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COIR:
--an expanding potting soil mix
March 27, 2020
by Sandra Heinold/Victoria County Master Gardener Intern
Edited by Charla Borchers Leon/Victoria County Master Gardener
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER INTERN SANDRA HEINOLD
Coir, fibrous material found in the hard husk of a coconut shell, is processed, dehydrated and made into various garden products in the form of a brick, bales, ivy posts and pellets. It can also be available in hydrated forms as mulch and soil amendment that can be stored in large plastic storage containers.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER INTERN SANDRA HEINOLD
At 1.4 pounds in weight, this coir brick can hold up to seven times its weight in water. A five-to-seven-gallon bucket should be large enough for the wet product that results after the brick/block is hydrated in the container.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER INTERN SANDRA HEINOLD
The brick/block is hydrated in the container with a gallon of water from a watering can, as shown here, or a lightly flowing hose until the hard material softens and expands up to 3-5 times the amount of the block. It becomes dark and fluffy. Should it dry out, it can be re-wet and used readily.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER INTERN SANDRA HEINOLD
The brick/block of coir visibly expands and becomes dark and fluffy as shown here as it absorbs one gallon of water. Whatever might be unused can be stored in a covered container for years without loss of benefits. It provides a sturdy, stable foundation for plant growth, especially in pots and raised beds in dry, hot conditions.
NOTE: Check seed packets for more detailed information about exactly when, where, and how to plant. Consider planting in pots or raised beds with coir as a soil amendment.
Credit: Sandra Heinold
Carbon sinks are natural or artificial systems that take carbon dioxide from the air and store it. The main ones are plants, the oceans, and soil. Forests and the ocean are usually the carbon sinks we hear about most often, but peatlands actually are extremely important because they hold up to about 30% of the world’s carbon content on only about 3% of the world’s land surface. When peatlands are opened up, the carbon they have stored is released into the air in the form of carbon dioxide.
Go to:
“Getting to the Coir of the Matter.” www.finegardening.com
“Coir is Sustainable Alternative to Peat Moss in the Garden.” Oregon State Extension Service
A few years ago, a hastily purchased bag of “expanding” potting soil introduced me to coir.
Distracted, I hadn’t paid attention to what I had, but when I added the required water, the soil did expand and became a fluffy, dark, beautiful mix.
I planted container tomatoes into it with excellent results. Wanting to know more, I started to look for more information about this fascinating product and for different ways to use it.
Soil amendment
A relative newcomer as a soil amendment in America, coir offers gardeners an alternative to peat in soil improvement.
Previously considered a waste product, coir is the fibrous material found in the hard husk of a coconut shell. It’s processed, washed, and made into many different kinds of garden products, from basket liners and ivy posts to mulch and soil amendments.
When you purchase coir, especially online, make sure it is from a reliable source and has been properly prepared. As a soil amendment, it can be bought already hydrated in bags or in compressed and dried form: bricks, bales, pellets, or dust. Bricks, bales and pellets are the easiest to transport and take less room to store before use. It has to be hydrated before it is used.
Compressed coir is very dense and is virtually impossible to cut or break in its dry state, so smaller bricks rather than bales might be advisable to start with.
Coir can hold up to seven times its weight in water and will expand up to three to five times the size of the block, so make sure you use a container large enough when you wet it.
A brick is usually about 1/3 cubic feet. A 5-gallon bucket should be large enough for the wet product. For a bale, (about 2 ½ cubic feet), use a trash can, a large wheel barrow or a large plastic storage container. The coir visibly expands and becomes dark and fluffy as it absorbs the water.
As sections get wet, break them away so water can get to the rest of the block. Kids love this process. Water and magic.
Coir vs. peat
Coir wets more easily than peat and if it dries out, it rewets more readily. Once the coir is wet, it is ready to use, and whatever is unused can be stored in a covered container for years without loss of benefits.
Unlike peat, which is acidic, coir has a pH of 6 to 6.7, so it is essentially neutral. It does not increase acidity in the soil. You might not want to use coir if you are planting acid-loving plants like blueberries, camellias or azaleas.
Coir is high in potassium and provides trace elements of zinc, copper, manganese and iron. It may be necessary to add calcium at some point if you are growing tomatoes.
Added to the garden soil in similar proportions as peat, coir improves the structure of sandy soils, encouraging moisture retention, and breaks up heavy clay. It resists compaction better than peat, encouraging root growth and keeping moisture and nutrients available to the plant, but at the same time allowing for good drainage. It provides a sturdy, stable foundation for plant growth.
Its ability to hold on to moisture might make it especially useful in pots and raised beds, which tend to dry out faster than those at ground level, especially in hotter climates like ours. Since coir is sterile, it does not import weed seeds as peat sometimes does.
Its sterility and its ability to keep the soil open, allowing tiny roots space to grow, make it a good candidate for use in seed-starting mixes. In the pot, coir can make up to 40% of the mix in homemade mixes, and it can be added to proprietary soil mixtures, even if they contain peat.
Most of the potting soils available in the nurseries and garden centers in our area have peat as a component. In fact, it’s sometimes not easy to find a potting soil that doesn’t contain peat.
But peat is often considered to be a non-renewable resource because it takes about 25 years to build 1 inch of peat. Unopened peatlands have come to be recognized as important carbon sinks that help fight climate change by limiting the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Coir is a readily renewable resource, and it provides similar benefits in soil.
There are many reasons you might want to give coir a try.
The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com, or comment on this column at VictoriaAdvocate.com.
ph: 361-935-1556
nancyk