Coco Peat is one of the most sustainable planting materials available on market. Coco peat is a conventionally used growing material for plants adjacent to soil. Coco peat comes in the form of compressed blocks which are ready-to-use on hydration.
Coco peat or Coconut Coir Dust is a by-product of coir extraction, that has unique advantages and is vastly implemented in the areas of horticulture, floriculture and as a grow medium for hydroponic systems.
It is 100% organic, light weighted, anti-fungal, highly aerated in nature. Unlike soil, it is resistant to weeds and pests and has moderate conditions to thrive plant growth.
Scientifically speaking,
- Coco peat Coir dust has the highest porosity of about 94% (vol) and fairly high air packets.
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Although neutral, coir peat is slightly acidic with salinity of about 0.4 to 6.0 dSm-1 (deciSiemens per metre- measuring unit of Salinity)
It makes plants more sturdy and tolerant to environmental changes. -
It has more lignin and cellulose,
This tenacity inhibits the attacks from any pathogens and fungus. - Cation exchange capacity ranged from 32 to 95 m.e./100 g and C/N ratios averaged 117.
- Truthfully, the naturally- available nutrients are low, especially mineral nitrogen, calcium and magnesium.
Coco peat are the eco-friendly products that are reusable upon prior treatment.
It just requires complete rinsing, proper strain and rebuffering, well that’s it!
It works perfectly fine when reused. Read more on how to recycle your used coco peat.
A completely hydrated ½ kg compressed coco peat will produce approximately 9 litres of loose peat masses which is sufficient for 8-9 pot fills or ½ yard of a garden (used for moisture retention).
A simple hack on how to makeover coco peat blocks for growing plants.
Coco peat is extensively used to grow exotic plants such ferns, bromeliads, orchids, anthuriums and such others. Much likely, for containerized ornamental plants like Snake plant, Peace lily, Bonsai and different kinds of Cactus.
In recent years, growing Cannabis in coco peat has been quite popular.
Grow Mixes
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Coco peat is mixed with soil to aerate (air pores) the substrate to bring out optimal oxygen supply to plant roots.
The combination of peat and soil can be made according to each of the plant 's requirements, also the sprinkle of perlite on coir substrate is most preferable.
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Coco peat is an inert medium, it does not possess any nutritive value in it.
A beneficiary fertilizer is to be added in order to heap the growth rate. A slow-releasing-fertilizer best suits peat as a substrate. These fertilizers release a steady amount of nutrients over a course of time without causing leaching and plant burn.
NPK (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium) fertilizers of the ratios of 10-10-10 or 4-2-2 goes in ease with flowering and fruit plants.