The Advantages of Coco Coir as a Growing Medium in Hydroponics

Coco coir, or coconut coir, is the preferred growing medium for many hydroponic growers. Here are the advantages of coco coir as a growing medium in hydroponics, together with some disadvantages which you should also be aware of when deciding what kind of hydroponic system setup is best for you.

If you plan to use coco coir as a growing medium for your hydroponics system, then you’ll want to know:

• What it is exactly
• The different kinds of coco coir available
• How it derives from its natural origins
• The nutrients needed for a satisfactory yield
• The pros and cons of using it in a practical way
• The likely outcome of using it to grow your plants.

What Exactly Is Coco Coir as a Hydroponics Growing Medium?

Coco coir derives from a naturally occurring substance, a by-product of the fibre content within coconuts. This compound is both environmentally friendly and sustainable. They mechanically extract the fibre from coconut shells and reduce it further, so it’s even smaller.

Specifically, the coconuts first go through a curing process known as “retting”, a method of natural decomposition using the action of micro-organisms and moisture, separating the fibre from the stem. In practice, today’s form of retting takes only a few days.

Following that, the fibre of the coconuts is removed mechanically from the hard outer casing of the coconut. The result is the fibre itself, also known as the coir, and it is then dried and formed into any shape or size necessary, including discs, bricks, briquettes, handy pot shapes, or as a kind of mulch supplied in bags.

What Are the Different Kinds of Coco Coir?

The three primary forms of coco coir are pith, fibre and chips. These can work individually or as a combination for the best effect.

The coco pith resembles dead, fibrous moss. It absorbs water significantly, so growers often mix it with some other material because its water retention properties mean it could overwhelm and saturate your plants’ roots.

Coco consists of reedy, sinewy clumps that allow oxygen access to plants’ roots. But this oxygen will deplete through time because the fibre does break down as time goes on, although it is robust enough to be reused.

Coco chips are handy items; they are tiny wads of coir that offer the best characteristics of both pith and fibre, allowing reasonable amounts of oxygen to plant roots and providing more than adequate water retention.

It’s often the case that hydroponics growers will have a preference they have discovered that works best for them during their activities. The larger growers will often use mixtures, while blends are also available commercially, combining the three basic types to proportions considered optimum, removing the need to mix these yourself. Once you have this, you must hydrate it by adding a reasonable amount of water.

The Advantages of using Coco Coir in Hydroponics

Fast-growing cycle with large yields. Coco coir can give you a fast-growing process combined with considerable results. The correct proportions of coco coir mean that you don’t need to worry about adequately feeding your plants and can invest your time in the growing process and how you can get the most out of it.

Ample room for the plants’ root system: Coco coir offers its own almost unique fusion of excellent and dependable water drainage with high water retention and optimal aeration. This action leads to significant exposure to the air, accompanied by tremendous oxygen uptake.

It provides good space for roots to become oxygenated. Coco coir provides an almost unique combination of excellent water retention and good drainage and, as stated above, will provide plenty of oxygen to the roots and the plants. There is more than adequate space for the roots to thrive, as this exposure to air and the oxygen within it is ideal.

It assures low risk from pests and bacteria. Coco coir has good antifungal features, ideal for preserving plant roots. It tends to be unpleasant for garden pests and bacteria, thereby minimising disease. You won’t have to put down insecticide or spend a long time weeding.

Environmentally friendly and sustainable. Coco coir is environmentally-friendly and a highly sustainable source. The average coconut tree yields about 150 coconuts per year. In addition, coco coir consists of those scraps of coconut which would otherwise just be thrown away as rubbish.

Robust and Reusable. This material may be reused, provided it receives proper treatment. Growers may use it more than once, and its yields are very satisfactory.

pH neutral properties. It has a pH of between 5.2 and 6.8, meaning it is more or less pH neutral. While this is good news, coco coir pH will vary over time as it begins to decay, so it is also necessary to use other nutrients to supplement it.

The Disadvantages of using Coco Coir in Hydroponics

As well as advantages, coco coir has its disadvantages. It would be best to recognise these when weighing up the make-up of the hydroponic system that you eventually decide is best for you.

Firstly, coco coir is subject to some chemical treatments as part of the process used to eliminate pathogens that might otherwise grow and thrive, and this process inevitably leaves residue.

Coconut coir can have a relatively high salt content, though this will vary according to its production method. For example, if the coconut husks were left to soak in salty water as part of the retting process, they may need rinsing afterwards in freshwater. The rinse will remove most of the salt content if not all of it.

Coco coir tends to retain magnesium, calcium and iron, meaning that these elements are not given out to the plants in as great a quantity as they could be. Plants need these three elements. Of these three, magnesium and calcium, as macronutrients, are considered more important than iron, a micronutrient. Nevertheless, it takes a good proportion of each to produce a decent crop. Because of this shortcoming, you may need to boost the levels of these elements by using other nutrients in conjunction with the coco coir.

You will need to feed coco coir every day. As detailed above, it is very good at retaining oxygen for an excellent supply to plant root systems, so it requires a bit of daily work to maintain.

Coco coir is only one growing medium among several, and you may need to refer to our information on all the other growing media before you decide which one would work best for you.