Coco Peat Benefits For Plants (Nutrients, Planting Media, Germination.)

Cocopeat or can be known as coconut fiber or coconut coir is one of the results of coconut waste. In tropical countries, the coconut fruit is very easy to find especially many coconut plantations in tropical countries. In the agricultural or gardening sector, the use of coconut is very much, almost all parts have great benefits for the agricultural or gardening sector. But in this review, I will only explore the benefits of coco peat for gardening or farming. For other uses of coconut waste, you can read my article on how to make liquid organic fertilizer with coconut coir.

In the agricultural or organic gardening sector, utilizing coconut fiber as solid fertilizer has an important role in the fertility of the growing media on agricultural land. Cocopeat functions as a bio-pore for the soil, with the cavities in the soil, which can increase air circulation carrying oxygen needed by plants.

In addition to improving soil aeration in agriculture or gardening, another coco peat benefits for plants have the ability to store water 8-9 times more than its weight and is able to hold water about 73% of the water provided. This ability is far better than sphagnum media which is only able to hold 41% of water. Let's compare cocopeat vs soil, cocopeat is also able to bind and store oxygen in the air up to 50%, better than soil which is only 2-3%, so this percentage growing in cocopeat better than soil. Using coconut fiber as a base for organic fertilizer is the right solution for areas that have little rainfall. But what you need to consider when using cocopeat is to avoid giving excess water, because if cocopeat is too moist it can cause root rot on plants.

Coco peat Nutrients
The composition of cocopeat consists of 75% carbohydrates, and 25% lignin. Carbohydrates are a complex group of cellulose polysaccharides. With high cellulose and lignin reserves, cocopeat can be a good food source and breeding ground for microorganisms that benefit plants. Some beneficial microorganisms in the roots that can reproduce well in cocopeat media, namely rhizobacteria (PGPR) and several types of mycorrhizae.

Cocopeat contains nutrients including macro and micronutrition, this nutrient is needed by plants. The content of macro and micronutrients contained in coconut fibers includes (K) Potassium (P) phosphorus (Ca) Calcium, (Mg) Magnesium, (Na) Sodium and several other minerals. But of the many nutritional contents possessed by cocopeat, it turns out that the most abundant amount is the element K (potassium). As we all know that the content of (P) Phosphorus and (K) Potassium is needed by plants during the process of fruit formation and increased taste for all types of fruit.

Benefits of using cocopeat for planting

Cocopeat is highly preferred for those who grow crops using a hydroponic system (Coco Coir Hydroponics), especially the drip irrigation hydroponic system. With a good function as a water barrier and cocopeat is able to get wet again quickly if added to water even though it has experienced drought. In addition to cocopeat for the hydroponic system, cocopeat is also recommended as a mixture of growing media for gardening at home, you can mix cocopeat with rice husk charcoal for potting planting media. The point is coco peat is very good for plants and can be used on all planting systems.

The use of coconut fiber as a mixture of organic fertilizer has been shown to have a positive impact on agriculture or crop cultivation. Rice plants that use solid organic fertilizer with the addition of cocopeat can improve quality, weight (soft) and feel better, when compared with the use of similar organic solid fertilizers without mixing cocopeat. To grow plants in pots you can also grow plants only in coco peat without mixing with other ingredients, this is often used in hydroponic systems with drip irrigation. For plant nurseries, you can also use coco peat for seed germination, You just replace the medium with cocopeat, for germination techniques, the essence is the same as other plants. Here are some examples of the use of coco peat to grow plants, hopefully, it will inspire you.

You can see, that the use of coco peat can be used for germination, as a medium of full growth and this I have explained in my other writings, you can read about it in the hydroponic fertigation system tool. The point is that coco peat can be used for all planting systems, one of which is coco peat for hydroponic systems using drip irrigation as in the example photo above.

Cocopeat is also reused, meaning that it can be reused for further crops, but with notes after harvesting, it must add enzyme solution or wash cocopeat to remove residual salt and sterilization.

How to choose a good Coco Peat?
When processing coco peat, especially when drying, cocopeat raw material will produce a lot of dust, good quality cocopeat should not contain much dust, because the nature of dust that is easily dense can reduce the ability of coco peat, especially making the pores rooting, drainage and aeration. Therefore cocopeat material should be sieved to separate dust and fibers.

Cocopeat pH must be in the range of 5.5 to 6.5, the range is considered to be ideal for most types of plants, besides that a relatively neutral pH makes it easier for plant roots to absorb nutrients available in the cocopeat media.

But you don't need to worry, usually, in the market, Coco Peat for sale is ready for use, some are in the form of blocks or powder. You can choose according to your needs for gardening at home. For Coco Peat prices vary widely, if you are interested in using Coco Peat and want to buy it, you can visit Coco Peat on amazon.com.

Thus my review of the benefits of Cocopeat for plants, hopefully useful. If you still have questions, please submit in the comments column, then we can discuss it in more detail. Lastly, thank you for visiting here.