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media Tell me about coco coir

ShowMeDaSauce said:
I just expanded 1 brick to see how much it filled my container. It came up to around 60% full but i only used a little over 3 quarts of water to expand it. Directions said to use 1-1.5 gallons. I will probably take a trip Monday for one of the larger bricks and some perlite.
 
3 parts coco and 1 part perlite?
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a) Yes, 3 parts coco and 1 part perlite. Or, if you do as Blister did, you can screen out all of the dust, and keep the large pith. It's a lot of waste, but I believe you'll be very happy with the result. In the case that you screen out the dust, no perlite required. However, perlite is substantially cheaper than coco coir, when purchased in volume - if you're not getting a big 4 cu ft bag from your local nursery, for around $22, you may want to shop around.

b) I don't follow directions, when it comes to coco coir. There is really no need to follow a specific instruction for the amount of water, because what most of them fail to tell you, is that you really want to rinse it thoroughly, and after that's done, pre-charge it with a calcium source. Again, I point you to either CNS17 Grow, DynaGro Foliage Pro, or homemade calcium acetate.
 
I can get CNS17 Grow locally for about $13 per quart. If im reading this right its mixed 1 part to 200 part water? Im assuming thats for hydro applications.
 
Roughly how much would be needed per gallon for outside containers and should the first application to the coco be more or less?
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
I can get CNS17 Grow locally for about $13 per quart. If im reading this right its mixed 1 part to 200 part water? Im assuming thats for hydro applications.
 
Roughly how much would be needed per gallon for outside containers and should the first application to the coco be more or less?
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1TBSP per gallon at every other watering.
 
solid7 said:
Coco coir is pretty much all that I use, anymore. I can use it a lot longer than peat, which is my main motivation. It needs more calcium, but if you use a nutrient based on calcium - like CNS17 Grow - it works a charm. Or, if you go organic - which I also do - and use fish emulsion and seaweed, you can just throw in powdered eggshells or a solution of calcium acetate. (eggshells dissolved in vinegar)
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I personally wouldn't put cow manure in anything. You don't know what comes out of a commercial feedlot, as far as pathogens, medicines for the animals, and let's not mention that cow manure has high salt content. It's often not very pure, and has high soil/sand, which can make it compact. Mushroom compost? Nah. Not for coco coir. For me, the only way to amend the stuff with an animal product, is rabbit manure. I do this. Fresh out of the rabbit, or aged. Doesn't make much difference.
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If you're going to use it to build a mix for outdoor growing, I'd do 60/30/10 coco coir/perlite/rabbit manure. If you're going to grow indoors, I'd do straight coco. Blister there has a pretty good method for processing coco. (which I feel is much better suited for an indoor drain-to-waste grow, whereas I believe mine is better for outdoors, or SIP type planters)
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So long as I've not had any causes for concern with pathogens, I'll plant straight back into my coco, without even taking the old rootball out from the last grow. I do this 2-3 times before "refreshing" the mix.
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In addition to using the 60/30/10 mix for outside container growing, can this also be used for larger areas, such as a 4' X 3' raised bed? 
 
indy_chuck said:
In addition to using the 60/30/10 mix for outside container growing, can this also be used for larger areas, such as a 4' X 3' raised bed?
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I would just use good top soil for raised beds. Or, even better, some composted pine bark and peat mix.
 
Any reason why gypsum cant be used for the calcium when using coco?
 
Also i looked up that Alaska dry tomato and veggie pellet fertilizer. The ratio is a little out of wack but they claim its high in calcium. Im considering it for my regular potting mix plants. It looks great for the price.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
Any reason why gypsum cant be used for the calcium when using coco?
 
Also i looked up that Alaska dry tomato and veggie pellet fertilizer. The ratio is a little out of wack but they claim its high in calcium. Im considering it for my regular potting mix plants. It looks great for the price.
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I don't know... I don't use gypsum for anything.
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The Alaska pellet fertilizer seems to be great stuff. A buddy of mine - who can't grow to save his life - grew some of the nicest looking plants that I've ever seen, using nothing more than Alaska fish pellets, and a healthy dose of negligence. So, I'd have to say that it would probably be OK.
 
Ok, i will give it a try. Its plenty cheap enough to give it a shot and readily available at several places near me.
 
Another experiment is using Dolomite for a cal/mag acetate. Looking over the ingredients on the bag i already have it sure looks like a possibility. Roughly 50% calcium carbonate and 35ish% magnesium. I have the vinegar and dolomite so what the heck. ATM i just cant afford to use CNS17 on everything but i will on the 2 coco tests.
 
There is no need to use dolomite. You only want to add calcium to coco. Literally no need to use magnesium. 3 years growing, and no addition of extra mag. If you want to make your own acetate, just 5 or 6 whole eggshells will do you a couple months.
 
indy_chuck said:
 
In addition to using the 60/30/10 mix for outside container growing, can this also be used for larger areas, such as a 4' X 3' raised bed? 
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Look up Black Gold coco blend. Its already coco, peat and worm casting mixed, Try a bag as a test and see if you like it before going all out on coco.
 
http://blackgold.bz/products/organic/
 
Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, coir, perlite or pumice or cinders, earthworm castings and organic wetting agent. Plus RESiLIENCE®!
 
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Peppers now germinating in 50/50 coir/perlite after a seed soak of 1:10 hydrogen peroxide:distilled water for two hours then a 24 hour soak of chamomile tea (4 bags to 1 gallon of distilled water) and a tsp of thrivealive.
 
My question is what is the next step and when.
 
Do I transplant to a larger container with quality potting soil - Happy Frog? OR
Do I transplant to a larger container with additional coir/perlite and an added nutrient?
Can I mist with a 1/4 strength of CYCO Ryzofuel?
 
https://vimeo.com/213364008
 
 
 
indy_chuck said:
Peppers now germinating in 50/50 coir/perlite after a seed soak of 1:10 hydrogen peroxide:distilled water for two hours then a 24 hour soak of chamomile tea (4 bags to 1 gallon of distilled water) and a tsp of thrivealive.
 
My question is what is the next step and when.
 
Do I transplant to a larger container with quality potting soil - Happy Frog? OR
Do I transplant to a larger container with additional coir/perlite and an added nutrient?
Can I mist with a 1/4 strength of CYCO Ryzofuel?
 
https://vimeo.com/213364008
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Too many hydro shop buzz words in that post!

Your peppers are too young to transplant. No need to do anything right now. Ryzofuel? If this is a first grow, do it without snake oil, so that you don't have to un-convince yourself, later on, that peppers are super easy to grow, and don't need expensive supplements and trendy pot growing suppositories.
 
solid7 said:
Too many hydro shop buzz words in that post!

Your peppers are too young to transplant. No need to do anything right now. Ryzofuel? If this is a first grow, do it without snake oil, so that you don't have to un-convince yourself, later on, that peppers are super easy to grow, and don't need expensive supplements and trendy pot growing suppositories.
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I'm definitely all for "super easy", although I'm not sure how much easier it can get by dropping the pepper seeds in a 50/50 mixture of the coco/perlite.  I actually found it quite relaxing to mix up the cup beds for the seeds to germinate.  I also found it a little empowering, knowing that the mixing of the soilless containers produced some plants in pretty short order.
 
Again, I'm all for easy and KISS, but a little hands on is nice too.
 
indy_chuck said:
I'm definitely all for "super easy", although I'm not sure how much easier it can get by dropping the pepper seeds in a 50/50 mixture of the coco/perlite.  I actually found it quite relaxing to mix up the cup beds for the seeds to germinate.  I also found it a little empowering, knowing that the mixing of the soilless containers produced some plants in pretty short order.
 
Again, I'm all for easy and KISS, but a little hands on is nice too.
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Just remember that the more you "fiddle", the more likely that you'll have a problem down the road. I can't stress enough, that's the number one newbie grower mistake, and it happens alot.
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Just stick to the very basics. You've already hydrogen peroxigenated, and thrivealive-d, so that's that. But just let your plants guide you through the process now. Give them some light, water, nutrients, and a proper media, and try to be as "hands off" as possible. Otherwise, you'll become familiar with a term that some of us know all too well - namely, "loving your plants to death".
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Save your money - skip the magic marijuana growing tonics, and you'll have more money for pots, media, and stock, next season. ;)
 
1/3 coco coir
1/3 vermicompost
1/3 lava rocks or perlite
big container
 
Add some worms and then keep adding mulch
KISS
 
Powelly said:
1/3 coco coir
1/3 vermicompost
1/3 lava rocks or perlite
big container
 
Add some worms and then keep adding mulch
KISS
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That is way too much vermicompost.  Aside from the fact that worms don't like to live in their own shit, that ends up becoming a bucket full of mud.
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I tested this last season with tomatoes, and a mixture with less worm castings vastly outperformed one with so much.
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60/30/10 Coco Coir/perlite/worm castings is a super productive mix, and can be fed like hydro or soil.
 
https://www.ecoscraps.com/blogs/how-to-videos/113124100-using-ecoscraps-organic-potting-mix-in-container-gardening
 
Ecoscraps organic potting mix contains a blend of processed pine bark or wood chips, environmentally friendly coconut-coir, perlite, and compost made from yard trimmings and food scraps.
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Holding and conserving water is important when planting in containers. This allows plants to use water efficiently. It also helps reduce overall water waste. Many potting mixes use peat moss to help retain water. However peat moss is a limited resource that is harvested. Ecoscraps found a more sustainable alternative to peat moss, coconut coir. Coconut coir provides the same benefits as peat moss but is made from coconut husks, which is renewable. Coconut coir is able to hold a lot of water by increasing its overall volume, similar to a sponge.
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