Coco vs. Soil

Coco verses soil.. which do you prefer and why?

Please be specific, am trying to lock down the most productive and low maintenance method for my next grow (although I do not consider every day watering as high maintenance). Comparison pictures and information would also be greatly appreciated.

should specify I am rocking a 4x4 (120x120x200 in reality) with 3x300 watt re branded chinese LEDs. not looking for new lighting recommendations at the moment, but im sure some folks will provide me with them regardless . thanks for any info team.

Cheers

Coco has no nutrients in it, so it's kind of a hydroponic system that will rely heavily on you getting a proper nutrient regiment going.

Soil is more forgiving, but might yield less than a coco system. Personally, I think the right kind of soil produces better tasting smoke in the end.

Can't say I have a preference being my first real grow but I went with a "super soil" for simplicity. I should only need to water my plants the whole grow provided my autos are finished in under 3.5 months. I have nutes on hand just in case the soil doesn't carry me through.

Coco requires measuring EC/ppm and adjusting it at specific times during the grow plus making sure your pH remains within a fairly narrow margin. Things can go bad faster in coco if you're not careful. Higher cost to do it right and more work involved pushed me to soil. I am going to try coco soon though to see if it lives up to the hype for me.

How about coco loco. I'm a big fan of this stuff. Copied from planetnatural.com triple washed for a low salt content. Bush Doctor Coco Loco Potting Soil by Foxfarm is one crazy little mix that’s chock-full of the best coconut coir available. Also includes plenty of good stuff like aged forest products, perlite, earthworm castings, bat guano, Norwegian kelp meal, oyster shell and dolomite lime. Heck, it even has some mycorrhizal fungi tossed in for good measure

Might as well toss Royal Gold basement mix in there as well.

coco is a hydroponics substitute , i prefer soil.

What is your definition of "soil" ??? If its the the commonly accepted "source" than you mean a peat based mix. Than if thats the case....whether heavily amended or not than i choose coco coir and top feed fertigation with mineral salts applied with the irrigation water (hydroponics)....everytime.

Im enjoying a coco based soil. Try to get away from forest product based soil if you can. I dont think id like a straight coco soil because that would require drip feeding to get the watering 2-3 times a day done. Youll need to water every day even in soil during parts of flower, even in a soil like foxfarms, an i consider FFOF a water holder.

I've grown greenhouse crops in peat based media for years. For my girls I use Coco with perlite/Canna Terra nutes. I like it a lot. The issues I've had with the peat - watering irregularities, gnats, fungus, algae, etc. don't give me problems with the Coco. They don't require watering daily in my experience.

i'm using a mix of peat moss, compost, and coco coir with some worm castings. I'm preparing super soil for my next round with amendments like kelp meal, blood meal, seabird guano, alfalfa meal, dolomite lime and more. this time i'm thinking about sticking with mostly peat moss and not using compost or coco, or maybe a little of each but probably almost none. coco is a good water retainer.

Largely grower preference but in my experience coco coir is VASTLY superior to peat based mixes. And ive grown in peat bases in grow bags with giant drip to waste fertigation for at least 12 years straight back in the day. I used to order Promix and Sunshine #4 in two and 3 pallet lots. Its a great medium/substrate but coco coir is PERFECT in all the ways peat cannot be. Peat is acidic. Requiring dolomite lime and thank God most indoor hybrid cannabis cultivars are such a short cycle crop or the lime must be re applied ( long veg/long season sativas.) It is hydrophobic. Meaning a surfactant like yucca for your saponin is damn near a must. It compacts if your not careful....fertigation water just rolls down the sides if ya dont watch it. It does best in a wet dry cycle. Its tough to constantly feed (throw in a straight water for best results). Coco coir has NONE of those negatives. .and actually quite the opposite. Much more pH friendly. No compaction. Roots love it. The only small problem with coir is consistent quality AND PRE BUFFERED source (thw whole calcium/magnesium/potassium/sodium thing) And that has largely been addressed. Oh definitely. ...coco coir beats peat (and rockwool imho) hands down. No contest. Ive grown in both for a long ass time to come to this conclusion.

For indoor growing in my house I prefer coir over peat, Synthetics over organics.
Peat has a pH of 4.9, hence the addition of lime to compensate for the low pH.
Coir has a pH of 6.2 .
All my house plants are in coir also.

What about royal gold tupur? I'm using it, for the first time, and blindly following a light feeding schedule but having awesome results. Top feed daily, with runoff.

Coco for the world.

upnsmoke13 said:

What about royal gold tupur? I'm using it, for the first time, and blindly following a light feeding schedule but having awesome results. Top feed daily, with runoff.

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Keep doing whatever your doing then. If its healthy your blindness is actually vision. But after this run....go get yerself a ph/ppm/ec meter so you can really "see" whats going on with what your putting into the root zo e. Best pair of glasses for any indoor hydroponics grower is a good combo meter.

I am in the midst of getting mu spring greenhouse grow going and will expand my use of the coco just to see how it goes. Mostly flowers and hanging baskets.

think i might transition to coco.. picked up some organic soil from my local B&M but it was loaded with fungus gnats. now im trying to deal with that thinking coco will be a more manageable option, dont mind watering everyday or a couple times a day