Coco Coir?

[BettaPonic]

Anyone else a Coco Coir gardener? I grow almost all my Tomatoes in Coco.

[Ricky Shaw]

I'm dabbling with blends of peat, coir, and perlite, in starter and 4" pot-up mixes, to much satisfaction. Yes please tell me all you know, and especially anyting pertaining to preference of fabric, plastic, and poly-growbag containers.



I've only worked with a couple of brands, neither was what's coined, chunk or natural. Both were block, an Australian, nutrifield nf coco, and the other a GenHyd product Coco-Tek.

75% coco-coir/ 25% perlite is my favorite so far

Easier to wet after drying out than peat. And mixed in with peat at even 20%, it makes those overall mixes nearly as easy to water as the straight coir was.

Water retention seems about the same coco vs peat on the small pots, interested to see if that translates to larger pots.

Compaction seems less on the coir.

Prices here:
650g bricks $2 = 2 gal
5kg blocks $11 = 16 gal

[BettaPonic]

I don't use fabric grow bags. I use a brand of pot I found called Air Pot. I used to use perlite, but found this stuff by a company called growstone. Do you use Hydroponic nutrients? If you look at some of my posts you can see my plants.

[kurt]

There are two or three discussions out here.In search pane,look at Wonder Soil,(aclum thanx'org poster)Mother Earth is a distributer of from Netherlands.Seems to be the go to medium this season.I use it,never looked back,same medium all the seed starting(cells) that are online from the cannabis crowd.

[Ricky Shaw]

Do you use Hydroponic nutrients?

Yes, I use Chem-Gro Tomato Formula and also have used the FloraNova Grow and Bloom. Seedlings at about 1.0 mhos and mature plants 2.0 mhos at every watering. (promixHP/15gal fabrics primarily)

[BettaPonic]

That is some nice trellising. I notice the reflectors for your plants. What variety is that?

[Ricky Shaw]

Reflective 1/4" bubble wrap insulation. Comes in rolls at Home Depot ,different widths, not too expensive. You can cut half-moons with regular scissors. Brings temps down, reduces evaporation considerably.

[BettaPonic]

I am using some similar stuff on Rockwool cubes that I am rooting cuttings in.

[MuddyToes]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Do you use Hydroponic nutrients?

Yes, I use Chem-Gro Tomato Formula and also have used the FloraNova Grow and Bloom. Seedlings at about 1.0 mhos and mature plants 2.0 mhos at every watering. (promixHP/15gal fabrics primarily)

Nice cage and staking system. Did you purchase the cages or build them yourself?

[joseph]

I love growing in coconut fiber. I usually mix in a small amount of peat to modify the pH, and some compost for micro-organisms, and some perlite for marketing.

[Ricky Shaw]

Those are Texas Tomato Cages in the picture. The 20" is probably a better size for container growing as there's a good chance your running 3 or less stems in a 15,10. or 7 gal container and don't need the the room. I have the 24" cages, they're a better fit for 20gal and larger containers. They fit over the larger pots and with more room they'll ventilate better if you're not pruning.

[FourOaks]

Going straight CoCo here. After much research I settled in on a 50/50 blend of CoCo peat and CoCo chips. Ill be growing 2 tomatoes per 5 gallon bag, growing up a string in the high tunnel. Highly pruned.

Brand of CoCo is "GrowIt". My guy at the local Hydro store made me a deal on it because of the quantity I needed.

Will be using Masterblend fertilizer. Growing Big Beef, Sweet 100, Mortgage Lifter, and Prudens Purple this year.

[BettaPonic]

Originally Posted by joseph

I love growing in coconut fiber. I usually mix in a small amount of peat to modify the pH, and some compost for micro-organisms, and some perlite for marketing.

Have you ever tried Molasses? I have heard of people using it in Coco for microorganisms.

[Ricky Shaw]

FourOaks, I like what you're telling me here, I just wish I had access to those coco chunks. If you're able to use coco coir without perlite in your more humid climate, I will certainly be able to use less than 25% perlite. Excellent news in itself, coco is half the cost of perlite, and I'm probably increasing growing efficiency. I've got some Red Robins to pot up soon, I think I'll even try one with 100% standard coco coir. Also 10% and 20% perlite.

Even Promix is moving to coir blends and reducing perlite, PromixHP CC is a newer product, I think AKmark is trying a few bags. The MSDS says it's 65% peat/25% coir chunk/ 10% perlite. The standard PromixHP is 30% perlite.

[BettaPonic]

Ever heard of Growstone super soil aerator? I love the stuff.