Coco coir, also known as coco peat or simply coir, is a growing medium that is made from the fibrous husks of coconuts. These husks are the outer layer of the coconut. By processing these husks into a fibrous, soil-like material, they can be transformed into a highly effective growing medium that is perfect for a wide range of plants.
Coco coir is often used as a substitute for traditional peat media. Coco coir is a sustainable, renewable resource that is both eco-friendly and highly effective for growing plants.
The production of coco coir is a lengthy process that involves harvesting, husking, decorticating, washing, drying, sieving and packaging. The end result is a product that is perfect for use in horticulture and gardening. The production process has multiple phases. Phase 1 leaves you with low quality coco coir, phase 2 with medium quality coco coir and phase 3 with high quality coco coir.
Phase 1 includes the following seven steps:
1. Harvesting: The first step in the production of coco coir is harvesting the coconuts when they are ripe. This involves cutting the coconuts off the trees and collecting them in baskets or trucks.
2. Husking: The next step is to remove the outer husk from the coconut. This is usually done using a large knife or machete. The husks are then laid out in the sun for several months, until they are completely dry and brown.
3. Decorticating: Once the husks are dry, the next step is to remove the fibres from the husks. This is done using a machine called a decorticator. The decorticator breaks the husks apart and separates the fibres from the rest of the material.
4. Washing: After decorticating, the fibres are washed thoroughly to remove any remaining dirt, debris and harmful (sea) salts (natrium and chloride). This is usually done using fresh water. The fibres are left to soak for several hours to ensure they are clean. Through the washing process, a lot of the harmful salts are washed out of the coco coir fibres.
5. Drying: Once the fibres are clean, there are two ways to dry the fibres.
The first way: Spread out on large drying racks to dry in the sun. This can take several days depending on the weather conditions. The fibres are turned regularly to ensure that they dry evenly.
The second (and best) way: The fibres are dried in special bunkers.
All our coco coir is dried in these special bunkers in a strictly controlled environment, to ensure that no negative external influences settle in the coco coir fibres. Think of acid rain, or bird shit hitting the drying racks, causing all kinds of bacteria to settle and develop, resulting in long- term negative effects.
6. Sieving: After the fibres are completely dry, they are put through a sieve to remove any remaining dust or debris. This results in a clean, uniform product.
7. Packaging: The final step is to pack the coco coir. The fibres are usually compressed into blocks or bales and wrapped in plastic to keep them clean and dry during transport.
After phase 1, the coco coir is not ready for growing yet. Despite most of the harmful salts are washed out, there are still many unwanted salts left. When the coco coir is used after only applying phase 1, your plants will still die because of an overdose of these harmful salts. Some extra steps are necessary to create a coco coir that is suitable for growing plants. There are two different ways to do this:
Steam the coco coir.
Buffer the coco coir.
The worst thing to do to coco coir is steaming it as part of its production process to make it more suitable for use. Steaming the coco coir results in sterilizing it, killing all pathogens and weed seeds. These pathogens and weed seeds help to ensure that the coco coir is free from harmful bacteria or fungi that could damage plant growth or cause disease. The harmful bacteria or fungi will be a result of drying the fibres in racks in the sun (as explained in step 5 of phase 1). While steaming coco coir has some advantages, there are serious disadvantages to consider:
Loss of beneficial microorganisms: Steaming coco coir kills not only harmful pathogens and weed seeds, but also beneficial microorganisms that are important for soil health. This leads to a reduction in soil fertility and plant growth.
High energy consumption: Steaming requires a significant amount of energy to heat the coco coir to the necessary temperature. This is a costly and environmental unfriendly process.
Over-sterilization: Steaming coco coir for too long or at too high a temperature results in over-sterilization, which results in a lack of nutrient uptake, poor plant growth and pH imbalances.
Moisture loss: Steaming causes the coco coir to lose moisture, which makes it difficult to rehydrate and require additional water and time.
Shorter shelf life: Steaming reduces the shelf life of the coco coir as it causes the fibres to break down and become more susceptible to decay.
In short: we highly recommend staying away from steamed coco coir. Do your research and check if the coco coir you use, or plan to use, is steamed or not. The better brands will make sure their coco is not steamed.
Buffering coco coir is the process of washing the coco coir with a solution of calcium and magnesium to replace the naturally occurring (harmful) salts with these beneficial minerals. This makes buffering during the production process very important to ensure that the final product is suitable for use in horticulture. We’ve made a summary of the most important advantages of buffered coco:
Reduces the risk of nutrient toxicity: High levels of salts in coco coir cause nutrient toxicity in plants, leading to stunted growth, leaf damage and possibly even death. Buffering coco coir helps to reduce the salt levels and prevent this from happening.
Improves plant growth: By replacing the harmful salts with calcium and magnesium, buffering coco coir can improve plant growth and yield. These minerals are essential for plant growth and help to prevent nutrient deficiencies.
A buffered coco coir still has some harmful salts left, but it won’t kill your plant because of the added calcium and magnesium. However, the harmful salts that came loose from the coco fibres through the buffering process, will still have a negative effect on your plant growth and potential. That’s why we speak of medium quality coco coir.
Most brands stop optimizing their coco coir after phase 2 (the buffering process) to keep the productions costs low. The coco coir ís usable at this point, but a crucial step to reach exceptional quality is skipped: washing out all the harmful salts that came off the coco coir fibres during the buffering process. This extra (expensive) step in the production process is key if you are looking to deliver a 99.9% salt free coco coir. This essential final step will give the plant the ability to get to its maximum potential:
Prevents nutrient imbalances: Washing coco coir after buffering helps to prevent nutrient imbalances in the growing medium, because the excess minerals and harmful salts that cause these imbalances are washed out almost completely.
Eliminates the risk of salt buildup: Washing the coco coir after buffering helps to eliminate the risk of salt buildup in the growing medium. Salt build-up occurs over time if excess minerals and salts are left in the coco coir, leading to nutrient toxicity and other problems.
Improves plant growth: Washing coco coir after buffering helps to ensure that the growing medium has balanced nutrient levels, which improve the maximum potential of your plant growth and yield.
Hydroponic growing on a buffered and washed coco substrate.
As you have learned now, a high-quality coco coir product is 99.9% free of harmful salts. However, a plant needs (good) salts to grow. Before putting your plant in a high-quality coco coir, water your pots with our Cocos A & B. After watering your coco coir with the Cocos A & B solution, you can grow your plants without any risks of a lack of salts or nutrition.
Two component nutrient for the grow and flowering phase