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 kyuzo
Stranger Than Fiction
Registered: 07/05/10
Posts: 981
Last seen: 13 years, 4 months
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 Peat vs Coir? 
#442271 - 07/06/10 09:30 AM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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I was wondering what the benefits of Cocoa Coir were compared to regular peat moss? Also, would most of the growing guidelines for Coir *generally* translate over to growing with peat, and if so, what areas would I need to watch in particular with doing such conversions?
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 NightGrower
Proficient Horticulturist
Registered: 11/17/09
Posts: 204
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Re: Peat vs Coir? [Re: kyuzo]
#442374 - 07/06/10 12:14 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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Off the top of my head, I would have to say that Coir is Ph neutral (7.0) while Peat Moss regularly comes acidic, leaving you to balance out the ph for cannabis.
Score 1 for Coco Coir - less work
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Learn of Terence Mckenna. Check out the Shroomery to learn more about what one man did for mushies. Thank you, Terence.
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maryanne3087
Stranger
Registered: 06/27/10
Posts: 1,111
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I've grown outdoors for many many years and usually grew in or amended with pro-mix or sunshine mix or pure sunshine peat or whatever brand. I think peat makes a great soil amendment especially for the guerrilla grower. However when doing potted plants in my backyard, roof, or on whatever property I used I would notice the pH of the peat is very acidic this in a soil application is usually fixed by the addition of limestone.
When using straight peat it's more "problematic" as peat is usually 4-4.5 pH and you want a pH of something like 5.9-6.2 this can be treated by buffering the peat with nutrient solution or even water of neutral pH or even slightly acidic (6.0-7.0) then feeding with proper pH water/nutrients.
The same rules apply for coco coir except that the pH of coco is naturally 5.5-7 and I believe 6-7 is more common.
Here's some pros, cons, and possibly neutral facts:
Coco has a more optimal pH for plant growth 5.5-7 vs Peat's 4.5
Coco drains better and has superior air porosity when compared to Peat.
On the same note, Peat is far easier to overwater where Coco is incredibly hard to overwater (assuming you buy a coco brand without much dust/pith and lots of larger particles/fibre)
There's either far more grades of coco if not there most definitely is more useful grades of coco for horticulture application.
Advertisements say 1 year of peat harvesting can translate to 100 years of growth this damages peat bog habitats. Coco is 100% a byproduct as with or without coco peat 20 billion coconuts would still be harvested each year.
Both coco and peat have similar cation exchange capacities.
Coco can have problems with high salinity (levels of salt high enough to kill your plants).
Coco has good amounts of K (potassium) and S (Sulfur/Sulphates)
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kyuzo
Stranger Than Fiction
Registered: 07/05/10
Posts: 981
Last seen: 13 years, 4 months
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maryanne3087 said:
I've grown outdoors for many many years and usually grew in or amended with pro-mix or sunshine mix or pure sunshine peat or whatever brand. I think peat makes a great soil amendment especially for the guerrilla grower. However when doing potted plants in my backyard, roof, or on whatever property I used I would notice the pH of the peat is very acidic this in a soil application is usually fixed by the addition of limestone.
My terrestrial mix is usually 2:1:1 mix of peat, chunky perlite, and small charcoal. If I'm potting something that like a more base or neutral PH I'll often use lawn lime in the mix, and never noticed any ill effects.
Also, I'm aware of the sustainability issues with peat compared to coir, but as with my use of Spagnum, i always justified it with the fact that I use both sparingly and only when necessary.
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kyuzo
Stranger Than Fiction
Registered: 07/05/10
Posts: 981
Last seen: 13 years, 4 months
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PS thanks for the well thought out answer. i really appreciate it
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maryanne3087
Stranger
Registered: 06/27/10
Posts: 1,111
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Re: Peat vs Coir? [Re: kyuzo]
#442429 - 07/06/10 01:34 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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kyuzo said:
maryanne3087 said:
I've grown outdoors for many many years and usually grew in or amended with pro-mix or sunshine mix or pure sunshine peat or whatever brand. I think peat makes a great soil amendment especially for the guerrilla grower. However when doing potted plants in my backyard, roof, or on whatever property I used I would notice the pH of the peat is very acidic this in a soil application is usually fixed by the addition of limestone.
My terrestrial mix is usually 2:1:1 mix of peat, chunky perlite, and small charcoal. If I'm potting something that like a more base or neutral PH I'll often use lawn lime in the mix, and never noticed any ill effects.
Also, I'm aware of the sustainability issues with peat compared to coir, but as with my use of Spagnum, i always justified it with the fact that I use both sparingly and only when necessary.
Whatever it is you use, peat still is far too acidic for growing cannabis. I wasn't trying to imply there weren't other ways to buffer the soil, just that lime is the usual candidate as it costs something like $10 for 50lbs and the application rate is a cup per cubic foot or something like that.
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kyuzo
Stranger Than Fiction
Registered: 07/05/10
Posts: 981
Last seen: 13 years, 4 months
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completely understood. I was just pointing out that dealing with PH is pretty strait forward and that it never seemed like much of an issue of concern, if the proper steps were taken to deal with it from the very beginning.
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maryanne3087
Stranger
Registered: 06/27/10
Posts: 1,111
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Re: Peat vs Coir? [Re: kyuzo]
#442436 - 07/06/10 01:47 PM (15 years, 10 months ago) |
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When you're wanting to run straight coco or peat without amendments to buffer pH coco becomes far more simple to buffer via nutrient solution.
Ideally you want to satisfy the Cation exchange capacity by first flushing the coco until you get a low run off EC then rewetting the coco with a nutrient solution particularly high in Ca and Mg with a desired pH to buffer both pH and CEC.
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