Elevate Your Gardening with Coconut Coir

Did you know in 2023, the global production of coconuts was 64.68 million metric tons or about 142,595,000,000 pounds? That massive production used to amount to an enormous amount of waste!

Between 60% and 80% of the coconut produced was disposed of until a discovery turned this byproduct into garden gold. The production and use of coconut coir (a fiber made from coconut husks) has transformed that waste product into a valuable resource and considerably reversed its negative environmental impact.

Let's explore coconut coir, its benefits in gardening, and how to use it to grow plants and improve garden soil.

Why I Love Coco Coir

You may have seen brown coir used to make ropes, nets, mats, planter liners or upholstery padding. The surprising good news for gardeners is that coconut coir is also an excellent growing medium!

Coco Coir is a great addition to my gardening tool belt. It has multiple gardening applications, including making a top-quality DIY starting mix for seeds, soil blocking, vermicomposting, homemade potting mix, soilless hydroponic gardening, and soil amendment.

What Is Coconut Coir

After the coconut oil, coconut water, and coconut meat have been extracted, the remaining shell and husk can be mulched down and used to make other products. Coconut coir, or coco coir, is a natural fiber derived from the husk of coconuts.

It is a versatile material with a wide range of uses in gardening, farming, and even oil spill cleanup! Some people also call it coco peat because it is commonly used as a peat moss replacement, behaving much the same.

Benefits of Coconut Coir in Gardening

Coconut coir is great for gardening because it's an effective and eco-friendly growing medium. Let’s look at some ways using coconut coir in your garden can make plants grow better:

• High Water Retention - Coco coir is known for its water-holding capacity, which helps plants stay hydrated longer and reduces the frequency of watering.

• Great Texture - Coco coir's fine texture gives you a nice, fluffy growing medium that is perfect for growing and doesn’t have chunks that would inhibit root growth!

• Enhanced Aeration - That great texture provides natural aeration crucial for promoting healthy root development.

• Excellent Drainage - Coconut coir’s unique fibrous structure, even though it holds water, also has excellent drainage because the air pockets allow excess water to drain through, preventing waterlogging and root rot.

• Neutral pH - Unlike soil and peat moss, coco coir consistently has a pH close to 7.0. (Read this post to learn about soil pH and why it matters!)

• Sterile - Coco coir is very dry, compacted, and inert, so there is a minimal risk of pests, disease, mold, or mildew being introduced into your garden through it. Compost and peat, on the other hand, have a much higher chance of introducing fungus gnats, mold spores, and other undesirable things.

• Durable - Because coco coir breaks down slower than other organic materials, it is a long-lasting growing medium.

Coconut Coir vs. Other Growing Mediums

Here is a quick comparison of coco coir to garden soil and peat moss:

Traditional soil has a wide variance in composition, but coconut coir is always the same. All these benefits make it my top choice for crafting the perfect starting mix for seeds and for making potting mixes.

Drawbacks of Using Coconut Coir

As you see, coconut coir has many benefits in gardening. However, there are also some downsides that gardeners should be aware of to ensure a good experience when using coco coir.

• Inert - Coconut coir is naturally sterile, which is beneficial in many ways, but that also means it doesn't contain nutrients. If coconut coir is your primary growing medium, you will need to add nutrients through a fertilizer, like Trifecta+ or worm castings. Pro-Tip: Adding fertilizer is also required in many store-bought seed starting mixes because they also don't contain any nutrients.

• Salt Content - When coconut fiber is processed, it must be wet to compress it into blocks. Often, salt water is used to do this because it is readily available in the areas of the world where coconuts are commonly grown. As a result, coconut coir usually comes with a high salt content. But plants do not like a high salt content! Too much salt can hurt young plants or even stop plants from growing. To remedy this, you will have to rinse the coconut coir thoroughly before using it to get all the salt out.

Pro-Tip: MIgardener’s Loco Coco Coir is triple-washed before it is compressed. Produced in the USA, it does not need to be rinsed before use because it has already been thoroughly pre-rinsed!

Types of Coco Coir Available on the Market

If you are unfamiliar with coco coir, you need to know that different grades are available. The grade tells you the coarseness of the product. You can get everything from chipped coco coir (containing coconut shell and the outer coat ground into hard chips) to Grade A coco coir (an ultra-fine coconut husk without any shell chunks).

I highly recommend using only premium Grade A coco coir for gardening applications to avoid getting the hard bits of particulate. Pro-Tip: Some people will tell you that the hard bits of shell can be used to add bulk to a growing medium and as a substitute for perlite, but those bits of shell don’t expand or hold onto water well. You will get better results using Grade A coco coir mixed with vermiculite and perlite.

How to Choose High-Quality Coconut Coir

With all of the information you’ve just read, you are now armed with the knowledge you need to sort through all of the coconut coir products on the market and choose the best product for your application. But, we’ve already done that for you too.

I shamelessly recommend MIgardener’s Loco Coco Coir blocks for all gardening applications. It is premium Grade A pre-rinsed ultra-fine coconut coir made from husk only. This stuff is absolutely incredible!

Our coco coir comes in 10-pound compressed blocks. Each block is made from around 40 coconuts. When hydrated, it absorbs almost 17 gallons of water and expands to around three cubic feet!

There is no need to worry about salt because it is thoroughly pre-rinsed, which is a step that I don’t have to do and frees up time that I can put into other parts of my garden. It can give your plants an amazing boost and save you money.

How to Prepare Coconut Coir for Gardening

To use coconut coir, it is important to first rehydrate the material. This can be done by soaking the coir in water for several hours, or by adding water directly to the coir and allowing it to absorb the moisture. Once the coir is fully hydrated, it can be used however you wish.

Supplies Needed to Hydrate Coco Coir

• Trowel - A transplanting trowel works well for removing chunks of coco coir if you are not rehydrating the entire block.

• Container - You will need a container, like a plastic washtub, to rehydrate the coconut coir in.

• Water - Warm water works best and speeds up the process, but you can also use cold water if that is all you have available.

Step-By-Step Instructions for Hydrating Coco Coir

1. Open the Coco Coir - Open the package of coco coir and remove the block.

2. Break Off Coco Coir From the Block - If you don’t plan to use all of it at once, use a trowel (or a screwdriver) to break off the desired amount of coco coir from the block. Force the tool into the side, not the top or bottom, and flake off chunks. The block is compressed in sheets and will break apart more easily if you try to separate the sheets.

3. Put in a Washtub - Put the chunks into the washtub. Pro-Tip: Keep any unused coco coir dry and put it in a bag. Store it in a dry place so it will be good for next time.

4. Add Water - Add warm water to hydrate the coco coir. Mix it with the trowel or your hands until it is moist and fluffy, continuing to add water until the coco coir is fully hydrated and has no dry spots.

Practical Ways to Use Coconut Coir in Your Garden

Once rehydrated, the coco coir is ready to be used for any of these applications:

Regardless of how you use your coconut coir, I hope you learned something new, enjoyed reading this post, and it helps your garden in some way.