# Questions about my soil



## gottaloveplasma (May 17, 2015)

Hello, I am going to use CocoConnoisseuer
 Soilless.  I also have few free boxes of nectar for the gods nutrients.  Hoping someone could help direct me through first grow.  Does this coco soilless need to be watered at different ph than regular soil?  Using 20gallon smart pots and 2 bags of soil for each clone.  I am unsure how to administer the nutrients my guess Is to wait month and start with half strength nutrients 1x week?


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## Rosebud (May 17, 2015)

I am sorry i am not familiar with coco.   How about trying Fox farm ocean forest? It is organic and you won't feed until flower. It is easy, organic, and a great way to start in the growing game. This is only my opinion.  It is formulated for the cannabis plant. Just a thought.


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## Grower13 (May 17, 2015)

coco is pretty much ph neutral.......... hand water at a ph of 5.9 give or take a point........ if your using a reservoir you want a range of 5.6 to 6.3 give or take a point......... don't know anything about your nutrients........ not sure if you can use the Epsom salt with your nutrients.


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## blowinthatloud (May 17, 2015)

I hope your not starting in the 20 gal pots! start small an work your way up.. do a search for coco posts an you will find all the info you need to answer your questions, or im sure someone will come along with more knowledge on coco, green mojo...BtL


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## The Hemp Goddess (May 18, 2015)

Coco is pretty inert.  I doubt that you are going to be able to go a month without nutes.  However, I do not grow with coco, but we do have some here that do.  I'm sure they will be able to offer some great advise.


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## gottaloveplasma (May 19, 2015)

Grower13 said:


> coco is pretty much ph neutral.......... hand water at a ph of 5.9 give or take a point........ if your using a reservoir you want a range of 5.6 to 6.3 give or take a point......... don't know anything about your nutrients........ not sure if you can use the Epsom salt with your nutrients.


 

do I treat this as a pure coco grow, ph never pure water etc etc its fully amended its made by heavy harvest and perhaps one of best commercial stuff available.  Supposedly.
It is 70 30 coco Pete and fully amended. Treat like a regular soil or like coco?


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## LostSoul (May 19, 2015)

I'm sorry to tell you this but I've used amended coco before and it was a total nightmare.  I'd either get some pure coco eg in brick form - or soil from your garden center/hydro grow shop. 

And please don't take this the wrong way but you sound like this is your first grow so I would highly recommend starting with soil. It's far more forgiving, less work and easier to feed. 

Good luck


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## October420 (May 19, 2015)

LostSoul said:


> I'm sorry to tell you this but I've used amended coco before and it was a total nightmare.  I'd either get some pure coco eg in brick form - or soil from your garden center/hydro grow shop.
> 
> And please don't take this the wrong way but you sound like this is your first grow so I would highly recommend starting with soil. It's far more forgiving, less work and easier to feed.
> 
> Good luck



Yeah hard to beat soil, did my first grow not to long ago and I'm glad I went with soil. I think it's important for new growers like me to keep it simple as possible. Plants have been growing naturally in soil for millions of years. Hard to beat that track record.

Peace


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## Rosebud (May 19, 2015)

GLP, you should look up October 420's first grow, it was amazing. The best first grow i have ever seen.
Oct, could you put a link in your signature so people can see what a great first grow looks like?


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## Grower13 (May 19, 2015)

gottaloveplasma said:


> do I treat this as a pure coco grow, ph never pure water etc etc its fully amended its made by heavy harvest and perhaps one of best commercial stuff available. Supposedly.
> It is 70 30 coco Pete and fully amended. Treat like a regular soil or like coco?


 

If your coco is the fine type your going to need to add perlite imo....... 20% or there about......... I don't think it will drain well enough if you don't to be a hydroponic coco type grow.......... at this point I say use what you got and make soil out of it......... add 30% more peat and 20 % perlite and treat it like soil. pH your water at 6.2.or 6.3 and watch them........ BE WARNED...... changes I make to my water going into my plants can be seen in just a couple hours using the soilless coco hydro growing technics....... unless you've been growing for few years I also suggest (as the veterans have here) you try something a little easier and forgiving than coco for your first few grows....... I'm walking a fine line with my plants now........ the fine coco isn't draining well enough for the plants and keeping them over watered a little.......... it is better for them to be over watered vs having pH issues if I don't water often............I'll be able to solve the problem when I move them to larger pots and add chunkier coco to the mix.


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## LostSoul (May 19, 2015)

To be honest, my favorite method was always hydro but there's no way I would have gotten my head around what to do without growing in soil first. Now days I only use soil and organic nutrients made from bird guano. No need to pH anything and the buds taste phenomenal without a need to flush. It couldn't get any simpler if I tried.


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## October420 (May 19, 2015)

Rosebud said:


> GLP, you should look up October 420's first grow, it was amazing. The best first grow i have ever seen.
> Oct, could you put a link in your signature so people can see what a great first grow looks like?



Ahh shucks Rose, thanks. Had a lot of help from you and others here at MP.


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## Kraven (May 19, 2015)

Rose that FFOF is hot, I use a mix of FFOF 50% FF Light Warrior 20% perlite 30%. This is the best mix I have found for veg'ing w/o having to add nutes. When I do a organic soil grow this is my preferred method. Plasma that would be my suggestion, make your first grow easy and have some decent smoke while you do your second grow.


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## October420 (May 20, 2015)

I use FF Ocean Forest as it comes out the bag. I can't complain at all about it, it's been great. If I had the time to compost my own soil I would, and will in a year or two, just to busy now days. I don't fertilize until about the last week or two of veg. 

I've thought about one day trying hydroponics but it seems like it would be a hassle. I would imagine you could control exactly what you are feeding your plants so maybe if it's done right you could see bigger yields? I'd be interested in hearing from others that have done both to see how their yields compare.

Peace


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## LostSoul (May 20, 2015)

I've done both and the quantity of bud is greater with hydro and the speed of growth is too but the work is much greater and the bud does taste more chemically. I prefer growing in soil for ease but hydro for results.


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## Rosebud (May 20, 2015)

I am an organic dirt farmer Lost Soul. Love it.  i am not in a hurry. :~)   I have never had it burn anything Kraven.


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## Kraven (May 20, 2015)

I put them into it when they are really small Rose, I just don't care to up pot so when I pop a bean I just drop it in the 5 gal pot and let her rip, so for my little itty bitty plants FFOF right out of the bag is really hot, so I gotta cool it some with FF lite warrior, their seed starter mix, and then I just add perlite to lighten the mix some more. I agree you wont need to watch pH in an ALL organic grow, nor will it burn the plants unless you go way overboard. I'm about to completely change the way I do things, from germination to the cure.


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## Rosebud (May 20, 2015)

I am reading the book 	Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, pretty good book about to up my organic game a bit.


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## Kraven (May 20, 2015)

The book sounds good Rose, I have a bunch of reading ahead in my near future, gonna up my game for sure.


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