The First Two Mistakes You'll Make Growing In Coco–And How To Avoid Them

Learn from my mistakes: feed less, more often.

Dear Friend & Subscriber-

If you're considering going from a soil mixture to coco, you're going to notice differences in how your plant feeds (and how you feed her).

A while back, I was having a conversation about substrates with my good friend Zac Ricciardi, the National Cannabis Specialist for BioSafe Systems (@zacthegrowguy_biosafe on IG). He primarily grows in coco (for indoor crops), while I've been growing in a modified version of Ethos' preferred mix (1/3 coco, 1/3 soil-perlite mix, 1/3 clay pebbles).

A few days into life in the flower tent, and a good visual of the current experiment(s) being run.

For a variety of reasons – from enhanced IPM to trying out a new shoe to see how it fit – I was interested in the ability to grow coco, but my primary concern was having to water the plants daily.

Normally, I'm in the grow daily anyways, but I don't feel obligated to be there daily; I choose to be. And having the option of choice is nice, especially when I travel and have to rely on others. It's easier to ask for a day or two vs. having to have someone come over daily.

So far, the daily watering situation is a real thing, but it's also the solution to both mistakes I made when starting my coco experiment.

You may have heard someone say something to the effect of "grow in coco but feed like soil".

I had.

And I'm hoping that, with age, this proves true.

Because of the difference in the way the plants feed in coco compared to soil, daily watering helped address my two biggest mistakes:

1. Overwatering.

2. Underfeeding.

On the bright side, overwatering in coco won't harm your plant, it'll just fill up your saucers or trays. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. My first mistake started before I ever put plants into the coco.