coconut coir

Hi, does anyone use coconut coir mixed in with the compost?

 

Not heard of this one Mr Tibbs . My basket liners are made from coir and its quite expensive as a preformed liner. Not sure how much unformed coir costs and its advantages if any.

 

Do you mean like these that you soak for a while? I have mixed this with compost and it seemed fine!!

Val

 

I`m using it with more delicate plants , works really well with succulents , also ideal for epiphyllum , orchids and tropicals that need to stay dry ....shame cost so much

 

Thatss the one Val. I rang my local plant nursery and they said they don't stock it anymore because it is poisonous to wildlife. I've found it on hydroponics websites

 

How wild life would ever die if you use coconut coir?????

a good and chip supplyer is actually Ikea .

 

I used to get mine from here, never heard of it being poisonous before, I used to keep my GALS (giant african land snails) in it and they were fine!!

http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=coir+blocks

Val

 

Resurrecting this thread because it's exactly what I was going to ask.

So nine years on, does anyone have any experience with coconut coir?

My research leads me to believe it might be ideal for my south facing front garden that bakes rock hard in summer, and becomes claggy if we get a good soggy spell. Apparently it is great because it holds a lot of water, thereby preventing waterlogging at the surface in wet spells while not drying too quickly in dry spells. Trouble is so far most of what I've read was written by people that sell it rather than people that use it.

 

I've used Coco Coir for quite a few years now with no problems.
Seed Mix: 50% Coir 50% own sifted Compost with Perlite.
Plant Mix: 50% Coir 50% own sifted Compost, Perlite and feed.

 

It's expensive yes, but I only want it for a small area, approx 15 square metres. My front garden keeps letting me down year after year because of a combination of poor soil and the fact its in front of the south facing wall of the house and quite sheltered. If I'd be willing to spend a couple of hundred quid on the soil if I was confident it would be worth it as a one off investment. I have been adding various bulky organic matter to it over the years but nowhere near enough. If a one time investment gave it a bit of a leg up I'd be happy. As to cost, I haven't done the sums yet because I'm still in the early stages of looking at options, but I saw this, which comes to 75 litres once rehydrated.

Coco Grow - Peat Free Compost 5Kg

 

I bought mine from Poundshop.com, Poundland also sell them.

 

Trouble is organic material is never a one off addition, it rots down and disappears, so you have to keep adding it.
Sharp sand or grit would break up clay but you will still need to add organic material from time to time.

What I do is make certain areas the dumping ground for annual pot plants ,so end of season all used compost goes in that area , which because I often mix some sand in the pots when planting means there is a good mix of organic and some sand to break down clay.

 

Wilko sells Coir, oh Homebase have 5kg for £5.60.

 

True, but at the moment I feel like the ground is swallowing it up faster than I can add it, and because I can't get much to grow out there it doesn't even have the benefit of lots of roots from the previous year adding to it. So with a one off investment to make it good, I reckon I'd be much better placed to keep on top of it.