A coco scenario...

[M_C]

I often have coco hanging around in the shed... but it's always bagged - & still moist when I go to use it... but this was dry as a (Nope, best not say that!) - well, you get the drift

[Valentina]

I have heard of people DRENCHING the whole plant and the rootball in neem oil if they had to bring a plant in from the outside. No idea how well that would work if it was coco only.

Anyone that recommends mixing neem oil with dish soap discredits themselves. Try a few drops of glycerine instead.

Same as those who suggest adding vinegar to a laundry load at the same time as laundry detergent. But I digress.

Incidentally burning coco fibres yields A LOT of smoke. Really useful as a flying insect deterrent, but probably not best done at your own home.

Other than that, no, coco is pretty inert AFAIK, but probably not something I would do myself, to bring in plants or grow medium from outside in. Another possibility is that fungal spores have colonised it somewhat and then it gets taken indoors... (cue that theme tune from Jaws). But then the indoors environment will be VASTLY different from being inside a shed, so even if there was fungal growth, it might not last.

Just grab a block or two from W1LK0 as a "secret stash" next spring. Amazon has some for 15 quid 99, 75L.

[Samwise Gamgee]

Hey M_C,

I always tend to use fresh coco for my indoor canna grows, generally because the seeds are expensive, and I don't want to chance them not popping by using old coco that could be contaminated.

That said in my garden where I grow veg and fruits, I reuse the coco I have from my indoor grows to then fill my buckets that I use in my hydro system in the garden.

As said above, coco is inert so theoretically it shouldn't cause any problems, the only other thing I would check thou, if reusing coco is the run off is Ph neutral to what you put in, you dont want the coco altering Ph as you feed.

Good luck

[Samwise Gamgee]

Anyone that recommends mixing neem oil with dish soap discredits themselves. Try a few drops of glycerine instead.

Hi Valentina,

That one does seem bit odd, as you are mixing a grease/oil, with a degreaser. The only reason I can imagine someone would do this is because some dish soap contains Yucca, which is a natural wetting agent, and helps to make sure the feed spreads across the whole pot, and stops dry spots, and nutrient build up, yucca is always good as a flushing agent as well, if you have salt build up in the pots.

Not sure why anyone would add vinegar to their laundry thou lol

[Blue61]

Vinegar lowers the ph of water. Soft water (lower ph) cleans clothes better then hard water.

[Samwise Gamgee]

Vinegar lowers the ph of water. Soft water (lower ph) cleans clothes better then hard water.

Ahh OK, so alternatively you could add lemon juice, you would probably smell better

[MadJohn]

Hi Valentina,

That one does seem bit odd, as you are mixing a grease/oil, with a degreaser. The only reason I can imagine someone would do this is because some dish soap contains Yucca, which is a natural wetting agent, and helps to make sure the feed spreads across the whole pot, and stops dry spots, and nutrient build up, yucca is always good as a flushing agent as well, if you have salt build up in the pots.

Not sure why anyone would add vinegar to their laundry thou lol

Funnily enough just did this.

The reason being is because neem is an oil so doesn't play nice with water. Soap is an emulsifier and if you don't use a soap when mixing neem into water the oil will just sit on the surface and be next to useless. Adding soap means the neem molecules bind with the soap and then distributes them evenly in the water. Generally you want to use something like Castile soap or a potassium based soap (often known as hortucultural soap) in a 2:1 ratio with neem thats readily biodegradable. At a push you can use fairy which does the job just fine but you can risk plant burn. Horticultural soap on it's own is a pretty effective insecticide but doubling it up with neem oil makes it more effective.

MJ

[CityDweller]

Funnily enough just did this.

The reason being is because neem is an oil so doesn't play nice with water. Soap is an emulsifier and if you don't use a soap when mixing neem into water the oil will just sit on the surface and be next to useless. Adding soap means the neem molecules bind with the soap and then distributes them evenly in the water. Generally you want to use something like Castile soap or a potassium based soap (often known as hortucultural soap) in a 2:1 ratio with neem thats readily biodegradable. At a push you can use fairy which does the job just fine but you can risk plant burn. Horticultural soap on it's own is a pretty effective insecticide but doubling it up with neem oil makes it more effective.

MJ

I aways use castile soap and never see any issues.

[Samwise Gamgee]

Funnily enough just did this.

The reason being is because neem is an oil so doesn't play nice with water. Soap is an emulsifier and if you don't use a soap when mixing neem into water the oil will just sit on the surface and be next to useless. Adding soap means the neem molecules bind with the soap and then distributes them evenly in the water. Generally you want to use something like Castile soap or a potassium based soap (often known as hortucultural soap) in a 2:1 ratio with neem thats readily biodegradable. At a push you can use fairy which does the job just fine but you can risk plant burn. Horticultural soap on it's own is a pretty effective insecticide but doubling it up with neem oil makes it more effective.

MJ

Ahh so similar to adding butter when making canna butter, the molecules bind to the fats, I have never had to use neem oil before luckily, but I tend to grow indoors, so not as much chance of critters invading the pots.

I have seen dish soup used as a cheap flushing agent before thou, generally I use Yucca extract with silicon, it is also great at keeping dripper lines free of build ups, as well as lots of benefits in the pot that I have mentioned.

I think thou, for the dish soap to contain Yucca, its generally the more organic brands

[Jingo]

I've done it before, had a seed not sprout and set the pot aside. Then six months later drench and go, never noticed a difference. I doubt bugs would be interested in dried out coco.

J