I plan on growing my plants in coco-coir and this is the feeding schedule that I will use. This is a general chart I am using for my sunflowers and tomatoes so there are fruiting/flowering weeks that won't be used on the tobacco. (as they are going to be moved outside at some point)
My experiment with coco went poorly but I'd not let that stop you from going ahead. I did spend hours of investigation and research, it is apparent that you need to buffer the coco with cal-mag or buy prebuffered coco.
There are cation exchange sites in coco that will interfere with nutrition until they are buffered. The cation exchange sites in coco naturally come loaded with sodium (Na) and potassium (K) cations. However, the Na and the K are only weakly held to the exchange sites. In the presence of calcium (Ca) or magnesium (Mg), the sites will release their Na or K cations and lock onto the Ca or Mg. These processes are known as “cation exchanges”.
Buffering coco is accomplished by soaking it in Ca and Mg. This allows the cation exchanges to take place prior to adding plants. Simply soak your coco in a solution of Cal/Mag water and the exchange sites will release their K and Na cations and lock onto the Ca and Mg. When the cation exchange sites bond with Ca and Mg rather than Na and K, it is “buffered”. The bonds that hold the Ca and Mg to the sites are very strong and cation exchange will largely stop. This means that all of the nutrients that you add to the water will be available to the plant at the ratios that you provide them.
Dr MJ Coco has a Ph.D. and is a university professor. Does academic research in peasant communities, where he have lived and worked with farmers for years. He has graduate level training and have taught university courses in horticulture. Dr MJ Coco, who grows on the dark side, clearly knows coco and has a few videos on how to buffer bricks of cheap coco, which may be useful in your quest.
This is not my first experience with coco, just my first with this plant. I did pre-buffer my coco. That is a super important step that I should have listed in my post! Thank you so much.
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