We can easily see many farmers are very keen on using soil to grow their plants. Because they think that except for soil, there are no other growing media that can help plants grow healthily. However, soil is actually not an ideal growing media to grow plants. Because it is too wet ( does not provide sufficient aeration) and too dry (with good aeration), but not enough water for growing plants well. Therefore, in recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the use of coconut coir dust as a growing media. So what is coir dust and the benefits of it? Today, let Tropicoco show you some facts about this kind of natural and nutrient media.

What is coconut coir dust?

Coconut coir dust is a product from the coconut palm tree, which grows well in the tropical areas. People usually describe the coconut palm as the tree of life, because it creates a large number of useful products for different purposes. These consist of woods from the trunk, drinks from the fruit, oir dust from the husk, charcoal products from the fruit shell, roofing material from the leaves, etc. 

Each year, people worldwide harvest about 50 million tonnes of coconuts. About 25% of this weight is the coconut coir products. Coir includes fibre and coir dust in a ratio of approximately 1/3:2/3. Coconut coir dust comprises a combination of short fibres and cork-like particles having the size from granules to fine dust. People also know it as the coco peat.

The advantages of coir dust

There are a large number of reasons why coconut coir dust is becoming an ideal media of choice for many hydroponics setups. Many people now favor coir dust over its biggest competitor, the peat moss. When you take a look at its benefits, it is very easy to see why this might be so. So please take a look at the primary advantages of the coir dust.

Coconut coir dust helps increase water-holding capacity

The coir dust can enhance the water-retaining capacity of the potting mix, at the same time that it can also enhance your soil porosity. This means you will have a little worry of overwatering or underwatering your plants. Besides, as a hydrophilic, coir dust is also very easy to rewet, which absorbs water very quickly.

It requires very little amount

Coir dust at a very little size is able to go a very long way. It has the 3 features that very support this thing, which are a high level of cation, incredible water absorption, and the great porosity. This means that you do not mind adding a large amount of coir dust to bring to you potting mix’s quality good benefits.

Trichoderma

Coconut coir dust helps to encourage the good bacteria and fungi to grow well because of the natural Trichoderma which coir dust has.

Manufacturers shape coconut coir dust very easily 

Manufacturers often compress the coir dust very easily to 1/5 or even a little less than its original volume. The purpose of doing this thing is to make it easier to transport or to store. Moreover, you can take advantage of this by pressing your coir dust into suitable shapes if you need to.

It has the superior nutrient absorption

One another reason why the coir dust is becoming more and more  popular is the high cation exchange element. This benefit comes with it being an organic growing media. This means that nutrients are fundamentally released or absorbed  if necessary and this is a definite advantage.

It is a kind of renewable resource

Coir dust is a byproduct of coconut after harvesting. Before people knew its properties widely, manufacturers just simply removed it from the husks and discarded it as waste. Because it is a natural part of procuring coconuts, coconut coir dust is a resource that is always available and totally renewable.

Potential uses of coconut coir dust in agriculture

The appearance of soilless culture techniques had increased the value of coir dust. The elements of coir dust recommend its use as a growing media in the fertigation system: high water-retaining capacity, great drainage, absence of pathogens and weeds, and renewable resources. Besides, it has no ecological disadvantages to its use. It decomposes very slowly, has acceptable pH, cation exchange capacity and electrical conductivity, and excellent wettability capacity. 

Some studies show that using coconut coir dust as a growing media in the soilless culture will have many good consequences in yield. It will help improve the growth of ginger, chilies, cabbages, rockmelon and tomatoes compared to the others. Coir dust is an environmentally-friendly substrate because after growing, we are able to reuse it in other materials, such as composting. The increase in the consumption of coir dust in recent years could create a new million-dollar business chance in the coir products industry.

Conclusion

The article above has shown you some information about coconut coir dust. The coir dust, as well as the cocopeat, is one of the most ideal growing media for the soilless environment. It helps increase the water capacity and is a renewable resource. Therefore, its potential uses are also very expectful in agriculture. If you want to buy the coir dust, as well as the other coir products, please contact Tropicoco right now.

Contact information

Tropicoco – The best substrate
Address: No.20 Ngan Long Villa, Nguyen Huu Tho street, Nha Be dist, Ho Chi Minh City
Email: giathe@tropical.vn
Hotline: +84 983230879
Open Hours: Mon-Sat: 8.00AM-5.00PM; Sunday: Closed