Has anyone used coir fiber?

[blackjack]

Has anyone used coir fiber?I picked up a brick of coir fiber today the grow shop didn't know much about.Do I break it up then add water or add water then break it up.Can it be used like soil or Hydro?Does it hold nutrients.Do you add other media to it.Any info is welcome.

BlackJack

[Dopey Taylor]

You'll want to add the water. Some big blocks of coco tell you it takes up to 2.5 gallons to moisten the block enough to break it up. At that point the coco becomes the texture of soil. And you can use it straight.

One thing about coco is it's extremely neutral and has no micro nutrients, like soil does. When you consider the purpose of the coconut husk in relation to the seed inside you understand. The husk of the coconut by nature is designed to allow the coconut to drift across the sea and land on another beach, and grow another coconut tree. So the husk repels water, and it doesn't hold water for long. They say it's hard to over water coco, and that's true to the extent that the moisture level of the root zone may induce powdery mildew.

The advantages of coco is you don't need large pots, you can grow lots of roots in smaller pots. It also dries out much quicker than soil, but is a lot more forgiving than clay pellets that dry out quickly. In small pots you can water daily, every other day, or use drippers. It's pretty flexible. Pot tastes better in coco than most other hydro methods. It is technically hydroponics.

What I like about it is it goes from soaking wet to kinda dry in a day. For a small set up you can run a lot of food to the plants and if there is a mistake it's super easy to flush. When the plants are dry the coco is very light, if you have to move pots around or need to chceck moisture content in the root zone they're easy to pick up.

The disadvantages of coco is it does dry out, three of four days without water is a problem in most systems. Also the material is inert, you have to supply all the micros and cal mag for a lot of strains.

[kgb420]

Thats all I use because I have a bum back and hate lifting bags of soil also with carpel tunnel its easier to lift the pots and like D.T. says you can tell quickly when to water because the coco coir gets real lite when dry.
I add about 10 percent pearlite.
I never have washed the coco before using it . It may be prewashed by rainwater and bleached in the sunlight for one or more years before it is bricked up for sale.

[cracked seed]

i was wondering how often you feed your coco pots what i mean is if you water daily do you give nutriants daily or nutraints water nutraints water??

[kgb420]

I was using nutrient water nutrient water i used 1gal water per a plant flushing and some of them look burned. I may need to flush them with more water next time. 5 more days till harvest!

[NEO]

Coir fiber is a great media----just a lil expensive.

[DWCjunkie]

i'd like to try coco for my next grow and i've been wondering about a few things. my plan is to grow 6 large plants in probably just 3.5 or 5 gallon buckets with drain holes, mixing in some hydroton in the bottoms for drainage. i'll handwater from an aerated reservior of either pH'ed water or nutrient solution (2 reserviors each with individual aeration. my soil plants seem to appreciate aerated water), feeding every 2nd or 3rd watering as needed.

first, my hydro shop sells a product called biococo and can special order some other brands but the stuff is all kinda pricey. are there any brands that actually work better than others or is coco all the same between brands, just different texture/chunkiness?

second, i'd like to use my same nutrients with the coco and i think i'll be okay but if anyone can improve my plan please do:

i started cloning in soil but will try using rapid rooters for transplanting to coco. i feed my babies GH floranova bloom and AN liquid carboload.

veg with sensi a+b grow, sensi cal/mg mix grow, b-52, and some AN beneficials.

flower with sensi a+b bloom, bud blood/big bud/overdrive in sequence and liquid carboload.


finally, i'm confused about the use of microbes and enzymes with coco. would you add the microbe or enzyme product to your feeding solution and use it regularly or would it be better to mix a weekly batch of pH'ed water and either microbe products or an enzyme product to drench the roots for a bit and then resume alternated feeding/watering? i've seen both methods promoted for other grow techniques but no logic for using either with coco.

[Chong]

Your set up sounds just like mine, Sensi AB and big bud etc. I've been running coco for a couple years now and never looked back.

I don't know about all the brands of coco but I get Botonicare grow bags and remove the coco into rather smallish containers, like 2 gallon, 7 inch square pots. You can get by with a smaller pot they say, and I've tested and found it's true. The biggest you'll probably ever need is 3 gallon, if that.

Don't even bother with microbes unless you have chlorine -free water. Yup chlorine kills em dead. You can't evaporate the chlorine out like the old days either. If your water is good you can mix the bacteria in with your nutes without issues. They say it helps mostly with chelating organic ferts. A&B is already chelated so I don't see much difference myself. I am using them though. If you re-use coco then enzymes are a must.

You sound all set just top water them once a day or every other day. I feed em every time I water but I feed light. I give a good flush at the end and always get tastey smoke.

Good luck at becoming self suffcient. It's great when you are.

[kgb420]

Coco coir is one of the cheapest medias for growing in the grow store
they hide the blocks of coco coir off to the side selling them for about $15
while prominently display growing mediums premixed in bags for $10 -$25 each.