Mixing soil with coco for medium

W

westpoint

Well-Known Member
I am wondering if this is common. I love growing in coco, but might switch to soil to help holding water...can you have the best of both worlds? Thanks .
 
B

Budz Buddy

Active Member
Out of curiosity, so what pH would your nutes be if you mixed Coco with soil ? Coco is a 5.8 pH & Soil is 6.3 pH. I only use FFOF with a little perlite added so wondering how things go when you mix Coco & Soil. Might be something I'd try.
 
MickFoster

MickFoster

Well-Known Member
I guess it would depend on what percentages of soil and coco.
They have different pH requirements for efficient nutrient uptake.
Soil has to go through a wet/dry cycle and coco is drain to waste hydroponics that works best when kept saturated and fed daily.
I think maybe peat moss would be a better choice with soil.
Good luck.
 
J

jaked3800

Active Member
Aeroknow said:
There’s nothing complicated about a coco peat blend. I’m in Kings mix and ph the nutes to 6.1-6.2.
Click to expand...
I been doing 50/50 coco peat (each with perlite) for a while now and strugle with it half of the time. I run organic Bio Bizz liquid nutes with benificials, hygrozyme, molassis and GO CaMG ph 5.8-6.2 in 5 gallon buckets and hand water every 3-4 days letting bukets get prety dry before watering. But half the time I get what looks like Ca/Mg deficiecies and premature yellowing fan leaves. I water 75% nutrients almost every watering with a few at 25% to rinse. And about 5-10% runoff.
Im tempted to go back to soil but Ive had my best runs when I hit it right with the coco peat mix. One thing I notice is when I check the ph of the actual medium with the Blue Lab pH probe it is almost always lower then the water im feeding it with. Often around 5.3 and sumtimes below 5 but the run off is closer to the water im feeding with but still a bit lower. My easier strains are always prety much fine but its my sour diesal, and a couple other more sativa plants that seem to have the bigger issues.

Any advice is appreciated.
 
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PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
I'm not a fan of mixing the 2. They have different properties. But that's me, and I grow organically.

www.kisorganics.com

Peat vs Coco Coir

This can be a hotly debated topic among growers as to what's the best media for growing plants. In this article, I'll weigh in with my opinion on the subject as there are Pros and Cons to both.
www.kisorganics.com www.kisorganics.com
 
speedwell68

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
The impending peat ban, in the UK, has brought out loads of coco based blends. There is one called New Horizon that I have used and it is pretty good.
 
Aeroknow

Aeroknow

Well-Known Member
jaked3800 said:
I been doing 50/50 coco peat (each with perlite) for a while now and strugle with it half of the time. I run organic Bio Bizz liquid nutes with benificials, hygrozyme, molassis and GO CaMG ph 5.8-6.2 in 5 gallon buckets and hand water every 3-4 days letting bukets get prety dry before watering. But half the time I get what looks like Ca/Mg deficiecies and premature yellowing fan leaves. I water 75% nutrients almost every watering with a few at 25% to rinse. And about 5-10% runoff.
Im tempted to go back to soil but Ive had my best runs when I hit it right with the coco peat mix. One thing I notice is when I check the ph of the actual medium with the Blue Lab pH probe it is almost always lower then the water im feeding it with. Often around 5.3 and sumtimes below 5 but the run off is closer to the water im feeding with but still a bit lower. My easier strains are always prety much fine but its my sour diesal, and a couple other more sativa plants that seem to have the bigger issues.

Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...
I never got into them biobizz nutes. I did try gH’s GO line and ditched that shit midway through a crop lol and went back to salt based. I use organics outdoors for the big girls but not indoors. Unfortunately i can’t really give you much advice about the yellowing of leaves because of that organic nute soup you’re giving them. I don’t have experience with it. Except the ph. I would bump it up a little higher being that you’re organic.

I take it you’re mixing your own coco/peat/perlite? Do you add any lime? Peat has an acidic ph. The lime helps correct that. But i wouldn’t blame any of your problems on your coco/peat blend having coco in it :-)
 
GrassBurner

GrassBurner

Well-Known Member
Try a sip with soil. You'll get the excellent growth rate of hydro, without trying to keep 2 different mediums in their optimum zones.
 
harrychilds

harrychilds

Well-Known Member
I probably wouldn't mix coco and soil together, it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Coco is supposed to be watered pretty much everyday and soil is supposed to go dry before you water it again. Although it might work, I would probably still stick with one or the other. Btw I don't see why you would want the coco to hold onto the water? Doesn't that defeat the point of being able to water/feed coco everyday to get bigger plants?
 
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