produced should then be rinsed over a screen to remove the finest coco particles, known as “coco peat”, which retain too much water. Your goal at this stage is ending up with larger coco fibers. Use a 1/8” mesh screen or a perforated strainer. I use a perforated strainer which you can see me doing in the video above. This is my new strainer, which is perfect for rinsing coco. It is not the strainer I used in the video.

Buffer Coco to Satisfy the Cation Exchange Sites
After rinsing the coco, you need to buffer it prior to use. I recommend double buffering, which ensures that the cation exchange sites are fully satisfied with Ca and Mg. After buffering, cation exchange will no longer interfere with your grow and the plants will take nutrition (including Ca and Mg) directly from the nutrient solution.

To Double-Buffer Coco:

1. Prepare buffering solution:
   • Tap water may be used for buffering solution
   • Add at least 7.5 ml/Gal of General Hydroponics CaliMagic
   • Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the buffering solution should be 1200-2000
   • pH of the buffering solution should be greater than 6.2
2. Place coco in a fabric pot - and then place that into a 5-gallon bucket
3. Soak coco completely submerged in buffering solution for 8+ hours
4. Raise fabric pot and allow to drain - dump bucket
5. Soak again completely submerged in fresh buffering solution for 8+ hours
6. Drain and it is ready to be mixed with perlite

Click to expand...

Yes ... I read the article. There was no need to patronize me by copying and pasting a text you already linked to me.

My question .. and this thread was *NOT* about buffering coco, I was asking what to add that might mitigate it's deficiency during the grow. That's why I have used the term 'rehydrate' over and over and not 'buffer'.

Perhaps it's you that needs to learn how to read, not me.

My apologies. I will read better and post less.

It's fine, I just felt insulted and overreacted. Don't post less on my silly behalf

guitarguy10 said:

It's fine, I just felt insulted and overreacted. Don't post less on my silly behalf

Click to expand...

Proper calmag buffering now, like Tint posted, is the only thing you can do now that will help your grow later on. That plus never flush with plain water.

The rest is up to your skill as a grower.
JD

Yeah I am using RO water to feed them, but I don't have an RO system myself, have to go to local grocery store and get one of those 18l jugs so dehydrating will be a pain.

I'm *not* a skilled grower lol, had 2 succesful grows before but not skilled or high yield by any stretch. Using coco it's pretty easy though to get a harvest. To get the best harvest though I've still got a lot to learn with my black thumb, def. not a natural gardener

Guitarguy,
Hey just a little aside...I played in a garage band back in HS. Had a classic Fender Telecaster that I bought for just under $300 in 1966. Hell of a guitar...bet it's worth thousands now.. It was the classic Fender off-white cream color.

Coco once you recognize some of it's peculiarities...can be straightforward. I thought of something that you might want to do. Since there's no nutrients to speak of in coco...when you plant a seed in it...you'll need to start feeding right away.

Very recently a guy told me that before planting seeds in it...he charged it with a light nutrient dose. 1/8 to 1/4 strength. (overnight soak or at least a few hours) Nute strengths are often listed as a range...so 1/4 of the low range dosage would be 1/4 tsp of Maxibloom. I often describe what I do...so people can see how and why I do it. Then decide for themselves. I think it's not a bad idea.
JD

Hard to find but you can add some instant water.

Get out a container and fill it.....Boom, instant water!

I just couldn't resist.....


The folks telling you to use a weak nutrient solution are right. You might consider adding a Ca/Mg at full strength with that though. Be sure to pH that too! It helps...