How to "rebuffer" coco during veg??

psychadelibud · Jul 25, 2022

So this is my 3rd grow using coco coir. I always buy the compressed canna bricks and just soak them in a medium strength dose of nutrient solution and my two previous grows turned out great, never really had any issues except for a bit of nutrient burn around mid flower.

Used the same coco bricks from Canna again this time and was having some issues during veg which they all appeared to have calmag deficiency (especially magnesium) symptoms. I decided to test my runoff and it was coming out anywhere from 3.0 to 5.0 ec and a ph between 4.0- 4.8!! So I kinda tripped out about it and flushed each plant individually with plain tap water and i think i might have screwed up there... I forgot about flushing with a light nutrient solution or at least adding some calmag.

I grow on a pretty large scale for a single man ran operation and I wanted to save time (my reservoir is being replaced at the moment) so I pulled the plants out of the grow room one by one and did a flush till the EC was down around 0.4-0.7 and the ph runoff around 6.0. Did this strip or remove my buffer since I used straight tap water? I didn't even think about this till after I flushed all of the plants. So immediately after the flush I mixed a new nutrient solution (using canna coco nutes which is also a first for this run) with calmag @5.5ml per gallon of water to put nutrients and calmag back into the coco...

Will this work or am I screwed? I am still a newbie with coco and have spent the last 20 years using only soil and peat based mediums...This will be a lesson learned!

Would feeding them with extra calmag for a few days get them back on track? Or do you think my buffer will be fine??

twentyeight.threefive · Jul 25, 2022

psychadelibud said:
So this is my 3rd grow using coco coir. I always buy the compressed canna bricks and just soak them in a medium strength dose of nutrient solution and my two previous grows turned out great, never really had any issues except for a bit of nutrient burn around mid flower.

Used the same coco bricks from Canna again this time and was having some issues during veg which they all appeared to have calmag deficiency (especially magnesium) symptoms. I decided to test my runoff and it was coming out anywhere from 3.0 to 5.0 ec and a ph between 4.0- 4.8!! So I kinda tripped out about it and flushed each plant individually with plain tap water and i think i might have screwed up there... I forgot about flushing with a light nutrient solution or at least adding some calmag.

I grow on a pretty large scale for a single man ran operation and I wanted to save time (my reservoir is being replaced at the moment) so I pulled the plants out of the grow room one by one and did a flush till the EC was down around 0.4-0.7 and the ph runoff around 6.0. Did this strip or remove my buffer since I used straight tap water? I didn't even think about this till after I flushed all of the plants. So immediately after the flush I mixed a new nutrient solution (using canna coco nutes which is also a first for this run) with calmag @5.5ml per gallon of water to put nutrients and calmag back into the coco...

Will this work or am I screwed? I am still a newbie with coco and have spent the last 20 years using only soil and peat based mediums...This will be a lesson learned!

Would feeding them with extra calmag for a few days get them back on track? Or do you think my buffer will be fine??

A plain low EC nutrient flush would have been fine. I’d be worried about all the extra CalMag you added.

psychadelibud · Jul 25, 2022

twentyeight.threefive said:
A plain low EC nutrient flush would have been fine. I’d be worried about all the extra CalMag you added.

I added enough calmag to get my tap water from 0.3ec to 0.7ec and then used the canna feeding chart based off a base beginning EC of 0.7ec... I just wanted to get the calmag back into the fibers that I likely washed away. I fed at 1.8 EC by the time the nutrients were mixed. I'm more concerned if I screwed the buffer up by flushing.

twentyeight.threefive · Jul 25, 2022

psychadelibud said:
I added enough calmag to get my tap water from 0.3ec to 0.7ec and then used the canna feeding chart based off a base beginning EC of 0.7ec... I just wanted to get the calmag back into the fibers that I likely washed away. I fed at 1.8 EC by the time the nutrients were mixed. I'm more concerned if I screwed the buffer up by flushing.

I’m sure your nutrients already have calcium and magnesium in it, as does your tap water. IMO adding that much CalMag on top is asking for issues.

psychadelibud · Jul 25, 2022

Just a little update... I just checked in on them and they literally look 5x better overnight since the flush yesterday morning. I was expecting a droopy mess, but they honestly look happier now than I've seen them. Let's hope they stay on track!

MickFoster · Jul 25, 2022

Why a duplicate thread?
@Rurumo gave you perfect advice in your other thread. :wall:

psychadelibud · Jul 25, 2022

twentyeight.threefive said:
I’m sure your nutrients already have calcium and magnesium in it, as does your tap water. IMO adding that much CalMag on top is asking for issues.

My tap is very soft and I always get magnesium issues with coco even with nutrients designed for coco. Anytime I add extra calmag or magnesium (foliar) they green up quickly. I think in this case, the salt buildup was just too much causing a lockout. Hopefully they stay on track from here.

psychadelibud · Jul 25, 2022

MickFoster said:
Why a duplicate thread?
@Rurumo gave you perfect advice in your other thread.

I've not even checked the other thread, I forgot that you can't delete threads on RIU and wanted it to be posted here instead. Been on riu for years but its been a long minute since I've really been active. Apologies...

medidedicated · Jul 25, 2022

Someone told me too much calmg will cause lockouts, and after simply following the back of the bottle they have been fine. I had nute def symptoms but can also be lockout, was adding like 5ml/gal.

Was suggesting to myself I can add a little if the coco breaks down wnough to start stealing the calmg again. I buffered though. This is all I can really say lol.

medidedicated · Jul 25, 2022

Also, you can buy prepared coco or if you feel like putting in work to save half the price or more if you can find bricks for 13$ 15gal, you can buffer yourself. 35gal tub, 20 gal bin, 2 of the 7gal buckets to soak the coco and take it out hand by hand to rinse with 14gal of bucket available to do this at once, 1/8mesh screen (I like to suspend it on a bucket or bucket like container with good open drainage). A 25gal fabric pot, a marked bucket (size of your choice) to portion out the rinsed coco so you know exactly what you just prepared in volume per batch, dumping it into this all at once — or 2 gal at a time or less (rare) —> another bucket or bin or preferred size to put the rinsed coco in to the 25gal fabric pot to quickly close the lid to avoid other types of weeds and plant seeds, bugs or contamination to fly into your fresh media. That loaded fabric pot can now be soaked into the 20 gal bin with calmg solution at 1.2 EC or 7.5 ML/ gal, for 8 hrs. I double buffer. Then you dump the bin, then put fabric pot back in, rinse with hose lightly, swish around for a second literally, then dump again, then dump fabric pot into 35gal tub and hand pix perlite to perferred ratio and you get this.

Now I can feed normally with no issues and add calmg 1ml/gal if it lost its buffering potency and is becoming hungry to steal calmg again. Not seeing this happen to people though, nor myself. I put my perlite to rinse through strainer as well, just to be stuck up lol. Not needed but I do rinse the perlite dust out, takes one minute.

twentyeight.threefive · Jul 25, 2022

medidedicated said:
Also, you can buy prepared coco or if you feel like putting in work to save half the price or more if you can find bricks for 13$ 15gal, you can buffer yourself. 35gal tub, 20 gal bin, 2 of the 7gal buckets to soak the coco and take it out hand by hand to rinse with 14gal of bucket available to do this at once, 1/8mesh screen (I like to suspend it on a bucket or bucket like container with good open drainage). A 25gal fabric pot, a marked bucket (size of your choice) to portion out the rinsed coco so you know exactly what you just prepared in volume per batch, dumping it into this all at once — or 2 gal at a time or less (rare) —> another bucket or bin or preferred size to put the rinsed coco in to the 25gal fabric pot to quickly close the lid to avoid other types of weeds and plant seeds, bugs or contamination to fly into your fresh media. That loaded fabric pot can now be soaked into the 20 gal bin with calmg solution at 1.2 EC or 7.5 ML/ gal, for 8 hrs. I double buffer. Then you dump the bin, then put fabric pot back in, rinse with hose lightly, swish around for a second literally, then dump again, then dump fabric pot into 35gal tub and hand pix perlite to perferred ratio and you get this.

View attachment 5169361

Now I can feed normally with no issues and add calmg 1ml/gal if it lost its buffering potency and is becoming hungry to steal calmg again. Not seeing this happen to people though, nor myself. I put my perlite to rinse through strainer as well, just to be stuck up lol. Not needed but I do rinse the perlite dust out, takes one minute.

That seems like way too much fucking work. I take mine out of the bag and put in a pot. Run a light nutrient solution through it and stick in a seed.

medidedicated · Jul 25, 2022

twentyeight.threefive said:
That seems like way too much fucking work. I take mine out of the bag and put in a pot. Run a light nutrient solution through it and stick in a seed.

Yeah and if you run into brand loyalty and garden heart ache because you cannot say for sure it is good to go, lol. Theres the guide, it only takes 20 mins to rinse 15 gallons dude lol. That is most the work. Hell, wouldn’t be suprised if I befriended local growers who would pay for their used coco to be transformed into my picture. I get time on my hands even working full time, why not put some labor to bring down costs? lol. Also assurance.

xtsho · Jul 25, 2022

medidedicated said:
Also, you can buy prepared coco or if you feel like putting in work to save half the price or more if you can find bricks for 13$ 15gal, you can buffer yourself. 35gal tub, 20 gal bin, 2 of the 7gal buckets to soak the coco and take it out hand by hand to rinse with 14gal of bucket available to do this at once, 1/8mesh screen (I like to suspend it on a bucket or bucket like container with good open drainage). A 25gal fabric pot, a marked bucket (size of your choice) to portion out the rinsed coco so you know exactly what you just prepared in volume per batch, dumping it into this all at once — or 2 gal at a time or less (rare) —> another bucket or bin or preferred size to put the rinsed coco in to the 25gal fabric pot to quickly close the lid to avoid other types of weeds and plant seeds, bugs or contamination to fly into your fresh media. That loaded fabric pot can now be soaked into the 20 gal bin with calmg solution at 1.2 EC or 7.5 ML/ gal, for 8 hrs. I double buffer. Then you dump the bin, then put fabric pot back in, rinse with hose lightly, swish around for a second literally, then dump again, then dump fabric pot into 35gal tub and hand pix perlite to perferred ratio and you get this.

View attachment 5169361

Now I can feed normally with no issues and add calmg 1ml/gal if it lost its buffering potency and is becoming hungry to steal calmg again. Not seeing this happen to people though, nor myself. I put my perlite to rinse through strainer as well, just to be stuck up lol. Not needed but I do rinse the perlite dust out, takes one minute.

Any decent coco bricked or bagged is already rinsed and buffered. Just rehydrate with a mild nutrient solution and plant away.

Twenty years ago you had to rinse the crap out of coco as it was full of salt and sand. I used big totes to rehydrate it and then scooped it into buckets I had drilled holes in and rinsed it for awhile with a garden hose. Sometimes the bottom of the tote would have 1/2 inch of sand. These were these big 25 lb blocks I was getting back then. It was the early days and the coco was crap which is why it had such a bad rep for so long. Things have changed.

Botanicare, Canna, etc... are all ready to use right out of the package. Also, perlite is not needed.

xtsho · Jul 25, 2022

medidedicated said:
Yeah and if you run into brand loyalty and garden heart ache because you cannot say for sure it is good to go, lol. Theres the guide, it only takes 20 mins to rinse 15 gallons dude lol. That is most the work. Hell, wouldn’t be suprised if I befriended local growers who would pay for their used coco to be transformed into my picture. I get time on my hands even working full time, why not put some labor to bring down costs? lol. Also assurance.

I've been growing in coco going on 20 years. There is absolutely no need to go through all that trouble these days.

twentyeight.threefive · Jul 25, 2022

medidedicated said:
Yeah and if you run into brand loyalty and garden heart ache because you cannot say for sure it is good to go, lol. Theres the guide, it only takes 20 mins to rinse 15 gallons dude lol. That is most the work. Hell, wouldn’t be suprised if I befriended local growers who would pay for their used coco to be transformed into my picture. I get time on my hands even working full time, why not put some labor to bring down costs? lol. Also assurance.

I also don’t reuse coco. So no need to have it transformed into anything.

medidedicated · Jul 25, 2022

xtsho said:
I've been growing in coco going on 20 years. There is absolutely no need to go through all that trouble these days.

What is happening with this guys grow then? Maybe lock out from calmg like I did have until I quit adding it to my feed.

medidedicated · Jul 25, 2022

xtsho said:
Any decent coco bricked or bagged is already rinsed and buffered. Just rehydrate with a mild nutrient solution and plant away.

Twenty years ago you had to rinse the crap out of coco as it was full of salt and sand. I used big totes to rehydrate it and then scooped it into buckets I had drilled holes in and rinsed it for awhile with a garden hose. Sometimes the bottom of the tote would have 1/2 inch of sand. These were these big 25 lb blocks I was getting back then. It was the early days and the coco was crap which is why it had such a bad rep for so long. Things have changed.

Botanicare, Canna, etc... are all ready to use right out of the package. Also, perlite is not needed.

How much a bag? I just listed a 13$ per 15 gal media with assurence of no calmg issues

twentyeight.threefive · Jul 25, 2022

medidedicated said:
What is happening with this guys grow then? Maybe lock out from calmg like I did have until I quit adding it to my feed.

Who knows. Not enough information was given about the conditions at the time issues were happening. No pictures either.

twentyeight.threefive · Jul 25, 2022

medidedicated said:
How much a bag? I just listed a 13$ per 15 gal media with assurence of no calmg issues

Where do you keep hearing about “CalMag” issues with new coco?

medidedicated · Jul 25, 2022

twentyeight.threefive said:
Who knows. Not enough information was given about the conditions at the time issues were happening. No pictures either.

Mind you, thats (cost per pre processed coco) every grow. You have my supplies, you have what it takes to reuse it until it is gone. I would buy the cheapest crap available if I knew where, just did not need to yet. You keep all the dust in those bricks too?

How to "rebuffer" coco during veg??

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