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Preparation procedure for coir pre-planting

Dee9

Dee9

Member
hi guys

After being told to thoroughly wash die coir, and then again being told not to wash, I was in turmoil.

I felt somewhat relieved after receiving this doc from the coco rep.

...excerpt from original doc...

PREPARATION PROCEDURE FOR COIR PRE-PLANTING

1.Expansion
In a holding tank or basin of any size, add 400 litres of water to 5 bales of coir. (1 bale = 4 blocks off 5kg = 20kg, thus 5 bales = 20 blocks = 100kg)
Before adding the water, dissolve 5 kg of Calcium Nitrate in it.
This mixture, after being absorbed by the coir, will yield 1000 litres of expanded medium.
When this process is finished, move the substrate to the trough, but do not press the coir or try to compact it when laying it out in the trough.

2.Washing
Let the coir sit for 24 hours and only then start the drip irrigation system to wash the cat-ions released by the cat-ion exchange process.

3.Test
When drainage starts to appear, start measuring the EC and pH levels.
The EC should be as low as (or very close to) the water EC. If your water is 0.4, you should reach a maximum EC level of 0.6.
The pH should be between 5.5 and 6.2.
When these parameters are reached, stop the irrigation; wait for total drainage (about 6-10 hours).

The coir is now ready for planting.

4.Fertilisation
Do not fertilise for 2 to 3 days, afterwards you can start to initiate your fertiliser regime and add to it 80 PPM Nitrogen (No3 source).

COIR DISINFECTING PROCEDURE

1.Clean the trough from all plant parts (branches, roots & leaves).
2.Add fresh coir to fill the troughs.
3.Give a good irrigation to wet the whole volume of coir and to wash salinity.
4.Wait 24 hours.
5.Inject Metham-sodium at the rate of 300ml per cubic meter of coir. Make sure that the product will remain in the medium (minimum drainage). To get better results, one should cover the trough with polyethylene foil.
6.Wait 48 hours.
7.If there is a risk of bacterial pathogen in the medium, work out item no 5, with 200-PPM chlorine from a hypo-chloride product available on the market.
8.Again wait 48 hour.
9.Uncover the troughs.
10.Wash with a big quantity of water (double than a normal irrigation cycle.)
11.The morning of the day after, the plot is ready for planting.
Click to expand...

I got the document from a rep who usually sells to big-scale greenhouses for veggies and other foodstuffs.

I hope this can be of help to any new coco user - like me - out there.
 
Last edited:
~fvk~

~fvk~

the Lion is going Guerrilla...
All I can say is wow... Does this has to be done in space while playing a game of twister too? Definitely an interesting article though... Still, I think if I thought I would have had to deal with all this shit when first starting out in coco, I would have stayed with Promix.
 
Dee9

Dee9

Member
No Promix available here -

I am actually suprised at finding high quality coir - I had to go deep into the industrial area to get to it!
No high-street outlet - the previous coir I used, I found at a nursery at 4x the price, it was very fine, and with very little info to go with it and the rep did not really know much either...

Bit of effort yes, - still beats digging a trench.
 
Dee9

Dee9

Member
So, I found calcium nitrate at the co-op. It is only sold in 25kg bags and is quite expensive.

Now for the big prep.

Will keep you posted!
 
jocat

jocat

Active member
this makes me glad i have access to 2 kinds of bagged coir, the canna and the bio bizz, both are ready to use right out the bag, and my back really likes that, sure there expensive, around 20 bucks ea, but i'll pay for less work and after all the return makes it worth the investment. iv'e used both and can tell no difference. jc
 
Dee9

Dee9

Member
jocat said:
i have access to 2 kinds of bagged coir, the canna and the bio bizz, both are ready to use right out the bag,
Click to expand...

jocat, I am sure if I had a choice I would go for the ready to plant coir too. But no such luck, since here be no canna or bio bizz.

These compressed coir blocks are from pelemix.
 
Dee9

Dee9

Member
Ha Ha - I wish. When I start wearing imported italian shoes, I will import my flower beds!
 
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