Hydroponics coco coir for marijuana growers is almost as popular as rockwool, peat-based soilless mixes (such as Pro-Mix), and soil.
You can cleanse and re-use coco coir.
Coco coir even when saturated still has space for oxygen and aeration.
This makes it less likely your marijuana roots suffer from oxygen-deprivation and overwatering effects.
What’s more, properly-processed coco coir retains anti-fungal and anti-pathogen benefits that suppress pythium root rot and other harmful root zone organisms that can wreck your marijuana roots.
Coco coir has on-board nutritional properties (such as phosphorus and potassium) that build stronger roots and create a root zone that’s ideal for root growth and function.
Coco coir drains well, re-hydrates easily, and dries out on top, so you have fewer problems with fungus gnats.
Because coir doesn’t hold or store nutrient salts and organic nutrients as much as soil, there are less problems with overfertilization and nutrients lockout.
In my experience using several brands of coco, only one or two brands appear to be manufactured properly.
Hydroponics coir is a blend of various types of components derived from coconut’s exterior materials.
It seems that only a handful of manufacturers know how to do the blend in a way that works well for marijuana growing.
Here’s a brand that we’ve grown with and liked.
Even when hydroponic coco coir is properly manufactured, the material still has problems marijuana growers deal with.
That’s because coir has natural tendencies to lock up calcium, magnesium, and iron, but at the same time coir has a tendency to oversupply potassium and phosphorus.
Growers using coir, even with reverse osmosis water and coir-specific fertilizers, are often frustrated by coir-related nutrients deficiencies and excesses that create serious problems for their marijuana plants.
Hydroponics nutrients companies have struggled to create coir-specific fertilizers that work.
The only reliable hydroponics nutrients I’ve discovered that work well with coco coir are made by Advanced Nutrients.
Their coir-specific pH Perfect base nutrients and bloom boosters provide the following benefits you don’t get from other nutrients brands:
- Automatically balances and holds pH for increased nutrients absorption, faster growth, healthier plants.
- Avoids nutrients lockout and other common coco problems.
- Faster development of buds, resin glands.
- Faster, heavier, stickier harvests.
Coco coir offers several benefits compared to soil, soilless media, and rockwool when you use it with the Advanced Nutrients coco-specific marijuana nutrients!
