The Myths about Coir...

If you have been approached by someone who says his cousin three times removed has a coir plantation and can supply you coir/cocopeat growing media at a very cheap price, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Cheap coir is not Cheap. It will end up being very expensive.

Coir has been sold predominately to the horticulture industry as a commodity product and not a value added growing media that when processed properly it can be. If you are dealing with someone that cannot inform you clearly on the origins and specifications of the product, manufacturing operations and offer confirmed references, it will probably cost you more than any savings you have been promised.

COIRS ARE NOT COIRS

What does every one talk about when they talk about coir. What is the pH and how high is the EC. What you should be asking is how old is the raw material, where does it come from and what is the breakdown of the structure.

There is a myth that coir with an E.C. of more than .5 is harmful to your plants. This is not true because we all feed our plants with an EC of 1.5 plus and all the way up to 3.5, clearly low EC is not essential for healthy plant growth.

A salt is a metal and a non metal ion combined: e.g. sodium chloride (sea salt) can be harmful at relatively low levels where as Potassium Chloride, Potassium Sulphate and Magnesium Sulphate are salts and also fertilizers required for healthy plant growth .Coir is high in Potassium, young coir more so than old. So it is necessary to know the break down of the salts to know if an EC level is harmful. Generally the pH of all coir is between 5.6 and 6.2 and poses no problem to plant growth in general.

Old coir forms the bases of most coir products exported for horticultural uses is potentially more harmful than coir exhibiting an E.C. of for example1.5. The older coir salts have stabilized and after a number of months with nutrient being added will retain a higher E.C than young coir after the same period of time. The exchange capacity is greater in younger coir which readily gives up the salts with its first and second watering.

The structure of older coir is poor and inconsistent having already begun the breakdown processes you can find a large percentage of fine material in any given block or bale. This is potentially very damaging to your crop as it makes water management extremely difficult and provides a suitable environment to develop root borne diseases such as pythium, phytopera or chilara which may travel into the media via watering or surface contamination. Poor structure of coir can be devastating but good structure can produce ideal growing environments producing excellent results.

Before buying look at your suppliers operation, how he mixes the products, whether it is done indoors or outdoors, away from possible contaminants, whether he stabilizes the deficiencies in the product, where he obtains the raw material and how it is processed at place of origin and if the product is graded to a specific AFP and WHC.

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