Crush Pot Rehydration Recommended Method
Drip rehydration plus a manual four-corners finish — the best-performing process for the Crush Pot.
Why drip + a manual finish is best
Repeated 5% shots draw water through the block by capillary action, expanding it evenly and restoring the interstitial pores that hold the correct air-to-water ratio — something a single soak can't do. Finishing with a light four-corners pass equalizes density into the corners and base, where drip wets last. Together they deliver the most uniform air-to-water-to-coir matrix the Crush Pot can hold. No drip? Use the Hand Method.
The recommended process, start to transplant
Stage the pots
Set Crush Pots on a clean flood tray or bench at final spacing, label side out.
The label size is the nursery-pot size the block expands to once hydrated — the compressed brick ships smaller. Plan tray space for that hydrated footprint.
Seat the emitters
Insert drip stakes into the top face of the block, distributed evenly so wetting fronts overlap. Seat each stake firmly until the barb sits flush against the coir.
Match emitter count and flow to the pot size — see the Shot Size Calculator for per-emitter shot volume and run time.
Set the shot scheduleCore step
Program 5% shots every 15–20 minutes — roughly 12–14 events — until saturation. Small repeated pulses pull water through the block by capillary action and rebuild the interstitial pores that hold the correct air-to-water ratio.
Do not rehydrate in one continuous soak — a single event fills the pores with water and locks out air.
Let it expand
The block lifts and fills the bag as it wicks. Because hydration is gradual, the interstitial pores reopen evenly throughout the block — not just where water hit first.
Check that all stakes stay seated as the surface rises.
Confirm saturation
Run shots until the block has filled the bag and the first runoff appears at the base. Target field capacity is ≈55% VWC for the Crush Pot blend.
If a pot lags, verify its stakes are seated and flowing.
Even surface, consistent color top to bottom, free runoff at the base = saturated.
Four-corners conditioningRecommended
After saturation, give each pot a four-corners pass: grip two opposite corners, squeeze inward, then rotate to the other pair. Drip expands the block evenly, but the base and corners wet last and stay densest — this pass equalizes structure edge to edge.
Work lighter than the hand method — you're conditioning an already-expanded block, not breaking up a dense slab. Stop when the corners give evenly and the surface feels uniform.
Drip restores the interstitial pores; the four-corners pass guarantees uniform density into the corners and base, where drip wets last. Together they deliver the most consistent air-to-water-to-coir matrix the Crush Pot can hold — the foundation for even dry-back and clean crop steering.
Place the sensor
Set the substrate sensor 1.5″ from the tray, above the perched water table, with probes in full contact with the coir. This reads the active root zone rather than the saturated base.
Transplant
Open a dibble in the centered dimple and set your plug, then irrigate from field capacity.
Tune your early shots to the propagation medium. A rockwool cube holds water at a different matric potential than coco — give it small, frequent shots so the surrounding Crush doesn't wick the cube dry and stress the transplant.
CharCoir Coco Coin is the same coco as the Crush Pot, so there's no matric-potential mismatch at the interface. The Coin-to-Crush combo transplants with zero stress — faster rooting and veg, and a stronger finish.
