recirculate coco coir sucks

ok so i hear that you can recirc coco and that you cant
so i decided to try it
washed the coco, ran the pump for a day non stop then chucked the water.
2 days of using it and the PH goes down as hard as the EC goes up.
moving to hydroton

I disagree.

I have been ebb n flowing with coco for 18months and I tend to think it kicks ass. No pump failures. No lockout issues. No crazy EC/PH swings...
In veg I only feed my girls 1x per day - 15min flood. In flower, I give them 3 feedings, starting an hour after lights on, then again in 5 hrs, and 5hrs later (an hour before lights out) the final feeding. 40g rez per 4x4.... canna coco nutes, ph range 5.7-6.3.

What exactly were you using nutrient wise, and how were you delivering the nutrients to your plants?
Why did you run the pump for a day?
How big is your reservior?

80 litre res
15 mins 4 times day watering : once is all i need tho ive since discovered
i ran the pump all day to flush the coco then threw out all the water and started with a new fresh res with the seedlings
its a top drip system

for nutes i use the full range of canadian xpress coco nutes + silikamagik
http://www.canadianxpress.com/
- regen a root @ 1ml/litre
- esssential nitro @ 1ml/litre
- wilt guard @ 1ml/litre
- xpress coco A+B @ 5ml/litre
- silikamagik @ 0.4ml/litre

i am not a proponent of buying coco that needs to be flushed... its a lot of work and its lame...
canna or bcuzz coco are the one i feel safe and comfortable with - just rip open the bag, pack your pots and you are solid.

if you are growing seedlings in coco then i suggest starting the beans in either a 1"x1" rockwool cube, and when sprouted transplant (the whole cube) into a 16oz cup of coco.... or just start them in the 16oz cup of coco. you shouldn;t have to water/feed them more than every 2 days, depending on your environment. I have grown seedling to 26" in 16oz cups... granted i neded to feed them 2x per day to keep them alive but I did it). you shouldn't need to set up the drip until the plants are at least a few weeks old and big enough to move out of the cups.

just my thoughts/opinions.... i am an ebb n flow guy top drip never seems to work for me.

i use 40g reserviors (150 or so Liters I think) and i do have some ph fluxuation, but it is normal and within the range of uptake (I think haha).

seriously, the nutreints you are using may be playing a factor, too.... what all are you feeding your plants with?

IMHO coco works best as a run to waste medium.
Many small automated feeding throughout the day rather than 1 or 2 big feeds.
This way the coco maintains the optimum moisture to oxygen ratio.

i started the seedlings in those jiffy7 peat pots, moved them into the big pots cause they were there and ready to go.
i could have kept them in just the jiffy7 pots or put them in smaller pots to start with, just didnt seem to be an issue.

mma said:

IMHO coco works best as a run to waste medium.
Many small automated feeding throughout the day rather than 1 or 2 big feeds.
This way the coco maintains the optimum moisture to oxygen ratio.

Click to expand...

I prefer 2-3 big feeds for my coco set up and they love it.

yup ive been trying to nurse these plants thru the recirc coco, but the PH goes down as fast as the EC goes up, its crap