• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

media Coconut coir vs peat moss?

I used Vermiculite to add air space....some use perlite - I know that wasn't your question. I start my seedlings in CC and peat moss is used in addition with Vermiculite in my soil mixes sometimes. 
 
 
Of the choices you have listed, I find coconut coir superior to peat moss. I purchase it in bricks for starting my seedlings yearly. 
 
I didn't use peat moss yet but I am currently using coco coir. My indoor mix is 40% Potting mix, 40% Coco Coir and 20% Perlite. It drains really well... almost too well actually, I could have added more potting or reduce perlite IMO.
 
It was youtube's Praxxus' mix so I wanted to give it a try.
 
Teurf
 
coco coir is great for indoor but watch out with how well its drainage is. it does produce good root easier to move through than peat. I would recommend coco for indoor and and peat moss for outdoor
 
Last season I used 10 parts compost, 6 parts peat and 2 parts perlite and although it worked well it did seem to become rather compacted on the surface. Maybe I need to add more peat and perlite.
 
Not sure if you know MEL the squarefoot garden master but here is his age old mix and I can vouch that I had some of the largest plants ever this past season. Instead of Peat...I used Promix :)
 
Thanks guys. From what I have read perlite is better than vermiculite because the vermiculite breaks down faster than perlite. I think I will add more perlite.
 
Here is Mel's take on that as well.
 

Perlite Instead of Vermiculite?
Perlite is another natural material mined out of the earth and used in agriculture for the same purpose as vermiculite—to break up and loosen poor soils and to retain moisture. I personally don't like or use
perlite, and here's why. It is hard as a rock, rather coarse and gritty,
and I don't like the feel of it in the soil mix. It doesn't hold moisture
like vermiculite. In addition, it floats to the top of the soil mix as
you water your garden and because it's white, it looks rather unsighdy
and unnatural. And it makes me sneeze! Many people do use perlite
instead of vermiculite and, in fact, most of the commercial mixes are
made with perlite because it's cheaper. It's a matter of preference and
availability, but I know which one I'm buying.
 
Not much unlike what I did and loved the results.
 
903348_4596230588174_1001116720_o.jpg

 
461375_4616773421732_1302281521_o.jpg


This was for a small 4 x 4 that grew giant plants.
 
400742_4680800062358_1174688770_n.jpg
 
PMD, perlite and vermiculite are totally different things with different characteristics. They really aren't interchangeable.
 
True, they both break up the soil but that is all they share in common.
 
Perlite adds to drainage. It really does since it doesn't hold water very well at all.
 
Vermiculite is designed to retain water.
 
A garden with vermiculite will retain more moisture and probably not need to be watered as much. Perlite should be used indoors since it's faster draining properties will keep the soil from getting overly wet and keep root rot at bay.
 
I'm using perlite indoors and outdoors since I have an automated watering system. Drainage is more important to me. YMMV.

Never used coco so I can't comment on that, but I am using peat /perlite this year pretty successfully.
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/20747-peat-moss-vs-coco-coir/
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/12728-growing-chillis-in-coco-how-to-do-it/
 
North American peat bogs are not in any danger and coir is not so great for the environment either.
 
The extensive backwaters of Kerala are the sites for a flourishing cottage industry - the coir industry. This enterprise almost exclusively located along the 590 km coastal belt of Kerala, provides direct employment to over half a million people in the state and produces nearly 90% of the total coir goods in the world. The shallow bays and lagoons of the 30 backwater systems of the state are traditional areas for the retting of coconut husk for the production of the coir fibre. The paper examines the environmental status of the retting grounds in Kerala, in relation to the biotic communities. The study revealed that retting activity has caused large scale organic pollution along with the mass destruction of the flora and fauna, converting sizeable sections of the backwaters into virtual cesspools of foul smelling stagnant waters. High values of hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, BOD5 associated with anoxic conditions and low community diversity of plankton, benthic fauna, fish, shell fish, wood boring and fouling organisms were the outstanding feature of the retting zones.
Click to expand...
 
I agree that perlite and vermiculite are different and not interchangable. I would avoid vermiculite completely for a peat based potting mix. The fact that perlite is hard is a good thing because it doesn't rapidly break down into fine particles that clog the porosity of the mix. That it tends to float is annoying, but I've started using hydroton (expanded clay) as mulch in my containers to prevent the surface from drying out and the perlite floating during watering.
 
In terms of airspace I don't know that coir is better than peat, but coco coir does seem to drain faster, is easier to re-wet, and doesn't break down as rapidly as peat. You may not see much difference the first season, but if you reuse your mix the peat will degrade more than the coir.
 
I know this thread is old but im bumpin it cause I am about to mix my soil here in about 4 weeks and I need feedback.
I have 4 bags of Fox Farm Ocean Forest, which is 6 cu. ft. of soil. I have heard it is pretty fertilizer rich and was looking to maybe double my bang for my buck. So I was going to take me original mix at FFOF:Perlite:Vermiculite  7:2:1. and Do that mix at about 3:2 of that:ProMix/EWC. And my ProMix EWC will be mixed at 9:1... But after reading this maybe I would do like ProMix:Mushroom Compost:Someother Compost:EWC at like 7:1:1:1
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top