Amendments?!

[ganjuh]

I have two 10-15 gallon bags of 50/50 coco and peat moss (with a couple handfuls of perlite) that I am using outdoors, for growing a couple BC autos. I am using this mixture because it has very good drainage (both coco & peat), good water retention (peat), beneficial fungi (both mediums), superior airation (mostly coco, but also peat?), etc. I have already blended this mixture, and I am going to be using PureBlend veg and bloom.
The only pitfall I have come to is pH. I don't have a pH meter and my ph test tube only works for testing clear water..
Should this mixture be treated as soil or soilless? I know peat is acidic (~4.5 pH) and coco is about neutral or slightly acidic, so is it safe to say the pH of this mixture is about 5-6? If I am treating this as a soil mixture, do I need to amend with dolomite lime?? If so, how much? Do I need to buffer it at all? And will the veg & bloom nutes throw off my pH? THANKS!

 

[brightlight]

Hello ganjuh. Dolomite lime is excellent. Buffers pH and good Ca source. I use ~1/2 to 1 tbsp./gal. A must for organics. pH will naturally fluctuate up and down a bit, but you'll be fine within a fairly broad range. I rarely check it anymore. May sound crazy but I add ~15 things to my mixes. Whatever you add, try to do it early and let mix pre-process or "cook" for a couple of wks. minimum. Less problems and better performance.

 

[ganjuh]

So dolomite lime is safe to use with coco?

 

[brightlight]

Yes, I have dolomite lime in my coco mix right now. Helps supply Ca and Mg besides the pH help. Here's a pic taken today.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

with coco its important to add some extra ca & mg coco holds on to some ca , i think of it as if the coco has a calmag requirement, i have treated coco like soil and added lots of amenments with good results, and i have treated it like hydro and added synthetic nutes ph'd to 5.8 with good results also its very versatile and in my opinion is better than soil since you can flush easily , my favorite amemdment is azomite and t&j tea but i add all sorts of things ,gypsum,blood &bone meal,mykos by the boatload! i have a coco thread in this section where i list some general recipes.hope this helps

 

[brightlight]

Hi BID. Good points. Still new here but I've visited your coco thread and will go back again. I use most of what you list above. Not much blood, some cotten, more feather meal. Like greensand along w/ azomite too.

 

[ganjuh]

Awesome, thanks guys! What is optimal coco pH? like 5.5-6.5? Can it go as high as 7? Or as low as 5.0? Just curious! lol

 

[BigIrishDoode]

i keep coco as close to 5.8 as possible at much further either way your into defenciency turf so i keep it there 5.8 is perfect for optimal uptake of all nutrients.