Coco for noobs

[Notorious WD]

hmm, does it do any HARM to add pearlite? I ask as im planning 5 x 12/15l pots, so i'd either need two heavy sacks of coco at 30 quid odd, or 1 sack of coco and 30l of pearlite for 20 :/

Can't see it harming plants but I'd advise all coco personally. As BA said, do what's best for you if your situation limits you.

[Azerbanphal]

hmm, does it do any HARM to add pearlite? I ask as im planning 5 x 12/15l pots, so i'd either need two heavy sacks of coco at 30 quid odd, or 1 sack of coco and 30l of pearlite for 20 :/

Certainly won't do any harm, I sometimes put a bit in, particularly at the bottom (it helps keep roots drained/aerated a bit more imo).

You can get good quality coco for a lot less than £15 a bag, the stuff I'm using these days is £6 for 60 litres.

[greenthumb123]

Certainly won't do any harm, I sometimes put a bit in, particularly at the bottom (it helps keep roots drained/aerated a bit more imo).

You can get good quality coco for a lot less than £15 a bag, the stuff I'm using these days is £6 for 50 litres.

Hello mate, maybe you can clarify something for me? I was going to do coco in 16 litre hempy buckets(with a drainage hole 1-2 inch from the bottom) style, with perlite in the bottom. After reading the op it said something about if using perlite you cannot use coco nutes? Is this true? Would I be better off just drilling a few more holes and going all coco?

[Strider]

wish i'd seen that before i ordered it all...:P ended up getting 100l of coco as going to go with 6 x 12L pots reckon so 50l of coco wasn't going to cut it no matter how much pearlite i stuffed in there, ill chuck a few autos in whatevers left over likely, might as well

do bags of coco do the same thing with volume as bags of soil? like if you get a 50l bag and try and fill 5 10l pots you find you've only REALLY got about 40l?

totally looking forward to all this stuff arriving, been out of the game for about 18 months, i've forgot the novelty of huge boxes of growing toys arriving (at the 3rd floor as well, poor courier)

[Azerbanphal]

I would just use about 90% coco 10% perlite, have the perlite mainly at the bottom. I would drill more than 1 hole, maybe 4 or 8 or something, and also have them actually able to drain the very bottom of the container (i.e.) not "near" the bottom, actually on the bottom/rim edge).

You can use coco nutrients no problem, loads of people add perlite to it. I presume once the perlite ratio gets nearer 50% is when you should consider hydro nutes.

[Azerbanphal]

wish i'd seen that before i ordered it all...:P ended up getting 100l of coco as going to go with 6 x 12L pots reckon so 50l of coco wasn't going to cut it no matter how much pearlite i stuffed in there, ill chuck a few autos in whatevers left over likely, might as well

do bags of coco do the same thing with volume as bags of soil? like if you get a 50l bag and try and fill 5 10l pots you find you've only REALLY got about 40l?

totally looking forward to all this stuff arriving, been out of the game for about 18 months, i've forgot the novelty of huge boxes of growing toys arriving (at the 3rd floor as well, poor courier)

It depends on how the coco is processed/packaged. There are 2 types - compressed and loose. The loose stuff reacts like you say - the bag is massive and there is much less material in it than you expect once potted up.
The compressed stuff is the opposite - looks tiny but when mixed with water becomes massive. To give you an idea the stuff I use comes in a size not much bigger than a shoebox but makes 60 litres. "Gardman Planter Compost" (misleading name - 100% coco).

[greenthumb123]

Thank you so much mate, for a minute there I thought I had wasted loads of money!! I'll do as suggested and drill some more holes.

[Strider]

aye more or less what i was thinking, i'll only really be using a toty bit of pearlite to top up any shortfall in the coco, but makes sense to mix it in at the bottom for the extra drainage and air, used to add a wee layer of gravel to the bottom of my soil ones for the same

so drill plenty of drainage and make sure it can drain to the very bottom, straightforward enough

vexingly i wanted to try coco because i couldn't afford my replacement DWC setup, but, uh, i seem to have spent the exact same bloody money, im not quite sure how, i may have went OTT on the nutes and i didn't know how much i'd need :P

[Azerbanphal]

I think you will find it a more cost effective setup than DWC once you are in the swing of it, I imagine you use a lot more nutes in DWC. Sure you have to buy coco, but you can recycle it to save money if necessary.

I'm going to start using the poundshop stuff next when I run out, comes in handy little 10 litre individual packs perfect

[Strider]

I think you will find it a more cost effective setup than DWC once you are in the swing of it, I imagine you use a lot more nutes in DWC. Sure you have to buy coco, but you can recycle it to save money if necessary.

I'm going to start using the poundshop stuff next when I run out, comes in handy little 10 litre individual packs perfect

I'm using more or less the same nutes id be using for hydro, the rhizotomic, cannazym, canna A/b and the pk whotsit, and i'll grab the booster when i need it, i ended up buying big bottles of them all though as im used to hydro :P (plus it IS a lot better value in general) fuck knows how long 5l of A/B will last anyway

oh yeah, and i need to go buy a reservoir and get an airpump sorted, i assume bubbling a shitload of air through my nute solution before feeding won't do anything but good things?