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media Coco Coir Vs. Peat Moss

Hey everyone,

Recently, a hydroponics store tried to get me to start using Coco Coir, claiming that Coco Coir is superior in so many ways, and that Coco Coir will produce bigger and better plants. I also noticed a couple of other hydroponics stores/nurseries that are promoting Coco Coir. Of course, having been in sales all of my life, I tend to be a skeptic and do my research first.

When I started searching Coco Coir over the Internet, I came across several Coco Coir websites that talk about how wonderful it is, and how it is a more "green" product. I also noticed that the price for Coco Coir is about the same or a little more than Peat Moss.

Then I came across these two University studies, which convinced me that a Peat Moss mixture is actually superior to a Coco Coir mixture:

http://www.usu.edu/cpl/PDF/CoconutCoirPaper.pdf

http://www.imok.ufl.edu/docs/pdf/vegetable_hort/trans_media3.pdf

My question to others here is what your personal experience has been using either or both products.

Thanks.
 
Here's why I like coco coir
  • I've used it to grow mushrooms for years, and it's a familiar product.
  • It's cheap, widely available, and compressed blocks store easily
  • It drains water quickly, which can be a blessing for pepper plants
  • It's relatively PH neutral, and doesn't take a lot of limestone to adjust
This is why I'm not a huge fan
  • It needs to be mixed with other additives to hold moisture well. Most peat soils are pre-mixed, but most coir tends to be sold by itself
  • The water balance is a bit strange. It can retain quite a bit of water by itself, but sections can quickly dry out
  • It's incredibly messy stuff
If you can get it cheap it's definitely worth a shot.
 
@Tim in Tucson

Those "early" studies tested samples of Coir that were not sutiable for horticulture due to their very high salt content. The coir they used probably came from coconut trees growing in or near the high salt water concentration of ocean. The majority of Coconut Coir you find these days comes from India - grown in plantations and away from the salt heavy environments found near the ocean. As was said, Coir is more PH neutral in nature. Whereas, it's advisable to adjust the PH of peat for use with pepper plants to prevent lock out or admend with other media to achieve a better PH; enough has been said about poor germination rates and peat starter plugs. Aside from the growing concern that peat bogs (can take up to 25 years to generate) are being depleted at an alarming rate, peat used as a growing medium seems to decompose rapidly as I find myself adding quite a bit to top-off my peat potted blueberry bushes. I'd reccomend using coir with 15- 20% perlite to keep the mix light against the root system. It should be noted that coir provides the plant zero nutrients and it is important to amend, feed with coir specific nutrients or both. Best of luck!
 
I can get coir bricks at the hundred yen shop, so it's incredibly cheap.
Less acidic that peat moss. I prefer coir right now.
 
-I remember reading somewhere that coco coir Ph lowers when you use ammonium based ferts (it tends to go acidic) . I'm not sure, hope someone can shed light to this. If you're gona use it to start seeds it's awesome, because it stays more moist than peat. Peat dries too fast.

-Potting up is a bitch for me as it just falls apart when I try to take the seedling off the cell. (I have yet to experiment more with this)
 
I currently use both. The only difference that I notice between the two is that there is more air porosity in coir naturally without any additives such as perlite.
 
my pepper seeds germinated better in peat pellets, my tomatoes didn't care. the coir pellets once wet seem much more compact/dense, perhaps only misting the pellet may work better.
i have used coir blocks/pucks that need hydrating as filler and i don't think it would have made a difference if i used peat. i got the pucks on clearance for .50cents.

as for the coir pots, i find they are to tightly woven to allow roots to penetrate the pot and i end up using scissors to cut slices into the pots, even after soaking to allow roots to escape through.

i do reuse the coir pots, if the plant dies before potting up, can do that with peat pots. if i get too many used coir pots i just cut them up with scissors into my soil.

i am planning my 2013 tomato season and will be going out to purchase peat pellets. as a side note: the new mini greenhouse growing containers use smaller peat pellets than the older traditional mini greenhouses. so if you by peat pellets in bulk watch for that.
 
@ Vegas Chili

For transplanting, I'd offer the suggestion of watering the coir, first. This will make it all stick together in the shape of the cell for easy removal.

Peat Moss has a highly acidic pH of around 4.5
Coconut Coir has a pH of around 6

Below you will find a micro/macro nutrient lockout chart that shows what is available to your plant at various pH. You can see that around 4.5, it has access to very little food.

phchartys0.jpg



Accoding to several university studies, pepper plants grow best in a pH of 6 - 7
I.e. Ohio State University http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1618.html ;
Michigan State University http://migarden.msu.edu/uploads/files/peppers.pdf ;
University of Arkansas http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/pdf/FSA-6015.pdf

Ferts/nutes will lower pH because they are typically more acidic than coir. I use lime for its ability to offset this and add calcium. Be sure to record your temperature and then coir, fert/nute mix and water source readings. I've had great results using the Bluelab combo meter and was surprised at how off my "guestimates" were once I started using an accurate digital meter. Also, I would like to be more specific with what I wrote about coir offering zero nutrients to plants and say that coir does not offer any nutirent in significant ammount. It does contain potassium and this should be taken into consideration when reading EC values.
 
Heck I thought peat was exspensive! Peat works very, very well for me. Besides, peat seems like less work ( althought I love any work associated was peppers ).
 
@ Vegas Chili

For transplanting, I'd offer the suggestion of watering the coir, first. This will make it all stick together in the shape of the cell for easy removal.

Peat Moss has a highly acidic pH of around 4.5
Coconut Coir has a pH of around 6

Below you will find a micro/macro nutrient lockout chart that shows what is available to your plant at various pH. You can see that around 4.5, it has access to very little food.

phchartys0.jpg



Accoding to several university studies, pepper plants grow best in a pH of 6 - 7
I.e. Ohio State University http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1618.html ;
Michigan State University http://migarden.msu.edu/uploads/files/peppers.pdf ;
University of Arkansas http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/pdf/FSA-6015.pdf

Ferts/nutes will lower pH because they are typically more acidic than coir. I use lime for its ability to offset this and add calcium. Be sure to record your temperature and then coir, fert/nute mix and water source readings. I've had great results using the Bluelab combo meter and was surprised at how off my "guestimates" were once I started using an accurate digital meter. Also, I would like to be more specific with what I wrote about coir offering zero nutrients to plants and say that coir does not offer any nutirent in significant ammount. It does contain potassium and this should be taken into consideration when reading EC values.

Wow man! Now that's the stuff. Couldn't have been better explained. I was about to do more research about it because I'm about to do 2 more trays, and I wanted to know more about it before I start the trays. So basically coco coir works best with organic, interesting ...

This year is my first year growing so I'm using chem fert, as I want experience first. Next year it's gona be organic for sure.

,Vegas
 
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