Coco Coir Coconut Coir and its use in gardening

This blog follows my previous blogs on soil-less growing media and Peat moss. After Peat Moss, now it is time for its alternative, Coconut Coir or coco coir. Now a days many of us are trying coconut coir as an alternative to peat moss due to several reasons, most important of which is it is much more environment friendly than peat moss. For an organic gardener it is crucial to make use of the things which are renewable.

Origin of Coco Coir

The English word "coir" comes from the Tamil and Malayalam word kayaru. which mean cord, to be twisted. In a coconut the husk portion(between the hard inner shell and the outer coat of the coconut) is the place from where the coir
are extracted. Coir fibres make up about a third of the coconut husk, The rest, called peat, pith or dust.

Coir Fiber can be of two types white fibre and Brown fiber. White fibres are extracted from green coconut while we get the brown fibres when those are extracted from the fully matured coconut. The white fibre are the used in manufacturing rope, mats, and fishing nets(due to its resistance to saltwater). Brown Fibre is used to prepare doormats, brushes, mattress and also for insulation and packaging. The process of taking out the husk from the fruit is also known as De-husking.

The second part of the husk which covers the majority of the portion is known as coconut Coir, (or coir) or Coco peat (cocopeat). Once considered as waste

product, this is now used as an alternative to peat moss in Gardening. Many people call this coconut coir by various names such coco coir, coco pith, coco peat, cocopeat, coir dust, coco soil or only coir. For simplicity I will represent this by the single word coir.

Coir does provide a suitable substrate for horticultural use as a soil-less potting media. As coir is high in sodium and potassium, and sometimes contains excess salt, it needs to be treated before using as a growth medium for plants. It is first washed, screened and graded into various granularity and density.
India and Sri lanka produces most of the coir in the world. Apart from these two, Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam etc have also started producing coir now a days.

Coir can be of two types viz, sterilized and unsterilized. In case of sterilized coir peat the fungi Trichoderma is not present due to sterilization. Trichoderma work in symbiosis with plant roots and protect the plant from harmful pathogenic fungi such as pythium. That is one of the reason people now a days are shifting from using sterilized to unsterilized one.

 

Coco Coir Uses:

Coconut coir can be used almost anywhere you can use peat moss such as seed starters, bedding, gardens, container etc. It is resistant to bacterial and fungal growth. It provides all new opportunities for potting mix suppliers, seedling nurseries, Hydro-phonic growers and green house growers.

In horticulture and gardening, coconut coir is a strongly recommended substitute for Peat moss because it is free of bacteria and fungal spores.As a substitute it  helps slowing down peat extraction from environmentally sensitive swamps worldwide. It also has very good water retention and suitable aeration facility which helps to faster growth of roots.

Coco Coir contains a good amount of cellulose and lignin. As mushroom thrive on Cellulose, coir is used as a substrate to cultivate Mushrooms.
Coir generally have a pH level in the range of 6-6.5. which is very good pH level for most of the plants.

You can not use coir as a sole component in the medium to grow plants. The nutrient content in it is very low. If you insists growing solely on coir, you need to add nutrients as per the need of the specific plants. Coir from countries like India and Sri Lanka though contains several macro and micro-plant nutrients including substantial quantities of potassium, which interfere with the magnesium availability of the soil.

Generally, coir has a deficiency of Calcium and Magnesium, so adding a good amount of dolomite (which contains both of those elements) can be a very good idea.

Apart from agricultural usage dry coir can be used as an oil absorbent specially on slippery floors as it has very good absorbing ability. It is also used to absorb animal waste.

Coir is hydrophilic unlike peat moss and can quickly re-absorb water even when completely dry. Coco peat is porous and cannot be over watered easily. Coconut coir is not only a natural, organic product, but unlike peat moss a renewable one.

COCOPEAT BLOCK - EXPANDS TO 24 KG COCO PEAT POWDER



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Temperature And Its Impact on Gardening

Earlier I have discussed two of the major factors of Gardening. Viz, Water and Sunlight. Today I want to discuss another such important  factor in the Gardening, Heat or temperature.

First let us have some insights about how a plant generally combat a hot weather. First causality of hot weather is loss of moisture from the plant as well as from the soil. A few plants can conserve water inside their stem and leaves and thus can tackle the situation. But most of the plants show wilting in excess heat. This can even go to a situation where the leaves will dry up, become yellow and eventually die.

In case of the mild increase of temperature above the tolerance level, some plants shed their leaves to cut down on the release of water. Plants like tomato, cucumbers, pumpkins etc stop producing and drop the blossoms, whereas cool climate plants such as cabbage, broccoli or spinach start bolting. If the temperature raised above 90 deg F, you might not receive the actual size of tomato which you thought you will get. At times many of us might even blame the variety of the tomato for that, whereas in most of the cases it is the weather who you needs to be blamed.

Some parasites infestation is also seen in times of hot summer. Hot dry weather is heaven for spider mites on plants. These insects can really damage the leaves.

There is not much we can do to change the weather but we can really use some techniques which can really minimize the impact.

First and foremost you need to make sure, there is no shortage of water in the soil. It is the water which is responsible for carrying the nutrients from the soil to the plant in the form of sap. So make sure that the plants should not be devoid of nutrients in the hot summer. For container garden, you might need to water twice a day in some cases. Also it is equally important to make sure your soil has proper drainage. You can add different soil less media to the soil to increase the drainage capacity. What can be worse than keeping the plant in a water logged situation and let the plant rot.

Another way to increase the moisture retention of the soil is by applying mulch. Mulch will also help in preventing outside heat reaching the soil and keep the soil cool. It also control the weeds. More on mulch here.

You can also provide some shade net to control the heat of the environment. Some plants can do wonders if provided with the shade net.

As they say, there are always some positives in every negative situation, this hot and dry weather can reduce various fungal diseases of the plants such as blight and powdery mildew which are very common in monsoon.

I know the hot weather is very damaging for the gardens and the gardeners. I hope most of you still have not faced this condition but if you had any experience as such this article might have able to solve some of your questions. I would also like to know what  tricks or techniques you have applied to combat this situation. See you all in my next article. Till then, keep your comments coming.

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