Coco Peat, An Excellent Growing Medium

Coco Peat

Coco peat or Coir Peat is the ‘coir fiber pith’ also called as ‘coir dust’. Coco peat is a bi-product produced when processing the coconut husks for extraction of long fiber from the husks. Coir waste from coir fiber industries is washed and heat-treated. The treated coir waste is then screened and graded before being processed into coco peat products of various granularity and denseness. The final coir products are then used for horticultural and agricultural applications and as industrial absorbent. Coco peat or coir pith is made from coconut husks. It is the byproduct of the coir industry. Coir fiber makes up about a third of the coconut pulp. The rest, called the pith or dust, is biodegradable waste.

Once considered as waste material, but coir pith is now being used as mulch (a covering spread on the ground around plants to prevent excessive evaporation). Coco peat is used for soil treatment and a hydroponic growth medium  for plants like Tomato, cucumber, eggplant, capsicum, zucchini, melons  and plants like roses, carnation,  gerabera, orchids. Coco peat is also used for seed starting, bedding plants, planters, gardens, container plants. Coco peat is an ideal growth medium for home garden, kitchen garden and roof garden and you can use peat moss anywhere you want.

The Coco Peat is resistant to bacterial and fungal growth thus, used as a multipurpose growing medium that provides new opportunities for Potting Mix Suppliers, Seedling Nurseries, and Hydroponic Growers & Golf Green Constructors. The advantages of the Coco peat is that it retains water 8-9 times of its weight; it also has the capacity to store and release nutrients to plants for extended duration. Moreover, coco peat has oxygenation properties which help the plant to develop healthy roots. Coco peat is an excellent substitute growing medium of plants and seed saplings as it is free from bacterial and fungal spores. It can be mixed with sand, compost and fertilizer to make a good potting mixture.

Coco peat generally has an acidity in the range of pH – 5.5 to 6.5. It is a little on the acidic side for some plants, but many popular plants can tolerate this pH range Coco peat has high cellulose and lignin content, that helps in growing medium for mushrooms as they thrive on cellulose.

Coco peat can be re-used up to three times with little loss of yield. Coco peat from diseased plants should not be re-used. Coco peat is an excellent growing medium for home garden, kitchen garden, terrace garden, Vegetable gardens, Bedding Plants, Hydroponics, Potted Plants, Golf course greens, New lawns, Potting mixes, green houses, Flower gardens, Rose cultivation, Re-planting, Mushroom farming, Bonsai mixes, Garden beds and Growing medium for Earth worms.