Coco Coir questions?

Mixer here.

About bicarbonates...they are going to seriously buffer and will require a lot of pH down to manage them. That would be why I avoid them. However, if you allowed for that you might be able to get all of your N from Nitric Acid.

About limestone...the stuff is not very soluble at all. It takes a long time for it to break down and actually get into solution. Longer than your normal container grow. For that reason it is not really bueno for container grows. Even a lot of outdoor growers have stopped using it and are replacing it with powdered oyster shell (calcium carbonate) and KMag (Mg-K-S).

Maxibloom works fine for coco grows. But, you may need to add some Ca and Mg depending on your water source. Even with tap water here it was necessary.

According to Bill Argos at one of the universities in NC (short term memory loss is real) the cec of coco is not really a factor at all because coco weighs so little. That is in line with my experience and as a result I believe him for more than I believe Integral Hydro...I find myself wondering about their motives.

Just curious why Ca Mg is needed with Maxibloom? Im currently using Advanced Sensi A & B it only has 3.5% calcium and 0.7% magnesium in it and I dont need any additional Ca Mg supplements...

Maxibloom has 5% calcium and 3.5% magnesium.. Thats way more than Sensi but I dont have deficiencies with Sensi???

What works for one might not work for the other. You must have enough Ca/Mg in your water supply. With my water I still need to add Ca and Mg or my plants get deficiencies and dark purple stems. Its all in your water supply. RO water will definitely need a cal-mag additive.

What are you using for water? Have you had it tested? Have you done a side by side to determine if it would help? Have you worked out the ppms of your mix (including water) so you can see exactly where you are at?

Given the right water MB does not need anything else to perform pretty well but people tend to report it doing better with added Ca and Mg with RO or very low ppm water.

Plus you gotta watch out if AN is talking w/w or w/v...as I recall they zig when everyone else zags so it is very hard to tell anything just looking at %s.

I use RO water 25 ppms 7.3 PH, I used cal mag at one time but it seemed I still had deficiencies, I quit using cal-mag and the "deficiency" went away.. I think I was Overdosing the plants...

I have not worked out all the PPMs for what I feed... And using Tap water isnt an option, there is fluoride in the water here...

I do not disagree and never intended to imply that integral nor that artical is something to live and die by. there are always going to be differences in methods and opinions, the goal is to puzzle together what works best for ones personal situation(s).

it's still a good read. I found it when I was searching for information about fungus gnats.

happy growing.

mattdreads -> I agree. I'm gonna go coco in the imminent future and I found the article to be a good read and quite informative, mattdreads. Thanks for posting...I'm also checking out the "AskEd" thread at grasscity and some grow journals hither and yon. I like to consider all the options and absorb as much information as possible, chop, dice, parse, puree and then take action. Or not.

mindzeye -> I think I may be seeing similar symptoms with my plants. I'm cutting back on the Cal/Mag (currently in perlite/vermiculite hempys) to see if the "deficiencies" I've been wrestling with all grow roll back. The only thing that I can currently attribute color issues is that I'm using more cal/mag than I had on previous grows. That's the thing about our little green friends - one symptom can be attributed to any number of different variables - sometimes mutually incompatible ones - like overfed/underfed.

Everyone I know that tries coco says they will never grow any other way... I feel its a superior indoor medium to many others out there.. CalMag is a strange additive also chemically it doesnt make sense because the two mixed together makes insoluble matter, Im starting to mix my own raw salts now because I can control the level of each nutrient and have full control of my garden.. Plus its a fraction of the cost of commercial nutes.. I just find it strange the an overdose of cal/mag looks just like a deficiency, so you add more cal mag and it gets worse lol... I guess everyone is on the search for the perfect formula lol...

I've done cocos and soil. my most healthy plants were grown in soil, though my best yeilds have been in cocos.

I'm going to give soil another go, try to dial it in. I'm still undecided which medium I preffer, though I think cocos is easier to get fatty tops. soil can be made very complicated