Coco Coir?
 

Anyone else a Coco Coir gardener? I grow almost all my Tomatoes in Coco.

I'm dabbling with blends of peat, coir, and perlite, in starter and 4" pot-up mixes, to much satisfaction. Yes please tell me all you know, and especially anyting pertaining to preference of fabric, plastic, and poly-growbag containers.



I've only worked with a couple of brands, neither was what's coined, chunk or natural. Both were block, an Australian, nutrifield nf coco, and the other a GenHyd product Coco-Tek.

75% coco-coir/ 25% perlite is my favorite so far

Easier to wet after drying out than peat. And mixed in with peat at even 20%, it makes those overall mixes nearly as easy to water as the straight coir was.

Water retention seems about the same coco vs peat on the small pots, interested to see if that translates to larger pots.

Compaction seems less on the coir.

Prices here:
650g bricks $2 = 2 gal
5kg blocks $11 = 16 gal

I don't use fabric grow bags. I use a brand of pot I found called Air Pot. I used to use perlite, but found this stuff by a company called growstone. Do you use Hydroponic nutrients? If you look at some of my posts you can see my plants.

There are two or three discussions out here.In search pane,look at Wonder Soil,(aclum thanx'org poster)Mother Earth is a distributer of from Netherlands.Seems to be the go to medium this season.I use it,never looked back,same medium all the seed starting(cells) that are online from the cannabis crowd.

[B]Do you use Hydroponic nutrients?[/B]

Yes, I use Chem-Gro Tomato Formula and also have used the FloraNova Grow and Bloom. Seedlings at about 1.0 mhos and mature plants 2.0 mhos at every watering. (promixHP/15gal fabrics primarily)

That is some nice trellising. I notice the reflectors for your plants. What variety is that?

Reflective 1/4" bubble wrap insulation. Comes in rolls at Home Depot ,different widths, not too expensive. You can cut half-moons with regular scissors. Brings temps down, reduces evaporation considerably.

I am using some similar stuff on Rockwool cubes that I am rooting cuttings in.

[QUOTE=Ricky Shaw;619467][B]Do you use Hydroponic nutrients?[/B]

Yes, I use Chem-Gro Tomato Formula and also have used the FloraNova Grow and Bloom. Seedlings at about 1.0 mhos and mature plants 2.0 mhos at every watering. (promixHP/15gal fabrics primarily)[/QUOTE]

Nice cage and staking system. Did you purchase the cages or build them yourself?

I love growing in coconut fiber. I usually mix in a small amount of peat to modify the pH, and some compost for micro-organisms, and some perlite for marketing.

Those are Texas Tomato Cages in the picture. The 20" is probably a better size for container growing as there's a good chance your running 3 or less stems in a 15,10. or 7 gal container and don't need the the room. I have the 24" cages, they're a better fit for 20gal and larger containers. They fit over the larger pots and with more room they'll ventilate better if you're not pruning.

Going straight CoCo here. After much research I settled in on a 50/50 blend of CoCo peat and CoCo chips. Ill be growing 2 tomatoes per 5 gallon bag, growing up a string in the high tunnel. Highly pruned.

Brand of CoCo is "GrowIt". My guy at the local Hydro store made me a deal on it because of the quantity I needed.

Will be using Masterblend fertilizer. Growing Big Beef, Sweet 100, Mortgage Lifter, and Prudens Purple this year.

[QUOTE=joseph;619698]I love growing in coconut fiber. I usually mix in a small amount of peat to modify the pH, and some compost for micro-organisms, and some perlite for marketing.[/QUOTE]
Have you ever tried Molasses? I have heard of people using it in Coco for microorganisms.

FourOaks, I like what you're telling me here, I just wish I had access to those coco chunks. If you're able to use coco coir without perlite in your more humid climate, I will certainly be able to use less than 25% perlite. Excellent news in itself, coco is half the cost of perlite, and I'm probably increasing growing efficiency. I've got some Red Robins to pot up soon, I think I'll even try one with 100% standard coco coir. Also 10% and 20% perlite.

Even Promix is moving to coir blends and reducing perlite, PromixHP CC is a newer product, I think AKmark is trying a few bags. The MSDS says it's 65% peat/25% coir chunk/ 10% perlite. The standard PromixHP is 30% perlite.

Ever heard of Growstone super soil aerator? I love the stuff.

Good product I'm sure, the expense is considerably more than perlite. I'm looking to get cheaper, especially because I'm not re-using media, it just goes to fill in low spots in the yard.

What hydroponic solution are you using Betta? Do you meter and pH your nutrients?

@ BettaPonic,Are you asking about the company or the growstones that some old timers have been using for years?I believe in Europe I read that there is no more natural product to process said medium.Now the name Growstone is trademarked I guess.

I am talking about a specific company called Growstone. They make their medium from recycled glass.

I ph adjust my nutrients. I use a General Hydroponics kit for PH adjusting.

A couple of seasons ago, I bought a big bag of Growstones. I like chunky perlite, but the Growstones were really big.

On the Peat, do you wash/rinse it a lot? At the hydro store, the good peat stuff (washed/low salt) was really pricey. I still have a bunch of Peat Blocks that I bought from Earth Box early on; the hydro store told me just to rinse it a lot.

Ricky - I bought these once and they don't break down.
[URL="http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/plant-it-organic-coco-planting-chips/soil-growing-medium"]http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/plant-it-organic-coco-planting-chips/soil-growing-medium[/URL]

I found there is a sweet spot in the shipping cost at GHM; just play around with what you are buying.

How come you don't reuse your mix? - I'm going to dump a bunch of mine in the raised beds, but solarize all the earth boxes.

Hey Barb,

Thanks for the tip on those coir chips, and I might have found some too. Stopped at my local hydro guy today, says he thinks he can get a similar product. Should be about the same price as the standard coir he stocks, GenHyd Coco-Tek $11/ 5kg.


[B]How come you don't reuse your mix?

[/B]I think the promix had degraded, a lot of the peat was powderized, and there's the possibility of fertilizer build-up and pH imbalance. And then I'd worry some pest overwintered in it, because I didn't solarize correctly. It's my OCD as much as anything.

I saved about 20 gals of it for flower pots and the rest went into raised bed and low spots.

[QUOTE=Ricky Shaw;619926]Stopped at my local hydro guy today, says he thinks he can get a similar product. Should be about the same price as the standard coir he stocks, GenHyd Coco-Tek $11/ 5kg.[/QUOTE]

Ricky,

I hope its not too late to tell you that the General Hydro brick is nothing like the Plant!T Chips. I have bought a brick of the General Hydro and its almost entirely "peat-ish" with some fine strands. I am using the "Grow!T" brand which is the same as the "Plant!T" brand. Why they have 2 different brands is beyond me.

Anyways, for the GH brand, you will have to add something else to encourage drainage. A small amount of perlite or another brand of chips. But I will say for seed starting, the fine strands and peatish texture are great.

[QUOTE=Ricky Shaw;619926]Hey Barb,

Thanks for the tip on those coir chips, and I might have found some too. Stopped at my local hydro guy today, says he thinks he can get a similar product. Should be about the same price as the standard coir he stocks, GenHyd Coco-Tek $11/ 5kg.


[B]How come you don't reuse your mix?

[/B]I think the promix had degraded, a lot of the peat was powderized, and there's the possibility of fertilizer build-up and pH imbalance. And then I'd worry some pest overwintered in it, because I didn't solarize correctly. It's my OCD as much as anything.

I saved about 20 gals of it for flower pots and the rest went into raised bed and low spots.[/QUOTE]

Just thinking out loud here but if you got you one of those compost tumblers you could essentially cook your old soil in it and reuse w/o worry of pest/disease etc. I'm OCD as well, I feel your pain.

Thank you Van, the compost tumbler is something I'm looking at getting, so this would fit well. I think I'll try to solarize and re-use it in a few containers to see if there's a difference in health and productivity.

[QUOTE=Ricky Shaw;620272]Thank you Van, the compost tumbler is something I'm looking at getting, so this would fit well. I think I'll try to solarize and re-use it in a few containers to see if there's a difference in health and productivity.[/QUOTE]

The sweet spot is about 60-70% recycled and the rest fresh mix. Thumbs up on solarization.

I thought solarizing did make a big difference. But in Florida, the best solarizing months are the months we can't grow most things anyway.

Since we have to grow tomatoes, etc in containers, solarizing the mix keeps it contained. If we didn't keep it covered, we would have massive weeds.

I only solarize what I will want next season so can fit 2 EB of Mix in one EB. This way, I can solarize only in the EB but include what I am keeping from the Root Pouches. I also add crab shells (Neptune's Harvest) to the mix.

These are the bags I solarize in. [URL="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TCUVSG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8"]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TCUVSG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8[/URL]

I've tried the black bags, and doubling cheaper clear bags but I've had the temps up to 140 using these.

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Ricky - I haven't used it yet, but I bought [URL="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IA1P0A/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IA1P0A/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/URL]

for flushing the mix.

Yup coir grower.
Still dialing in the riococo slabs.

How are the Coir growers doing or is it too early in the season to tell?


I found the Plant It Coir is now sold by Walmart with free delivery to store:

I bought one of each and should get them on Weds: Will report back after I see what I actually get.

This one is the mixed brick - not sure of the difference but looks to be a pack of 3[URL="https://www.walmart.com/ip/54998380"]https://www.walmart.com/ip/54998380[/URL]

The Hydrofarm JSCCB Coco Coir Chip Brick was $7 but Out of Stock now:

the 9 lb 14 oz one - makes 2.5 CU Gallon [URL="https://www.walmart.com/ip/54998504"]https://www.walmart.com/ip/54998504[/URL]

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Would you plant JUST in these for your containers? A few years back I did plant a container or 2 ONLY in the Wonder Soil and same in Wonder Soil & Perlite. Wonder Soil is out for me due to the expense.

Anybody have cheap Coir solutions where you don't have to do excessive rinsings?

[QUOTE=Nematode;620687]Yup coir grower.
Still dialing in the riococo slabs.[/QUOTE]

Just saw this: Googled it - Coir and Bag all in one - do you have pictures with your plants8-)

I use air pots. I also add Growstone. The big problem is the soil drys out really fast.

BigVV, I have a compost tumbler I hardly use (I prefer to use my big Rubbermaid compost bin since I cold compost, mainly for worms). How can you heat up used soil in it like you suggest? I thought the stuff you throw in the tumbler to make compost will heat up, but that is due to the compost forming. If you throw in just old potting soil by itself, I don't see how it will heat up...:?!?: Please give me more info, thanks.