Greenhouse: Coconut husk chip "how to", 1 by stressbaby

stressbaby wrote:
Hi TL, I will try to answer the questions by the end.

You should rinse the chips again anyway. I fill the bucket with water, then dump the whole thing into the bucket with the holes to drain. Rinse at least three times. Even after three rinses, there may be sodium in the chips. The sodium cation can occupy cation binding sites in the CHC and lead to deficiencies of other cations like calcium and magnesium. Therefore, in the last rinse, I add a tablespoon of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate). This step is called cation exchange. Some people also add calcium nitrate at the same time, but I have lots of soluble calcium in my well water and I've never had trouble without the calcium nitrate. I have seen magnesium deficiency in my citrus without the Epsom salts in the final rinse.

Here are the chips in the final rinse.