Reddit reviews Kempf Compressed Coco Coir Block, Growing Medium 10 Pound Block, Organic, Garden Potting Mix, Peat Moss Alternative, Natural Certified Product

I make my own mix, all from items found in Amazon! Everyone has their preference, and it all really depends on where you are located as far as humidity and how much rain you get. I live in San Diego, and most of my plants are outside and in containers. My plants are happiest with the following mix of equal parts:

• Pumice - It absorbs excess moisture so roots don’t rot in wet weather, aerates the soil, and releases moisture slowly, and at a steady rate.
  
  
• Coconut Coir - Has both high water-holding capacity and simultaneously retains plenty of air. This means that it’s nearly impossible to overwater most plants during their growing season – you simply cannot suffocate the roots. It also is a gnat detterent!
  
  I also like to add a layer to the bottom of my pots of:
  
  
• Charcoal (helps with removing impurities)
  
  'Hope that helps!! I feel like soil is really what makes or breaks succulents health, so making it as fast-draining as possible is key! With this mix, in the summer, I nearly have to water my babies daily to keep them from getting thirsty due to the excellent drainage :D

start them in that coco coir. also more seeds are available.

http://www.amazon.com/Kempf-Compressed-Growing-Potting-10-Pound/dp/B003MOD2HY/

No, they need soil with basically zero nutrients and to a lesser extent, acidic. Topsoil has far too many nutrients and will kill them, clay based soils are alkaline and will kill them.

The ideal mix is peat moss mixed with sand and/or pearlite to help it drain. Other common soils are just dead spaghum moss and washed coir fiber.

If you're really looking for something you can get outside, honestly, all of the above are more or less dead leaves and twigs and stuff along those lines (peat moss is just the deal leaf/moss litter that piles up in a bog...mostly moss). If I needed to make something up from outside, I would probably take dead leaves and (dead or alive) moss, wash off all dirt, and try to grind it up into something that holds water, but I would think it would have to be practically all moss for that to work.

Coconut coir, mix it in, makes it fluffy. it's not terribly expensive either. The one I use

Just when you rehydrate.. use a wide container or a garbage bag.

Growing in cheap coco that seems to be developing mold, off to a great start so far. I'm assuming that's not normal however I've seen conflicting reports.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=175672

These are clones that were transplanted to 3.5 gallon hempy buckets 2 weeks ago. Perlite on the bottom, coco coir the rest of the way up. The clones were cut from a plant 2 weeks into flowering (no choice).
Feeding lucas formula + calmag +slica blast. The dessicated/curled leaves seem to have developed after my last feeding. Too much silica? I still don't know how often to feed/water these fuckers. Some say every day others say every 3 days. How much run off should I be seeing? The tap roots on most of them have finally reached the resevoir, I guess because it seems to be emptying (no gushers when I tip the bucket after sitting a day or two).

Don't buy this shit
http://www.amazon.com/Compressed-Fiber-Growing-Medium-Block/dp/B003MOD2HY/

Mother Earth Coco Bale | 5kg | 100% Natural Coconut Fiber https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M69KV51/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4vRXDbEDV35PZ


Kempf Compressed Coco Fiber Growing Medium 11 Lbs. Block https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003MOD2HY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_pwRXDbFTHN8Z1

Or others similar if you want coco, I like prebuffered better than bricks but for shipping this is better

When I started I had nothing but disasters. Then I went to coco and general organics. Then I got some traction and started having success. Ive since moved on to more intensive stuff. I say Coco choir and get the general organics starter kit.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-Box-Starter-Kit/dp/B004PS4B08/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422591266&sr=8-1&keywords=general+organics

http://www.amazon.com/Kempf-Compressed-Growing-Potting-11-Pound/dp/B003MOD2HY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422591247&sr=8-1&keywords=coco+coir

Just follow the instructions, its easy, its cheap, it works, and its pretty dang hard to kill your plants this way.

Edit: I did pull 1.25 pounds on 2 big plants in a scrog with a 600 watt HPS like this in about a 3.5x3.5 foot scrog. It was my second ever grow.

for art!

The Lego Movie! Because all craziness and wackiness aside, that movie looked just beautiful!

for science!

coconut coir! for when I'm feeling scieny and planting all sorts of plants! Woooo botany!

Thanks for the contest!

I thought I'd share my experience for the community, and hopefully my experiences help or encourage others to give this a shot on their own. I had absolutely no experience growing anything when I started, so if I can do it, so can anyone else!

I've got an equipment list of the stuff I'm using since it took me a long time to figure out what to buy. This doesn't include the $1.50/week for RO water from the local grocery store, the electricity, or the other stuff I ended up buying afterward for my clones.

No grow tent or ventiliation is needed for my scenario since I have full access to a basement. It's perfect since there is a water heater and a boiler in the same room so the temp is always pretty constant, there is plenty of CO2 from the gas that the appliances burn, and the humidity is also pretty constant.

A few of the mistakes I made that I'd fix next time:

• Buying a heating mat for germination/clones. I only got 1 out of 5 seeds to germinate, and thankfully that one turned into a good plant. I think heat was where I went wrong since I also tried to do clones without a mat and none of them rooted. When using the mat I bought, I had much, much better success.
  
  
• After transplanting my germinated seed, I let that plant go too long in a small container and it got a little root bound. Should have transplanted sooner.
  
  
• I was in the veg stage longer than I think I needed to. Went on vacation in the middle and that screwed up my schedule a little bit, but I think I'd be better off with less veg time for the next plant
  
  
• Buy a better pH pen. I cheaped out on that and I've never gotten it calibrated correctly, so I've been using the dropper/eye test method with the General Hydro test kit that comes with the pH Up/Down. That method seems to work just fine, but it's kind of a hassle.
  
  The images have some details about my grow, but I'll be happy to answer any other questions folks might have.
  
  Item | Cost | Product Link
  ---|---|----
  Seeds (OG Kush Feminized, 20ct) | $80 | Marijuana Seeds NL
  Coco Coir | $17 | Kempf Coco
  300W LED Lighting | $80 | GalaxyHydro
  Plastic Pot | $0 | Craigslist - Free
  Light Timers | $12 | Light Timers
  pH Tester | $18 | pH Pen
  pH Up and Down | $16 | General Hydro
  Jeweler's Loupe | $6 | Magnify Me
  Nutes | $35 | Canna Coco 1 & 2
  Perlite | $13 | Black Gold
  CalMag | $17 | Botanicare Supplement
  TOTAL | $294
  
  
  Also, THANK YOU to everyone in this sub. There is a ton of info out there about growing, but this place is the best location I found for timely info related to my new hobby.
  

I got a massive one from amazon for about two dollars more, arrived in 3 days! in case you're interested