Coco Growing Media is a 100% organic media produced from the brown fibrous husk of the coconut.
It includes the products Coco Peat and Coconut Coir.
Both are derived from the same fibrous exterior husk of the coconut.
Coconut Coir is made from grinding up and processing the coarse fibres from the coconut husk.
Cocopeat is the fine and powdery product left over after the coarser fibres have been removed from the husk for processing.
The fibrous nature of Coconut Coir provides space within a growing media to allow for improved aeration and drainage.
The finer nature of Cocopeat provides a water retention capacity of up to 70%.
By mixing the fine, medium and coarse material of the Coconut Coir and Cocopeat together, a high-quality, high-performance media is able to be created that allows for excess water to drain away while still maintaining an excellent water holding capacity – a perfect environment for healthy root growth.
During manufacture the raw material of the coconut is washed, dried, screened, graded, quality checked and formed into compressed slabs, blocks, Briquettes or Open Top Grow Bags which, after transportation can be hydrated with water followed by a buffering process.
The media expands to 4 times its original size when in contact with water. This makes it an economical media for international shipping and it is lightweight to install.
The Coconut slabs or Open Top growbags are pre-wrapped in biodegradable plastic sheaths ready for planting in as soon as they are hydrated and flushed.
Simply lay the slabs or bags out in the greenhouse in their final rows, hook them up to your dripper system and program your irrigation controller to irrigate in short but frequent durations with the recommended hydration solution.
Alternatively, the compressed 4.5kg Coco blocks are supplied unwrapped. When they are ready to be used, they are laid on plastic film or in drainage troughs outside of the greenhouse and hydrated with sprinklers. 1 x 4.5kg block expands to 60 litres of high-quality hydrated coco media. The expanded and drained media is then scooped into PB planter bags or rigid plastic pots and then placed into their final planting rows in the greenhouse.
Unwashed Coco is the natural raw form of the coco product, which has a higher Conductivity (EC) level.
Washed Coco has been washed using clean, natural spring water to lower the EC level. High grades of coco are often triple washed.
Buffered/Conditioned Coco means that it has been “conditioned” with a Calcium Nitrate, Magnesium Sulphate solution. This process reduces the Potassium and Sodium Chloride levels, provides a stable pH, and optimum nutrient levels for enhanced establishment of the crop.
In commercial situations this buffering process is done after the coco growing media has been laid out in the greenhouse.
Some hobby products are sold as “pre buffered” which means they are bags of pre hydrated, ready to use coco media that have already undergone the buffering/conditioning process after hydration.
The buffering/conditioning process is critical for commercial hydroponic growers.
It must not be skipped.
A prewashed coco is not sufficient in itself to ensure a good quality crop. The buffering/condition procedure must be implemented as well.
Failure to do so will result in a crop that is slow to establish and lacking in vigour.
The highest quality coco media is predominantly sourced from coconuts grown in the inland regions of Sri Lanka. Coconut Coir is low in nutrients and is naturally high in potassium and to a lesser extend sodium.
The presence of high levels potassium and sodium in the growing media will interfere with the uptake of calcium and magnesium by the crop.
The potassium and sodium elements are held in the microtubes of the coconut coir media.
The first thing that should be done is to expand these microtubes and fill them with water by hydrating the coco media with fresh water. Then the calcium nitrate tetrahydrate and magnesium sulphate buffering/conditioning solution can be applied to flush out their contents, thereby replacing the potassium and sodium chloride with calcium and magnesium.
This process can take a few days to complete as the growing media is pulse fed by the fertigation system and the excess runoff is run to waste. The duration of the process is governed by the conductivity strength (EC) level of the runoff that flows from the base of the coco media after each application of the conditioning solution.
This runoff is tested with a Bluelab handheld conductivity (EC) meter (e.g Bluelab Conductivity Pen or Truncheon or Combo meter)
The initial runoff EC will be high as the potassium and sodium is displaced and flushed out. Lower quality coco medias will have a higher runoff EC compared to higher quality coco medias.
Once a target EC level is achieved, the buffering /conditioning solution is replaced with a normal balanced nutrient solution for further flushing until the next runoff EC milestone is reached. This process pre-charges the growing media with the exact nutrients required by the incoming crop.
After a final runoff EC target is reached, the perfect growing environment is then ready for the new crop and planting can commence.
Please contact Pure Hydroponics for a detailed hydration and conditioning procedure to accompany your coco media.
The benefits of using a Coco media are as follows:
- Homogeneous structure with excellent water distribution.
- Supplied as a compressed volume which expands 4 x its size when wet.
- You can fit 3 x as more compressed cocoslabs into a 20′ shipping container compared to Rockwool slabs.
- Ideal air/water balance
- Rapid dense root growth and improved yields.
- Simply to set up and use.
- Stable pH and EC values.
- Easy to re-hydrate after shrinkage.
- 100% organic.
- Old material can be reused as a soil conditioner or can be used to fill raised media beds for mixed vegetable production.
- Coco media can be sanitised with Oxine between crops and reused for up to 3 crops.
Not all coco media is equal and cheap coco media from an unreputable source is best to be avoided. What you save on costs will be lost with reduced yield.
Pure Hydroponics only sources reputable coir that is proven to perform.
Sizes available are as follows:
Coco Blocks
Coco growing media is available in 4.5kg compressed blocks which can be hydrated on site to make 60 litres of hydrated coco media. This media is then used to fill planter bags, rigid pots or cell trays. Blocks of different grades can be hydrated and mixed together to provide the correct consistency for your specific crop type. The coco media is 100% washed coco with low EC.
- General Purpose – Some fine material with fibre used for propagation & general growing, flowers, Vegetables etc.
- 8mm – Seedling/Propagation can give more air with perlite or fine crush.
- Fine Chip – Chip & fibre more fine than crush.
- Crush – Crushed chips for crops requiring lots of air and drainage like gerbera.
- SS – Chips. For providing air or drainage for crops like orchid or anthurium.
Coco Slabs and Open Top Growbags
The Coco Slabs and Open Top Grow Bags come with a plastic outer sheath with the dehydrated compressed coco media already packed inside in the correct blend. The internal coco media is 100% washed coco with low EC. Drippers are then attached to the slab or bag hydrate the media. Drainage slits are cut on the sides of the slab to allow the excess nutrient solution to runoff.
- 100 x 20 x 8cm – Ideal for Tomatoes, Capsicums
- 100 x 18 x 12cm – No holes
- 100 x 20x 10cm – 8 holes ideal for carnations, Strawberries
- 100 x 15 x 12cm – Tomatoes or Cucumber
- 20 x 18 x 70cm – Open Top bags for tomatoes, Capsicums, Beans or Cucumber
- (Above Measurements are based on final size when hydrated)
Please contact Pure Hydroponics to discuss pricing and which coco grade is the best for you.