debating switch to coco

I've been growing 100% organically for years now and in order to yield a lot and possibly faster I'm thinking of.switching.to.coco
idle what brand it is ill have to go check but my local. Nursery has some big bags
I have a few questions
should I add perlite or no I see lots of different opinions on that
Also I have only grown hydro with gh 2 part mutes (micro and bloom)
Does that old formula do ok in coco? Prolly adding some cal mag also bit is that all I need?
I don't wanna make it too much more complicated since I usually just throw into some super soil and just add teas id like to not overcomplicate my feeding schedule
Also is there any ONE part fert programs like I read about coco growers adding just one tbs of dynamo gro foliage pro per gallon and fed that all the way thru? Is this possible and are there any.other one part formulas
If u can id like to use dynagro fp and would prolly add protek to boost them also?
Anyways idk it seems cheaper even to just buy coco and nutes if I'm trying to quadruple my plant numbers
if I go organic all the amendments and all.that soil start to add up also I feel like with coco I could use smaller pots and cram more in my sog
Just kind of thinking out loud here anybody care to give their advice or opinion?

ive used straight coco before with general organics and personally I had quite a bit of trouble with it. ive never tried it with foliage pro, but I know foliage pro works pretty well in straight perlite.

if I were you id mix at least some perlite in there. some people say to rinse out the coco really well, but I never have (ive had rhe same big block for like a year now..).

I pretty much use it for fresh rooted clones in cups now. tye new roots love to dig through that stuff, and once they outgrow the cups they gointo pots wwith my normal promix/perlite mix.

Was thinking also about coco with osmoscote + and adding calmag

as lomg as you can keep the ph in check I feel like coco would be a great option.

i hated coco.

if you do try it, look up H3AD's formula for coco. it's basically the lucas formula (micro and bloom) with slightly different ratios and if i remember, you add 1 g of epsom salts per gallon too.

loved it and hated it. For a few years coco has worked great, then for the last year everything went to shit. Turns out I had pythium and for some reason pythium loves coco, for that reason alone I would add lots of perilite

Since I switched to coco never ever went back to soil. And since I switched to bubbleponics hydro, I'm slowing phaseing out my coco sub-crop(s)
I use house and garden nutrients and their full line of additives with amazing results. Cocos a&b is their coco specifc formula. Also I would stay away from the one part nutrients for coco and hydro. When feeding coco to get the most potential out of your plants you want to feed it all the nutrients and micro nutrients separate; so you can give the plant specifically what it needs at the specific growth period.

Donktastic said:

loved it and hated it. For a few years coco has worked great, then for the last year everything went to shit. Turns out I had pythium and for some reason pythium loves coco, for that reason alone I would add lots of perilite

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Pythium doesnt love coco coir. A good decent brand of coco Botanicare or Canna or Atami (there all pretty.good) should he loaded with Trichoderma Harizanium. This is a fungus which devours pathogens like pythium. If anything pythium should have a hard time getting established in coir. My cousin had a rough first time in coir also. Shes of the "it sucks, never again" crowd. Alot of great methods get written off by grower error first time out beacause its something they did 95% of the time. If you got pythium i can guarantee you it wasnt from fresh quality coco coir.

mattisreal420 said:

Since I switched to coco never ever went back to soil. And since I switched to bubbleponics hydro, I'm slowing phaseing out my coco sub-crop(s)
I use house and garden nutrients and their full line of additives with amazing results. Cocos a&b is their coco specifc formula. Also I would stay away from the one part nutrients for coco and hydro. When feeding coco to get the most potential out of your plants you want to feed it all the nutrients and micro nutrients separate; so you can give the plant specifically what it needs at the specific growth period.

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Do you work for advanced nutrients? When you feed a plant in coco ALL of the major and micronutrients they need, they will only take what they need. When you don't, you run the risk of missing a vital element to their growth. Check out some of the dyna gro foliage pro grows around here, or peters grows and check your tune.

Go with foliage pro and protekt - awesome and simple combo in coco.

Problem is alot of these growers for some reason or another do not buy an electrical conductivity and ph meter. I bought one years ago. A combo. And i learned how to dial it in. I also learned the importance of temperture and humidity control in the growroom. This has alot to do with plants taking up minerals in the root zone. Get a meter..learn how to use it. Dial in temps and humidity day and night (you can actually control growth if you do this more than you think) and use a decent inexpensive base nutrient. Start with coco coir or peat based soilless mixes. And save real hydro systems for later.

A ph/ec combo meter, a digital footcandle meter, a pair of clean Fiskars scissors, a handheld microscope, and a green LED headlamp are in my lab coat pockets hanging on a hook outside my basement door. With a clipboard. Take it seriously and you get serious buds!!!

since1991 said:

Pythium doesnt love coco coir. A good decent brand of coco Botanicare or Canna or Atami (there all pretty.good) should he loaded with Trichoderma Harizanium. This is a fungus which devours pathogens like pythium. If anything pythium should have a hard time getting established in coir. My cousin had a rough first time in coir also. Shes of the "it sucks, never again" crowd. Alot of great methods get written off by grower error first time out beacause its something they did 95% of the time. If you got pythium i can guarantee you it wasnt from fresh quality coco coir.

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They pylthiujm does not come from the coco it comes from the environment, but for some reason coco creates a perfect environment for it to grow. Not sure why that is because I can grow rockwool right next to it with little problem. My guess is that the ph base of coco and the way it holds moisture make it more susceptible. 100% coco retains a lot of water so perilite will help big time here. I have years of successful coco grows and still I ran into this problem, so this is not a noob problem. It probably arose because Ive had a perpetual grow going for years with some old mothers. At any rate Ive fixed the problem, first with bleach and now a switch to DM zone, dumped all my beni's and go completely sterile res. Highly recommend for anyone in coco.

Coco coir has a much more neutral pH than say a peat based mix. Pythium CAN thrive if allowed and more acidic mediums like peat make pathogens like pythium more susceptible to thrive. Properly.manufactured and used coco coir does not create the perfect environment for pythium to thrive. Coir by its nature contains a pythium destroying beneficial fungus that promotes healthy white root growth also. Tichoderma Harizanium is a natural enemy of pythium and coco coir is loaded with it. But still through grower errors (medium too wet, overfeed, unclean conditions, wild temp and humidity swings,) pythium can pop up anywhere. In recirculating hydroponic systems this pathogen used to scare the hell out of the bif ag greenhouse growers. Believe me,,,,it wasnt the coir and its "perfect conditions" that gave you root.rot!!!!

I use Canna Coco with a 50/50 coco/perlite mix. Never have to rinse it. GH MaxiGrow for veg and GH MaxiBloom for flower - 7 grams per gallon of tap water for a mature plant. I have never had a deficiency problem and every leaf is perfect throughout the grow.