Questions and Advice for the Coco Growers

[Benjic93]

Hey everyone, Sorry if this is a stupid thread and common knowledge. Maybe I'm over thinking, I just don't want to mess these up.

So I have a question about starting in Coco and also looking for advice.

I have some baby plants in soil a couple weeks old and I'm looking at potting them up in Coco.

My question is -

Do you give the Coco a good watering OR feeding before repotting into it?

I have some Ecothrive Coco Lite
Canna A & B
plant magic Hydro Sillicon
Monkey Nutrients Root Shoot
Dynomyco
Ph up & Down
Blue lab Ph pen.

I've tried doing research and Ecothrive themselves say to just pot up, other people say they feed the Coco with PH'd feed 24hr before potting up. So what's the best approach?

I've just Calibrated the Ph pen so I'm ready to go.

I have no soil nutes so there starting to yellow and beg for food. I need to get them potted up so I can start giving them nutrients so they can really start growing..

Also how is everyone using Dynomyco? sprinkle in the hole before potting or just sprinkle on the surface after potting before a feed?

I've always grown in soil where I can just pot up and have never worried about PH.

Any advice is appreciated. I want to do this right.

Thankyou

[biosynthetic]

[Vador]

If its brand new out of the packet you should be alright to just use it as is, when you re use it you need to add calmag and ph it to re buffer.
For a new bag just fill a pot with a hole ready for transplanting, you can use an empty pot to keep the hole open, water it in with a weak feed that has been ph’d and let stand for 12-24hrs to drain, then itll be ready for transplanting, this will help save you from overwatering them after transplanting you see, just transplant into the prefed pots and leave them be.
While they are rooting its good to let the coco dry out a litle to encourage the roots to grow.
As the plants start to take off you increase the fertigation periods.
The main thing is not to treat coco like soil, you dont want the coco to dry out when you are rooted, in an automated system they are feeding 4 or more times a day, i hand water every day, sometimes as much as 2L a time if needed but most of the time about 1L a day on average per pot
Theres lots of information online, just search “coco fertigation” and youll find all you need.
Good luck

[GMO]

just pot them up straight out the bag of coco and then give them a really good running through with your chosen nutrients to settle the media

i like to hold the root ball over the hole ive make in the new pot and directly dust the roots with any of the stuff that falls off goings straight into the hole the plant will go into

[Benjic93]

If its brand new out of the packet you should be alright to just use it as is, when you re use it you need to add calmag and ph it to re buffer.
For a new bag just fill a pot with a hole ready for transplanting, you can use an empty pot to keep the hole open, water it in with a weak feed that has been ph’d and let stand for 12-24hrs to drain, then itll be ready for transplanting, this will help save you from overwatering them after transplanting you see, just transplant into the prefed pots and leave them be.
While they are rooting its good to let the coco dry out a litle to encourage the roots to grow.
As the plants start to take off you increase the fertigation periods.
The main thing is not to treat coco like soil, you dont want the coco to dry out when you are rooted, in an automated system they are feeding 4 or more times a day, i hand water every day, sometimes as much as 2L a time if needed but most of the time about 1L a day on average per pot
Theres lots of information online, just search “coco fertigation” and youll find all you need.
Good luck

I appreciate the information! What size pots are you having to feed everyday? I've got 8lt and 12lt pots. So I can either run 6x 8lt pots or 4 12lt pots. I was slightly put off the fact you have to feed almost daily for coco plants but the end result is just a no brainer I guess. If I was to run them in 8lt pots I was expecting to have to water them atleast every other day, especially when flowering. Maybe it'll turn into a daily job then.

I have heard its best not to have dry backs like soil grows, I will definitely be vigilant not to have them bone dry. I've read it's more difficult to over water then in soil which I guess is a bonus when learning the ropes.

I'll definitely read up on 'fertigation' that's a new one on me.

Thankyou!

[Vador]

I appreciate the information! What size pots are you having to feed everyday? I've got 8lt and 12lt pots. So I can either run 6x 8lt pots or 4 12lt pots. I was slightly put off the fact you have to feed almost daily for coco plants but the end result is just a no brainer I guess. If I was to run them in 8lt pots I was expecting to have to water them atleast every other day, especially when flowering. Maybe it'll turn into a daily job then.

I have heard its best not to have dry backs like soil grows, I will definitely be vigilant not to have them bone dry. I've read it's more difficult to over water then in soil which I guess is a bonus when learning the ropes.

I'll definitely read up on 'fertigation' that's a new one on me.

Thankyou!

I use 16L pots for my final size.
The idea with coco is your basically flushing the pot every day to wash away the salts and to keep the nutrient and ph balance right in the pot, some say 30% runoff each fertigation but tbh if you look around everyone is doing it differently. Can’t remember who but someone not lomg ago was feeding with no runoff and getting great results. You just got to be careful with salt based nutes thats all, dont let it build up and youll be golden.
I like to start off slow, so when they are small ill feed heavy once a week, when they are bigger and especially in flower ill be feeding every day.
Also when you feed coco its meant to pull fresh oxygen/co2 into the root system as well.
One thing with coco is its best used with some sort of drainage system so your running to waste, there are systems you can buy or you can build one yourself, if you need any ideas let me know and ill get you some photos of my drainage system, would be easy to diy your own one.

You can still overwater when you transplant though hence the reason people let the pots drain before transplant, check out my diary nft vs coco and yoill see they stopped growing for a while after transplant

viewtopic.php?f=69&t=21146

[Vador]

I never use my coco without rinsing it till the water is clear. I have made the mistake of not rinsing once and it was a coco comp I wasn’t used to as I normally only use canna coco coir. Every seedling I put in that coco died once I figured it out and put water through it came out dang near black. Not all coco companies are made the same so do your research. After that experience I’ve just always made a habit of rinsing.

[Vador]

Good advice @Momma bear, i can confirm though that the ecothrive benji is using is good straight from the bag no need to rinse

[Keeno]

As mentioned you. Can pot the soll straight into it and give it a good watering. That brand of coco is fine to you straight out of the bag.

[Hmr81]

i always flush my coco 24/48 hours before potting up. More to get rid of the dust and finer particles of coco tbh.

i use 15ltr fabric pots.

I like to get a little run off but not much, when i see the feed hit the bottom of the pot i stop feeding. i prob dont even get 5% run off. I think its @Bulls that is doing no run off, and tbh i think thats fine but if you do get a build up of salt you'd have to flush which is no real drama anyway. I hand feed daily most of the time.