Coco coir with Botanicare products anyone?

Good day all
I am wanting to try my hand at coco coir with my botanicare products (Cal-Mag Plus, PBP, Liquid Karma) and I have a couple of questions now that am I knee deep prepping my coco.

First off I want to give a first impressions review of this GroteK CocoEarth that was the only available coco in my area. I checked a few places and for the $18.95 bag of loose Botanicare CocoGro came out to a final price of $70cdn after shipping....... I could not force myself to bend over that much for shipping. So i decided to give the Grotek shit a whirl. After doing alot of reading to prepare myself and I have an understanding of what good coco is vs GOOD COCO THAT REQUIRES HRS OF PREP WORK!!!! I bold'ed that due to the fact of me being left with a coco that was just that. Coco that requires alot of prep work can still be good coco, you just have to force yourself to do the shit work.

I mixded up 2L of 5.8pH RO water with added Advanced Nutrients Piranaha, Trantula and Voodoo Juice, along with Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus(210ppm). I chizzled(literally) off 1/4 of the solid brick, threw it in a pail and added 2L luke warm water ph'd to 5.8 and let it soak up. I thought i was crusinnnnn right along. After the first 2L through the newly fluffed coco my jaw dropped after seeing a 1030ppm runoff coming out. To make a long story short, it took me damn near 8L of water to bring it down to 20ppm and 5.8pH. Not enjoyable having to spend a couple hrs doing that.

Now to my questions......
1) When using Cal-Mag Plus and coco how much cal-mag are you adding in terms of PPM increase? Reason I ask is if i follow the 5ml /4L as advised on the back of the bottle that brings my inital water (which is RO with 0ppm) to 460ppm and thats with nothing else added!

2) Same question as #1 but regarding how much Pure Blend Pro Grow and Bloom you use? Same reasoning, the advised dosage results in crazy high ppm. Is this due to the fact that ppm monitoring with organic nutes is incorrect?

3) Do you reccomend flushing every 2 weeks with plain ph'd water, or water with nutes each time and make sure to have a shit load of runoff to wash out any built up salts? I will be hand watering.

Cheers all and thanks a million for taking to time to read my little ramble I just wanted to warn anyone thinking about using Grotek CocoEarth

peace

wow no one cares to give any advice? If thats the case MOD please close the thread, getting no help here anymore.

Cheers

I use Pure Blend PRo Bloom in coco. I got a good laugh when I saw their feeding recommendations.

For MJ in flower, i use a max of two teaspons per gallon. Once the stretch stops I add 1 teaspoon of liquid koolbloom to it (trying to use it up, I'm cheap). For perspective, since I water/feeding ever 24 hours my target ppm is 600 (hanna meter) for an EC of 1.20.

Plants really like it. The list of ingredients is awesome.

I find it to be acidic but lowers ph of my low ppm tap water to a coco perfect
6.0

I have found no cal-mag deficiency in my plants using PBP Bloom in coco. I use cal-mag like once a
month and that's it. When I do add cal-mag it's only 1 teaspoon. Check your plants calcium sinks to
gauge their storage of Ca.

I hand water, with about 10 to 20% run-off. Two days between waterings is okay - it depends on the
weight of the pots. Half way through flower they demand to be watered/fed every day (which is why my
ppm appears low, but my plants have no issues). I notice plants go through a lot of water in coco, as
opposed to a Hempy mix. I don't flush during the grow at all, no need to - until the end of course. With
coco you want it "moist" not dry.

time for coco?

Well said - thanks for answering this question.

I have to say I really enjoy using coco for my hydro setup. Not only is it easier to manage - for me - but it works well for helping me get the yields I need to keep my costs down.

You've noticed more water usage too? Good to know I'm not the only one.

High metal
I've been using the compressed coco bricks from Botanicare. They sell for about $5 a bag less than the loose stuff and are pretty easy to work with.
As far as Cal mag goes, I'm using GH nutes, so we'd be comparing apples to oranges, I think. I do add cal mag, but I'm not sure of the exact ppm - my total runs about 900 - 1000 ppm for 40 gallon res. I do add some Epsom salts to the rez, though.

Thanks all for your responses. The main concern I have with using the Cal-mag is that if I add 5ml/gal my starting ppm of my solution is close to 500. That leaves me with a small amount of room to add my grow or bloom nutrients. I figure if i start with a 200ppm solution after adding Cal-Mag that would leave me more headroom for nutrients. what y'all figure?

Just my 2cents I wouldn't typically add cal-mag if there was no deficiency. If it's not broke why fix it.

If your starting ppm is considered high maybe there's no need for cal-mag at all.

Sorry analog, i guess i should have been a little more clear. My initial ppm is only high if I follow the cal-mag bottle when it says 5ml/g. I am using RO water and starting out with 0ppm. 5ml of cal-mag brings my ppm to the 500ppm i was talking about.

With RO water and any application/nute regiment, is it not a must to add Cal-Mag with RO stripping out everything beneficial in water? My tap water has a crazy high ppm of 400-450 right out of the tap, and tastes very chlorine'ish (if that makes sense?lol), thus the reason I am using the best RO water i can find.

What is everyone's initial ppm before adding anything?

Oh. M'kay. 500 ppm for one teapoon is in the "gadzooks" category. Something wrong there. Huh.

Well that sounds F'ed up. Danger Will Robinson, Danger. I wouldn't use it.

Don't use a teaspoon of it because it tells you to. 500 ppm of cal-mag is gonna nuke your plant !!!

Out of the tap, my water (initial, yes ) is 30 ppm

Some folks add Cal-mag ro RO water. Some don't. Some folks
use a blend of RO and tap.



I feel myself stepping up on a soapbox regarding supplementing RO water with cal-mag.

Good nutrients are designed for RO water. Good feeding regimens typically eliminate the need for cal-mag. A properly fed and healthy plant that shows no problems doesn't need cal-mag on a reg. basis.

Thanks analog you answered just what I needed know. greatly appreciated!!

Cheers!!