Do you add nutrients?
For mine, I always buffer with calmag, then rinse after. I read online to do that, and now I don’t do anything else
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It is not necessary at that stage. They are seedlings. First watering you can add in a tiny amount of calmag if you want and a tiny amount of nutes. They’re going off their own energy at this point.
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Any coco coir can be made into good coco.
What I do is drop the block in a large tote from the dollar store, or Lowes etc. Mix heavy doses of calcium and epsom salt in 5 gallon buckets and add until coco won’t adsorb any more then another 5 gallon bucket of still heavily mixed with cal/mag until the mixure is swiming in the water. Let set at least overnight then I rinse in a 20 or 25 gallon fabric grow pot until it runs clear. After clear I rinse another 10 or 15 minutes. I do this outdoors with a water hose. This can be repeated.
I hand remove the coir into the fabric pot, once you’re near the bottom of the tote you will find your “mud” , sand , debris etc throw that away as that stuff is very much undesirable.
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Yes, this is essentially what I do in total 
Shouldn’t have to do this in my opinion, I never did it before and had good results; perhaps I got lucky but I’ve also not seen washing new coco as something common here or other forums. They are suppose to pre buffer the coco to release the salt.
Is this a correct assumption …or do a lot of you guys wash your coco?
I used to before I found good coco.
Back when salty fungal gnats were my friends.
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If you buy prebuffered coco yes. But those of us tight wades that buy the cheap stuff, no. If it does not say prebuffered then no it most likely is not. I have found no cheap stuff that claims prebuffered
What’s your definition of cheap, is this cheap by your standards?
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I think so, that’s what I use.
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To add, prebuffing does the following not just the salts
They dont even sell coco coir anymore
I agree.
It really comes down to how much money you want to spend and how much work you want to put into it. I like Nutrifield because I don’t have to do anything to it but add water and break it apart. I do buffer it with Cal-mag because I make my bags ahead of time and they cook for a while before the seedlings go into them. Calmag is cheap and I’d rather prevent a deficiency than correct one. My well water is always at a constant 6.2 PH. I don’t adjust it; it just works for me.
Coco is in a constant state of decay once it’s watered, so it’s a good idea to add Calmag occasionally.
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@Coda whwg do you mean you buffer? Also what is “cooking” in the coco? Do you add mycos and stuff and keep it slightly watered? Like are you making benes in there before you plant?
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I define cheap as when I filter the blocks into lowest price including shipping.
The Nutrifield comes pre-buffered (pre-washed of ocean salts and treated with Calcium). I add a dose of Calmag to it because I mix my Coco with EWC’s and Dr. Earth and let them sit (cook) to start the nutrient breakdown process while my seedlings are vegging. I continue to water the bags when they get light just as if the plants were there.
Coco is loaded with salt from the ocean, so if you don’t buy it pre-rinsed, you have to rinse it yourself. Coco forms an ionic bond with calcium and robs it from your plants so it’s helpful to occasionally add calcium to it as it breaks down.
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That not a block of coco, thats a brick and it’s not cheap compared to blocks. Time for me to move on, C yall
I don’t trust the Pre buffered types, and I find they still need to be rinsed. That being said, I haven’t tried too many different brands honestly
I think @lusid uses those.