Coco coir medium composition

Thank you all so much for the responses. Such a great community. I called the coco manufacturer and they said it is very well pre washed and buffered so no need to do it. I went with the coco, 20% perlite and only a dash of the gaia green all purpose 4x4x4. I will see how it goes and will consider the calmag with my water then will top dress with the dry amendments when needed.

Make sure it is well washed and well buffered. Add no nutes to the coco. Get this book - Coco for Cannabis - Dr. MJ Coco on amazon and his web site. Free if you have Kindle All your questions and then some are answered in there.

% depends on pot size a bit... 20% is good 1-7gal. Might want a bit more in a 7? Coco Coir already has superior drainage. You could use 100% coco, if you wanted to. I am not familiar with the brand. Some require a little prep work -- i found out the hard way. Not all brands require a soaking, and it shouldn't be at an extremely high dose of cal-mag. that will only cause a leaching of K from your feed due to the opposite gradient relative to the actual resulting equilibrium over time as you fertilize. If you grow in coco, you need a 'hydroponic' fertilizer. A proper one is a complete diet of primary (NPK), secondary (Ca, et al.) and trace elements (Cl, et al.). Coco has nothing in it -- for all intents and purposes. You must provid 100% of all nutrients.... Get something like Jack's (J.R. Peters) -- it doens't have to be "Jack's". anything that is similar will work very well and easily adaptable to various plants. If you have cal-mag, put into solution as directed, i'd assume.. some intructures are a bit high dosage, so take that with a grain of salt. You can also use Cal-nitrate 15-0-0 with epsom salt (magnesium-sulfate). 2g/gallon and 1g/gallon, respectively. The reason you don't want to bomb it with calcium and magnesium is because its about an equillibrium that will form between the cation exchange sites within the coco and what you will be constantely pouring into it. it's about create a right ratio in those exchange sites.. so that your fertilier remains consistent in it's ratio of nutrients... Poorly prepared coco will leech Ca and Mg ions from your ferts and release a bunch of K that was once locked away safely (maybe some Na too, which is just horrible in all ways, lol). The same thing can happen if you prepare it with too high of concentrations of Ca and Mg, except it will leech K out of your fertilizer in that context. You get it in the ballpark by soaking it, then as you feed it will reach an equillibrium that won't cause any initial issues as it gets there. after you soak it 2 times, i like to run ph'd water through it and let it drain out a bit. When i transplant or seed or clone etc, i'll give a normal fertilization to fortify the coco lightly. it's saturated, so the concentration will be low to start. Safe for a seed, even. read up on the mo'koko... you may find it requires nothing... there are soem out ther like that.. Mother Earth 5kg bricks are not one of them, lol.. NEarly killed my clones and delayed my perpetual garden with this learning curve.... took 30-40 days for growth... sickly, dark with k-toxicity / salinity issues, etc....

I grow in coco and perlite, 20 percent is a decent composition but I would add more perlite in a larger (5 gallon+) container. I grow in 2.5 gallon containers and water with nutrients (fertigate) 6 times a day because the medium cannot be overwatered with the very good drainage it is given. You should absolutely buffer the coco even though you are using a pre buffered product. This would be soaking it in a strong dose of Cal mag for 8 hours, drain, and soak in a second strong dose of Cal mag, and drain a second time. This will help with Cal mag issues, but you will want to always add extra Cal mag with every watering because coco coir will continually bond to call mag making it unavailable to the plant. Because coco should generally be watered daily with good runoff, I wouldn't add fertilizer to the medium directly. But I would pre water the coco with whatever seedling nutrient solution +Cal mag you are using after the coco is buffered. I am happy to help of there are any coco related questions during your grow, happy growing! 🌱👍

Hello.. Hope you are well.. Yes that sounds like a great mix.. Added perlite will give u extra drainage.. Ideally u need to feed at every watering in coco so yes she will need a feed..if possible get a nutrient with a higher nitrogen level on ur npk in veg wks n eg 4-2-3, then go higher on pk, npk eg 3-4-6(just examples).. Ur gaia green will do just fine tho if ur a beginner.. If possible check the pH and feed her @5.5-6.5 in coco(start veg lower ph then aim for higher ph in flowering).. Stay safe n gud luck with her.. 👍🍀

Coir is good for drainage, perlite will keep it wet, a bit of fert can't hurt and will help it in the veg stage.