Coir retains 50% moisture. Peat moss (without perlite/vermiculite) retains 80% moisture. Coir is ideal for hydroponics. Constant slight over watering to keep flushing out excess salts left over from the fertilizers, because the plants get nearly all nutrients from the waterings and next to nothing from the coir, while not remaining so saturated as to promote root rot. I work on a farm that grows 15 acres of hydroponic strawberries. 100% coir is the growing medium. We reuse the coir bags for 3 to 5 years. We do get mosses, fungi, algae, and liverworts growing on the coir. All kinds of little insects in there too. Not as much or as diverse as true ground soil. Takes a while for them to get established, but they do come. Year one is pretty much inert. Dandelion, buttercup, asters, ragweed, thistle, alder, spruce, and various other windblown weed seeds make their way in as well. All other crops on this farm use peat moss as a growing medium for seedlings that later get transplanted out into fields. Lettuce, squash, cucumber, celery, peppers, tomatoes, melons.
Patreon members first to view! AWSOME! Use mostly peat moss. I have mixed in coir also. Vermiculite and worm castings. Also trying something new to me. Told you about in earlier videos. Took last years maple leaves and ground them up with weed whacker in a metal wash tub. Then I forced leaves through 1/4 inch hardware cloth. Added vermiculite and worm castings. I will keep you updated on how it works. It's sounds really cool to do, but it was a lot more time consuming then I thought it would be.
Peat moss guy here. For the same reasons you give. Canadian so the product doesn't actually travel far, and the water retention in fabric pots is a must. I'm still watering my mature tomatoes twice a day in 10 gallon pots with peat. I couldn't imagine what it would be like in Coir.
Peat is sustainable. A new crop of it grows every year. My dad has a peat bog on his land. During a drought in the late 80's, there was a peat fire that lasted for 9 months. That bog is now full of peat again. It grows back.
It does for sure! They go back to the original bogs after about 30-40 years in Canada based on the laws behind the process. I think the reason people are saying it’s not sustainable is due to improper management. Which is really difficult here in Canada because it’s all regulated.
Agreed, it's totally different. I picked up a seed starting kit and it came loaded with coco coir. I'm used to peat moss (pro-mix). Coco is certainly different! Thanks for the info.
I use coconut coir because it's very abundant where I am. For the salt issue I just presoak and prewash my coir multiple times before I use it on the garden. If you have a way to test TDS that would be better too. I add worm castings, neem cake, home made compost and carbonized rice hulls on my mix for nutrients and to jumpstart it. For my nepenthes I just use pure coco coir that's been prewashed. I water it on the top everytime to also help wash off salt that's not removed during the prewash. It's been doing good so far :)
@@GardeningInCanada I use parboiled rice hulls for aeration for my food crops. For house plants I use pumice and coco that's more chunky. Perlite is expensive here so the next best thing is parboiled rice hulls. I'm still newish and testing ratios for now but so far the plants are growing :)
Yea makes complete sense! Using peat Moss is just silly for you. Plus your climate allows for it. PS I have lots of followers from the Philippines and my coworker is from there. So I had to quiz her on your climate to help you guys out better.
Thanks for all your hard work and sharing this information with us! I use both and buy whichever one is on sale and available. I use fine coco coir or pellets to start seeds. 😊
Yes, I did the same thing Tiffany. I went half peat, half coconut coir mixed into my raised bed mix. I have no idea how it will work. Brand new raised beds and first time making my own mix. Fingers Crossed
Hi, thanks for all your work. I created a new raised be on the weekend for asparagus. I used cc instead of peat moss for this one because of the PH. I hope that it was a good choice. The mix ratio is about 70% soil, 20% compost and 10% coco coir.
Wow I almost stop using coco coir because of the fungus gnats and fungus growing on it and I had a good cover of algae on a few. I must have got something different. Anyhow I don't think one can replace the other and I have found both are good for different things. As they both have strengths and weaknesses.
I’ve had good luck with the compressed coir fiber bricks. Never noticed any salt issues and used them for seed starting (mixed with a “garden soil”, vermiculite, and slow-ish release fertilizer - cause I’m bad about up potting). The increased drainage did catch me off guard as so many, um, sources stated that it was a 1:1 equivalent to peat moss. Couldn’t be further from the truth. Pretty soon I’ll also be giving my municipal compost a try to see how well that works. Hopefully another good option and, at ~U$12 per cubic yard (not quite a cubic meter), it’s a good deal.
I decided several years ago that as a Canadian prairie gardener the environmental impact of importing coconut coir was much higher than that of using Canadian grown peat moss. I have heard that the salt content of coconut coir can be extremely high, but having it build up on your pots 😬, that’s a lot of salt!
washing coco and using tds meter has helped me a lot. also treating with calmag is an option to avoid leaching from medium. have you heard of these techniques?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience so concisely! I live in Alaska and have been growing bonsai trees for about 14 years. I mostly mix my own soil depending on the tree I’m working with. One of my biggest challenges is that bonsai trees are essentially grown in inert substrate mixes revolving around at least some portion of akadama. Akadama is only mined in Japan and is very unique and expensive, plus shipping. Could you do a video assessing the characteristics of akadama? I’ve been searching for a substitute for several years now but haven’t landed on a sufficient substitute with similar porosity, drainage, and cec. Thank you again!
1/3 coir + 1/3 vermiculite + 1/3 compost seems to do the trick for me. It's cheap, sustainable, and gives me a well draining medium that's able to retain moisture, oxygen and nutrients.
Hello. Nice article and thank you. I recall having read that in India and Sri Lanka where Coconut Coir is produced, it is cleaned using salt water, and that this is the source of the high sodium content. Certainly the salt can be reduced by washing with fresh water, and for certain crop applications is a necessity.
I live on the northeast coast of the US. I use peat for the same reason Ashley does. It doesn't travel as far to get to me as nearly ANY coconut coir. Also, peat tends to be much cheaper where I live, by weight, than coir.
I know coco coir is used quite often in hobby mushroom cultivation and a lot of the dry bricks of it that they sell are infected with Trichoderma fungus from the get go to help gardeners who use the product, to the point the medium has to be sterilized for mushroom mycelium to colonize it before the mold gets a chance. I know the stuff I buy at the pet store that is intended for reptile bedding is for sure already dosed with the mold and I have to use quite a bit of energy with my pressure cooker to return it to the nutritionally inert state so that I can introduce the mushroom mycelium I want to grow. I have yet to experience excessive salting, though I haven't used it with any kind of salt nutrient mix. All of my hydroponics stuff gets pretty nasty salt build-up that takes a bit of rinsing after each grow to clean off, though that could be down to my dosing of the nutrients. Is hard to say. Kinda going off of it for hobby growing honestly. Soil is so much easier for me and I don't have to deal with loud pumps constantly being on to aerate the water. I just used to think soil was kinda gross and didn't like playing in it and that hydro would be easier for apartments. My opinions have changed over time.
I found rinsed and buffered CoCo fed a dedicated nutrient for hydroponics, like Jacks or Masterblend yields bountiful and delicious produce. JM2¢. Btw, it’s reusable
@@GardeningInCanada And it was a store bought seed starting mixture. That was the only year I had issues with my seed starting. I use only peat ones now.
@@GardeningInCanada Ashley, I am SO glad I found your channel, and this video in particular. I think I’ve found the answer to my disastrous seed starting this year. I used to start seeds in a south facing window. They were leggy, but it worked. Last year I ordered seeds online. Due to slow pandemic mail, my seeds didn’t arrive until the last day of April. Most of my seed starting was outdoors and was successful. After watching many gardening videos I switched from peat moss and vermiculite to coco coir and perlite. I bought LED lights and a heat mat and in mid January I began the process of sowing a dozen flats of vegetable and flower seeds. My germination rate was a disappointing 50%. I noticed the cells looked dry even though covered with a dome. I started watering more. The seedlings continued to struggle and over weeks 95% fell over limp before they had put on true leaves. The few that survived did not thrive. I transplanted some into a garden bed yesterday. The tallest were 1 inch, from seeds sown in February and March. After watching your video I’ve come to believe that coco coir has been the problem, not under or over watering or inadequate light, as Ihad suspected. I think it did not retain enough water to sustain seedlings. I did not notice salt accumulation, but it could have played a role. One factor in switching from peat was that coco coir was sustainable. I consider myself to be environmentally aware. I live in Wisconsin yet I hadn’t considered that coconut products have a long way to travel to get to me. I looked up ‘peat bogs in WI’ and found this, “Wisconsin is home to the largest marsh in the world - close to about 1,000 acres - that grows sphagnum moss.” I also learned that peat grows to harvest in 7 to 10 years, so it is sustainable as someone had commented. Sorry this got so long, but I wanted you to understand what a huge difference this video has made in my gardening. Many, many thanks to you for sharing your knowledge with us! I’ve enjoyed many of your videos, but this one changed my gardening life and will give life to my seeds from now on.
Coco works great for all aspects of growing. It must be rinsed cleaned and Buffered. Some Brands are fully treated and are ready to use Recreational growers have proven that CoCo outperforms Peet Mixed and its reusable. JM2¢
Hi, glad to have found ur channel, i really like your content esp coming from a soil scientist. I come from the other side of the globe from Canada (south east asia) where coir is plentiful. Just to share, coco coir products varies greatly, some are pure pith (with inevitable fine fiber), some are combined with part coco chips (small chips of coco husk which hasnt got its fiber and pith separated), which might explain additional draining properties of the medium despite the alr relatively higher porosity of pure pith. Regarding salt, I noticed it varies among different manufacturer. always choose the pre-washed coir (its usually stated if it is) and pre-buffered if possible for improved CEC. However, I have also encountered coir product with varying salt content even from exact same brand/manufacturer (Quality Control dept slept on it perhaps). So its always better to buy coir products from reputable manufacturer. Or always do additional rinse/wash , or even better testing its TDC/EC prior to using it.
My grafted kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) was dropping leaves in its peatmoss-aggregate blend mix I concocted myself. The aggregates, which were included for aeration and drainage, consisted of perlite, pumice, grit, hydrocorn, vermiculite and charcoal. A slight finger tap on the plant's stem would send leaves detaching from the branches and raining onto the ground. So, I decided that emergency action was called for: I removed the whole plant- rootball and all- from the plastic pot. I observed that, despite the heavy fortification with aggregates (by volume: 1 part peat to 3 parts aggregates) the potting mix was moist and heavy. I suspected that the peat was holding too much moisture, and that the added vermiculite was only making matters worse. So, I removed as much of the potting mix from the roots as I could, then rinsed the rootball under running cold tap/faucet water to remove remaining potting mix and fertilizer salts. Fresh tap/faucet water contains a lot of dissolved oxygen, which should help the plant if its roots were suffering from oxygen depletion because the growing media was remaining overly moist for prolonged periods without any dry-down between waterings. Citrus are an example of a species requiring high oxygen concentrations at the roots; as such, they hate 'wet feet', so-to-speak. Citrus like a thorough soaking, followed by a complete dry-down before the next thorough watering. This watering pattern mimics the rainfall patterns in the Mediterranean-type climate in which citrus thrive: a typical Mediterranean-climate summer consists of long spells of sunny and warm to hot and dry weather, interrupted by periodic torrential thunderstorms. So, I potted up my kaffir lime in a coconut coir-based mix; a simpler mix comprising of (by volume) 2 parts of coir to 1 part perlite and 1 part hydrocorn. This time I did not include any vermiculite, as this material absorbs a lot of water (squeeze a hydrated piece of vermiculite between your fingers and watch that water rush out!). To my amazement, since potting up my kaffir lime in the coir mix, the leaf drop has stopped altogether! What a strong response from the plant! Evidently, the plant was not happy with its peat mix. Maybe it was the excessive moisture retention of the peat, despite the aggregates I added? Maybe the peat is too acidic? Maybe the peat contain pathogenic fungus? Maybe it was riddled with fungus gnat (peat fly) eggs, and the hatching larvae were chewing the roots and introducing fungus into the open wounds? Maybe I accidentally have over-fertilised? I like to fertilise with every watering, by adding a diluted tomato feed. Come to think of it, for citrus I think tomato feed contains too little nitrogen and too much potassium and phosphorus. Citrus flower at the drop of the hat, anyway, and do not need particularly high potassium to induce flowering. I think I'll now use a proper citrus feed. By the way, I live in England, and my peat is sourced from the bogs of Ireland. The coir I have great results with is the Dutch 'Canna' brand. It is very airy, lightweight and fluffy- unlike the Irish peatmoss I use. Considering that I am not growing my citrus in a warm greenhouse, and that the UK is not a particularly warm country (although it is positively tropical compared to the absolutely frigid winter cold of Canada!), I think the peat holds on to too much water, as the dry-down period, which is aided by warmth and lots of sunlight, is not as strong as it would be in, say, Southern California, Sicily, Queensland or Florida. The extra water retention of peat would come in useful in climates with more annual sunshine hours, higher solar light and UV levels, and higher temperatures. In respect of growing potted citrus and other plants requiring high aeration and excellent drainage, coir performs better in cooler climates.
@@GardeningInCanada Yes, and the plant's positive response was immediate! The leaf drop has stopped totally. So, there was something about the peat-based mix that it did not like.
Another great video. It would be really great to see a video/series similar to this focused on water and how it affects the soil. There is a lot of information on testing water, and installing water filtration systems. There is much less on if what type of system (reserve tank with bubbler, absorbed acid, charcoal, reverse osmosis, etc..) should be used based on the water source. Should you filter the water for all of your plants, or do different soils and plants have different water requirements. Seems to be the case in nature; and if so does this allow for the reuse waste-water (RO) for another part of they garden? Does the water quality improve soil quality over time and does this help with the different pest pressures? Does water quality mater when composting?
It sounds like you got unwashed coastal coconut coir which must be washed before use. There are vendors that make sure to fix the salt problem before they make the coir blocks...
Anyone who's gardened for a while already has a good amount of both, mixed together, especially me as I mix all my sources of dirt obsessively and run experiments with different things to put in the soil all the time, so I'll refrain from choosing one over another as all my samples are hopelessly contaminated with each other.
Yeah it's pretty much everything, perlite, finely crushed eggshell, cooked cat litter ceramic, charcoal, those pithy rocks from the bottom of planters, leaf gutter dirt, silt from the lawn, stickers from the surfaces of apples, I call the mix "Flotsam"
I really like mixing in a lot of pumice for my succulent soil but it is expensive. Would mixing in coconut coir be a cheaper alternative for insuring good drainage? I recently found your videos and they are great. I don't know how you don't have 100k+ subscribers.
Haha the algorithm does love me. It would definitely help. Stay away from anything that says Coconut coir not coco peat. I find the peat stuff really fine.
I have yea, My only real hang up is it needs to be well composted to avoid alleopathic properties ( I did a video on this) and in my colder climate I cant compost my fall leaves until the following year.
@@GardeningInCanada The leaf mold I harvested this past fall actually took 2 years to thoroughly break down. I now take the time to at least double shred the leaves before I start a new pile. That should accelerate the decomposition.
I use peat moss. I sift it if I use with potting soil to get rid of the big chunks. That's what I did for the winter sowing in the milk jugs' I thought it would help to keep the soil from caking over time. It seemed to work so far. I use the big chunks in our raised beds so it isn't wasted. It is also cheaper and easier to find. Do you ever use boiling water in your potting soil? I've watched many Canadian videos where it seems to be a practice in Canada. Just curious. Take care!
@@GardeningInCanada Your helping already. I started at zero knowledge and bought a home 6 years ago. I think alot of people think gardening can be easily grasped however, it takes time. I didn't understand how important fertilizer and soil testing was until you popped up on my page. Sure glad I found you because living in Alberta, Canada, it's hard to find relevant information.
I prefer coco in bricks and i hydrate with boiling water. This sterile starting point for germinating seeds cant be beat IMO. Mixed with worm castings and compost and pete and whatever other stuff i find around to pot up and/or final planting but germination rate not as good.
This year, I used potting soil that I think is mostly peat moss based, but I'm also trying another set of seeds using some compost from under the mat of spruce needles in my yard, so we'll see which one works best.
@@GardeningInCanada So two of the egg carton cells that had the spruce needle compost from my yard also had some used coffee grounds (quite possibly too much) to help fertilize the soil and the surface is now covered in a stringy web of fungus. Not sure if I should be concerned about too much of a good thing when it comes to fungus? The ten other egg carton cells without used coffee grounds don't have any visible fungi atm (it's only been 5 days though). And then there's also twelve egg carton cells that have peat based commercial potting mix. Those just had the first seedlings poke out of the soil today from two of the cells that contained basil seeds, after surprisingly only 5 days. Before sowing the seeds, I did put all my seeds between wet paper towels in the slow cooker for a couple hours on low yogurt setting (32C or so?) to see if that gives them a boost so maybe that's why. Also, I didn't have heat mats, but I did put the egg carton cells into plastic bags on the window sill.
@@Lochness19 That fungus is coming from the spruce needles, not the coffee grounds. Though the grounds may be helping to maintain the perfect moisture level for it to flourish, and a fresh un-composted carbon source to feed on. Also, watch the Ph level from the spruce needle compost. Likely highly acidic and needs some dilution. I'd use it as a nutrient supplement mix into the commercial potting mix.
@@stevehatcher7700 They're composted though, not fresh. I haven't tested the pH, but from what I understand it's only the needles that are still on the tree that are highly acidic, even the yellow ones that fall to the ground aren't that acidic anymore. And what I used is well past the state that even the yellow fallen needles are in. I uncovered the top 4 inches or so of yellow needles to get at the compost below. Down there, it seems all that's left of the needles is these soft fine filaments. I also mixed the spruce needle compost into one of my outdoor carrot beds along with the sandy in-situ soil, plus a bit of compost and top soil. So we'll see which of those mediums grows things best. The fungus wasn't growing in the spruce needle compost that lacked coffee grounds though, so I'm wondering if maybe the fungus came from the compost but was able to greatly multiply by consuming the coffee grounds?
@@Lochness19 you may be right about the composted needles not being as acidic as fresh needles. I'm certain it'll be great compost either way. It's definitely the coffee grounds that gave the fungus new food to feed on. Food sources were slowly winding down in the composted needles, add coffee grounds and presto, fresh new bloom of fungus. That, or the acidity of the un-composted needles at the top of the pile were keeping the fungus growing at a slower rate. Add pH neutral coffee grounds and, wooohooo, lets really grow! Or maybe a bit of both (fresh food and less acids). The coffee grounds would have been inert. Air dried before shipping, then roasted in an oven to give it that toasty flavour, then percolated with near boiling water to make your cup of coffee. Nothing was already living in there.
I love the texture of Coco Coir, the only downside is the higher price tag at the store. Peat moss here is like 10$ for the price of a sidewalk on the ground lol
@@GardeningInCanada it may not be in Canada. So far its the brand I've had the best luck with. PS thank you for saving my plants. I had not soaked my coir before mixing it. I noticed this whiteness overcome some. I thought it was mold starting. It was salt. I'm sure of it. Time to start new babies. 😁
Very insightful, it's good to listen to a soil scientist. A question: if I plan Alocasia, which one is the better for mixture with worm casting, perlite, and roasted husk? Peat moss or coco coir? thanks
Hey! Could you please suggest a good , easily prepared and efficient-for-the-effort soil-less mix and component composition for potting roses, that drains well and can withstand rains too? I say less effort because I can put all my effort into fertilizing and maintaining plants, but I don't want put so much effort into mixing soil and come up with an average or even an adverse potting mix. I got suggested aged cow manure, vermiculite, coir compost mix in 2:1:1 ratio. (I come from a place where coconut fibre is abundantly available processed, loose, as bricks or in any form available. Also it rains like for about 6 months a year here varyingly) I was, and am still a bit skeptical, considering the high nitrogen content , doubtful about the ph maintenance and drainage of the said mix and proportions. But then again, I had tried an aged cow manure, sand and coir mixture quite recently , (before I was suggested the above mix), and planted a few roses in it, and the stems are leafing right now. I do not know how the flowering performance would turn out to be. I did keep the mix potted and watered just the mix with no plant in it for a few weeks though, and waited until the weeds start to appear , just to know the right time to transplant the roses in to the pots. (I also feed a handful of compost/manure once in two weeks, and occasionally a handful of bonemeal to all my plants. I do use foliar feeds like liquid organic manure, humic+fulvic acid mix, seaweed extract, fish emulsion each on alternate weeks. And I regularly use bio control agents ( Trichoderma, pseudomonas, VAM) on the plants and in the soil, and mix of microbes like azospirillum, bio-potash, phosphobacter while fertilizing. All sourced from a local research-based organic fertilizer company ) It has been only a few months that I have ventured into gardening, and only starting to learn a lot of stuff, and I can't really tell if my plants are actually showing results, since I am only starting to learn about the season/flowering cycles of my plants. The leaves are all decently healthy, there are thick cane growths on the plants that I planted in , but it is the flowering performance that I am not sure about since I have only started. I would like to know your opinions and suggestions as a soil scientist, taking in all the factors I have tried to outline above. Your channel seems to provide bountiful of scientific and practical knowledge regarding gardening , for seekers. Thank You so much for the earnest effort you put into the cause.
@@GardeningInCanada Not available in my area/country, but I get your point. Also from personal experience as well, the leaves and plants of roses look so much healthier/resistant in soil-less mixes, and when supplemented with foliar feeds. Thanks for the reply.
@@GardeningInCanada Actually I have an idea I have come up with regarding preparation of a very basic yet not fussy potting mix for my place and climate. (that might perhaps work all around the world) 1 pot manure (for NPK) + 1 pot coco coir (aeration/drainage/water holding) + 1 pot Perlite&vermiculite mix in 80:20 ratio (drainage/aeration & nutrition holding) + 1 pot Coarse sand & small clay ball mix in 80:20 ratio (for weight/anchorage & drainage). That would give 4 pots of mix. Place a piece of sponge for drainage through a hole, like how you explained in a video. Give weekly/bi-weekly nutritional supplements.
I'm partial to my 60% sand, 40% peat moss mixture. It works for literally all my plants. I add my compost on top only without mixing it into the soil or root zone. It has excellent porosity and permeability. It works with salt fertilizer and organic. I even use it for seed starting and propagation. I used to use store bought "potting soil" made of peat moss with some perlite. The stuff was horrible. The top of the pot would be bone dry and the bottom drenched. It would always leave a dead zone in the middle of the pot where no roots would grow. And the smell of HS 🤢 that would come out of the bigger pots was too much.
Cool a soil scientist this gonna be fun been growing Cannabis for 38 years here in Los Angeles farmed KING COTTON here in America for 450 years & Grew with Natural amended fertilizers in Africa for millenniums my main Man is Percy Lavon Julian 🌱🔬👨🔬✌️👁️
Ashley, is there any other recommendations for nematodes here in Canada, as opposed to buying Amazon? I know that's not the discussion today but if you had any, I'd be grateful!
Not a problem! Side convos are welcomed! So here is Sask you can get them at Home Depot, earlys farm & garden, Wilson’s, floral acres. so essentially an greenhouses or seed stores.
Hi, can you please make a review on coco husk/coco chips? I am from Thailand and coco chips is found everywhere, but I can hardly find any good/subjective opinion on them.
I'm wanting to grow indoor plants from coco coir, pumice, a little bit of charcoal and orchid bark. I'm using this base for a specific plant, but I am wondering what else could grow in this. As I don't want to grow just one kind of plant.
Yes moss does wick up that's why totally dumped my 20 Years Deep Water Culture Systems and Only using Promix 4 Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss Baby From Now On Just Drop My Ladies In 5 Gallon Fabric Pots with a 3" Deep rim and Fill The 17" saucer with water & Mother Nature does the rest just add light nutrients when needed flush with plain pH water every week or two😉✌️
What if one establishes a biologically active/microbially active organic layer on top of the coir substrate, without mixing it into the coir? For example, a mulch or top-dressing layer, no greater than about 1 inch deep, consisting of shredded dried up leaves (coffee/spice grinders are good for pulverising dried leaves, by the way), with some rabbit or alpaca manure or bat manure (guano) mixed in? The droppings of plant-eating animals, such as rabbits, alpacas and deer, contains beneficial microbes. These days, you can buy growing media innoculants consisting of plant-beneficial symbiotic fungi (mycorhizae, trichoderma) and bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, etc). Microbially sterile growing systems, such as 'high tech' hydroponic cultivation in sterile media like leca/hydrocorn (clay pebbles), pure pumice/perlite and rockwool, can yield satisfactory results provided that the plant nutrients are given as plant-available cations and anions: water-soluble phosphate, nitrate, etc. You'd want to avoid using urea-based fertilisers in such sterile systems, as the urease-containing microbes which can metabolize the urea to ammonium are going to be absent. Nitrate-producing nitrifying bacteria (ammonium-oxidising nitrifying bacteria and nitrite-oxidising nitrifying bacteria) will also be absent in a sterile hydro system. Personally, I am more of a 'purist' and am only interested in using a solid substrate as a growing media. Such as coir. The problem with mixing in compost and manure into the coir is that the microbes, whilst breaking down the organic matter, compete for oxygen and can 'steal' the oxygen from the plant roots. This is what I have learned from listening to Gary Matsuoka of Laguna Hills Nursery in California (see his videos on his soil talks; he really advocates against using compost as a growing media except for those plants that can tolerate low oxygen levels at the rootzone). This is my logic behind using compost and manure only as a thin (~1 inch) top-dressing or mulch, rather than thoroughly mixing it into the coir growing media. I suppose one could make a microbially active compost or manure 'tea' and water the coir-grown plants with it.
@@GardeningInCanada Great idea Ashley! I didn't know what to do, so earlier today, I purchased a package of wooden skewers for 1.25. I created a "picket" fence around each square foot of my raised bed. Downside is, they're wood, so may not last the season. If they break down, i will def try the plastic forks as they will def last. Brilliant idea!
I have. Have an entire video on it actually. Plus I’ve studied peat bogs and have read through all the ethics & legality behind peat harvesting. ua-cam.com/video/8KQbmkwNa54/v-deo.html
Thanks for sharing well explained someone should have been defined Soils / Moss & Coco fibers in a symbiotic relationship with fungus mycorrhizae & roots intake & water retention pH & salts👁️🌱🔬👨🔬✌️
Link for Fungus Gnat, Thrip control goes here to an Amazon results page for the search terms "Nema Globe" whatever that is. I don't think that's what you meant. Also your link for spider mite control goes to a page of insecticides, but not a specific product. Is that what you meant? I just used persimilis mites to get rid of spider mites and it was the easiest thing I have ever done. I don't think I will ever go back to insecticides.
After using coco coir for almost a year now, mixed with perlite, I've come to the conclusion that there's too much sodium salt in it, and it doesn't provide enough organic matter to sustain growth in the plants. My plants have been stunted and slow growing and I blame it on the coco coir.
@@GardeningInCanada I did some research, and found Gypsum will help leach out the salt in soils! It flocculates the salts and allows the heavier size particles to settle to the bottom of the container, where they can be easily flushed out with each watering. I'm not kidding, as soon as I added some Gypsum into the watering can, almost all of the plants that were not growing because of the salty Coco coir, started growing! They say use the gypsum twice a year in your soil. Adds calcium and plants love it! I used a teaspoon to the small watering can water. In the future, if I decide to finish using up the rest of the coco coir, I'll add a bit of the gypsum powder to the soil mix. But yeah, that coco coir is washed and processed in brackish salty water in Sri Lanka I heard. I used a coco coir brick made for terrariums and reptiles, so it may have been low quality and not very well washed at all, (even though I rinsed it in a pail myself before using it in my soil mix). Live and learn. Thanks for getting the word out about it.
@@seaglass8940 How much gypsum do you add? I've been using coir as a hydroponic medium....TDS of my nutrient solution is in the 600-700 ppm range....excess fluid after the nutrigation is in the 2000 ppm range. Thank you in advance for your reply. 🙂
Which do you use? Be sure to check out the original videos for more context 🥥 coconut coir ua-cam.com/video/Gs3zWoEBgGY/v-deo.html 🪴 peat moss ua-cam.com/video/8KQbmkwNa54/v-deo.html
JSYK, I super appreciate everything about your posts! No huge production, just an authentic delivery of expert information. Thank you!😊👍🏽🙏🏽
I appreciate that!
Coir retains 50% moisture. Peat moss (without perlite/vermiculite) retains 80% moisture. Coir is ideal for hydroponics. Constant slight over watering to keep flushing out excess salts left over from the fertilizers, because the plants get nearly all nutrients from the waterings and next to nothing from the coir, while not remaining so saturated as to promote root rot.
I work on a farm that grows 15 acres of hydroponic strawberries. 100% coir is the growing medium.
We reuse the coir bags for 3 to 5 years. We do get mosses, fungi, algae, and liverworts growing on the coir. All kinds of little insects in there too. Not as much or as diverse as true ground soil. Takes a while for them to get established, but they do come. Year one is pretty much inert. Dandelion, buttercup, asters, ragweed, thistle, alder, spruce, and various other windblown weed seeds make their way in as well.
All other crops on this farm use peat moss as a growing medium for seedlings that later get transplanted out into fields. Lettuce, squash, cucumber, celery, peppers, tomatoes, melons.
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AWSOME!
Use mostly peat moss. I have mixed in coir also. Vermiculite and worm castings.
Also trying something new to me. Told you about in earlier videos. Took last years maple leaves and ground them up with weed whacker in a metal wash tub. Then I forced leaves through 1/4 inch hardware cloth. Added vermiculite and worm castings. I will keep you updated on how it works. It's sounds really cool to do, but it was a lot more time consuming then I thought it would be.
It’s hasn’t molded or mildewed to date has it?
@@GardeningInCanada everything is fine just started tho
That’s awesome
Peat moss guy here. For the same reasons you give. Canadian so the product doesn't actually travel far, and the water retention in fabric pots is a must. I'm still watering my mature tomatoes twice a day in 10 gallon pots with peat. I couldn't imagine what it would be like in Coir.
You would be watering like 3-4
Peat is sustainable. A new crop of it grows every year. My dad has a peat bog on his land. During a drought in the late 80's, there was a peat fire that lasted for 9 months. That bog is now full of peat again. It grows back.
Was that in the lower mainland, BC? Anyway I think we use and rejuvenate our moss, soil etc as much as possible.
@@lindam9018 No, I'm in the northern US.
It does for sure! They go back to the original bogs after about 30-40 years in Canada based on the laws behind the process. I think the reason people are saying it’s not sustainable is due to improper management. Which is really difficult here in Canada because it’s all regulated.
We do absolutely! Canada has a lot of laws around the harvesting/reclamation
@@GardeningInCanada Yes, I am learning how to properly do it from you! People discarding soil and amendments makes no sense.
Agreed, it's totally different. I picked up a seed starting kit and it came loaded with coco coir. I'm used to peat moss (pro-mix). Coco is certainly different! Thanks for the info.
I use coconut coir because it's very abundant where I am. For the salt issue I just presoak and prewash my coir multiple times before I use it on the garden. If you have a way to test TDS that would be better too. I add worm castings, neem cake, home made compost and carbonized rice hulls on my mix for nutrients and to jumpstart it. For my nepenthes I just use pure coco coir that's been prewashed. I water it on the top everytime to also help wash off salt that's not removed during the prewash. It's been doing good so far :)
I love this comment thank you SO MUCH for sharing your experience. So you don’t use any perlite or pumice for aeration? That makes sense!
@@GardeningInCanada I use parboiled rice hulls for aeration for my food crops. For house plants I use pumice and coco that's more chunky. Perlite is expensive here so the next best thing is parboiled rice hulls. I'm still newish and testing ratios for now but so far the plants are growing :)
Yea absolutely. Makes sense. Where are you located? If you don’t mind me asking
@@GardeningInCanada Philippines :) that's why we have lots of coco and rice hulls here.
Yea makes complete sense! Using peat Moss is just silly for you. Plus your climate allows for it. PS I have lots of followers from the Philippines and my coworker is from there. So I had to quiz her on your climate to help you guys out better.
Thanks for all your hard work and sharing this information with us! I use both and buy whichever one is on sale and available. I use fine coco coir or pellets to start seeds. 😊
Thanks for sharing!
This is the first time I've used coconut coir. I'm so glad I used half peat moss and half coconut coir to make up 1/3 of my starter mix.
Yea definitely a must. Judging from the comments I’m not alone.
Yes, I did the same thing Tiffany. I went half peat, half coconut coir mixed into my raised bed mix. I have no idea how it will work. Brand new raised beds and first time making my own mix. Fingers Crossed
Hi, thanks for all your work. I created a new raised be on the weekend for asparagus. I used cc instead of peat moss for this one because of the PH. I hope that it was a good choice. The mix ratio is about 70% soil, 20% compost and 10% coco coir.
That sounds very nice! Your plants are going to love that
Wow I almost stop using coco coir because of the fungus gnats and fungus growing on it and I had a good cover of algae on a few. I must have got something different. Anyhow I don't think one can replace the other and I have found both are good for different things. As they both have strengths and weaknesses.
interesting!
What do u find their strengths and weaknesses to be and what do u find them to be good for?
I’ve had good luck with the compressed coir fiber bricks. Never noticed any salt issues and used them for seed starting (mixed with a “garden soil”, vermiculite, and slow-ish release fertilizer - cause I’m bad about up potting). The increased drainage did catch me off guard as so many, um, sources stated that it was a 1:1 equivalent to peat moss. Couldn’t be further from the truth.
Pretty soon I’ll also be giving my municipal compost a try to see how well that works. Hopefully another good option and, at ~U$12 per cubic yard (not quite a cubic meter), it’s a good deal.
Ive used the bricks in reptile cages before and it didn’t have salt I agree
I decided several years ago that as a Canadian prairie gardener the environmental impact of importing coconut coir was much higher than that of using Canadian grown peat moss. I have heard that the salt content of coconut coir can be extremely high, but having it build up on your pots 😬, that’s a lot of salt!
It’s that insane. I was absolutely blown away. It’s hard for use to even really find here in Saskatchewan
Cocopeat (Coir) and Peat Moss is Old Age . Groww Ball is the Future ❤❤❤
washing coco and using tds meter has helped me a lot. also treating with calmag is an option to avoid leaching from medium. have you heard of these techniques?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience so concisely! I live in Alaska and have been growing bonsai trees for about 14 years. I mostly mix my own soil depending on the tree I’m working with. One of my biggest challenges is that bonsai trees are essentially grown in inert substrate mixes revolving around at least some portion of akadama. Akadama is only mined in Japan and is very unique and expensive, plus shipping. Could you do a video assessing the characteristics of akadama? I’ve been searching for a substitute for several years now but haven’t landed on a sufficient substitute with similar porosity, drainage, and cec. Thank you again!
yea absolutely. can you send me a link too reference from.
1/3 coir + 1/3 vermiculite + 1/3 compost seems to do the trick for me.
It's cheap, sustainable, and gives me a well draining medium that's able to retain moisture, oxygen and nutrients.
Hello. Nice article and thank you. I recall having read that in India and Sri Lanka where Coconut Coir is produced, it is cleaned using salt water, and that this is the source of the high sodium content. Certainly the salt can be reduced by washing with fresh water, and for certain crop applications is a necessity.
I live on the northeast coast of the US. I use peat for the same reason Ashley does. It doesn't travel as far to get to me as nearly ANY coconut coir. Also, peat tends to be much cheaper where I live, by weight, than coir.
100%. Completely forgot about cost. But very true it’s much less expensive
I bought soom but have not tried it yet. Thanks for the review.
Nice! You’ll like it if you enjoy drainage
Hi, would a mix 50/50 Coconut Coir and Peat Moss be a good solution ?
I feel the person who thumbs down this video has trouble growing one plant.
Haha it’s possible ❤️ I also have a handful of people that do not like me at all.
I know coco coir is used quite often in hobby mushroom cultivation and a lot of the dry bricks of it that they sell are infected with Trichoderma fungus from the get go to help gardeners who use the product, to the point the medium has to be sterilized for mushroom mycelium to colonize it before the mold gets a chance. I know the stuff I buy at the pet store that is intended for reptile bedding is for sure already dosed with the mold and I have to use quite a bit of energy with my pressure cooker to return it to the nutritionally inert state so that I can introduce the mushroom mycelium I want to grow. I have yet to experience excessive salting, though I haven't used it with any kind of salt nutrient mix. All of my hydroponics stuff gets pretty nasty salt build-up that takes a bit of rinsing after each grow to clean off, though that could be down to my dosing of the nutrients. Is hard to say. Kinda going off of it for hobby growing honestly. Soil is so much easier for me and I don't have to deal with loud pumps constantly being on to aerate the water. I just used to think soil was kinda gross and didn't like playing in it and that hydro would be easier for apartments. My opinions have changed over time.
That’s really interesting. I’ve never heard of the mushroom infected bricks. I’d be interested in that.
I found rinsed and buffered CoCo fed a dedicated nutrient for hydroponics, like Jacks or Masterblend yields bountiful and delicious produce. JM2¢. Btw, it’s reusable
Great video. The last time I used coconut coir for seed starting I had a big fail. Now I know why.
Oh no that’s not good. I definitely do not think it would work for seed starting
@@GardeningInCanada And it was a store bought seed starting mixture. That was the only year I had issues with my seed starting. I use only peat ones now.
Ugh that really sucks
@@GardeningInCanada Ashley, I am SO glad I found your channel, and this video in particular. I think I’ve found the answer to my disastrous seed starting this year. I used to start seeds in a south facing window. They were leggy, but it worked. Last year I ordered seeds online. Due to slow pandemic mail, my seeds didn’t arrive until the last day of April. Most of my seed starting was outdoors and was successful. After watching many gardening videos I switched from peat moss and vermiculite to coco coir and perlite. I bought LED lights and a heat mat and in mid January I began the process of sowing a dozen flats of vegetable and flower seeds. My germination rate was a disappointing 50%. I noticed the cells looked dry even though covered with a dome. I started watering more. The seedlings continued to struggle and over weeks 95% fell over limp before they had put on true leaves. The few that survived did not thrive. I transplanted some into a garden bed yesterday. The tallest were 1 inch, from seeds sown in February and March. After watching your video I’ve come to believe that coco coir has been the problem, not under or over watering or inadequate light, as Ihad suspected. I think it did not retain enough water to sustain seedlings. I did not notice salt accumulation, but it could have played a role. One factor in switching from peat was that coco coir was sustainable. I consider myself to be environmentally aware. I live in Wisconsin yet I hadn’t considered that coconut products have a long way to travel to get to me. I looked up ‘peat bogs in WI’ and found this, “Wisconsin is home to the largest marsh in the world - close to about 1,000 acres - that grows sphagnum moss.” I also learned that peat grows to harvest in 7 to 10 years, so it is sustainable as someone had commented. Sorry this got so long, but I wanted you to understand what a huge difference this video has made in my gardening. Many, many thanks to you for sharing your knowledge with us! I’ve enjoyed many of your videos, but this one changed my gardening life and will give life to my seeds from now on.
Coco works great for all aspects of growing. It must be rinsed cleaned and Buffered. Some Brands are fully treated and are ready to use Recreational growers have proven that CoCo outperforms Peet Mixed and its reusable. JM2¢
Hi, glad to have found ur channel, i really like your content esp coming from a soil scientist.
I come from the other side of the globe from Canada (south east asia) where coir is plentiful.
Just to share, coco coir products varies greatly, some are pure pith (with inevitable fine fiber), some are combined with part coco chips (small chips of coco husk which hasnt got its fiber and pith separated), which might explain additional draining properties of the medium despite the alr relatively higher porosity of pure pith.
Regarding salt, I noticed it varies among different manufacturer. always choose the pre-washed coir (its usually stated if it is) and pre-buffered if possible for improved CEC. However, I have also encountered coir product with varying salt content even from exact same brand/manufacturer (Quality Control dept slept on it perhaps). So its always better to buy coir products from reputable manufacturer. Or always do additional rinse/wash , or even better testing its TDC/EC prior to using it.
I am glad you enjoy!
My grafted kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) was dropping leaves in its peatmoss-aggregate blend mix I concocted myself. The aggregates, which were included for aeration and drainage, consisted of perlite, pumice, grit, hydrocorn, vermiculite and charcoal. A slight finger tap on the plant's stem would send leaves detaching from the branches and raining onto the ground. So, I decided that emergency action was called for: I removed the whole plant- rootball and all- from the plastic pot. I observed that, despite the heavy fortification with aggregates (by volume: 1 part peat to 3 parts aggregates) the potting mix was moist and heavy. I suspected that the peat was holding too much moisture, and that the added vermiculite was only making matters worse. So, I removed as much of the potting mix from the roots as I could, then rinsed the rootball under running cold tap/faucet water to remove remaining potting mix and fertilizer salts. Fresh tap/faucet water contains a lot of dissolved oxygen, which should help the plant if its roots were suffering from oxygen depletion because the growing media was remaining overly moist for prolonged periods without any dry-down between waterings. Citrus are an example of a species requiring high oxygen concentrations at the roots; as such, they hate 'wet feet', so-to-speak. Citrus like a thorough soaking, followed by a complete dry-down before the next thorough watering. This watering pattern mimics the rainfall patterns in the Mediterranean-type climate in which citrus thrive: a typical Mediterranean-climate summer consists of long spells of sunny and warm to hot and dry weather, interrupted by periodic torrential thunderstorms. So, I potted up my kaffir lime in a coconut coir-based mix; a simpler mix comprising of (by volume) 2 parts of coir to 1 part perlite and 1 part hydrocorn. This time I did not include any vermiculite, as this material absorbs a lot of water (squeeze a hydrated piece of vermiculite between your fingers and watch that water rush out!). To my amazement, since potting up my kaffir lime in the coir mix, the leaf drop has stopped altogether! What a strong response from the plant! Evidently, the plant was not happy with its peat mix. Maybe it was the excessive moisture retention of the peat, despite the aggregates I added? Maybe the peat is too acidic? Maybe the peat contain pathogenic fungus? Maybe it was riddled with fungus gnat (peat fly) eggs, and the hatching larvae were chewing the roots and introducing fungus into the open wounds? Maybe I accidentally have over-fertilised? I like to fertilise with every watering, by adding a diluted tomato feed. Come to think of it, for citrus I think tomato feed contains too little nitrogen and too much potassium and phosphorus. Citrus flower at the drop of the hat, anyway, and do not need particularly high potassium to induce flowering. I think I'll now use a proper citrus feed. By the way, I live in England, and my peat is sourced from the bogs of Ireland. The coir I have great results with is the Dutch 'Canna' brand. It is very airy, lightweight and fluffy- unlike the Irish peatmoss I use. Considering that I am not growing my citrus in a warm greenhouse, and that the UK is not a particularly warm country (although it is positively tropical compared to the absolutely frigid winter cold of Canada!), I think the peat holds on to too much water, as the dry-down period, which is aided by warmth and lots of sunlight, is not as strong as it would be in, say, Southern California, Sicily, Queensland or Florida. The extra water retention of peat would come in useful in climates with more annual sunshine hours, higher solar light and UV levels, and higher temperatures. In respect of growing potted citrus and other plants requiring high aeration and excellent drainage, coir performs better in cooler climates.
Did it stop dropping leaves after?
@@GardeningInCanada Yes, and the plant's positive response was immediate! The leaf drop has stopped totally. So, there was something about the peat-based mix that it did not like.
Thank you. 💖
Anytime
What about adding vermiculite and compost with the coconut coir to your soil?
Another great video. It would be really great to see a video/series similar to this focused on water and how it affects the soil. There is a lot of information on testing water, and installing water filtration systems. There is much less on if what type of system (reserve tank with bubbler, absorbed acid, charcoal, reverse osmosis, etc..) should be used based on the water source. Should you filter the water for all of your plants, or do different soils and plants have different water requirements. Seems to be the case in nature; and if so does this allow for the reuse waste-water (RO) for another part of they garden? Does the water quality improve soil quality over time and does this help with the different pest pressures? Does water quality mater when composting?
I get this question often. I definitely need to make a video on it
Thanks so much...i finally learned something about coir!
Yay! Love that
It sounds like you got unwashed coastal coconut coir which must be washed before use. There are vendors that make sure to fix the salt problem before they make the coir blocks...
Very intetesting, thanks!
Anytime!
Anyone who's gardened for a while already has a good amount of both, mixed together, especially me as I mix all my sources of dirt obsessively and run experiments with different things to put in the soil all the time, so I'll refrain from choosing one over another as all my samples are hopelessly contaminated with each other.
Hahah it’s a 50/50 mixture at this point for you I assume?
Yeah it's pretty much everything, perlite, finely crushed eggshell, cooked cat litter ceramic, charcoal, those pithy rocks from the bottom of planters, leaf gutter dirt, silt from the lawn, stickers from the surfaces of apples, I call the mix "Flotsam"
HAHAHA that’s awesome
I really like mixing in a lot of pumice for my succulent soil but it is expensive. Would mixing in coconut coir be a cheaper alternative for insuring good drainage?
I recently found your videos and they are great. I don't know how you don't have 100k+ subscribers.
Haha the algorithm does love me. It would definitely help. Stay away from anything that says Coconut coir not coco peat. I find the peat stuff really fine.
Have you ever considered using leaf mold instead of peat or coco choir? It is something I am experimenting with this year.
I have yea, My only real hang up is it needs to be well composted to avoid alleopathic properties ( I did a video on this) and in my colder climate I cant compost my fall leaves until the following year.
@@GardeningInCanada The leaf mold I harvested this past fall actually took 2 years to thoroughly break down. I now take the time to at least double shred the leaves before I start a new pile. That should accelerate the decomposition.
I use peat moss. I sift it if I use with potting soil to get rid of the big chunks. That's what I did for the winter sowing in the milk jugs' I thought it would help to keep the soil from caking over time. It seemed to work so far. I use the big chunks in our raised beds so it isn't wasted. It is also cheaper and easier to find. Do you ever use boiling water in your potting soil? I've watched many Canadian videos where it seems to be a practice in Canada. Just curious. Take care!
I do use boiling water in my seed starting mix but not my plant mixes
Thank you for all your knowledge. My seedlings are thriving this year. 6th year is a charm lol
Oh no! 6th!? Well let me know if there is anything in specific you want me to talk about. Just want to help ❤️
@@GardeningInCanada Your helping already. I started at zero knowledge and bought a home 6 years ago. I think alot of people think gardening can be easily grasped however, it takes time. I didn't understand how important fertilizer and soil testing was until you popped up on my page. Sure glad I found you because living in Alberta, Canada, it's hard to find relevant information.
@@GardeningInCanada when I was renting many landlords didn't let me grow gardens. City life is tricky sometimes
That’s awesome I’m glad you found me as well!
All anyone has to do is view the background plants they are absolutely beautiful in my favorite color green 🍏
My favourite colour is purple 💜
I prefer coco in bricks and i hydrate with boiling water. This sterile starting point for germinating seeds cant be beat IMO. Mixed with worm castings and compost and pete and whatever other stuff i find around to pot up and/or final planting but germination rate not as good.
Yea! I remember the bricks from when I used to work at a pet store 😂
This year, I used potting soil that I think is mostly peat moss based, but I'm also trying another set of seeds using some compost from under the mat of spruce needles in my yard, so we'll see which one works best.
That’s will be interesting to see!
@@GardeningInCanada So two of the egg carton cells that had the spruce needle compost from my yard also had some used coffee grounds (quite possibly too much) to help fertilize the soil and the surface is now covered in a stringy web of fungus. Not sure if I should be concerned about too much of a good thing when it comes to fungus? The ten other egg carton cells without used coffee grounds don't have any visible fungi atm (it's only been 5 days though).
And then there's also twelve egg carton cells that have peat based commercial potting mix. Those just had the first seedlings poke out of the soil today from two of the cells that contained basil seeds, after surprisingly only 5 days. Before sowing the seeds, I did put all my seeds between wet paper towels in the slow cooker for a couple hours on low yogurt setting (32C or so?) to see if that gives them a boost so maybe that's why. Also, I didn't have heat mats, but I did put the egg carton cells into plastic bags on the window sill.
@@Lochness19 That fungus is coming from the spruce needles, not the coffee grounds. Though the grounds may be helping to maintain the perfect moisture level for it to flourish, and a fresh un-composted carbon source to feed on. Also, watch the Ph level from the spruce needle compost. Likely highly acidic and needs some dilution. I'd use it as a nutrient supplement mix into the commercial potting mix.
@@stevehatcher7700 They're composted though, not fresh. I haven't tested the pH, but from what I understand it's only the needles that are still on the tree that are highly acidic, even the yellow ones that fall to the ground aren't that acidic anymore. And what I used is well past the state that even the yellow fallen needles are in. I uncovered the top 4 inches or so of yellow needles to get at the compost below. Down there, it seems all that's left of the needles is these soft fine filaments.
I also mixed the spruce needle compost into one of my outdoor carrot beds along with the sandy in-situ soil, plus a bit of compost and top soil. So we'll see which of those mediums grows things best.
The fungus wasn't growing in the spruce needle compost that lacked coffee grounds though, so I'm wondering if maybe the fungus came from the compost but was able to greatly multiply by consuming the coffee grounds?
@@Lochness19 you may be right about the composted needles not being as acidic as fresh needles. I'm certain it'll be great compost either way.
It's definitely the coffee grounds that gave the fungus new food to feed on. Food sources were slowly winding down in the composted needles, add coffee grounds and presto, fresh new bloom of fungus. That, or the acidity of the un-composted needles at the top of the pile were keeping the fungus growing at a slower rate. Add pH neutral coffee grounds and, wooohooo, lets really grow! Or maybe a bit of both (fresh food and less acids).
The coffee grounds would have been inert. Air dried before shipping, then roasted in an oven to give it that toasty flavour, then percolated with near boiling water to make your cup of coffee. Nothing was already living in there.
I love the texture of Coco Coir, the only downside is the higher price tag at the store. Peat moss here is like 10$ for the price of a sidewalk on the ground lol
what peat moss do you use if you use a specific brand? (: ive mostly used coir but wanted to give peat moss another try!
I like the sphagnum peat moss
I personally enjoy the Premier brand. However sungro also really good.
@@GardeningInCanada have you ever tried the Sta-Green brand?
No I haven’t. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it
@@GardeningInCanada it may not be in Canada. So far its the brand I've had the best luck with. PS thank you for saving my plants. I had not soaked my coir before mixing it. I noticed this whiteness overcome some. I thought it was mold starting. It was salt. I'm sure of it. Time to start new babies. 😁
Very insightful, it's good to listen to a soil scientist. A question: if I plan Alocasia, which one is the better for mixture with worm casting, perlite, and roasted husk? Peat moss or coco coir? thanks
The first one! Forsure
Hey! Could you please suggest a good , easily prepared and efficient-for-the-effort soil-less mix and component composition for potting roses, that drains well and can withstand rains too?
I say less effort because I can put all my effort into fertilizing and maintaining plants, but I don't want put so much effort into mixing soil and come up with an average or even an adverse potting mix.
I got suggested aged cow manure, vermiculite, coir compost mix in 2:1:1 ratio.
(I come from a place where coconut fibre is abundantly available processed, loose, as bricks or in any form available. Also it rains like for about 6 months a year here varyingly)
I was, and am still a bit skeptical, considering the high nitrogen content , doubtful about the ph maintenance and drainage of the said mix and proportions.
But then again, I had tried an aged cow manure, sand and coir mixture quite recently , (before I was suggested the above mix), and planted a few roses in it, and the stems are leafing right now. I do not know how the flowering performance would turn out to be.
I did keep the mix potted and watered just the mix with no plant in it for a few weeks though, and waited until the weeds start to appear , just to know the right time to transplant the roses in to the pots.
(I also feed a handful of compost/manure once in two weeks, and occasionally a handful of bonemeal to all my plants. I do use foliar feeds like liquid organic manure, humic+fulvic acid mix, seaweed extract, fish emulsion each on alternate weeks. And I regularly use bio control agents ( Trichoderma, pseudomonas, VAM) on the plants and in the soil, and mix of microbes like azospirillum, bio-potash, phosphobacter while fertilizing. All sourced from a local research-based organic fertilizer company )
It has been only a few months that I have ventured into gardening, and only starting to learn a lot of stuff, and I can't really tell if my plants are actually showing results, since I am only starting to learn about the season/flowering cycles of my plants. The leaves are all decently healthy, there are thick cane growths on the plants that I planted in , but it is the flowering performance that I am not sure about since I have only started.
I would like to know your opinions and suggestions as a soil scientist, taking in all the factors I have tried to outline above.
Your channel seems to provide bountiful of scientific and practical knowledge regarding gardening , for seekers. Thank You so much for the earnest effort you put into the cause.
To be honest I really like Sunshine Mix 5 straight up with a liquid fertilizer to supplement.
@@GardeningInCanada Not available in my area/country, but I get your point. Also from personal experience as well, the leaves and plants of roses look so much healthier/resistant in soil-less mixes, and when supplemented with foliar feeds. Thanks for the reply.
@@GardeningInCanada Actually I have an idea I have come up with regarding preparation of a very basic yet not fussy potting mix for my place and climate. (that might perhaps work all around the world)
1 pot manure (for NPK) + 1 pot coco coir (aeration/drainage/water holding) + 1 pot Perlite&vermiculite mix in 80:20 ratio (drainage/aeration & nutrition holding) + 1 pot Coarse sand & small clay ball mix in 80:20 ratio (for weight/anchorage & drainage).
That would give 4 pots of mix.
Place a piece of sponge for drainage through a hole, like how you explained in a video. Give weekly/bi-weekly nutritional supplements.
I'm partial to my 60% sand, 40% peat moss mixture. It works for literally all my plants. I add my compost on top only without mixing it into the soil or root zone. It has excellent porosity and permeability. It works with salt fertilizer and organic. I even use it for seed starting and propagation.
I used to use store bought "potting soil" made of peat moss with some perlite. The stuff was horrible. The top of the pot would be bone dry and the bottom drenched. It would always leave a dead zone in the middle of the pot where no roots would grow. And the smell of HS 🤢 that would come out of the bigger pots was too much.
That sounds really nice I like that sand addition
That means a lot coming from a bonafide soil scientist 🙏🏼
Haha oh jeez
Cool a soil scientist this gonna be fun been growing Cannabis for 38 years here in Los Angeles farmed KING COTTON here in America for 450 years & Grew with Natural amended fertilizers in Africa for millenniums my main Man is Percy Lavon Julian 🌱🔬👨🔬✌️👁️
That’s amazing
Ashley, is there any other recommendations for nematodes here in Canada, as opposed to buying Amazon? I know that's not the discussion today but if you had any, I'd be grateful!
Not a problem! Side convos are welcomed! So here is Sask you can get them at Home Depot, earlys farm & garden, Wilson’s, floral acres. so essentially an greenhouses or seed stores.
@@GardeningInCanada Thank you!
Anytime!
Hi, can you please make a review on coco husk/coco chips? I am from Thailand and coco chips is found everywhere, but I can hardly find any good/subjective opinion on them.
yea absolutely
This link works great
Man I've had a busy day
Just got chickens:)
Excited lol
Please make a video on pot mix soil
Let me know if this is what you want or if it’s something slightly different ua-cam.com/video/u7ekxiVKwOw/v-deo.html
Coir is better for the environment. House plants will be okay.. our planet is more important
It depends where you’re from I don’t think moving coconuts to Canada is the best use of our fossil fuels
Sungro is the company that makes what you're talking about
Okay! Thanks! I use their black peat bags all the time
I'm wanting to grow indoor plants from coco coir, pumice, a little bit of charcoal and orchid bark. I'm using this base for a specific plant, but I am wondering what else could grow in this. As I don't want to grow just one kind of plant.
Nearly anything to be honest. Aroids in particular will do well
@@GardeningInCanada Thank you
Anytime!
You have so many great videos! Every person interested in plants/gardening should subscribe to you.
Wow, thank you!
Yes moss does wick up that's why totally dumped my 20 Years Deep Water Culture Systems and Only using Promix 4 Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss Baby From Now On Just Drop My Ladies In 5 Gallon Fabric Pots with a 3" Deep rim and Fill The 17" saucer with water & Mother Nature does the rest just add light nutrients when needed flush with plain pH water every week or two😉✌️
That’s awesome
Great video
Glad you enjoyed!
Does coco moss have same function as coco peat？
very very similar but less water holidng
What if one establishes a biologically active/microbially active organic layer on top of the coir substrate, without mixing it into the coir? For example, a mulch or top-dressing layer, no greater than about 1 inch deep, consisting of shredded dried up leaves (coffee/spice grinders are good for pulverising dried leaves, by the way), with some rabbit or alpaca manure or bat manure (guano) mixed in? The droppings of plant-eating animals, such as rabbits, alpacas and deer, contains beneficial microbes. These days, you can buy growing media innoculants consisting of plant-beneficial symbiotic fungi (mycorhizae, trichoderma) and bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, etc). Microbially sterile growing systems, such as 'high tech' hydroponic cultivation in sterile media like leca/hydrocorn (clay pebbles), pure pumice/perlite and rockwool, can yield satisfactory results provided that the plant nutrients are given as plant-available cations and anions: water-soluble phosphate, nitrate, etc. You'd want to avoid using urea-based fertilisers in such sterile systems, as the urease-containing microbes which can metabolize the urea to ammonium are going to be absent. Nitrate-producing nitrifying bacteria (ammonium-oxidising nitrifying bacteria and nitrite-oxidising nitrifying bacteria) will also be absent in a sterile hydro system. Personally, I am more of a 'purist' and am only interested in using a solid substrate as a growing media. Such as coir. The problem with mixing in compost and manure into the coir is that the microbes, whilst breaking down the organic matter, compete for oxygen and can 'steal' the oxygen from the plant roots. This is what I have learned from listening to Gary Matsuoka of Laguna Hills Nursery in California (see his videos on his soil talks; he really advocates against using compost as a growing media except for those plants that can tolerate low oxygen levels at the rootzone). This is my logic behind using compost and manure only as a thin (~1 inch) top-dressing or mulch, rather than thoroughly mixing it into the coir growing media. I suppose one could make a microbially active compost or manure 'tea' and water the coir-grown plants with it.
Great thank you
Glad you enjoyed!
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The pro mix I prefer is the BRK
Another great vid Ashley. Off topic, do you have any recommendations for keeping cats out of raised beds? I'm pretty discouraged.
Have you tried plastic forks sticking up?
@@GardeningInCanada Great idea Ashley! I didn't know what to do, so earlier today, I purchased a package of wooden skewers for 1.25. I created a "picket" fence around each square foot of my raised bed. Downside is, they're wood, so may not last the season. If they break down, i will def try the plastic forks as they will def last. Brilliant idea!
They hate it 😂
i think you need to look more into how damaging the harvesting of peat bogs are, and how long they take to form.
I have. Have an entire video on it actually. Plus I’ve studied peat bogs and have read through all the ethics & legality behind peat harvesting. ua-cam.com/video/8KQbmkwNa54/v-deo.html
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I have grown Camellia plants in coconut chips with equal part of sand and 5 to 10 % decomposed cedar needles. The growth is very slow.
Try adding in some compost or manure I think it’s due to lack of nutrient holding capacity. (Aka cation exchange capacity)
@@GardeningInCanada Ok I will. Thanks for your kind suggestions.
Absolutely anytime
Incredibly smart, thank you so much. #boss
Thanks for sharing well explained someone should have been defined Soils / Moss & Coco fibers in a symbiotic relationship with fungus mycorrhizae & roots intake & water retention pH & salts👁️🌱🔬👨🔬✌️
Glad you enjoyed
Pro mix so peat moss
Promix has peat moss yup!
Your soil workbook thing link is tic tock link...I will check another video but thought I would let you know
Ah! That’s not good!
@@GardeningInCanada is it tic tock?
It was I changed it. No idea how that happened
@@GardeningInCanada sometimes UA-cam is weird :)
Thanks I will check that out now:)
K! ❤️
Link for Fungus Gnat, Thrip control goes here to an Amazon results page for the search terms "Nema Globe" whatever that is. I don't think that's what you meant.
Also your link for spider mite control goes to a page of insecticides, but not a specific product. Is that what you meant? I just used persimilis mites to get rid of spider mites and it was the easiest thing I have ever done. I don't think I will ever go back to insecticides.
The nema globe is correct it’s predatory nematode
@@GardeningInCanada Interesting. I wonder if it's just not available in the US. It doesn't return any results for beneficial insects. Literal globes.
That’s odd... it should be a ball with a landscape design on the outside.
After using coco coir for almost a year now, mixed with perlite, I've come to the conclusion that there's too much sodium salt in it, and it doesn't provide enough organic matter to sustain growth in the plants. My plants have been stunted and slow growing and I blame it on the coco coir.
Yea.... I’m having the same issue with the batch I have as well... I was thinking of mixing in a ton of manures & such
@@GardeningInCanada I did some research, and found Gypsum will help leach out the salt in soils!
It flocculates the salts and allows the heavier size particles to settle to the bottom of the container, where they can be easily flushed out with each watering.
I'm not kidding, as soon as I added some Gypsum into the watering can, almost all of the plants that were not growing because of the salty Coco coir, started growing!
They say use the gypsum twice a year in your soil. Adds calcium and plants love it!
I used a teaspoon to the small watering can water.
In the future, if I decide to finish using up the rest of the coco coir, I'll add a bit of the gypsum powder to the soil mix.
But yeah, that coco coir is washed and processed in brackish salty water in Sri Lanka I heard. I used a coco coir brick made for terrariums and reptiles, so it may have been low quality and not very well washed at all, (even though I rinsed it in a pail myself before using it in my soil mix). Live and learn.
Thanks for getting the word out about it.
That’s crazy I completely believe that
@@seaglass8940 How much gypsum do you add?
I've been using coir as a hydroponic medium....TDS of my nutrient solution is in the 600-700 ppm range....excess fluid after the nutrigation is in the 2000 ppm range.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
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@@jere4524 just a pinch, too much and it can make things worse.
Which do you use? Be sure to check out the original videos for more context
🥥 coconut coir ua-cam.com/video/Gs3zWoEBgGY/v-deo.html
🪴 peat moss ua-cam.com/video/8KQbmkwNa54/v-deo.html