media Coco Potting Mix

[rebelgrower3]

I love coco for indoors I would keep using it but add some peat to the mix unless you want to fertilize every watering.

 

[Jetchuka]

Calcium deficiency. I know, everyone on this forum uses the cal/mag answer for everything from stuck seed heads to mites. hah Coco is infamous for calcium deficiencies though. I am not sure what brand you are using,but I use the roots organic and love it. Roots plow through it. The results I am seeing are opposite your findings. It is super airy,and dries up 2-3 times faster than the peat mixes I use. I should add that the Roots Organic has quite a bit of "birds nest" coco in the brick,that may be adding to the fast drainage.

Must be the brand i'm using then, always used Zoo-Med bricks. But like i said, i always prepped it with a double soak and drain it to guard against salt content. And i always used balanced nutrition, but coco's high phosphorus may have mucked things up for me. One way or another, the nutrition may have been my problem also.
 
I may try to get my hands on a better coco supply, stuff that's more purpose built for potting soil, and not reptile cages, lol. Not worried though, because Zoo-Med does work great mixed with Fox Farms + perlite.

 

[Monkey Hunter]

I love coco for indoors I would keep using it but add some peat to the mix unless you want to fertilize every watering.

Peat is also an inert medium, so unless you're using one with ferts added you'd still have to fertilize often.

I may try to get my hands on a better coco supply, stuff that's more purpose built for potting soil, and not reptile cages, lol. Not worried though, because Zoo-Med does work great mixed with Fox Farms + perlite.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, I use to use the bricks as well but the first time I switched to a high quality horticultural choir it was like night and day, so much easier.  Especially as the local water is really high in calcium.

 

[Pac_Heat507]

I dont mind fertilizing often. if anything, the fact that coco doesn't retain fertilizer makes it look like a more forgiving medium. I have some trouble with the "patience" part of growing and am always trying to be proactive with the plants, often leading to over-nurturing. 
 
So, by having the plants on a regular, soft fert routine with cal mag and neptune harvest (for vegetative), and chilli focus
& cal mag for bloom, every watering, should I be fine? I also have nectar for the gods medusa magic at home...

 

[TXCG]

I dont mind fertilizing often. if anything, the fact that coco doesn't retain fertilizer makes it look like a more forgiving medium. I have some trouble with the "patience" part of growing and am always trying to be proactive with the plants, often leading to over-nurturing. 
 
So, by having the plants on a regular, soft fert routine with cal mag and neptune harvest (for vegetative), and chilli focus
& cal mag for bloom, every watering, should I be fine? I also have nectar for the gods medusa magic at home...

 
Peppers don't have a vegetative phase and a bloom phase. They veg/bloom at the same time. They're quite happy on bloom ferts for their entire lifecycle. I got tired of all the multi-part nute systems & switched to Maxibloom based on a few recommendations from here & won't be going back. Maxibloom is a 1-part complete dry fert with pH buffers & I feed about 1/2 to 1 tsp per gallon all season. 

 

[rebelgrower3]

I use Alaskan 5-1-1 at 1 tablespoon per gallon until I see the first flower then switch to Neptune's Harvest 2-3-1 from then on. I'm not using coco right now but I'm using a peat mix and they are doing very well. When I use coco I usually use Botanicare bails but like others have said I flush it with warm pH water until the runoff is pretty clear.

 

[Pac_Heat507]

I use Alaskan 5-1-1 at 1 tablespoon per gallon until I see the first flower then switch to Neptune's Harvest 2-3-1 from then on. I'm not using coco right now but I'm using a peat mix and they are doing very well. When I use coco I usually use Botanicare bails but like others have said I flush it with warm pH water until the runoff is pretty clear.

 
how about if I mix in some granular fert like Jobe's organic for tomatoes, will that work?

 

[TXCG]

If you're using coco I'd either use a fertilizer designed for coco (cana coco, hesi coco, etc) or a general purpose hydro nutrient that is complete since coco is completely inert. You want to make sure whatever you use has primary, secondary AND micronutrients.
 
Primary nutes: nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K)
Secondary nutes: calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) & sulfur (S)
Micronutrients: Boron (B), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Chlorine (Cl), Manganese (Mn), Molybdenum (Mo) & Zinc (Zn)....
 
Can't find the breakdown of what's in that Jobe's organic fertilizer on their website...looks like you can kinda read the bag from the pic on Amazon:
 

 
So it covers primary & secondary (except for explicitly mentioning magnesium), no mention of micronutes or "trace elements" as they're sometimes listed. It may or may not work.

 

[Pac_Heat507]

If you're using coco I'd either use a fertilizer designed for coco (cana coco, hesi coco, etc) or a general purpose hydro nutrient that is complete since coco is completely inert. You want to make sure whatever you use has primary, secondary AND micronutrients.
 
Primary nutes: nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K)
Secondary nutes: calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) & sulfur (S)
Micronutrients: Boron (B), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Chlorine (Cl), Manganese (Mn), Molybdenum (Mo) & Zinc (Zn)....
 
Can't find the breakdown of what's in that Jobe's organic fertilizer on their website...looks like you can kinda read the bag from the pic on Amazon:
 

 
So it covers primary & secondary (except for explicitly mentioning magnesium), no mention of micronutes or "trace elements" as they're sometimes listed. It may or may not work.

 
 
Thank you very much, very informative. I think i will try some of the jobe's when I pot up. 

 

[rebelgrower3]

I use the jobes on my tomatoes in the ground and they do very well. Just a FYI the stuff smells bad has a funky odor but works well. 

 

[Pac_Heat507]

Heres an update for those interested or wondering about the progress of the plants in coco.

I transplanted 6 of them to bigger pots. Half perlite, half coco peat some granular ferts ( very little on the top only)

Congo yellow

Brown scotch bonnet

Overall i think they are doing very well. I sowed these on july 5 (around) so the progress has been good.

I gave the plants a little cal mag once and a spray of diluted neptunes twice.

 

[rebelgrower3]

Very healthy looking plants your doing a great job with them.

 

[Pac_Heat507]

Very healthy looking plants your doing a great job with them.


Thank you very much! Thanks a lot for your advice as well.

I scored some chicken manure from a friend. Should i try to mi it in or just let it ride and save it for when i pot up?

 

[rebelgrower3]

I would just wait till you pot up and mix it in the new mix.

 

[Pac_Heat507]

just an update on the plants in coco. so far so good ! havent been feeding them every watering either just every other week,.. I am having much much better results than with potting mixes and virtually no insects
 

 

 
 
 
I love this stuff, mixed 50/50 with perlite. the roots are in great shape and the plant is thriving overall. they dont look staved for nutes, besides this purple stems that I think is either a calcium or magnesium defficiency (because of coco's calcium draw). So gave it a 5ml shot of  cal mag with some nutes tonight.  
 

Any other reason my stems may be getting purple?
 

 

[Datil]

Nice thread, plants look good so far.
This year  i'm experimenting using quality coco as well, mixing it with soil and other stuff.
I've noticed excellent root development but also my plants either started flowering very late or keep growing to the sky (may be fun if you have a very long season...)
 

 
the package says its a ready to use potting mix for plants with ferts for 3 months.

 
I've read the same on my package so i suspect that added 'ferts' are a little Nitrogen heavy at this point.
Let me know how your plants will proceed.
 
Cya
 
Datil

 

[Pac_Heat507]

So here is an update on how the plants have been doing in the 50/50 coco perlite mix for those interested in growing in coco.
 
I have fertilized lightly and only every 2 weeks with jungle juice and cal mag. Plants are doing nicely although not producing as heavily as I would like. Granted it is just about 90 days since I sowed the seeds, but still due to the heat down here I get a lot of flower drop.
 
Congo Yellow
 

 

 
Brown Scotch Bonnet
 

 
red Fatalii
 

 
 
All peppers are still green, it seems that it takes for ever to ripen haha
 

 

[Pac_Heat507]

so I came across some of the problems people warned me about coco. Basically I am having a calcium deficiency and my plants were lacking nutrients among other things.
 
First off I had a severe infestation of thrips, which stunted my plants severely. Finally after about 1 month and a half I was able to eliminate them with 2 rounds of spinosad. Very good stuff. Once the thrips were controlled the plants started to put out more flowers, but then came the BER
 
This is a photo of a 7 pot primo pod with what seems to be BER. Plant has distorted leaves as well. I gave it a good dose of jungle juice lucas formula nutrients as well as a dose of cal mag. 
 

 

 
Since giving the plants the nutrients and cal mag I see much more foliage and flowers emerging as well as nicer looking leaves.
 
I would just like to know if I should feed the plants every watering, including the cal mag.???
 
Thanks !

 

[Sarge]

Hey dude did this coco coir come in big bags or was it the coir bricks broken down with water and perlite added. Those plants look amazing. Look at the colour! So green.

 

[Pac_Heat507]

Hey dude did this coco coir come in big bags or was it the coir bricks broken down with water and perlite added. Those plants look amazing. Look at the colour! So green.

 
Hi,!
 
The coco I am using comes in brick form. I add 3 liters of water and wait 10 min. after which I normally add 50% perlite. Sometimes i forego the perlite as the coco seems to drain well.
 
Ray