Please note: Brisbane pickup price is $33 per 50L bag due to
freight charges.
Nutrifield’s NF Premium
Coco is your ultimate organic based growing medium. The medium is produced from
coconut husks following a precise ageing and treatment process. The coco coir
consists of 45% cellulose material to ensure long lasting physical properties
preventing the media from decomposing or compacting during use.
Nutrifield NF Premium Coco is pre-buffered to prevent
Calcium and Magnesium lock out. Lock out occurs due to the coco coir having a
negatively charged complex that is surrounded primarily by Sodium and
Potassium. This becomes an issue when the fertilising begins as the Sodium and
Potassium will be exchanged with Calcium and Magnesium. The consequences would
results in a Calcium and Magnesium deficiency for your plants. The problem is
solved with Nutrifield NF Premium Coco. The pre-buffering prevents this
occurrence and also stabilises the mediums pH while reducing the EC reading to
less than 1 mS/cm.
Plants have complex air-water requirements and due to
Nutrifield NF Premium Coco’s physical attributes, it allows for large water
absorption while ensuring the essential 30% air porosity is maintained. This
facilitates ideal rhizospheric growing conditions that are important to develop
strong healthy plants.
Nutrifield NF Premium Coco is a clean product that is free
from harmful parasites and diseases. It contains the naturally occurring
beneficial micro organisms Trichoderma. Trichoderma is a predatory micro
organism that will devour detrimental fungi and pathogens. Inferior products
are enriched with neem as they do not follow strict manufacturing processes and
therefore require neem to control diseases and parasites due to their cheap
manufacturing practices.
Nutrifield NF Premium Coco carries the RHP stamp of
quality. (#036ST09) The RHP Dutch Standard of quality for horticultural
substrates ensures a stringently monitored quality homogeneous product that
will give you consistent performance. Serious growers rely on the RHP standard
as a sign of excellence as only premium products carry the Dutch seal of
approval.
Using Coco
as a Substrate
Coco produces excellent results for the soilless grower; it is
comparable in result to hydroponics systems.
It is a great alternative to the soil grower willing to experiment with a
“soilless” medium, yet get comparable results to a hydro grow.
Coco can be used in a hydroponics system, or
just put into pots and watered by hand as with any other soil grow. Countless
grows for decades have been produced in plain soil, mixed with organics,
compost, and perlite among untold other ingredients thrown in.
While soil does have its advantages, it also has more drawbacks: inconsistancy,
unwanted (unknown) ingredients, increased chances of over-fertilizing and
over-watering. Nearly all of the potting soil used has been sourced from nature
contain larva and insect eggs.
What is Coco ?
Many at first are misled by the use of the term Coco.
It has nothing to do with the Cocoa plant at
all. In reality, they are the brown fibers that make up the husk of a coconut,
which have been washed and buffered. Pure Coco can be used as a substrate, or Coco can also be mixed in with soil.
It can be bought loose in bags; it is also pressed into planks (and bricks).
Coconuts are found near beaches, oceans, places that have very salty air. To
rid the coco of these salts, the coco is first washed, and then pressure
steamed to get rid of salts, and bacteria, germs or anything else that might
have been in it. Coco is buffered using water,
enriched with Magnesium and lime. The quality of this treatment is dependant to
the quality of the Coco. Coconuts cannot be
bought from a store, pealed, and mixed into your soil.
low
quality coco may need to be washed to remove natural salts
Coco and PH
The buffering process also means easy adjustment of pH in the Coco,
which is imperative when it comes to the optimum uptake of nutrients throughout
the plant’s life.
Soil PH can be hard to change, since it takes time to correct, flow check and
restore. It takes longer to correct the problem in soil, than it took to cause
it.
The PH of fresh Coco is marked on the bag from
5.0 - 7.0. Changing the PH of Coco takes a few waterings of pH-adjusted water,
perhaps only one. The medium is very reactive to the PH of the water given to
it; this gives coco growers rapid control over pH.
Oxygen and Coco
Soil has a tendency to become finer after time. The clumps of soil quickly
disintegrate, leaving very fine pieces of matter which hold moisture, creating
saturated spots, making the soil less and less aerated for roots over the
plant’s life. The soil at the bottom of the pots can become a very hostile
environment for the roots to grow, making roots suffocate in mud. Coco users rarely find this a problem. Coco
almost never disintegrates, leaving the medium well aerated, supplying the
roots constantly with enough oxygen, and all saturated spots quickly even out.
Reusing Coco
Another advantage of Coco is the fact it can
be re-used. Because Coco is treated so well,
you can get up to three grows from the same batch of coco. Coco
is inert and does not absorb nutrients within its own fibers, so plants uptake
only supplied nutrient-rich water; excess nutrients and salts are washed
through with the overflow.
Before reusing coco, you must sift through the Coco
looking for any loose root fragments, missed decaying leaves, ect. and remove
them.
Advantages and drawbacks Coco overall has many distinct advantages over
soil. I have yet to grow a plant in Coco that
hasn’t reached 90cm in just 1 month from seed, without any stretching until
later in life (without Topping or Fimming). The evenness of watering and the
quick and direct changes of pH compares to hydro. The cost isn’t that steep
because it can be reused up to 3 times, after using coco, I’ll never use normal
potting soil ever again
The only drawback to Coco I have found is that a massive root ball forms very
quick while in veg., all my plants were detrimentally root bound in 7 Liter
(1.85) gallons of coco after only 3 weeks of growth from seed. If you are ready
for the growth, being in pots, and hesitant at all to go hydro with supplies
and adjustments, it's just a small hurdle for all the benefits.
