Your coco coir needs to be moistened before usage.
- Place the brick in a big box. When choosing a container, keep in mind that the block will expand five to seven times after it is moistened.
- Add warm water to the brick’s surface. Bricks can be purchased in a variety of weights, and a fair rule of thumb is 4/5 gallons per 5 kilo brick for determining how much water to add.
- Give the water at least 15 minutes to soak.
- The coco coir should be fluffed until it has the desired soil-like consistency after being absorbed.
Can you combine potting soil and coco coir?
To boost water absorption while preserving a loose soil structure, coconut coir can be applied to native soil, potting mediums, and other soil types. The four methods that coconut coir can be applied in gardening are listed below.
Improve clay soils:
Coconut coir can be added to heavy clay soils to help with drainage and soil structure. Plant roots can expand more readily because the dense clay particles are made more pliable by the fibrous husks. Spread about 1-2″ of coconut coir into an existing, unmulched garden bed and work it into the top 6″ of soil with a garden fork, being careful to keep plants and plant roots out of the way.
When making new garden beds or digging a hole for a plant, mix 1:3 of the native soil and compost with the coconut coir. Incorporate the local soil and coconut coir to form a clumpy, friable structure.
Improve sandy soils:
Coconut coir has endless uses! It can be used to increase moisture and nutrient retention and provide organic matter to light, sandy soils. To introduce into new plantings or current garden beds, follow the same process as above.
a bush that has been planted in a mixture of LandscapeTM premium soil conditioner and SustainTM coconut coir.
Create your own potting mix:
Coir and soil should be blended equally. Mix thoroughly after adding fertilizer or compost. Here is a recipe for potting mix that you may manufacture at home. Simply use coconut coir in place of the peat in this recipe for a more environmentally friendly mixture.
Standard potting mixtures can also be lightened with coconut coir for orchids, cacti, and other plants that prefer lighter, airier soil. To make a chunkier blend, simply mix SustainTM coconut coir at a ratio of 1:1 with regular indoor potting soil.
For epiphytes like orchids, SustainTM coconut coir can be used to lighten potting mixtures.
Propagate succulents:
Are you a fan of succulents? An great medium for growing succulents is coconut coir. It has exactly the right texture for effective propagation because it is both moist and light. In addition, the lignin molecules inhibit the growth of fungi, which makes the environment suitable for establishing succulent roots. On the coconut coir, simply lay the succulent leaf or stem that you want to multiply, and watch the roots develop.
SustainTM coconut coir is a superior medium for cultivating succulents due to its consistent moisture content and resistance to fungi.
On top of coconut coir, can you directly plant?
Coconut coir can be used as a growing medium for both young and established plants, as well as for cuttings, rooting mats, and growing baskets. No matter what kind of coco coir you use, make sure to fully moisten it before planting and keep a close eye on the moisture content as the plant grows.
How may coco coir be applied to soil?
Bricks made of coco coir are simple to store and can hold nine times their weight in liquid. Once hydrated, the dense brick form decomposes into pith, a material that resembles dust and is simple to disperse across expansive gardens.
To expand the coco coir brick into its loose shape, submerge it in water for at least an hour. To get the soil ready for planting, add the pith to it. It will aid in moisture retention in sandy soil that is not absorbent. It promotes drainage in soils with a clay composition that retain moisture. To retain moisture and prevent weed growth, you can also sprinkle coir dust over the top of the soil.
Discs of coir are frequently included in bulb or bonsai kits in place of soil. They are constructed of compressed pith, which makes growing seedlings clean and effective. They are the ideal size to be used as seed starters in germination trays or individual pots. Their compact size makes them simple to store, and the capacity of coco coir to hold water while supplying aeration enables effective plant hydration.
Simply fill the coir disc to its full size with water, gently press seeds into the disc, and then place it into the plant pot or tray. The complete disc can be planted in your garden once the seed has grown into a strong seedling.
Coco coir chips, which are made from coconut shells, can be used to maintain moisture in hydroponic crops. In place of bark, you may also scatter them over flowerbeds to maintain gardens’ moisture while yet allowing for airflow. In gardens that require a bit more aeration, you can use coir chips alone or in combination with coir dust.
Is it possible to overwater coco coir?
Although the causes of these amazing achievements are not entirely known, using the right coco as a medium might guarantee them. Every day, more and more research is being done on the characteristics of coco. Successful trials of the product have been characterized by faster growth, healthier plants, lush quality, and adaptable medium. The notion that coco as a medium enhances health due to certain elements found in the product and the microflora and fauna that grow in coco has recently been confirmed. By not altering or binding the administered nutrients, it offers a highly unrestricted availability of such nutrients. Additionally, it offers pH management between succeeding harvests without the need for extra liming. But without properly buffering the coco before use, it won’t be able to do any of these. Following that, the application of the right kind and amount of a nutrient ensures that the buffering is best maintained throughout time.
Bad coco is the first ingredient in a formula for failure and laborious labour. The qualities of the coco are destroyed when it is improperly sterilized with hazardous chemicals or abrasive steaming. Lack of or inadequate rinsing (using too little or poor water) before packaging results in high salt levels being left behind. When buffering is improperly performed, the medium’s chemistry is severely damaged. In terms of how it is constructed and what the outcomes will be, green or old coco is equally troublesome and inconsistent, resulting in wildly varying EC and pH as well as a fast shifting and shoddily constructed structure. Salts (such as sodium, potassium, and chlorine) are constantly released and must be eliminated or their effects must be countered. The successful use of coco as a growth medium involves many factors.
Coco irrigation methods are one of the main problems. Like a sponge, Coco releases some water when squeezed, but not all of it. Without enough water to supply the plant, the coco may still appear wet and the sponge will continue to be damp. Overwatering is the effect of frequent watering of coco. When utilizing coco, the soil must be at least 50% dry before being watered. Occasionally, 70 percent dry could be preferable, especially in the first few weeks when the majority of the roots are forming. Since there is no air where there is water, the roots must also have access to oxygen. A tensiometer is a precise and accurate tool for calculating the amount of plant-available water in the coco substrate (pictures 3 and 4). It is a tool for figuring out how much force is required to liberate water from a substrate, or its water potential. This “force” is at its weakest when the substrate is saturated with water and at its strongest when it is absolutely dry.
Picture 3: Tensiometer installation during a tomato cultivation experiment on slabs of coco coir. A digital recording system takes the role of the pressure transducer.
The amount of water available to your plants can be ascertained in a simpler and more affordable manner. After thoroughly watering a container containing a plant and coco, weigh it after draining it to determine the weight of the plant’s available water. Reweigh the plants once they have dried down to the point of wilting. The availability of plant water accounts for the weight differential. It is time to reapply water when between 50 and 70 percent of this amount has been utilized from the container. Although wilting a plant is never a good idea, it might be necessary for an experimental plant. The buffer will be upset and the subsequent problem will appear if plain water is used on established coco.
Three main factors make the chemical balance in the coco essential. First, as coco is a natural product, its pH needs to be corrected. Second, the CEC mentioned earlier are not true CEC in the traditional sense because they bind divalent ions like calcium and magnesium more tightly than they do monovalent cation elements (ions with a single positive charge), rendering them unavailable to plants. They also come and go as the decomposition process progresses. Third, the degradation of coco releases additional ions that disrupt the ratio of the elements to one another, rendering many of them inaccessible. By supplying the sites with divalent elements, maintaining the pH within the appropriate range, and establishing the proper elemental ratios, the established buffer mentioned earlier temporarily resolves this problem.
When the water used to combine the nutrients is particularly soft, the concentration of the nutrients must be increased to prevent the coco from robbing them, which would lead to the development of a calcium shortage. This is precisely because of these problems. This problem is becoming more prevalent as Reverse Osmosis systems gain enormous popularity. Growers intend to use pure water, feed little to prevent burn, and feed frequently to maintain flow. However, this can be avoided by re-buffering the water by adding part of the original water. There isn’t a particularly effective alternative, and using a calcium/magnesium supplement to treat the issue only makes it worse. It is healthier and safer to add nutrients with a higher EC.
The buffering of coco creates what might be thought of as a covering that, most crucially, allows the coco to only display the proper pH and does not significantly impede the availability of nutritional ingredients. The coco is constantly changing as it breaks down, and the coating also needs to modify and heal itself. The preservation of the buffer depends on the nutrients intended for the coco. Any other ratio and composition of nutrients, including plain water, which causes the coco EC to drop and the buffer to vanish, will not keep the buffer in place. Following the proper feed chart and doing accurate coco testing are equally critical.
Standards are markers used to measure things, not absolutes. Because it is referred to as a meter is a meter, a foot is a foot. It only works correctly one way, and that is by using the proper extraction process with barium chloride in water, in order to acquire the actual picture of the status of coco in terms of EC and pH. Bivalent alkaline earth metal barium strongly attaches to the surface of coco, releasing almost all previously attached cations, including sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and, if present, ammonium.
A useful indicator of the substrate quality at a given time and a foretelling of the nutrients that were about to be released by the coco substrate and made available to the plants is the level of cations in a barium chloride extract.
It is impossible to measure drainage or run-off accurately on its own. The grower might receive an idea based on experience from it, but that is all. A cocoa bean that is accurately measured and grown should have the qualities mentioned.
Nitrogen binding and techniques to improve aeration are two further problems or queries related to the use of coco. However, for optimal development, the coco must decay to a certain extent prior to the next harvest. Many gardeners love using coco more than once. Nitrogen will tend to bond in the coco and become unavailable later if the initial crop fails or grows too quickly, which will postpone the onset of signs of nitrogen deficit by about a week.
Finally, some gardeners insist on ‘loosening’ the media by adding perlite to it. Perlite has physical qualities that are nearly equal to those of coco; it won’t change the porosity, but it will change the chemical profile.
In the end, it is generally preferable to locate a business that has conducted years of research into coco, offers appropriate solutions, and pioneered the usage of coco in this industry. Utilize high-quality, thoroughly researched items, and keep things simple.
To how much coir should I put water?
Introducing the dehydrated coco coir from CocoHouse. These pre-washed compressed coco coir bricks are another top-notch supplier of high-quality coco coir that is simple to store and rehydrate into a fresh, moist medium that is ideal for growing plants.
The CocoHouse coco coir bricks are available in a range of weights and dimensions; in this case, a 600g brick is being used. Typically, coco coir that has been dehydrated weighs 10% less than it did when fully hydrated.
The general rule for rehydrating dry coco coir is to calculate its weight and then add a volume of water that is around 10 times that weight.
To a 600g brick of dried coco coir, for instance, we would need to add roughly 6000g (6L) of water.
HOW DO I USE DEHYDRATED COCO BRICKS?
Step 1: Prepare the hydrating solution for your coco brick. This can be water alone or a solution containing a buffer or additive. To maintain a positive Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), we must always “buffer” any inert medium; for additional information on CEC, check our lesson on the subject, which may be found here. In this instance, we are using Ryzofuel from CYCO to cushion our coco brick. HY-Humiboosta GEN’s is a fantastic alternative for an additive.
We are utilizing the following things in this example:
- Watering jug or bucket, 10L
- Pipettes and liquid measurement equipment
- Coco Coir Brick, 600g
- Ryzofuel CYCO
Step 3Set the coco bag on a raised surface that can accommodate drainage, such as a pot grid, and pour 4 L of your solution directly into the opened bag on top of the coco coir brick. Allow it to set for a bit, then watch it puff up in a few minutes.
The remaining 2L of nutritional solution should be poured through the coco coir as evenly as possible after the solution has been absorbed, and the process should be allowed to drain for about 5 minutes. Make roughly 8–12 drainage holes underneath the bag. For illustrations of what your coco will look like during this process, see the samples below.
Simply add your seeds or plant and enjoy growing; your coco is now ready for use!
WHY COCO HOUSE?
With the ability to be buffered to specific phases of a plant, CocoHouse Coco Coir Bricks are fantastic starting bags for seedlings and cuttings. Whether you choose the standard Calcium & Magnesium buffer or a rooting one is now up to you, giving you complete control throughout all phases of a plant’s life cycle.
By using the included bag as a pot to start your plants started, the CocoHouse Coco Brick bags are a great way to save money and avoid having to purchase additional pots at the beginning of your plants’ lives.
To assist establish, condition, and strengthen roots in the early phases of growth, we chose to utilize CYCO Nutrients Ryzofuel in the step-by-step description above. Ryzofuel is a particularly effective kelp-based root tonic.
“When ordering dehydrated coco coir, a reasonable rule of thumb is to order a weight that is approximately 10% of the total volume you will require.
For instance, you should order about 5000g of dried coco coir if you need to fill a 50L pot.”
For the greatest results when it comes to transplanting, we advise utilizing GeoPots fabric grow bags coupled with a high-quality fertilizer brand, such as CYCO, Mills, or HY-Gen nutrients.