I’ll likely do a soil and perlite or coco mix my next grow. I’m buying an autopot system. Fill the rez 1-2 x a week and just let them go and feed themselves. I doubt mega crop will work without blocking the lines so maybe I’ll go back to liquid feed. 
decisions decisions.
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I know a lad who did plain coco in autopots for his first proper grow last year and he got just over 20oz dry from a 1.2M tent with a 600w hps. He seemed happy enough at the time but he’s now in the family way so it’s all on hold for him 
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Nearly a gram a watt. Not bad going for a hps. I bet he wished he’d rubbered up
When I can be bothered I’ll sit and type out my aims and goals with my growing and make a thread. I’ve spent a fair bit past few months to try and limit my grow time to 2 grows per year instead of running constantly. I’ve went back to work after a year off and obviously I don’t have as much time now to dedicate to our hobby. I’d like it all automated if I can manage it. Sonoff stuff. Solstrips. Cola cubes. 1.2x1.2 tent I’ll list more when I eventually create a thread for it all. Cheers @Albannach. I’ve watched your threads and diaries so I’ll definitely be plugging you at some point for help. 
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I’d love to produce enough for a year in 2 grows but it’s just not practical here. Also the more i produce the more i get through so it’s probably just as well. I quit tobacco for 5 years once but i ended up smoking a ridiculous amount of weed during that time 
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I’m just stating what it said in the ad about being organic. Yeah coconuts are as organic as they come when I think about it lol
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Organic-Coir-Coco-Peat-Bales-/252607131466?varId=551517310316&txnId=2317006393015
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great stuff use with cana coco im loving the results and cheaper make the switch i did
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lol yeh organic is probably the most abused word in the English language.
I have read that you have to really flush and soak those bales for a few days at ph 5.5 which is why i get the canna pro plus stuff. I found out they exaggerate the necessary pot size to sell more of the stuff though which in turn wastes just about everything else too.
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With the flow - go, bro 
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Im curious what makes you think Mega Crop will block the lines?
Ive run Mega Crop in an ebb/flow, NFT, Membrane meniscus, Low Pressure Aero and now HI pressure Aero with zero build ups anywhere in any of those systems tubes, pipes, rez, or nozzles or sprayers.
I suppose if you had a lot of evaporation in the system it could happen, but any nute would create films in that case. Doesnt matter if they come out of a bottle or a bag - they are all salts ans minerals of one kind or another.
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@McMuffin, I’ve been using coco since mid-January 2016. I changed over after I figured out I had flyin’ fuckers messing with my grows. The reason I did the changeover was because my pest problem got worse after I bought a new bag of potting soil. It turns out that the soil was infested with eggs. I purchased some Pro-Mix next and there was virtually no difference with my infestation. I decided to stop using soil because to buy the really good soils (to avoid problems like insect eggs, etc.) would cost me 4X what the soils I was using did.
I logged on here and read about different substrate choices. Here is where I learned about coco. Since I was already using Botanicare Hydroguard (root onnoculant) and Botanicare CNS17 Grow formula (veg formula) nutes, I thought I’d try their coco product (CocoGro). It gets extra rinses to remove the salt which is why I still use it.
After a one week learning curve, I found it was actually easy to use. It works similar to dirt, but you need to provide ALL the nutrients as coco doesn’t have any. When I first got it, I watered until I had around 20% runoff. My babies started growing quickly and larger than they did in dirt. Shortly after, I also started using Botanicare CNS17 Bloom formula, CNS17 Ripe formula and Cal-Mag Plus.
When I figured out my flyin’ fuckers were thrips and started treating my plants for that, my plants were growing bigger and healthier than they ever before, yielding about an extra 40 grams per plant of smoking material per plant.
I buy a 5 kilo block of compressed CocoGro and it expands to about twice as much as a 2 cubic foot bag of soil, making it approximately the same price as the soil. After it expands, I let it dry out to avoid mold, because it takes me about 3 months to use it up.
I won’t ever go back to soil. The nutrients found in soil varies radically from maker to maker. It can have bugs in it already when you buy it. It comes with bits of bark and wood and other plant bits such as leaf material, which can and do rot in the soil creating another source for fungus in the soil, making it very attractive again to gnats and thrips. Lastly, getting rid of the used up soil is a challenge. I was using it to fill in holes in my yard, but the pearlite would eventually rise to the top with enough rainfalls and blow away, leaving the holes needing to be filled again and bits of pearlite and vermiculite all over my yard. I tried to separate the pearlite, but that was impossible. Without the pearlite, discarding used up soil would be a piece of cake. Vermiculite blends in nicely with the dirt, but pearlite always looks exactly like pearlite.
I can’t think of anything that has made me regret going to coco. It is as convenient to use as soil with none of the drawbacks.
If none of this is convincing, check out my grows here:
Happy growing, which ever way you end up going.
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Coco is my favorite medium, so it’s biased by default. I will try to don’t omit anything in the flow, but there is the reasons why i favor coco coir over anything else since a long time :
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It’s clean : It look stupid but for an indoor space and its intensive cleaning routines, it make a big difference for me. No dust, no dirt, no “juice”, no black nails, no odor and no bio-activity. Also you can bone-dry it and stock it in a corner for later, without decreasing the quality of the medium.
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It’s neutral and stable : There is nothing inside but coco coir and is pretty stable in PH. A bit less buffered than a well made soil (than i never buy, i use more supermarket ones) but enough to let me grow PH free (no regulation) and i love that. I still don’t understand how some people can miss their PH with it, it’s a lot easier to drive than cheap soil. I’ve theorized that in thinking than these people think than they are in pure hydroponics with the absence of nutrients in the medium. So they drive the coco coir like rockwhool (which is a no-no).
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“easy” yield : Instead advanced hydroponic methods than add a layer of “supervising” in the grow routine to keep a good quality/quantity ratio, coco coir need nothing more than rationnal cares for that. The inherent type of this medium permit to accomplish very decent yield without headaches, and in the same move to fool a bunch of connoisseur on the method used to grow the weed than they’re tasting ^^
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storage : I’ve tryed many brands, even coco mix (often with perlite) too … and on the plant’s side i’ve never really stated than the additionnal cost gived me something back on the nuggets side. So i’m pretty on the coco bricks side for a lot of reason : you can stack 500 liters of medium easly in most of cabinets with bricks, i like theyr fine calibration (short fibers) for transplanting and root mass density, it’s clean and no smell (again) and can last long even outside the packaging in a clean place.
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water retention type : for sure it handle water as hell, so by extension you can overwater your plants more often than with soil. But it’s also more aerated, making the cycles more short and the roots more happy. But i appreciate particularly the manner than this medium have to suck the water : homogeneous. A lot of people use the drains of theyr pots and “bottom feeding” (me included) because it make the things more easier than it’s allready. But even if you water by top with little quantities, you’re insured than it will go deep in the root ball. With blumat it have tendancy to create a “root mountain” just behind the dripper tube. Better to cut a plastic tube to let the drops fall more deep. This caracteristic is a the point than generally at middle of bloom stage, i water a bit by the top to attract the roots at the surface to gain a couple of dry grammers lol With ebb&flow system, the top of the pots have tendancy to don’t be used by the plant (so not used to produce) … appear picky and shameful to won some grammers but it express well the particularity of this medium : it’s an highway for roots.
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no printfoot on weed : well drived you simply can’t specifically recognize a weed pushed in coco. Which is not the case with pure hydro or supersoils by example. Not a qualitative statement at all, it’s on the “printfoot” only.
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recycling : the process is not specially easy and pleasant, but it’s possible to cycle your used coco. Specially with the fine calibration of the bricks. It exist many schools : cold bleaching, boilers, sun … i personnally don’t do that because i use mainly mineral and organo-mineral nutrients line, and also because it’s enough cheap to don’t add this additionnal job in duties of my crop.
The cons
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Fungus gnats : when you get some, you’re barely doomed. They love it and know how to resist to hard dry cycles than hit your yields, refugees in the root ball … hitting more your plants than without hard dry cycles. Buy only pure coco and use it pure, and you will be fine. Without trichodermas enrichment than attract them as hell.
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cycles to learn : at the begin it’s disturbing and it’s why you can taste so much overfert weeds pushed in coco coir. Spanish growers have the tendancy to mix their coco with organic amendment for that, i’m not from this school because i love sterile, dead and neutral things in my indoor ^^ But it lower the risk to enrich too much your coco because the frequent dry cycles. It’s btw another thing bad understanded by common growers, you use more water, the roots are more massive and by extension you have to regulate your feeding chart considering that. Trust the green of your plant more than your EC meter to choose what dose you want to give and all will be fine. Don’t fear the yellow too in coco, the inherent quality of this medium compensate a lot the habit to flirt with carencies for final quality reasons.
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hand watering is an hell with small pots : the frequency of the dry cycles can make it a nightmare with a good number of plants (50-100). Near a full time job to prepare the solution and feed the plants lol
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community i guess : you’re no longer in the hydroponic club, you’re no longer in the soil club … you’re only in the coco club ^^
The tips
- don’t prepare your bricks with plain water : Use always a root booster at least. Make your solution and drip the brick in your solution. I’ve documented my manner to do that here, if any.
I use supermarket soil than i treat in an industrial microwave, it permit me to transplant fresh clones and seedlings in this soil and have some time the very first days until i’ve to play with bottles. Then i transplant these “soil carrots” in the coco coir later. But it’s a biased choice than involve my second hobby : breeding. It standardize the “starting block” of the specimens, this way i’m able to compare with more accuracy.
But it stay stupid for a grower ^^ You can prepare different bags of coco for different stages :
- coco bag 1 : root booster + NPK 2-1-2
- coco bag 2 : root booster + NPK 1-3-1
- coco bag 3 : root booster + NPK 2-4-3
- coco bag 4 : root booster + pest prevention + NPK 2-0-3
- …
Virtually you don’t have any limits … but do that with high grade nutrients only if you juggle with bottles. Or in little quantities (pain in the …) to limit the time of the storage with cheap ones.
- don’t forget than coco coir offer a lot of advantages, and freedom is one : little pots, big pots … it doesn’t matter anymore you’re in coco. Only five minutes is enough to water any pots volume in ebb&flow, enjoy this freedom and build a strategy than is optimized for your cop.
Cannabis in coco with fast and numerous cycles in small pots grow like hell, cannabis in coco with long and decent dry cycles in medium-big pots grow like hell. Even over-watered it grow like hell with enough light. Just don’t drive your nutrients like you was in soil, and you will never smoke spinach.
There is no margin like in soil, if you give too much the plant will not take it and let it in the coir. Next watering it will stack and make the things worse exponentially, even if your EC meter say than everything is allright and than you’re stuck to improve the things : Just throw it and read the plants instead, trust their green quality. It will solve the problem within one round. And no, one time for good, there is no more “salts paranoia” to have with coco coir more than any other system : just give what the plant need, nothing more. If you think than the plant don’t eat enough, just add lights.
You can smoke spinach too in growing with rockwhool and deep water ^^
- don’t mix stuff : i will not say one second than the spanish weed i’ve smoked with organics mix was bad or less potent or anything else this way. But you have to understand than if you put manure in your coco, you’re building your own off chart medium. Obviously the drying cycles necessary for a pure coco pot and a mixed pot are totally different. Water an organic amendment + coco like a pure coco, and for sure you will be not happy by the performances compared to a super soil grow ^^
My advise is not “don’t explore that”, but explore it only when you master the coco as it is. Twos or three rounds is enough, not big deal. No matter if you want to go the spanish way or mix others mediums in it (perlite, vermiculite, whatever …).
- never dry your coco pots like you dry your soil pots before : i generally lift the pots to determine the watering level, and if your coco pots are so light than the plant can easly fall it’s way too dry. If the pot is pretty light but the gravity keep it enough stable, it’s ok you can water.
I think i’ve covered the main traits than i consider important but this : Coco coir simply rox ! 
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I think this is convincing me to try DWC, ala MrSparkle. 
hehe
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Fk’n rights bud. That’s my next endeavour
To the OP:
My last grow was in dirt, and I am trying the same genetics in coco right now. So far (autos, topped at 3rd node 4 nodes in), the coco is outperforming dirt by a very good margin. Yes, it is a little bit more work, but not so much that I notice. It is just quicker, and with autos i want to get as much veg growth as possible. Looks promising so far.
With photos? You can get the same results at the expense of time.
Happy’s $0.02
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When I’ve mixed a barrel of solution up and it’s settled there is a lot of residue that sits at the bottom.
Yes switch to dwc. I’m trying to learn coco right now so I can use it for summers so I don’t use so much electricity on chillers.
Dwc is so much better IMO. Though I do have 7 years experience with it. Plants just grow so much quicker.
I switched to rdwc recently and it is stupid easy. I’m actually losing muscle since I’m not running up and down stairs with 5 gal buckets lol.
Picked up a pH controller so now I can leave for vacations and not have to worry about pH going out of range.
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I started my current grow in an undercurrent DWC. (tent, LED, 90l - 3 large totes - 2 as pots & one as res). I had one successful grow in it under my belt, so I now had some confidence & I now knew that LITFA is your best friend & you really have to fight the urge to continuous fuck with it. But . . . it was still a lot of work. The grow was going really well at 5 weeks of veg with nice 16" plants with massive roots. Well, actually one great plant & one mutant - but that is the pheno. Anyways, I was just about to flip.
Then, while I was out of town on biz for several days, the seal on the res let go. My wife called in panic as the res filled the tent ‘reservoir’ with water. I told her to unplug the pumps (leaving timed light & the fans on) & bail out the tent & let the plants die. I got home 3 days later expecting disaster. But the damn plants were thriving. The roots were sitting in tiny fetid pools of water that was the remains of the 1/2" in each tote below the plumbing. I added some water - which leaked surprisingly fast & since I didn’t have the time or the parts to rebuild the system with new seals, I decided my only recourse was to go radical & switch to coco. I hit the hydro store the next day. I cut out the res & raised the totes on bricks & drilled a drain in each. Since the roots were already massive, I bought 10 litre fabric pots so they would fit & a bag of Canna Coco & a bag of perlite. I put one pot in each of the 2 totes. With just a 20 – 30 litre flush of the coco with ph’d water, I replanted the plants & their stiffened roots. I lightly nuted them with the freebie Remo nutes that I was using in the udwc & hoped for the best.
They barely missed a beat & I switched to 12/12 a week later. They are now in week 5 of flower & over 48” with very nice buddage.
And coco is so much easier than water. I water every 2 days . . . that’s it.
tbd
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Yeah that thought makes me nervous. That’s why you don’t use uniseals
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And certainly never reconfigure your layout & reuse them. 
tbd
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it sounds like you got incredibly lucky there-- the tent held water & didn’t destroy the flooring/etc. and your plants didn’t die. 
and apparently not a new bachelor either! she’s a keeper…
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Odd. I dont see anything like that at all. Like I said, Im using sprayers with an orifice of .02" with no issues, and I dont see any settling in my containers or rez. My rez gets stirred regularly, but I also mix up a 1 gallon container for use in my mini-hempy buckets. It sits untouched for days at a time, and I never see settling there either.
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