reuse of coco advice

Hey all,

Hope this thread is cool to post my question in.
Quick question. I'm lookin to reuse my coco from my latest harvest. Can I still reuse it even if I had mite problems during this last cycle?

I had 22 plants in 5 gallon pots.

If anyone can help on this and lend me some tips to reuse these, I would really appreciate it!

Up8 said:

Hey all,

Hope this thread is cool to post my question in.
Quick question. I'm lookin to reuse my coco from my latest harvest. Can I still reuse it even if I had mite problems during this last cycle?

I had 22 plants in 5 gallon pots.

If anyone can help on this and lend me some tips to reuse these, I would really appreciate it!

Click to expand...

I would never re-use anything if I had mites, bugs or creepie crawlies! However if you do use it make sure you flush it well with an enzyme based solution such as Hygrozyme or Orchid Champion. The Beta Glucosidase will essentially clear the old roots and anything lurking that may have statrted growing under the surface prior to harvest. Secondly water through with a decent fungicide to help fend off any viruses. Thirdly include potassium silicate for the first few weeks of vegetative growth, you can stop this after around 4 weeks or prior to flowering. Happy growing but trust me if you just plant straight in you can end up chasing your tail...

Oh and be careful with additional cal mag because the enzyme sometimes makes extra cal available ime, don't know why though!

Ok. Good tips. I have all the coco in 2 35 gallon totes. After cleaning the 5 gals pots. Can I repot them back in and flush it with pond enzyme? Let it sit for 24 hours, then flush with clean water then plant the new plants?

Up8 said:

Ok. Good tips. I have all the coco in 2 35 gallon totes. After cleaning the 5 gals pots. Can I repot them back in and flush it with pond enzyme? Let it sit for 24 hours, then flush with clean water then plant the new plants?

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Don't know what enzymes are used in pond cleaner they may be only suited to cleaning out organic matter as in suspended bacteria. Orchid Champion for example or Hygrozyme use a form of Beta Glucosidase which dissolves the dead and the weaker strands of plant matter. I suppose a quick google of the proposed pond cleaner will tell you more? My friend soaks his in deionised water for 4 weeks mixing it with a plasterers mixing paddle and a drill! He says its enough but he does get mushrooms occasionally in his coco lol....

Lol that's interesting. I'll definitely check orchid champion out. But ya pond zyme seems to be the same as Hygrozyme just in powder form.

Soak it in a solution of cal nitrate and mag nitrate, each at 3000ppm. Soak for 24 hrs. Drain, and rinse until ppm shows 200 or less. No less than 50ppm as the nitrates help establish bacterial presence.

Grandpa GreenJeans said:

Soak it in a solution of cal nitrate and mag nitrate, each at 3000ppm. Soak for 24 hrs. Drain, and rinse until ppm shows 200 or less. No less than 50ppm as the nitrates help establish bacterial presence.

Click to expand...

Yes indeed you can 're-buffer it' but trust me the first thing is cleaning it out. The enzyme solution will breakdown the roots, a mild fungicide will get rid of any microscopic larvae from the mites and make it less attractive to fungus nats, and a good general fungicide will not destroy all the beneficial microbes. The optional potassium silicate will help roots become resilient to disease and I believe it really works having done comparisons. I assume you will know that you will have to bring the nutrient level back up within an acceptable level because you aren't a total newbie, its common sense a lot of it... everyone know coco has no or very little naturally occurring major nutrients!

If you do choose to go buy some cal n mag nitrate and re-buffer it (personally I don't bother and I have done 4-5 grows with it since trying this method myself) then you do not add any cal mag unless you see a deficiency. My two-penneth worth is follow what I do and use a good coco a/b like canna for your nutes. I always have a bottle of cal mag 2-0-0 on hand with iron such as Botanicare just in case, but in my experience it will have sufficient going in with the A/B solution. If it does crop up then you can use the supplementary solution at 1ml per litre or whatever it is these days!

I'm actually reusing about 9cuft of a custom coco mix I made 2 years ago. After I cut down the plants, I left the roots all in the pots.
I let them dry out completly for 2 weeks and then hydrated them with a completely fortified AACT. At the end of the brew, I added 3x's the recommended rate of hygrozyme. I never use it in my teas because it foams like nothing I've ever seen before and causes a mess on the brewer and floor.
I kept the pots stacked in the corner of the garage and as the moisture evaporates, I add de-chlor water or pure to maintain moisture. My pots I guess "cook" for 1 grow cycle like this.

Then I amend it with organic/veganic additions and do another "cook" for another grow cycle. Hydrating with AACT and my prefered "specialty micobes". I like to incorporate alot of flaculative anerobe in my recipies too.
After the soil is well aged or "cooked" and it reeks like fresh mushrooms, it's ready for use.
I like to keep the soil in pots durring the aging portion as I believe fungal colonies that have established themselves within are delicate and if you work the soil you destroy all the mycelium runs. Fungal colonies take much longer than bacterial to establish themselves.
I'm running this 2 year old mix right now, no problems from any of my plants. Seedling that are 1 week old, to 3 weeks old. Veggie, photo, auto, all young tho and no burning issues.

I do like the fact that you have a worm farm and feed them leaves and scrapes. And the idea behind that is simple, recycle the nutrients within the organic materials. However don't overlook the nutrient values found in the roots. The enzymes consume alot of it, but there's still a good amount left.

Mt old way of dealing with roots was as I stated earlier. But I'm experimenting with fermenting the roots, leaves and scraps first with lacto bacillus, then feeding the pulp to the worms. I save the liquid nutrient extract and add it to my vortex brewer. Do some research if your a hands on kinda grower, read up on bokashi and fermenting practices with EM1. Anything that's fermented is basically pre chewed, so microbes and worms eat the shit out of it, and fast!

Up8 said:

Ok. Good tips. I have all the coco in 2 35 gallon totes. After cleaning the 5 gals pots. Can I repot them back in and flush it with pond enzyme? Let it sit for 24 hours, then flush with clean water then plant the new plants?

Click to expand...

Grandpa GreenJeans said:

Soak it in a solution of cal nitrate and mag nitrate, each at 3000ppm. Soak for 24 hrs. Drain, and rinse until ppm shows 200 or less. No less than 50ppm as the nitrates help establish bacterial presence.

Click to expand...

Where can I get cal nitrate and mag nitrate locally?

YARA have distributors around the world, just goggle it my friend.

Up8 said:

Where can I get cal nitrate and mag nitrate locally?

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I dont know about local or even where you are, but I like doing busniess with "the organic mechanic" who owns kelp4less.com. he's very knowledgeable and helpful. He's a grower himself and a farmer. Very smart man.