Coco Coir calculation

[GatorsUF]

So I am looking to make my raised garden bed soil. My plan was to do 1/3 compost 1/3 perlite and 1/3 coco Coir.

My raised bed will take 1.77 cu yards total, so I was going to get 2 yards to have some extra.

Is it feasible to make that mixture with those little bricks of coco coir? Seems like it will take a ton of them. Not very economical...

Thoughts, opinions...

[CharlieBear]

I am questioning your mix, because perlite and coir will accomplish the same thing roughly and neither will provide nutrition as such to your plants. Also, what kind of compost that will also make a difference. In some places you can buy by the yard mixes like 3 or 4 way, which many people swear by. The only problem is if the place uses clay for the soil part. If you are talking home compost that you have made yourself you could just fill the box with that. Many a gardener has done that with good success. It is also quite possible if you can buy it to fill the box with mushroom compost. The only draw back is the compost will continue to well compost and after a few years you will need to add to make the depth in the box right. I have used both home compost and mushroom compost myself with great success. As for the coir itself that depends on where you purchase it. I have seen it sold for such a high price that it must be gold. We also have a place locally that gets it in unwrapped in large squares that go for about 4.25 that I buy for my starter mixture in the spring. You didn't say where you are, it may already be too late to get much going in it for this year.

[applestar]

I believe coir is typically used in place of peat moss.

..."little bricks"... ? ... I buy the 11 Lbs blocks which reconstituted to 15 gal or 2 cu. ft.

[imafan26]

The little bricks expand a lot but Applestar is right you will probably need to get the big blocks. Coir is a substitute for peat moss but it actually holds on to water longer than peat moss. and will pack down worse than peat moss, so you do need to add enough perlite for aeration. If you don't water that often the mix might be o.k. but there won't be a lot of nutrition from the compost and none from the coir and perlite so you will need to supplement with fertilizer.

[GatorsUF]

Thanks guys, I obvously still have a lot to learn. I've been watching "GrowingYourGreens.com" and I thought he suggested a 1/3 1/3 1/3 mix of compost perlite and coir/peatmoss.

Either way what would you suggest I buy for my raised bed? I just built it and it is pretty big 11.5' x 5' x 1'

[CharlieBear]

His suggestion might have been for a seed starting mixture, that is used indoors under lights or in a green house to start seeds that will then be transplanted out into the garden. The fact is that even just coir by itself in a pinch will work for that as the plants are not raised for very long before they are given there permanent place for the year in the garden. Are there places by you that sell mulch etc by the yard. If there are check for 4 way or mushroom compost and assuming you have a pickup truck just get a load or two and use that. Both will work well.

[GatorsUF]

The 1/3 mixture I was trying to accomplish was actually "Mel Bartholomew's Mixture" the Square foot gardening inventor - https://www.squarefootfarmer.com/square- ... -soil-mix/

Either way I picked up about 6 cu ft of Perlite/Vermiculite and 3 blocks of coco coir. I also got 3 cu ft of organic compost and cow manure mixture. I plan to get a 44 pound back of azomite as well as 1.5 yards of composted forest product (yard waste I assume). Hoping that mixture will do ok for me...

[applestar]

Good luck with your garden! Sounds like you've got the mix figured out now.

Do you have a thread going about the rest of the details? If you are doing sq.ft. General consensus here has been that you do want the bed to be deeper than 6". Where in your garden you locate the bed, what to plant and when, etc. are other stuff we could discuss.