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Coconut Coir, or Coco Coir  and Coconut Peat or Coco Peat , is one of the most popular growing mediums for everything from ferns to cucumbers.

Coco coir delivers nutrients directly to your plants during every feeding cycle, and it also retains nutrients so you don’t have to water your plants as often as you would with a hydroponics system.

While coco coir is beneficial for plant growth, it is most helpful when it’s watered and tended to properly. Taking care of plants grown using coco coir can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s where this guide comes in. Here you’ll learn everything you need to know about coco coir and how to water your plants when using coco as a grow medium.

What Is Coco Coir?

Coco coir is a grow medium that consists of brown and white fibers — these fibers comprise the material between the shell of a coconut and its outer husk. The brown fibers come from older coconuts and are fairly strong. The white fibers are taken from younger, less ripe coconuts and are more flexible.

The brown and white fibers in coco coir are removed from coconuts, processed, dried, and prepped for storage. These fibers are then packaged in a variety of ways, including:

• Loose material in bags, like Root Royals and BioBizz Coco-Mix (usually mixed with perlite). Coco coir in this form can be packed into pots, similar to soil or ebb and flow hydroponic systems.
• Chips (similar to wood chips) like Nutrifield Coco Chips Blend 50L. This can be used in hydroponic grow systems and top-feed grow rooms alike, with the added bonus of more airflow.
• Densely compacted bricks which can be broken down and used like loosely packaged coco.

The Benefits of Coco Coir

There are many advantages to using coco coir as a growing medium over soil or even coco pebbles.

Ease of Use

Coco coir is one of the simplest growing mediums you can use for growing. Soil can be tricky to amend when nutrients and pH are off, and full-on hydroponics can be a little daunting for beginner growers. With coco coir, though, you can feed your plants all the nutrition they need without guessing what they’re already getting like you would have to with soil.

At the same time, coco coir has enough water retention so that you don’t need to be constantly monitoring your garden like you would with hydroponic systems that use rockwool or hydroponic pebbles.

If you decide to take the leap to hydroponic growing from soil, using coco coir is an easy way to make the transition from one to the other because you’ll already know how to feed your plants nutrient-rich water.

pH and Nutrient Neutral

Coco coir has no nutritional value. That may seem like a strange thing to highlight, but it actually removes a lot of guesswork when feeding your plants.

One of the biggest challenges with soil is that it may or may not have all the nutrition your plants need. Even more challenging is trying to supplement nutrients and balance pH levels without spiking their feedings.

As such, coco coir is basically a clean slate. You can give your plants the exact nutrients they need to ensure they’re getting the proper — and correct — nutrition.

Optimal Water Retention and Drainage

Coco coir is one of the best growing mediums when it comes to retaining and draining water. It has the ability to hold as much as 10 times its weight in water. Unlike hydroponic pebbles that are meant to wick water away, coco has the ability to retain water so you’re not having to constantly run a system to ensure your plants are being fed.

In addition, compared to soil, water drains from coco easier and faster. This allows you to feed your plants more often, and in turn grow larger plants.

Healthy Root Development

Coco coir is exceptionally great for root development. This is due to coco’s ability to take in nutrients in high amounts, retain those nutrients, and still allow for water wicking.

Without plenty of oxygen, root systems will stay small, thus keeping your plants small. At the same time, too much oxygen means you’re drying off and harming your roots if you’re not on top of your watering schedule. Coco coir offers a unique blend of nutrient retention, quick drying, and airflow that soil and hydroponic pebbles have a hard time doing efficiently.

Less Pests

Most insects and other pests that can damage your plants don’t like coco coir. Pests tend to land in soil because of the nutritional value they can obtain from it, but coco serves them no purpose, so they tend to stay away. In fact, other than fungus gnats, pests aren’t typically attracted to coco coir.

It’s worth noting that pests will always be attracted to your plants, so it’s always important to practice proper pest prevention and elimination. Still, coco deters more pests from landing on your plants because they know they can’t stay for long if they do.

Eco-Friendly and Reusable

Coco coir is made with recyclable and reusable materials, which means you can extend its life beyond just a few growing cycles. Unlike pebbles that are usually thrown out after each grow, or soil that needs to be rejuvenated with nutrition, coco coir is easier to maintain and keep reusable after multiple grows.

If you plan on reusing coco coir, you’ll have to let it dry first and then remove any plant stems and other debris after a growing cycle. Other than that, you’ll be good to go and your coco will be ready to reuse.

How Do I Use Coco Coir?

Coco coir is made with recyclable and reusable materials, which means you can extend its life beyond just a few growing cycles. Unlike pebbles that are usually thrown out after each grow, or soil that needs to be rejuvenated with nutrition, coco coir is easier to maintain and keep reusable after multiple grows.

If you plan on reusing coco coir, you’ll have to let it dry first and then remove any plant stems and other debris after a growing cycle. Other than that, you’ll be good to go and your coco will be ready to reuse.

• Find the right coco coir medium for your grow setup.
  • Growers who use top-feed setups or ebb and flow hydroponics systems with buckets should use loose coco mixed with perlite.
  • Growers who use deep water culture (DWC) hydroponics, or who prefer working with clay pebbles, should use coco chips.
• Mix your coco coir and perlite (not necessary with chips). The amount of perlite you add to coco will determine the amount and frequency you give plants nutrient-rich water. Remember: The more perlite you add, the less water coco will retain.
  • Using 25 percent perlite will give you a 3:1 mixture of coco to perlite, which is what we recommend for hydroponic systems, whether you’re using an ebb and flow system like the GreenTree Hydroponic system or a drip system like the Versagrow.
  • A 30 to 50 percent perlite mixture will retain less nutrients, which will require you to water your plants more often. Still, you’ll find big grow ops using perlite mixes of up to a 50/50 pushing out big harvests.
  • More than 55 percent perlite in coco will do virtually the same thing as soil, except you’ll need to provide all of the nutrition.
• Prepare your coco coir for transplanting.
  • Fill your buckets with coco and rinse it thoroughly with clean water. This will wash out any imperfections that may be present in the coco.
  • If you’re using coco bricks, start by soaking the bricks to break them down. Let the coco bricks dry, and then give them another thorough rinsing before setting them up.

We’ve outlined the steps for preparing coco coir for your next growing cycle. It’s actually pretty simple.

Once your coco coir is ready, you can fill your growing pots. Next, you’ll want to water your plants. Properly watering your plants will determine how successful your coco harvest will be.