Coco I'm interested in growing with coco they said it would work fine on my flood n drain system

so here's my question I need to break down these blocks of coco coir I bought botanicals growblock supposedly less salts so here my deal I was thinking ph my water and ad silica blast + cal mag plus they are both buffers for Coco so do I just rinse it like 3 times just ph the water add my buffers and soak like 30 minutes each time then wring it out real good do the same 3 times till my waters ph stays the same? Anyone got experience in coco let me know what's up

Hydroton (clay pebbles) is the best medium for flood and drain or ebb and flow. It stays wet enough to keep roots from drying but allows maximum oxygen to the roots too. You get the most out of that sort of system because you can flood it multiple times day and night.

That said as far as coco goes. With block coco I soak it for 24 hours with a cal mag solution and then I put it in a bucket with holes which is lined with a pillow case. I put the shower head over it for 30min, agitate it, when it runs clear I squeeze out as much moisture as possible.

Going back to flood and drain, I would be worried about the drains blocking up with coco, if that happens you may flood your grow out. Or it doesn't drain properly which will result in a lack of oxygen at the root zone. Not sure what system you have but the one I built was recirculating, I don't think you can recirculate nutrients in coco. Once its gone through the coco the EC and ph changes, maybe it can be used if nutrients are reduced considerably. But I would be doing more research. I feel though that using coco in flood and drain is going to cause problems and not make the most out of the plus points of flood and drain. One of which is when water floods and then drains it acts like a suction pump and draws fresh oxygen (lots of it) to the roots and that's what causes such quick growth and good roots. I feel that would be drastically reduced in coco due to it holding a lot more water.

Still I would be interested to see if anyone else has success with coco in flood and drain.

98bubbakush said:

so here's my question I need to break down these blocks of coco coir I bought botanicals growblock supposedly less salts so here my deal I was thinking ph my water and ad silica blast + cal mag plus they are both buffers for Coco so do I just rinse it like 3 times just ph the water add my buffers and soak like 30 minutes each time then wring it out real good do the same 3 times till my waters ph stays the same? Anyone got experience in coco let me know what's up

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There are levels of anal we all pick.

What I do is a bit simpler, my coco doesn't have much salt, water ppms change about 30ppm after adding coco. So, I don't rinse.
Take the amount of water you need, add Cal-mag at a rate of 50g for every 20L, stir well. If the water is fresh out of the tap, let it sit for an hour or two to gas off some CO2 from when it was under pressure n the pipes, this gives a more stable pH. pH water, add coco to soak for 12 hours, drain excess water off and mix the coco well to distribute left over water evenly.
Add plants or seeds.

ANC said:

There are levels of anal we all pick.

What I do is a bit simpler, my coco doesn't have much salt, water ppms change about 30ppm after adding coco. So, I don't rinse.
Take the amount of water you need, add Cal-mag at a rate of 50g for every 20L, stir well. If the water is fresh out of the tap, let it sit for an hour or two to gas off some CO2 from when it was under pressure n the pipes, this gives a more stable pH. pH water, add coco to soak for 12 hours, drain excess water off and mix the coco well to distribute left over water evenly.
Add plants or seeds.

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ya im just going to water them at ph5.8 with floranova light solution ive got em under 24 hours light the flood n drain is going to be hydroton or growrocks im going to stick with what I know

I'm using royal gold tupur right out of the bag it's working better than the coco I've used in the past I use gh nutes & cal mag 3 gal smart pot getting good results

damn looks like theres a few plants in there ive got mine in 4 gallon pots with 1 plant in each to blow them roots up Ive also been watering daily with floranova a drop of superthrive lil bit of cal mag plus and 1 ml of orca per gallon ph'd at 5.8 or so they look happy but its only been a week

horribleherk said:

I'm using royal gold tupur right out of the bag it's working better than the coco I've used in the past I use gh nutes & cal mag 3 gal smart pot getting good results View attachment 4006866

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How did the tupur work out for you? It has been causing me tons of problems. How did you buffer yours? I am also GH flood and drain.