Rehydrate new coco blocks

Anyone using the growit! brand of coco? It says it's already buffered etc. Generally I buy already expanded coco, mycoco brand. I just mix with perlite, and run some low ec floraflex grow through it, plant and go. I'm new to coco growing. Reading about rehydrating and buffering with calmag etc.... Is this necessary? There's alot of info but everything is different. I'd like to hear it from someone who knows what they're doing/talking about.

Not sure I know what I'm talking about, but I've only used dehydrated coco blocks the last few years with no perlite and my plants do alright. I soak in tap water until fully hydrated and allow time to drain if I got the coco too wet. Then when I am ready to plant something in it, I water the medium with the appropriate strength and PH of nutrients for whatever stage it might be until runoff, and put the plant in. I've seen people do a lot more and also have good results, but I'm kind of lazy.

You should rinse and buffer that. Here's a good link on how to do so: https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/how-to-prepare-and-buffer-coco-coir/

Wastei said:

You should rinse and buffer that. Here's a good link on how to do so: https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/how-to-prepare-and-buffer-coco-coir/

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The coco says it's pre buffered with a low ec 'ready to plant after hydrated'. Does that make a difference?

Jjgrow420 said:

The coco says it's pre buffered with a low ec 'ready to plant after hydrated'. Does that make a difference?

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It looks like regular coir bricks to me. The problem is all the dust and small particles that you want to rinse out before use. I have a hard time seeing this being any different.

It takes a long time for coir to fully hydrate(being fully submerge in solution to rehydrate) and you should to do that , then theirs very little reasons to not buffer in the same process IMO.

Jjgrow420 said:

The coco says it's pre buffered with a low ec 'ready to plant after hydrated'. Does that make a difference?

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You can find out once you re-hydrate the coco brick
I usually put a brick in a large tote and add plenty of water, and then check the EC.
I use a large pasta strainer to transfer the coco to another container, this helps eliminate the fine pith.
If it's low enough, you're ready to go, if not, a water-change or two is in order.
I've only used Canna & Roots Organics bricks

My process is not for the lazy.
This is for buffered brick coco.
I use either a mild nute solution or a calmag solution to rehydrate.
Then I fill a 5 gallon bucket with a mild nute solution and put some coco in it, and swish it around a little.
The good stuff will float and the powdery stuff will sink.
I then scoop out what floats and squeeze out the excess........it's ready to use.
When I add perlite I do the same thing with a two bucket method with plain water.......two rinses and scoop what floats.
This is the perlite sludge at the bottom of the bucket.

MickFoster said:

My process is not for the lazy.
This is for buffered brick coco.
I use either a mild nute solution or a calmag solution to rehydrate.
Then I fill a 5 gallon bucket with a mild nute solution and put some coco in it, and swish it around a little.
The good stuff will float and the powdery stuff will sink.
I then scoop out what floats and squeeze out the excess........it's ready to use.
When I add perlite I do the same thing with a two bucket method with plain water.......two rinses and scoop what floats.
This is the perlite sludge at the bottom of the bucket.
View attachment 5279971View attachment 5279972

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I rinse my perlite but I'll be using your floaty method from now on.
So rehydrate with a mild nute solution or calmag? I was thinking 100ppm calmag and 250ppm maxigrow or something. I usually 'buffer' the other stuff with just a mild nute solution that's been ph set, no calmag.

Jjgrow420 said:

I rinse my perlite but I'll be using your floaty method from now on.
So rehydrate with a mild nute solution or calmag? I was thinking 100ppm calmag and 250ppm maxigrow or something. I usually 'buffer' the other stuff with just a mild nute solution that's been ph set, no calmag.

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It won't hurt to rehydrate with a mild calmag and maxigrow solution.......but not necessary imo to use both just for rehydration.
By the way, you can just use maxibloom from start to finish and eliminate the grow altogether.

MickFoster said:

It won't hurt to rehydrate with a mild calmag and maxigrow solution.......but not necessary imo to use both just for rehydration.
By the way, you can just use maxibloom from start to finish and eliminate the grow altogether.

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Yes I know, but I like using the grow too.

I buffer with Cal-Nit. Crazy how a lot of the coco sinks the pith or whatever. I figured most the bricks are all the same but would like to find brand with less pith.

higher self said:

I buffer with Cal-Nit. Crazy how a lot of the coco sinks the pith or whatever. I figured most the bricks are all the same but would like to find brand with less pith.

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Just a low dose? Like 100ppms?

Jjgrow420 said:

Yes I know, but I like using the grow too.

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Yeah but cocos cations bind with potassium, cal, mag, and iron moreso than nitrogen and phos, so I would definitely use some bloom in there if the grow doesn't have some.

Soak the coco in plain water at first and see what the ppm goes up To. The reading should climb for anywhere up to a day and then stabilize

Then dump the water and refill. Charge with 300-600ppm of nutes and then let it stabilize for a day or so. The cation sites need to do their thing, once the pH and ppm stabilize you can pH it to 6.0 slowly. Once that stabilized you are rinsed and charged and ready to go.

Some people get rid of the fine coco (pith I think it's called) but I just use all of it straight. Adding perlite can avoid issues early on with fungus gnats but I don't like using perlite because it floats and I just ended up liking pure coco. Good luck!

Jjgrow420 said:

Just a low dose? Like 100ppms?

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I get it to at least 1000 ppms, then after the soak I rinse a bit to bring it back down. The rinse depends on the plants, seedlings would get a better rinse than established plants that just need a transplant. Got a lot of cal-nit on hand so that's why I buffer with it & I dont really use cal-mag much anymore, maybe for finicky plants in flower but my base nutes have me covered. Next time I will probably soak with some epsom salt & the cal-nit see if that makes a difference.

higher self said:

I buffer with Cal-Nit. Crazy how a lot of the coco sinks the pith or whatever. I figured most the bricks are all the same but would like to find brand with less pith.

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This brand seemed to have very little pith, im soaking it now in some calmag mix.

Grown with 3+ brands of coco (Mother Earth, Canna, Tupur to name a few) and they all required I used some CalMag.

First week of veg and first week of bloom I add full strength calmag.

I've started adding 1 gallon well water to 5 gallons of RO (1:5) to not need so much pH Up, I think that is also helping in the Calcium department.

I'd add some type of cal mag supplement in coco for the first week of veg & flower if you want to be precautious.

calvin.m16 said:

Grown with 3+ brands of coco (Mother Earth, Canna, Tupur to name a few) and they all required I used some CalMag.

First week of veg and first week of bloom I add full strength calmag.

I've started adding 1 gallon well water to 5 gallons of RO (1:5) to not need so much pH Up, I think that is also helping in the Calcium department.

I'd add some type of cal mag supplement in coco for the first week of veg & flower if you want to be precautious.

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My nutes are made for no calmag