Good evening everyone I am almost wrapping up my first grow and I’m trying to attempt a different medium. I did not like FFOF or Happy Frog. Without getting into too many details, both the FF soils I used had low PH and lockout issues. My ghetto random mix I threw together from random stuff at tractor supply made the most amazing hopefully bud of month winning buds. The only difference between the grows was the soil. Regardless I wanted to try different types of grows everytime.
I want to also go organic this time. What all would YOU recommend for me going coco? I will be using 5 gallon rain science bags. Also will probably be going Gaia Green nutrients since I already have the power bloom and want to try the whole “let the plant feed itself” method this next go around.
Help me figure out what I should order and why do you suggest that? Thanks in advance.
I use Mother Earth Coco with Perlite because it’s fluffier (70/30 mix of coco/perlite) and is comes pre-buffered and pH adjusted, so I get to skip the mess of washing and buffering with cal/mag before I use it.
I use Plantonix coco bricks from Amazon. Cheap and good. I also hear good things about Canna coco coir. So good I’ll be using it next run. Also don’t forget to get perlite. Recommend 70/30 mix. And be sure to buffer your coco with 150% strength CalMag solution a couple times (at least 8 hours each) before using. I’d recommend using pH’d water to hydrate and buffer coco. I like making my own mix bc I know exactly what’s in there and can make it exactly how I want it. You could also buy a mix ready to use, but I don’t have any experience with that.
Seems to me that ‘organic’ and ‘coco’ are mutually exclusive. If you adulterate it with things like worm castings you are creating soil. If you want to go with coco I’d look for something that does well in that medium. There are a number of products designed for use in coco. I favor Jack’s as do many here.
Coco has to be watered daily. That said; it will produce some exceptional plants (somewhere between soil and hydro). I’ve been using autopots with good success which obviates the necessity to top water daily.
If you want to build a soil mix I’d suggest doing a search on the forum for recipes. There are a few things you need to watch for when making your own soil mix like optimizing the PH for cannabis range.
Ahh ok that makes sense. I am trying to get away from soil ( at least FF since I had horrible issues with PH buffering). Maybe I’ll have to look into making my own “living” soil since I wanted to try organic this grow. I like the idea of letting the plant take what it needs when it needs it. I though coco was a way to go ( I thought I had read the Canuck guy on YouTube used coco and does organic but I could be wrong).
There’s nothing at all wrong with straight coco/perlite. If you have quality nutrients, good instruments and decent water, you can grow some monster plants:
