Coco Based No-till Living Soil Recipe Help??

Sup my fellow RIUers! Here's is my coco based no till living soil recipe that i am going to attempt. Does anyone have any experience with this already? Please chime in. I think i may have it covered but I would like to list everything here so you guys can maybe verify it for me? Here it is.

Bio char charging plan:

2.5 gallons bio char
2.5 gallons of either EWC, Compost, Manure, or mixed ratios of all
6 Tablespoons alfalfa meal
Water with molasses and let sit for 2 weeks or mix and bubble tea for 24 hours then innocluate biochar for faster end finshed product? 1 week? Then amend in to soil at 10% ratio. Check PH? Looking for anything in between 6.0-7.0 PH to verify finished and ready for use?

Coco based no-till living soil plan/mix:

30 Gal 2x2 fabric grow bed
10 Gals of Coco Coir
7 Gals of Black Kow composted cow manure
2 Gals of Malibu Bu's blend compost
1 Gal of locally sourced yard compost
5 Gals of Perlite
3.5 Cups of langbenite
3.5 Cups of gypsum
7 Cups of basalt rock dust
~2 Cups of crustacean meal
~2 Cups of kelp meal
~2 Cups of neem/karanja cake mix
~4 Cups milled malted barley
2.5 Gals of charged bio char
~3.5 Oz's of bokashi top dress after mixing the base (about 2 cups)
2 Gals of RO water drench
Composted wood and bark mulch
Cover for 2 weeks then spread around cover crop seeds and transplant my babes.
Top dress with Craft blend from BAS when flowering.

After countless hours of research and self learning, This is what I came up with for my first go at full coco based organic no till gardening. If anyone sees anything off or has any recommendations please feel free to comment. I'm here to learn as much as i can before going through with all of this. I already have everything on that list. Just waiting to put it together. Thanks for looking! Awaiting you guys/gals/pals comments!

Baja

A few thing I personally would change.

Peat instead of coco.
cow manure is not a bad option, but ewc would be better.
15% Aeration is low. I would do shoot for closer to 30%. But then again not sure how a no till will work with coco, as the main substrate. The whole idea scares me and I wouldn’t touch it. Coco continues to break down, spm won’t break down as time goes on. Coco just doesn’t create the same level of water retention that no till will require. I don’t know. I fear that the fear of peat will steer people away from using it in a sustainable manner.

also per cf I would like to see 3-4 cups minerals. You could do well with 12 cups rock dust. 4 cups gypsum 4 cups oyster would be good addition as well.

and for nutrients I steer alittle higher 2-3 cups per cf. your close to o point with that. I don’t personally like lanbeinite. But it has a purpose.

finally don’t think that ro water is helpful for anything. Just use tap or filteres Well water if super hard

2 gallons won’t be enough to wet everything down. I’d guess closer to 4-6 gallons. But again that’s my experience with peat based.

just for what it’s worth. I have rarely seen any coco organic style grows work anywhere but YouTube. What made you choose this direction?

I chose this because I have a bunch of coco coir left over that I never used. Its taking up space and I dont have anywhere else to store/use it and I def don't want to just thow it away.
I know the CEC is lower with coco.
I know RO isnt the best but thats what I have and I'm looking to put them it use.

I live in a place where my water is treated very very badly. Lots of contaminants and the community doesnt care to do anything about it except for dump even more trash in it in attempts to clean it. Its a pretty low income location. I fight through it everyday i wake up.
I have already used this RO system and had it for awhile now. I have a stored supply of filters for it.

Do you think I should add something to my water before watering? Or maybe just add a higher concentration of minerals like you suggest?

I forgot to add that I have an active aloe vera plant (fresh aloe juice) and i'm using coconut water powder.

Not looking to get a simple filter setup that I feel would only last half its life here. Looking to be cost effective and use up what I have also. After all, I feel thats what organics is all about.

Thanks for the tips on the nutrients and minerals! I was scared i already had that in the high heavy side but I guess I could go more?

I'm using lanbenite to make up for the coco's weird CEC.

I have a auto spray system that I plan to use to keep the soil moist.

I'm unsure how peat vs coco will break down.

I do not plan on buying or using anymore coco after this. Its all i have left. Will probably go to peat on my next build.

Thanks chiming in. Very helpful to me.

One Love

Baja

I hate perlite. Switched to pumice. And yeah, more aeration.

The type of coco coir matters and makes a huge difference though. I've been avoiding that muddy crap and using stringy stuff now.

This stuff:
Conibo Organics Fine Grade Coconut Coir 50L - BuildASoil

And I don't use it as a base, I instead use it in addition to my pumice for aeration. I also use calcium bentonite. Aeration is important in a no till.

If you use peat I suggest you add OSF... in fact, you may want to add some anyway.

Langbeinite is potent. Use it with caution. I use very little.

I like to use more biochar. Double that. You're only really using 1.25 gal because half is EWC.

Mix your RO with some tap. It will need minerals.

friedguy said:

I hate perlite. Switched to pumice. And yeah, more aeration.

The type of coco coir matters and makes a huge difference though. I've been avoiding that muddy crap and using stringy stuff now.

This stuff:
Conibo Organics Fine Grade Coconut Coir 50L - BuildASoil

And I don't use it as a base, I instead use it in addition to my pumice for aeration. I also use calcium bentonite. Aeration is important in a no till.

If you use peat I suggest you add OSF... in fact, you may want to add some anyway.

Langbeinite is potent. Use it with caution. I use very little.

I like to use more biochar. Double that. You're only really using 1.25 gal because half is EWC.

Mix your RO with some tap. It will need minerals.

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I've used my tap water before in my grows. this is my 15th year growing so ive been doing it for quite some time. The water here really is that bad. I cannot mix or use it without fully filtering out all the contaminates using RO. It's basically toxic in my eyes. Ive thought about this and im trying too igure out if theres anything else i could do like adding more minerals in my medium.

Thanks for the aeration tip. Looks like I'm gonna need to spend more money on it. I don't want to buy OSF if I dont REALLY need it though. Remeber, I'm in coco.

one love
Baja

bajasti said:

I've used my tap water before in my grows. this is my 15th year growing so ive been doing it for quite some time. The water here really is that bad. I cannot mix or use it without fully filtering out all the contaminates using RO. It's basically toxic in my eyes. Ive thought about this and im trying too igure out if theres anything else i could do like adding more minerals in my medium.

Thanks for the aeration tip. Looks like I'm gonna need to spend more money on it. I don't want to buy OSF if I dont REALLY need it though. Remeber, I'm in coco.

one love
Baja

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Calmg supplement. General organics. Or roots organic have decent products that you can add to water. Ever time no exceptions

green_machine_two9er said:

Calmg supplement. General organics. Or roots organic have decent products that you can add to water. Ever time no exceptions

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I'm really trying to steer away from buying any bottled products. lol I feel i could just make them myself if i needed to.

Baja

When I started using coco coir the plants grew much faster. Worm castings are a popular for good reason.

bajasti said:

I'm really trying to steer away from buying any bottled products. lol I feel i could just make them myself if i needed to.

Baja

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Add some dolomite lime for cal/mag.. More aeration.. Let it cook 4 weeks..
I'm like you, I don't see why it won't work.. Worth a shot!!

HydoDan said:

Add some dolomite lime for cal/mag.. More aeration.. Let it cook 4 weeks..
I'm like you, I don't see why it won't work.. Worth a shot!!

Click to expand...

I'm scared to use Lime in this mix. due to coco already being neutral in PH.

As far as Aeration goes, I just found a bunch of old unused hydroton in my hydro drawer. Could i just mix that in with perlite and some black lava rocks?

Baja

Only time I've ever used coco was in a worm bin for bedding but the worms thrived and seemed to produce some full of life vermicompost. That said, if the worms liked it, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to grow some plants in it. Might not act/deliver nutrients the same was as a purely peat based mix so you probably will have to adapt as things go along. Maybe grabbing some epsom salts now will be useful down the road to help with the mg end of things. Also will allow you to cut out some of that langbeinite to start like a couple others suggested above. I've always read that a little goes a long way with that as well.

Other than that, in my opinion, it looks like you have a lot of your bases covered for a successful grow. As long as you get the microbes happy and thriving, things will hopefully work themselves out. I'm no expert by any means, just my two cents.

loco41 said:

Only time I've ever used coco was in a worm bin for bedding but the worms thrived and seemed to produce some full of life vermicompost. That said, if the worms liked it, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to grow some plants in it. Might not act/deliver nutrients the same was as a purely peat based mix so you probably will have to adapt as things go along. Maybe grabbing some epsom salts now will be useful down the road to help with the mg end of things. Also will allow you to cut out some of that langbeinite to start like a couple others suggested above. I've always read that a little goes a long way with that as well.

Other than that, in my opinion, it looks like you have a lot of your bases covered for a successful grow. As long as you get the microbes happy and thriving, things will hopefully work themselves out. I'm no expert by any means, just my two cents.

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Thanks for chiming in. So i'm gonna adjust that list alittle bit. Mostly adding aeration with Lava rocks. I have a bunch of epsom on hand so if i need it, I will use. Im gonna start putting my bio char together let that marinate for awhile maybe will post some photos as i get into it. Thanks everyone!

One love
Baja

bajasti said:

I'm scared to use Lime in this mix. due to coco already being neutral in PH.

As far as Aeration goes, I just found a bunch of old unused hydroton in my hydro drawer. Could i just mix that in with perlite and some black lava rocks?

Baja

Click to expand...

You may want to check the ph of your coco.. Mine is 5.5, Not really neutral.. Hydroton can be mixed with soil, in fact it is something I've been thinking about..

I used coco as my base for my mix and I will never use it again, peat from here on out. Coco caused all sorts of problems with pH and locking out certain nutes.

HydoDan said:

You may want to check the ph of your coco.. Mine is 5.5, Not really neutral.. Hydroton can be mixed with soil, in fact it is something I've been thinking about..

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My coco runs at 6.7 before adding anything but neutral RO water. Its very hairy also not fine at all. Very spongy.
Thanks for the tip with the Hydroton. Its basically just aereated clay balls. I figured it be a good place for microbes to explore. Saves me some dollars from buying pumice also.
Baja

sirtalis said:

I used coco as my base for my mix and I will never use it again, peat from here on out. Coco caused all sorts of problems with pH and locking out certain nutes.

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Sorry you had that experience. I hope mine turns out well. Did you make adjustments for running coco when you did? Did you use langbenite? I feel if you know how coco works then you should be able to do it without any issues. Need the cocofessionals to chime in here.

One love
Baja

bajasti said:

Sorry you had that experience. I hope mine turns out well. Did you make adjustments for running coco when you did? Did you use langbenite? I feel if you know how coco works then you should be able to do it without any issues. Need the cocofessionals to chime in here.

One love
Baja

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Coco gave me too high of a pH. So I had to add a bunch of bottled fish fert to lower the pH. I did use langbeinite, but langbeinite is pH neutral so it doesn't change anything aside from providing quick K, Mag and S. Don't get me wrong, coco works great for some people. It's just not for me.

bajasti said:

Sorry you had that experience. I hope mine turns out well. Did you make adjustments for running coco when you did? Did you use langbenite? I feel if you know how coco works then you should be able to do it without any issues. Need the cocofessionals to chime in here.

One love
Baja

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I think most the coco professionals use salt based nutrients. And just coco or coco perlite drain to waste. Not many organic heads find success with it.

I think part of the reason coco growers use salt nutrients is because of it's lower CEC compared to peat. If they're feeding more often and more "precise" ratios, coco is perfect. One flush and you're back to no nutrients. I much prefer feeding the microbes and allowing the plants to take up whatever they need. Anyway, not to derail the thread but if OP already has the coco it will work, just might want to let it cook extra long to stabilize.

sirtalis said:

I think part of the reason coco growers use salt nutrients is because of it's lower CEC compared to peat. If they're feeding more often and more "precise" ratios, coco is perfect. One flush and you're back to no nutrients. I much prefer feeding the microbes and allowing the plants to take up whatever they need. Anyway, not to derail the thread but if OP already has the coco it will work, just might want to let it cook extra long to stabilize.

Click to expand...

Or just add some peat and be done with it.