Canna - COGR Buffer Agent

COGr Buffer Agent is not a plant food but the preparation of your substrate. COGr boards ship compressed and unbuffered, and they have to be soaked with this product before a plant can go into them.

What buffering does, and why it is not optional

Coco in unbuffered form is not empty but occupied. The fibre naturally holds sodium and potassium in the places where calcium and magnesium later need to sit, and those places are not simply free.

Plant without buffering and the substrate does that exchange anyway, only with your feed. For the first weeks part of what you give disappears into the slab instead of into the plant, and you see a deficiency while your reservoir reads perfectly.

Buffering is doing that exchange in advance, with a solution made for it rather than with your growth feed. CANNA describe it this way: you bring the boards up to volume and at the same time supply the substrate with nutrients, pH stabilisers, silicon and humic and fulvic acids.

How to do it

Fill your reservoir with tap water and add Buffer Agent at a ratio of 1:500, so 20 ml per 10 litres of water. The EC of that solution then comes out between 1.5 and 1.8 mS, and that includes the EC of your tap water. The recommended pH is 5.2 to 6.2.

Soak the boards with it and then leave the swollen COGr boards for at least 24 hours before letting them drain. Those 24 hours are the part people skip when they are in a hurry, and they are precisely the time the exchange needs.

One litre of Buffer Agent makes 500 litres of buffering solution, and you need it only once per crop. Each board yields 21 to 25 litres of coco in expanded form.

If you want to use the system in pots rather than trays, buffer the boards in the normal way and then fill your pots with the contents.

Feeding comes afterwards

Once the boards are buffered, you move to COGr Vega during growth and to COGr Flores as soon as flower formation begins. Buffer Agent is a one-off step, not a product you keep giving alongside.

CANNA state that COGr can be reused up to three times without loss of quality, and reuse means buffering again.

Store frost-free, closed and dark, because UV light breaks down the chelates.

Technical Specifications:

• Type: liquid conditioning and soaking product, not a plant food
• Manufacturer: CANNA, COGr line
• For: compressed, unbuffered COGr boards
• Mixing ratio: 1:500, meaning 20 ml per 10 litres of tap water
• EC of the buffering solution: 1.5 to 1.8 mS, including the EC of your tap water
• Recommended pH: 5.2 to 6.2
• Rest time: leave swollen boards at least 24 hours before draining
• Frequency: one application per crop
• Coverage: 1 litre makes 500 litres of buffering solution
• Brings into the substrate: nutrients, pH stabilisers, silicon, humic and fulvic acids

Frequently asked questions

Can I skip the buffering?
Then the substrate does the exchange anyway, but with your growth feed. For the first weeks part of it disappears into the slab.

Is this a plant food?
No. It prepares the substrate. After that you use COGr Vega and COGr Flores.

How long do I wait?
Leave the swollen boards at least 24 hours before letting them drain.

How much do I need?
1:500, and one litre makes 500 litres of buffering solution. You need it once per crop.

Do I buffer again when reusing?
Yes. CANNA state COGr is reusable up to three times, and buffering is part of each round.