Ok guys, bear with me. i do not make how-to threads so this may be a little rough around the edges.
I see a lot of people use chunk/chipped coco in automatic systems, flood and drain etc… with great results.
Coco is a forgiving medium, cheap to start out with or to swap over from another medium. Coco is a renewable resource, can be reused over and over. really, you can use this stuff forever, it gets better with age. i complain when i have to use new coco, older the better.
I am not automatic, nor do i have a complicated system. I grow on the cheap, and a grow budget consists of don’t fix it till it breaks kind of thing. I swapped over from store bought organic soil to chipped coco from the advice of @grower13 and saw an improvement, though i was still chasing gremlins, my plants would look great for a few weeks then start getting all sorts of problems.
I knew coco worked, i just had not figured out how to make it work for my style of growing. i finally realized, i should just mimic a flood and drain or Ebb and Flow. after changing how i water the plants, everything fell into place.
if you are not organic, there is no reason for someone to use anything other than coco. its cheap, easy, and more forgiving than a true hydro setup.(DWC etc)
My room temps range from 62 in the winter months up to 81-82 in the summer. rez temps have been as high as 80, with no issues.
Here is what i do
I use buckets to soak my plants in. Coco needs 15 minutes to properly soak, in order to get a proper wet/dry cycle.
Anything will do, as long as it is the right size for your plant’s pot rubber maid totes, buckets… whatever you can find.
any questions, i’ll answer the best i can. @OG1969 is watering this way now, or something very similar. I’m sure he would chime in with his thoughts and experiences too.
How would you go about doing this in fabric pots with Canna Coco… That’s how i am gonna do it.
If it’s the fine pith coco, you won’t want to do it this way. It will be way too wet.
This method only works for Chipped/Chunked Coco. i bought a bale of the fine coco last year, never even opened it. this chipped is the way to go. water every day. you almost cannot over water chipped coco.
over watering was something i always struggle with in soil
you could probably use fabric pots though.
i use cheap black plastic pots from a nursery, i get great root development in them. the coco stays loose, allows the roots an easy substrate to grow into. and allows oxygen to the roots as well
I learned this submersion watering method from the great Dr.BudGreenGenes. I have used it with small containers in a SOG. let me tell you this, watering 30 plants like this takes forever!
Good tip 
i watered like this last run, i had 13 plants. def took a little longer. with the new space, i can bloom six at a time. just so happens i have six buckets. lol
which is why I moved to automation… ebb and flow system
here is a recipe for a reservoir using GH 3 part and cool bloom… this is my mixture for a 40 gallon res… do the math to to fit your size res or watering can/bucket…
after 2nd week of 12/12 use this until your 2 weeks from finish… one thing about Micro is you always use 5ml to the gallon.
Micro 200 ml
grow 100 ml
bloom 300 ml
Kool Bloom 120 ml
I use tap water.
the only other thing I add is clamag 80 ml (you may need more or less calmag)
This with chipped coco is how I make my buds…
40 Gallon reservoir recipe using GH 3 part during the first 2 weeks of flower using Coco chips as a medium
Micro 200ml
Grow 200ml
Bloom 200ml
kool bloom none
clamag or Epsom… amounts depend on your water
for a reservoir with top off a starting PH of 5.7 is recommended… and ph of 5.9 is recommended for hand watering
Just regular waterings with nutes, and runoff then… Will monitor coco real close so it doesn’t get too dry. Thanks man.
what about fungus gnats, do they like to show up if coco chips stay too moist ?
them fuggers can be a pain… but by not flooding the top inch or 3 of coco helps control them…
and dunks… Mosquito Dunks Biological Mosquito Control, Kills Mosquitoe Larvae 6 Pack - Walmart.com
yes they showed up after a lil while of watering every day (with fine coco) so i’ve cut back to every 2 days, my smart pots are already in plastic totes so maybe i could try bottom feeding them, then i wouldn’t have to jostle the roots around moving the pots. theres only a couple flying around now. nematodes are on the way
yeah fungus gnats can be a pain with coco. i use the mosquito dunks like grower13 does. i keep a few always,but have not had a real issue with them since i learned to manage them. i have several small spiders that live in my cabinet. i always figured they lived off of springtails and fungus gnats.
This is my first full run with chips, I still have plants in a coco coir blend. Those are mainly seedlings and clones. Those will go from solo cups into 3 gallon pots of coco chips. One bale of chips expanded filled 10 3 gallon pots. When I transplant the bottom layer is soaked in the same manner as I would normally feed a plant. The bottom third of the pot is underwater ( veg soloution) the plant is set atop of the wet chips and then filled in like you would normally do when transplanting. Trying to keep just below the rootzone wet to draw the roots down. Now my setup is going to be different than most others. I taped three of the four holes in the bottom of the pot, tried all four just too much to try and hold the plant and pot up to remove the tape and let it drain. I have the tall drip pans they come almost half way up the three gallon pot. I take the plant, right now I have veg, flower and final feed trays so five plants at a time. I fill from the top and pour all the feed soloution in at once and verify that it hits a mark on the drip tray the pot is sitting in. 15 minutes and they are drained and the next set go in so it takes 30 minutes to feed them all. What I have noticed is very explosive growth, awesome roots, and if there is an issue like one that was in veg wasn’t really green, they react or repair quicker. Also noticing zero salt build up at the one drain hole, where as when in the coir blend even getting good run off there was still al lot of build up. I do not have a huge resivor just the trays and water cans. They get changed every 4 or 5 days maybe 7 if I am lazy. The drain reaivoirs are topped back to the full line with plain water ph’d to 6.0 tring to mimic the natur ph rise in a larger resivor system. Coming from running my own super soil and organic soils, I will not switch back its clean, easy, forgiving and ruseable. I try to let the plants do most of the talking for me. Peace all, OG.
Note. Had fungas gnats , they came from the bag of my old coco blend. Gnat nix and sticky traps for a week no more flyers seen.
I noticed that each of my outdoor begonia plants had a resident daddy long-legs in the canopy all summer. I have to assume they are working the surface and scarfing down fungus gnat larvae, would be fun to get some of them inside.
I’d say, Coco chunks are good , but mixed with some smaller Cocos, to give the plant a lttle more stand and buffer, if you know what I mean.
Be well,
I.
@Grower13 i was planning on moving up to ~50/50 coir/perlite - mainly because i have a giant bag of perlite - do you think coco chips would still provide more oxygen to the roots? what are other benefits of coco chips ?
no perlite needed… cheaper and reusable… mj plants love it… an eb and flow growers dream…
Are you talking the fine coco coir? Perlite will help the fine coir holds alot of water. The chunk or chip coco I would run as is nothing else is needed but the plant, food and light.
Peace OG