My first real grow & Can I save save un used coco coir

Hello. I ordered what I thought was ready to use coco coir. It turned out it was an 11lb block. I only plan on starting one or 2 plants since this will be my first grow. Is there any way to save what I don’t use once the block is hydrated or can I just break off a chunk to use? Thanks.
I will have to show a picture of my first attempt by just planting a seed and just watering.

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i store my extra coco in a tote…lol
fluf what you need up then place the rest in a tote that will hold it…

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You can just break off a piece (start with a small piece - it expands enormously) and hydrate that, if you can find some Perlite mixing in 30% will improve drainage / aeration.

How are you planning to germinate the seeds? A 24 hour soak and then a couple of days in wet paper towels inside a zip lock bag somewhere warm & dark works well. Once the seeds have a tap root growing then plant them

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Thanks, I am doing a some what of test run right now. I have 4 generic seeds from a friend in a moist paper towel. I also have 4 seeds in the rapid routers. I figure it will be about a month before I get the seeds I ordered from here. I am going to try the blue dream after this test run, and then the AK-47s in the following. I grew “if that is what you want to call it” a plant with the seeds I am germinating now. it smiled awesome. Like the old skunk bud. I just tossed that plant in soil after it germinated. my neighbor worked in the agricultural field for his whole life. He started that plant for me. While I grew it, I read all I could. After 3 1/2 months I called it on that plant. it only got 11" tall. I learned a lot though. I know that I caused it to flower early now too. I lucked out that time. out of 2 seeds. I got one female plant. I am hoping for 2 females out of these 8.

As of right now, This is what I basically have to get started with. I am using cfl lights for at least the first grow. I am finding this is a little addicting. I like to learn new things and there is a lot to learn here.

So a run down here. I am disabled and no longer to work on cars like I used to. That part has been killing me. I am finding this may be my replacement for that. It will take a lot of time and keep me a little busier.
What I am staring with, or have to use for this so far.
1 jar of generic seeds
5 feminized blue dream seeds
5 feminized AK-47 seeds
CFL lights
9 42 watt soft white
2 42 watt daylight
6 23 watt day light
10 splitters for the light sockets,
11lb coco coir brick
8 oz perilite
11 rapid routers
3 pack of the flora grow qt. bottles
ph tester & up and down adjuster
4 oz. cal mag
1 ml eye dropper
4 qt containers to start plants with
3 1 gal. buckets
3 2 1/2 gal. buckets
2 gal watering can
3 one gal jugs for mixed water or nutrients
plant ties
12 one qt jars. I know I will never need that many. I got a good deal on them.
1 5 gal. bucket
There may be more that is slipping my mind

I will welcome any advice on what else I may need or just advice in general. I am excited to see what comes of this. This is the 1/2 oz stem I have drying now lol it is the 3 1/2 month old grew with just water and put out side for 3/4 of the day. I know it was all wrong but it cost me nothing to do and get me wanting to learn how to grow the right way. the lights there were put in the final week of the grow

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Looks like a success :+1:
No cost and you got it to bud​:clap::clap::clap:
Great job.

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A word of advice when rehydrating the brick coco. Rinse it very, very well and make sure you have a rock solid ph level before putting your seeds into the mix. The bricks usually have a very high ph and need a lot of flushing with ph adjusted water to get to a useable state.

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That’s awesome!

Thanks, I will make sure to do that. Should I check the ph in the run off of the final rinse as well?

And thank you every one else for all the kind words.

I may as well toss this in. I will be growing these in a 3’ wide - 2’ deep & 7’ high box. Would I be wise to stay with just one plant for this start or could I get away with 2. I had planned on topping the plants and tie them down to grow wider as to tall.
Thanks again

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Yes, definitely check the runoff of the final flush. I’d suggest also letting it sit for a day and then doing one more check just to be sure.

As for the grow space, you could do a single plant, but since you’re unsure of the genetics of that bag seed two may be wise.

Thanks, I just checked and I have tap roots showing for 2 seeds in the paper towel. Should I just plant them of put them in a rapid rooter. If it is plant. I will start on the coco coir tomorrow or maybe a little later today

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I use my pH perfect seedling mix to hydrate it with and have had absolutely no problems, I found that my start was slowed due to root room, but healthy

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I would put them in the rapid rooter to give yourself some time to be sure the coco is ready. Also, those things are widely used here with great success!

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PH Perfect nutes have buffers in them, if I’m not mistaken. Those buffers must be strong enough to overcome the alkalinity of the coco. I’m honestly very surprised by that. Perhaps your coco was flushed prior to you purchasing it?

I’m not sure I soak it then let it dry out some then plant and run its first feeding heavy and no prob. It was the 11lb compressed brick

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I like to put my coco bricks in a big tub to rehydrate, with lots of water from the hose. After several hours I break up any clumps by hand, then pour the whole thing into cloth pots. Then I rinse the hell out of the pots with more hose water. By passing all that water through it, it desalts it, in case there was salt left in it. By the next day, the coco in the bags is ready to use. Run some pHed nute solution through it so 30% runs out the bottom. The cloth grow pots make it VERY easy to flush it and load it up with the good stuff, and you lose zero coco doing it. They are really cheap on Amazon.

I’ve heard you can reuse coco indefinitely. I would put it back in the tub with lots of water to pull the old roots out of it first. Rehydrated coco lasts forever if you just let it dry out. You can rehydrate whole bricks and later use it when you need it.

Thanks, I just put them in the rapid rooter. That will buy me some needed time to prep the coco. Once I get these into the soil. I think I will be able to relax a little. This first time will help me later though in having an idea of how long things take. I am documenting every thing pretty good. That way when I get to the grow after this one. I can look back and go, oh yeah. This part did take longer than I remembered lol I am looking for an old BBQ grill right now. I plan on setting the plant pots on it with blocks on the side. That way I can leave a container under the plants to catch the run off. make it a little easier to dump the excess water.
One things that has gotten to me the most I think is. The rapid routers feel more like foam than what I expected. it seems like it is going to be pretty hard for a little root to get through.

Roots are incredibly tough. That’s why they break concrete!

Thanks, I guess I never looked at it that way.
I was able to break off enough from the coco block to fill 4 qt. cups that will start things off with once the rooters are ready to be planted. I tried cutting the block with a hack saw and that stuff is tough. I fluffed it up with ph’d water. I then filled each qt. container and flushed it 4 times. The water going in was 6.1 when I checked it, and then 5.7 coming out. So there may be a little learning curve there for me.
I am not going to add the cal mag till I put the plants in the container. I had another from the paper towle grow a tail. Not sure what it should really be called. It is now in a rooter plug. If one more sprouts I will take it too. I am set up to start 4 plants. Hopefully I get 2 females from this but would be happy with just one right now.
On that note. Do I have to raise the plant up to the flower stage to find out if they are male or female? The light schedule on the first one I did was so messed up that they just changed on there own.

I suppose you could tell if you used some very expensive genetic analysis, but for us normal folks yes, we have to let it vegetate almost to flower. Then it’s obvious. This is why people use feminized seeds or clones unless they want to try cross-breeding. In states with a 6 plant limit, getting all 6 female can be very important.

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I would let it grow 3 to 4 sets of leaves under 18/6, 20/4, or even 24/0. Then change the light tp 12/12 and wait till they show the first signs of pre-flower. That or wait till they get old enough then take a cut and let it root then flower the cut to show what it will be. My 2 cents that is, have a good day

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