coir VS straw/poo

[potatocore]

i suppose it had to come down to this... which is better? trusty ol' straw/poo or reptile bedding? im growing some kss i received from fellow topiate Mycabis (thanks again man!) in my basified mix of popcorn/organic rice/flax/water crystal and they're colonizing as we speak... err, type. given a couple weeks, im planning on transfering to bulk and fruiting in both mycobags and turkey trays. in the past, straw/poo has always searved me well, although trich sets in consistently by 3rd flush. probably a sterilization issue though. im curious how coir would work but my only concern is the nutrient level. i never have hydration problems because of the water crystals so im not worried about drying up the sub but i am curious as to how the nutrient levels would affect overall yield... thoughts?? pics??

[ishkaboo]

Mix all three together and you'll be golden.

You can case with a 50/50 coir/verm layer and have even more fun!


Coir is great stuff man I love it.

[hyphaenation]

I prefer poo/coir over straw in any combo for inside projects.

[ishkaboo]

Originally Posted by hyphaenation

I prefer poo/coir over straw in any combo for inside projects.

Reasons for this? Just curious as I have been shredding straw in my blender for use in my bulk subs as of late.

[weeeeeee]

Originally Posted by ishkaboo

Reasons for this? Just curious as I have been shredding straw in my blender for use in my bulk subs as of late.

how do you pull that off i have never been able to (safely) shred straw for shit in my blenders.

[hyphaenation]

I find straw is very prone to trich inside. The higher percentage of straw I use , the faster contams come.

I pretty much have given up using straw indoors. There are steps you can take to avoid contams , but sometimes i'm to lazy to follow them all.

Don't get me wrong , straw is good ... I just prefer other things.

[MLBjammer]

I am with you on that one. I tried straw a few times and saw my contam. rates really rise. Some have great success with it, though. Coir is simple and about as effective.

[weeeeeee]

Originally Posted by MLBjammer

I am with you on that one. I tried straw a few times and saw my contam. rates really rise. Some have great success with it, though. Coir is simple and about as effective.

i know one local grower who uses straw with success and he uses straight straw and makes logs. for some reason he pulls it off with no contams whatsoever i dont generally fuck around with straw for a number of reasons mostly in regards to the convenience of keeping a big bail of straw around and cutting/pasteurizing it. i use coir + supercake nutes in place of straw

[marmy]

wheat straw rocks. my kung fu is better than your kung fu

[eatyualive]

id choose poo/straw over plain coir as a base substrate. adding the coir/poo/straw at equal parts ratio would be a really good mix.

coir will give you fruits just spawned regularly with about 4 to 5 quarts of spawn for a good flush or two. but the more nutrients the better. id choose any horse poo or nutrient substrate with the coir being the additive over any plain coir based substrate. your only going to get what your grain gives you in that instance. sometimes it may only be a flush or two. when more nutritious subs will give you several good flushes.

Originally Posted by hyphaenation

I find straw is very prone to trich inside. The higher percentage of straw I use , the faster contams come.

I pretty much have given up using straw indoors. There are steps you can take to avoid contams , but sometimes i'm to lazy to follow them all.

Don't get me wrong , straw is good ... I just prefer other things.

agreed i don't even use straw anymore.

[MLBjammer]

Sorry, I meant to say that I use coir in a mix with poo. I also use it for rez-effect, and it gives me two or three nice flushes usually. I certainly agree that it is nowhere as nutritious as straw.

[P4ulada]

nice to read it ^^

[ishkaboo]

Originally Posted by weeeeeee

how do you pull that off i have never been able to (safely) shred straw for shit in my blenders.

I just take a handful, fold it in half and shove it down in the blender, then use a cup to push it down (with blades going) to get it going, then once it is going I put the lid on and pick up the blender and turn it kinda sideways and mess with the speed to get the whole straw pieces to fall down into the blades, after a couple seconds you will get a little tornado of straw pieces flying all over inside the blender. IDK works for me and it is quicker than using scissors IMO.

I find straw is very prone to trich inside. The higher percentage of straw I use , the faster contams come.

I pretty much have given up using straw indoors. There are steps you can take to avoid contams , but sometimes i'm to lazy to follow them all.

Don't get me wrong , straw is good ... I just prefer other things.

Point taken. Although I have never had a coir/straw tub contam on me yet, I can see how it might be a problem.

[hyphaenation]

I used to actually use scissors on straw ...

Then I got a leaf mulching blower/vac and life has never been the same. These machines render straw into tiny chunks in seconds. In less than 5 minutes you can shred a wheel barrel full.

Also works great for its intended use ... shredding leaves. These leaves can be used in the growing of cubensis and oysters.

[potatocore]

Originally Posted by MLBjammer

Sorry, I meant to say that I use coir in a mix with poo. I also use it for rez-effect, and it gives me two or three nice flushes usually. I certainly agree that it is nowhere as nutritious as straw.

what ratio do you use? I've never tried logs... Would a coir/poo bulk be a good mix? I was thinking of lining a 2-liter bottle with a wastebasket bag and allowing to colonize then fruit in my tubs. I've been reading through the vaults looking for some creative input. I'm excited about this grow!

[hyphaenation]

I was thinking of lining a 2-liter bottle

You can even do the whole grow in a 2 liter pop bottle. I did this one BBnugget style with goat poo/straw/popcorn , but coir would have been even better than straw in there.

http://forums.mycotopia.net/popcorn-...tml#post390672 (Buckaroo Bulk Nugget Tek (invitro, spawn bags and/or ½ gallon jars))

[(neo)Figment]

I am a big fan of poo. If you have tubs you can try it by itself. Poo is pretty hardy at fighting off the green. Poo and ground pf cakes....

[MLBjammer]

Originally Posted by potatocore

what ratio do you use? I've never tried logs... Would a coir/poo bulk be a good mix? I was thinking of lining a 2-liter bottle with a wastebasket bag and allowing to colonize then fruit in my tubs. I've been reading through the vaults looking for some creative input. I'm excited about this grow!

I use a 50/50 mix of hpoo/coir (sometimes a little vermiculite as well if I think the sub's just a little wet). It works quite well, stretching my poo supply out considerably.

I am currently obssessed with the sandbag tek, so I fruit my bulks in big ziplocks with polyfill-stuffed holes. They do kind of form themselves into a log of sorts.

Good luck with whatever you try.

[potatocore]

Originally Posted by hyphaenation

You can even do the whole grow in a 2 liter pop bottle. I did this one BBnugget style with goat poo/straw/popcorn , but coir would have been even better than straw in there.

interesting! I need to re-read all the BB teks, I probably learned the most from those posts. It looks like the spawn bags had a higher yield, would that be in part due to more surface area? I'm still a new grower, it's been a little over a year since my first succesful grow and I find the more variety I employ, the more I learn. Thanks to everyone who's replied thus far! I'm gonna be growing the koh samui supers, any tricks to this strain i should know about?