Hello!!! I’ve completed my first grow with Canna bottle nutes, as an experiment I did 2 soil pots 5 gal and 2 coco coir 5 gal pot. I really like the coco coir, it seemed a lot more beneficial. However I wish to go all Organic and dry amendment. I planned on cooking my medium for 2 weeks, and then planting then top dressing as needed. However in my research apparently coco coir and dry amendments have a lot of issues? But then some people say just stay on top of watering so water can break down the microbes.
I have Recharge, bone meal, kelp, worm castings to aid in this. Do I need a soil mix with coco or can I get away with just using coco? I know Mr. Canucks has a secret minute of soil and coco but he only uses soil on his final pot from what I could tell.
People who really know what they’re doing can make damn near any setup work. But not a novice. Dry organic amendments should be used in a soil with structure for life to thrive. Coco has a low CEC and is not a good substitute for a proper soil.
jmystro,
You might want to mention that to Mr Canuck himself. He seems to be KILLING IT with coco and Gaia Green dry amendments. Coco coir may not be the perfect substitute for soil but the herb he grows would be a good substitute for the herb I grow.
Annette
Mr.Canuck does not add soil to his coco. He adds Gia green dry amendments and worm castings for microbes
He sure does. Start watching around 5:55 mark of video.
https://youtu.be/W4cSAGG6JJo
His base is living soil, then he adds coco & work castings. Start video in link around 5:55.
https://youtu.be/W4cSAGG6JJo
Mr. Canucks has 2 ways of growing that are basically identical. In his older videos he uses coco with worm castings and Gaia Green amendments. Later he go into using Gaia Green living soil due to them being a sponsor and he treats the living soil identical to his coco grows beside pH of his water goes from 5.9-6.3 in coco to 6.5 in living soil. Same amendments and worm casting mixture. We use the same recipe he does in coco and it works amazing! We would love to go to the living soil but Gaia Green living soil is almost impossible to find in the states! This way of growing is amazing because as long as your recipe is correct and you transplant and top dress properly you should only need to water your plants and use recharge once a week. Really laid back way to grow! Good luck and happy growing!
Maybe coco as a substitute for peat moss. But it will be a lot better if it had compost mixed with it.
I wouldn’t put soil in coco or vice versa. If you are dry amending the coco just add the recharge so the microbes can break down the nutrients. Water doesn’t break down microbes, probably a mis-spell but FYI