Is perlite a necessity? Outdoor coco grow.

TintEastwood said:

I like to cook but.....I accidentally baked a couple of my pots in the sun, and lost the plants to root issues.

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TintEastwood, I foolishly started an outdoor coco scene this year and I'm starting to realize what I got myself into. Can I please ask you some questions? What happened to cause that plant to die? How did you prevent it from happening to your other plants? Thank you!

Similac said:

TintEastwood, I foolishly started an outdoor coco scene this year and I'm starting to realize what I got myself into. Can I please ask you some questions? What happened to cause that plant to die? How did you prevent it from happening to your other plants? Thank you!

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I assume the roots were too hot. Summer sun 100+.

Other pots were never baked.
Blocked the sun from hitting with plywood, or anything I could find. Lol

JohnDee said:

I believe there was actually a commercial coco with hydroton. It was called chow...or maybe that was just the name that guys used when they mixed them together. But it seemed to work ok.

And I haven't noticed that growstones absorb much water. I like them because the leach silica...so there's an actual nutritional benefit.
JD

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I thought that growstones were spun glass and pure.
What I did to test the growstones when I thought they were holding too much water was to put some in a jar add water then after a few minutes drain them off. After about an hour the GS had held a total of 28% of the water. Since I do multi waterings I felt it was staying to wet.
Just what I found.

TintEastwood said:

I assume the roots were too hot. Summer sun 100+.

Other pots were never baked.
Blocked the sun from hitting with plywood, or anything I could find. Lol

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Ok cool. Baked roots is one of the things I am worried about. I will check to see if the sun is hitting the pots directly.
What size pots are those? Do you feel they were sized properly? I am in 7 gallon pots right now. Not sure if I should go bigger.

Similac said:

Ok cool. Baked roots is one of the things I am worried about. I will check to see if the sun is hitting the pots directly.
What size pots are those? Do you feel they were sized properly? I am in 7 gallon pots right now. Not sure if I should go bigger.

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Automate the feedings and you should be good.

I used 5 and 7gal.

TintEastwood said:

Automate the feedings and you should be good.
I used 5 and 7gal.

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Ok cool. Are you running outdoor coco again this year? Do you think coco is a good media for outdoor? At this point, it feels like it would have been easier for me to just use soil.
Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

Similac said:

Ok cool. Are you running outdoor coco again this year? Do you think coco is a good media for outdoor? At this point, it feels like it would have been easier for me to just use soil.
Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

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How many plants? how big are they now? What and how do you feed?



These days I only grow indoor. Still coco. Currently shutdown until later this year.

TintEastwood said:

How many plants? how big are they now? What and how do you feed?

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Six plants between three and four feet tall. I feed GH 6/9 drain to waste 6x / day. They are getting big fast. I wasn't planning on growing monsters.

gr865 said:

I thought that growstones were spun glass and pure.

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Yes they are...but glass is made from silica (sand)...so not at all surprising that some leaches out. But yes...it takes a lot to get soil well aerated.
JD

Similac said:

Six plants between three and four feet tall. I feed GH 6/9 drain to waste 6x / day. They are getting big fast. I wasn't planning on growing monsters.

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It happens! Big.