Buffered Coco and PPMs has me confused.

ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
Background: I've always grown in soil, however I have 5 plants going in a coco base. Its made by a local dirt company and he says it is especially made for cannabis.
Its 50% coco coir, 20% Florida peat, 30% perlite. Also has some gypsum, dolomite and turf pro (humic acid, trace elements, and beneficial microbes) in it.


Problem: So now I'm researching more into coco. I stumble onto Royal Golds website and under their coco listing it says this: "NOTE* Royal Gold Loose Coco contains a light Calcium charge as a result of our buffering process, and will generally show ppm readings in the range of 700-900 ppm. This is a result of our calcium buffer, not excess levels of sodium chloride! Ppm readings indicate only how many parts per million of dissolved solids are present in your liquid (runoff, fertilizer, etc.) and do not distinguish between NaCl (Sodium Chloride) and other nutrients."
I believe I'm running to a similar situation with the buffered coco I have.

Question: The plants are a around month old in veg and I'm feeding GH nutrients and calmag. My runoff PPMs are like 1500 and I'm feeding around 700-800 PPMs. Do I continue feeding like this, the plants look fine. Or does this buffered coco not need to be feed such a high PPM since there's shit in it already? Theres no NPK from what I can tell in the coco though which is why I'm confused.
 
twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
ebcrew said:
Background: I've always grown in soil, however I have 5 plants going in a coco base. Its made by a local dirt company and he says it is especially made for cannabis.
Its 50% coco coir, 20% Florida peat, 30% perlite. Also has some gypsum, dolomite and turf pro (humic acid, trace elements, and beneficial microbes) in it.


Problem: So now I'm researching more into coco. I stumble onto Royal Golds website and under their coco listing it says this: "NOTE* Royal Gold Loose Coco contains a light Calcium charge as a result of our buffering process, and will generally show ppm readings in the range of 700-900 ppm. This is a result of our calcium buffer, not excess levels of sodium chloride! Ppm readings indicate only how many parts per million of dissolved solids are present in your liquid (runoff, fertilizer, etc.) and do not distinguish between NaCl (Sodium Chloride) and other nutrients."
I believe I'm running to a similar situation with the buffered coco I have.

Question: The plants are a around month old in veg and I'm feeding GH nutrients and calmag. My runoff PPMs are like 1500 and I'm feeding around 700-800 PPMs. Do I continue feeding like this, the plants look fine. Or does this buffered coco not need to be feed such a high PPM since there's shit in it already? Theres no NPK from what I can tell in the coco though which is why I'm confused.
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Each plant is different. I fed my last two at 1.2 EC (600 ppm) all through flower.

Runoff ppms that much higher than your input ppms indicate a salt buildup, usually from not feeding to enough runoff. Feeding at a high EC and not to enough runoff will cause that EC spike. Flush at a low ppm feed especially if the plants are showing issues.

If someone tells you they have a medium specifically for cannabis, you bought a line of BS. I wouldn't want any of that extra shit in my coco. Good luck.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
How often are you feeding, and how much runoff do you feed to each time? Runoff prevents the PPMs from getting too high. Coco works best when you feed it lower ppm feeds but more frequently. You've got more of a hybrid soil that you probably should treat more like promix. Personally, I stay within 500-700 ppms at the highest, but if your plants are fine, you might be alright feeding that high.
 
MickFoster

MickFoster

Well-Known Member
ebcrew said:
Its made by a local dirt company and he says it is especially made for cannabis.
Its 50% coco coir, 20% Florida peat, 30% perlite. Also has some gypsum, dolomite and turf pro (humic acid, trace elements, and beneficial microbes) in it.
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Bullshit.
I never heard of Florida peat..........and I live in FL.
 
ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
How often are you feeding, and how much runoff do you feed to each time? Runoff prevents the PPMs from getting too high. Coco works best when you feed it lower ppm feeds but more frequently. You've got more of a hybrid soil that you probably should treat more like promix. Personally, I stay within 500-700 ppms at the highest, but if your plants are fine, you might be alright feeding that high.
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Im feeding every other day right now, to what I think is 20% runoff. Maybe I'm not letting it runoff enough, could be. I'm feeding when its dry. Not sure if that peat is holding water or what. I also just transplanted 5 days ago. The confusing thing is what royal gold says that their buffered coco is shipped at 700 PPMs but its just calcium, no NPK.
 
twentyeight.threefive

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
ebcrew said:
Im feeding every other day right now, too what I think is 20% runoff. Maybe I'm not letting it runoff enough, could be. I'm feeding when its dry. Not sure if that peat is holding water or what. I also just transplanted 5 days ago. The confusing thing is what royal gold says that their buffered coco is shipped at 700 PPMs but its just calcium, no NPK.
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There's your problem... You're feeding coco like it's soil. Don't let it dry out, feed it daily.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
I think the idea that this guy has is to treat it like soil.Lime for calmag and gypsum to bring ph up.Turfpro is probably dirt/compost.So next time just get coco if ya wants to feed to runoff.This dirt probably has enough food for 3 weeks the start adding but never to runoff.So its for more experienced folks I think.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
bEelzeBosS said:
Just wait for my thread coming up in a week or so when I'm done harvesting/drying this California Sour Diesel. All the fucks that laughed at me and ridiculed me for my claim of 3/4 lb from a 1 gallon gonna be put in place soon.
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It's pretty common knowledge that you can grow trees in 1 gal pots with coco, if you veg them long enough and multi-feed-that's the beauty of coco. People probably didn't believe you, or ridiculed you because you said it before you did it and provided proof. By all means, document your harvest and show us that 12 oz plant!
 
bEelzeBosS

bEelzeBosS

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
It's pretty common knowledge that you can grow trees in 1 gal pots with coco, if you veg them long enough and multi-feed-that's the beauty of coco. People probably didn't believe you, or ridiculed you because you said it before you did it and provided proof. By all means, document your harvest and show us that 12 oz plant!
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I've done it several times before. In their defense, the pic of the plant in my tent didn't really do it justice without scale. But at the same time people shouldn't talk shit and criticize based on a single pic. If it doesn't end up 3/4 lb it will be really close.
 
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