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media Tell me about coco coir

It's odd that they don't highlight that as a selling point.  You have to actually go to the website to find it.
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I'm not really sold on "pre-mixed" products like this.  Not saying that it might not be good, but I won't be the first to try it, nor recommend it without having done so.  I'm always suspect of "compost" in a bagged mix. (like some people have just found a way to make money off of rotten garbage that contains who knows what)
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Anyway, coco coir isn't solely available at hydro shops.  I've actually found it at farm stores in our area.  I'd still rather mix my own blends.  But if you decide to try it, be sure to post your results.
 
I got 10 bags of the Ecoscraps "soil" although i would not call it soil. At $3.33 a bag its slightly cheaper than mushroom compost and it looks great to me. Im going to blend that into my ground plot.
 
At $5 a bag for the potting mix its a bargain compared to many potting mixes. I may pick up a bag to try in a wally world bag. When i went to Lowes i didn't realize it was on sale or i would have grabbed one. At that time i also didn't know it was coco based. If i would have known i would have paid the normal price just to try it. At Lowes regular price its still cheaper than most coco blend mixes.
 
Im only guessing but if its peat free then it should have a reasonably good amount of coco coir. At the sale price its worth a shot to find out. I have to drive right by Lowes again in a day or two.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
At $5 a bag for the potting mix its a bargain compared to many potting mixes.
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It's only a bargain if it works better than whatever you are comparing it to. I wouldn't try to dissuade you, only tell you not to plant anything in it that matters to you.
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As stated before, good luck with your grow, and keep us posted.
 
My plan it to compare it with my extra lemon drops. After growing them last year i have a somewhat fair comparison to use.
 
1 in coco, perlite and CNS17 Grow
2 in my ground plot amended with the Ecoscraps soil
1 in the Ecoscraps coco based potting mix...probably in a WW grow bag
 
Im rather fond of lemon drops so if i have extra thats great. Im counting on the coco/perlite/CNS17 for my MOA Yellow though. I only have the one plant and high yield will be a huge plus since it also replaced the orange hab this year.
 
Coco is amazing. We all know peat is not sustainable and we shouldn't really use it. Just make sure you buy quality coco,from a company that buffered it to a neutral ph. Coco usually comes from india and companies buy it in bulk 5kg block and just put a label on it to sell to the public. I tried using it once as is and saw how bad it was,this was when i just started getting to coco.

So now i wash it out after it expands to rinse away all the salts to basically make it a "lifeless" medium. You have to add everything into coco coir because there is nothing in it but salt. You get different grades like fine/course. It definitely needs a lot of perlite to fluff it out and not compact for your roots,and then it needs all the nutrients to go in. Do i think it replaces peat? yes 100%. Its the perfect thing fto add in container growing and seedlings,but like i said you still need to add to it to create a mix to your liking,coco is just the base.

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Gonzo said:
Coco is amazing. We all know peat is not sustainable and we shouldn't really use it. Just make sure you buy quality coco,from a company that buffered it to a neutral ph. Coco usually comes from india and companies buy it in bulk 5kg block and just put a label on it to sell to the public. I tried using it once as is and saw how bad it was,this was when i just started getting to coco.

So now i wash it out after it expands to rinse away all the salts to basically make it a "lifeless" medium. You have to add everything into coco coir because there is nothing in it but salt. You get different grades like fine/course. It definitely needs a lot of perlite to fluff it out and not compact for your roots,and then it needs all the nutrients to go in. Do i think it replaces peat? yes 100%. Its the perfect thing fto add in container growing and seedlings,but like i said you still need to add to it to create a mix to your liking,coco is just the base.

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In our country, the best coco coir come from Sri Lanka.  Others come from Indonesia, Mexico, and to a lesser extent, India.
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Coco coir isn't completely neutral.  It has a high content of K.  But it needs calcium to unlock it.
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It cannot be beat for creating a mix with good structure and aeration.  
 
Coir is a great medium. I sift mine to remove the fine pith and throw it on my lawn to help build the turf. I run pure coco in my grow and have recently made the switch to fabric pots. The results were spectacular. No long roots wrapping the pot. This was a jolokia from last year in a 3g root pouch and General Hydroponics Flora Micro and Flora Bloom.

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solid7 said:
 
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.
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I did the same thing for a trial and concluded the same results being heavy handed with vermi or reg. compost.

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YAMracer754 said:
I did the same thing for a trial and concluded the same results being heavy handed with vermi or reg. compost.

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You can get away with super heavy mixes if you grow indoors, under excellently controlled environmental conditions, and are an expert at watering.  Possibly you could get away with it outdoors, under the right conditions. (like living in a desert)  But the general rule is to keep your mix as light as possible.  The higher your local humidity, the bigger your failure with heavy mixes.
 
solid7 said:
 
You can get away with super heavy mixes if you grow indoors, under excellently controlled environmental conditions, and are an expert at watering.  Possibly you could get away with it outdoors, under the right conditions. (like living in a desert)  But the general rule is to keep your mix as light as possible.  The higher your local humidity, the bigger your failure with heavy mixes.
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For sure man, I should have specified I did a Lil extra and a little too little in the nursery cup stage (indoor propogated) and also a couple of my many bags (later stage-outdoor) with the compost heavy and same results. Definitely noticed even outdoor the root growth lag in the bags with higher compost/humus/what have you but indoors it was a damn shame! Lol. Totally lagged behind their more appropriately balanced counterparts in root growth by miles..

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