How is Cocopeat used?

[Frostydino]

Hi,

I'm trying to grow some plants (specifically, peppers, tomatos, strawberries and Lettuce) but I've hardly done any gardening before in my life. I want to use cocopeat in little pots at first but I'm really confused about how to use it because all the websites seem to use gardening words I don't really understand.

The cocopeat comes in like a brick which you add water to, but do I need to mix that with something else? Plus, it hasn't arrived yet and I'm a bit confused about the consistency, is it similar to soil? The instrctions on my seeds say to plant them "1-2cm into the soil" but I can't imagine how that would work with something made from coconuts!

Thanks for any help X

[kimbledawn]

Cocopeat is good when making a potting mix but it needs other things added to it. Look up garden amendments and read about what each one does in the garden also look up organic potting mix recipes. Once you know what each individual plant need you can mix accordingly. Good luck with your container gardening!

[The Helpful Gardener]

Hey Frosty,

So glad to see you using cocopeat. This is a waste stream product from coconut production instead of a mined nature product that take six or seven centuries to replace (hardly a "sustainable" garden amendment )... it's not acidic like peat and it doesn't exclude water like peat does when it dries out some...

I stick the block in a bucket of water overnight, drain the excess (onto the compost of course; let's not waste those tannins) and crumble my brick up. I mix with a bit of my compost, perhaps just a bit of the soil that it's going to go into eventually, some wormcasts from the veggie garden (which now are actually building to collectable levels), but the coir makes up the majority of my container and window box mix (mostly what I use it for...) That recipe should work just fine for your seedlings as well...

10 parts coir
1 part compost
1 part soil or worm casts

HG

[Frostydino]

Thankyou, this was really helpful! X

[The Helpful Gardener]

That's how we do...

HG

[zone9garden.com]

Sorry for the hijack here... But this sounds like a great recipie:

10 parts coir
1 part compost
1 part soil or worm casts

But my worms are VERY slow here durring the summer and really a good part of the year due to heat (hard to keep things cool here)! So, what would you suggest as a replacement?

[gixxerific]

Sorry for the hijack here... But this sounds like a great recipe:

10 parts coir
1 part compost
1 part soil or worm casts

But my worms are VERY slow here during the summer and really a good part of the year due to heat (hard to keep things cool here)! So, what would you suggest as a replacement?

The worm castings aren't mandatory he just puts them because he has them and because they are natures perfect fertilizer.

[angelo]

When preparing a new lawn, mix 5 and 7cm (2-3â€

[emerald7]

According to what I've read, coconut husks are used as a substitute for peat moss (often used in gardening), because peat moss is not really sustainable, as someone else mentioned. So if you look up the uses of peat moss, and consider the cocopeat to be a substitute, this might be easier to find information. HTH.

[cynthia_h]

I've also seen this product referred to as "coir" or "coconut coir."

Just adding search phrases, for gardeners looking up more info on the Internet. My only experience with it is the block of coir that came with my Worm Factory (subsidized by local government/waste management partnership) as initial bedding for the worms. I supplemented with shredded newspaper and have used newspaper ever since.

The worms liked the coir/newspaper blend.

Coir is something that used to be considered a "waste" product! But its virtues are now understood...by some of us...let's get the word out even more.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9