When it comes to the coconut plant, only a few fully understand how beneficial it is. Apart from its nutritious inner part, the fruit’s outer is also a raw material for most textiles companies that make ropes. However, coconut coir, which comes from the fibrous inner shell of the fruit, is what’s considered the fruit’s most important waste. Coco coir is one of the most vital organic growing mediums that can serve as a soil amendment to replace non-renewable mulches in the garden. It’s an environmentally-friendly supplement with excellent benefits to your garden, such as;

• It Improves Soil Quality

Coco Coir significantly improves difficult soil by adding the much-needed organic matter. Its few nutrient rates are highly beneficial to plant growth if well utilized in poor soil quality. To make its nutrient quality even more helpful to heavy feeding plants, you can include a few compost amendments. 

These amendments also work when you apply cocoa coir on poor drainage soils. For instance, using it on sandy soils helps in moisture and nutrient retention. Its application on clay soil also improves soil quality, loosening the compaction and allowing easy movement of water and nutrients. If you’re a farmer keen on high yields, performing annual Coir amendments in your bed will result in the preferred soil quality for most of your garden plants.

• Its Use is Highly Sustainable 

Finding an organic growing medium that’s highly sustainable is no walk in the park. Most farmers are used to the non-renewable mulches that serve for a limited time before becoming waste. When you resort to using Coco Coir, it’s doubtful you’ll end up in such a situation. Its high sense of sustainability means you can easily re-use it. 

Unlike peat moss which will take ages to regrow after harvesting, Coco Coir is natural waste from the coconut plant. This means you can easily access it from any coconut harvest, or better still, purchase the coconut from the markets. In coconut growing areas, finding these nuts is even more accessible and cheaper than you think. On average, Coco Coir can take years to break down entirely. This leaves it as the most ideal and sustainable organic growing medium for your garden soil.

• It Improves Soil Aeration and Water Retention Capabilities

When appropriately used, Coco coir provides good aeration to the soil. The organic growing medium can soak in more water for efficient plant growth. Therefore, using it as a planting medium will save you from watering the plants.

Coir also improves soil drainage in the bed.  It breaks down quickly, creating air spaces in the soil that provide a safe passage for excess water away from the soil roots. Besides that, the coir material alone absorbs extra moisture to prevent drainage from occurring too often. This also ensures the soil doesn’t dry out completely. 

• Improves Soil PH

Unlike other organic growing mediums, Coco Coir has pH levels of 5.5 to 6.8. These are considered neutral levels favorable for plant growth, except for acid-loving plants like azaleas. Besides using it directly, you can also mix Coco Coir with other plant amendments to improve its efficiency.

However, additional agricultural lime won’t be required to neutralize its PH levels. Also, the anti-fungal properties of its neutral PH make it perfect for soil that experiences insect and disease infestation. Essentially, using Coco Coir saves you from the cost of buying further PH amendments and anti-fungal soil remedies.

• It’s Environment Friendly

Coco Coir is a natural waste product that comes from plant material. This puts it among the ecological-friendly supplements that cause minimal impact on the environment. Besides, the utilization of Coco Coir is one of the great ways to make good use of the left-over coconut material that would’ve gone to waste. 

Coco Coir makes a perfect choice for a more environmentally friendly alternative given the lack of sustainability from peat moss and other organic planting mediums. It also has the added advantage of being easily reusable. You’ll find the material safe to use in greenhouses or your outdoor garden.

Using Coco Coir in Your Garden

Coco Coir is often found in compressed bales. To apply it better, you must first soften the bales by soaking them in water for some time. It’s advisable to use a large container as the bales will increase once the water flows in. 

Thoroughly soaked Coco Coir is easy to apply. A single layer is enough to improve your soil quality.  However, using multiple layers will be much needed to control weeds and forms of infestation in your garden.

Final Thought

Using Coco Coir in your garden is an environmentally conscious decision that will improve your garden. While it won’t be helpful on all plants, it’s an essential soil amendment solution that can replace non-renewable organic supplements. 

References

https://www.advancednutrients.com/articles/coco-coir-grow-medium/

https://gardeningtips.in/coconut-coir-benefits-for-gardening-making-uses

https://plantcaretoday.com/coconut-coir.html