What can I do with (surprise!) coco coir?

I just got a delivery of 4 blocks of coco coir.  My name is on the box.  I don't remember ordering it and none of my accounts (Vermont Organics, amazon, home depot) have any record of  an order. Suggestions on how to use it?

Use it as a soil amendment.

Who was the sender?

Coconut coir can help improve aeration and water retention in soils. When I have had some in the past I used it as part of a homemade seed start mix in addition to worm casting, perlite, and some sifted compost.

The blocks take A LOT of water to properly break apart and fluff up. I ended up putting a 15 pound block in a 30 gallon tote and would keep adding pitcher of water to gradually break apart the dry bits. Once it is sufficiently saturated it will take up a bunch of volume.

To note for those using it indoors, when the expanded coir dries out it can be very dusty. I like to spray it down with water before using it if it has sat for some time.

I like it in a seed starting and potting mix.....have bought some in the past and decided it was unaffordable for us but it worked great.

nice surprise!

Anne Miller wrote:Use it as a soil amendment.

Who was the sender?

The label was damaged, and the box too!  I will put it to good use.

Timothy Norton wrote:Coconut coir can help improve aeration and water retention in soils. When I have had some in the past I used it as part of a homemade seed start mix in addition to worm casting, perlite, and some sifted compost.

The blocks take A LOT of water to properly break apart and fluff up. I ended up putting a 15 pound block in a 30 gallon tote and would keep adding pitcher of water to gradually break apart the dry bits. Once it is sufficiently saturated it will take up a bunch of volume.

To note for those using it indoors, when the expanded coir dries out it can be very dusty. I like to spray it down with water before using it if it has sat for some time.

I was going to ask if it can be used in addition to perlite, so thanks!  

I mix it about 50/50 with compost for potting up seedlings, works really well for things that want decent drainage without drying out completely. Four blocks is a lot though, you'll be surprised how much it expands once you soak it. Could always use the extra as mulch around transplants too.

Timothy Norton wrote:

When I have had some in the past I used it as part of a homemade seed start mix in addition to worm casting, perlite, and some sifted compost.

Yes - I always add some to my seed starting mix because it holds water so well that I'm less likely to kill baby plants that seem to go from "wet enough" to "too dry" exactly when I'm not watching!

Similarly, I add it to planters, as they are more dependent on me watering them than plants that are in the ground.

and wrote:

The blocks take A LOT of water to properly break apart and fluff up. I ended up putting a 15 pound block in a 30 gallon tote and would keep adding pitcher of water to gradually break apart the dry bits

1. kept in a dry place, the blocks will keep for years and be perfectly happy to reconstitute when you need them, so if storage space isn't an issue, I wouldn't rush to use it up.
2. I use a bucket with a lid for wetting mine. There is no way it will hold a whole block, so I use my small mattock, or a little pry bar to break off chunks. It will break better by wedging an edge.
3. Once wet with the lid on, in my climate, in the shade, it will sit for months without going moldy, so I try to have some hydrated so if someone suddenly asks for a plant or cutting, I can just grab it, compost and a bit of dirt and get the job done without waiting for it to hydrate.
4. Coir serves a similar purpose as peat, but peat is hydrophobic if it dries out too far, whereas coir is not, so I find it much easier to work with.
5. I would feel better if the coir was being reused/returned to the land in the places where it is harvested (a byproduct of the palm oil/coconut oil business). So I consider it to be "precious" as any imported material that required fossil fuels to process and deliver. Thus I use it, but I try to only use what I need in my ecosystem to genuinely help me produce food and help my friends produce food. I try to evaluate "cradle to grave", when I use things in my garden, with the knowledge that many people who tell you, "you can't garden without X" are usually trying to make money and there are often alternatives (like putting punky wood in the bottom of my planters to act like a sponge).

Jay Angler wrote:Timothy Norton wrote:

When I have had some in the past I used it as part of a homemade seed start mix in addition to worm casting, perlite, and some sifted compost.

Yes - I always add some to my seed starting mix because it holds water so well that I'm less likely to kill baby plants that seem to go from "wet enough" to "too dry" exactly when I'm not watching!

Similarly, I add it to planters, as they are more dependent on me watering them than plants that are in the ground.

and wrote:

The blocks take A LOT of water to properly break apart and fluff up. I ended up putting a 15 pound block in a 30 gallon tote and would keep adding pitcher of water to gradually break apart the dry bits

1. kept in a dry place, the blocks will keep for years and be perfectly happy to reconstitute when you need them, so if storage space isn't an issue, I wouldn't rush to use it up.
2. I use a bucket with a lid for wetting mine. There is no way it will hold a whole block, so I use my small mattock, or a little pry bar to break off chunks. It will break better by wedging an edge.
3. Once wet with the lid on, in my climate, in the shade, it will sit for months without going moldy, so I try to have some hydrated so if someone suddenly asks for a plant or cutting, I can just grab it, compost and a bit of dirt and get the job done without waiting for it to hydrate.
4. Coir serves a similar purpose as peat, but peat is hydrophobic if it dries out too far, whereas coir is not, so I find it much easier to work with.
5. I would feel better if the coir was being reused/returned to the land in the places where it is harvested (a byproduct of the palm oil/coconut oil business). So I consider it to be "precious" as any imported material that required fossil fuels to process and deliver. Thus I use it, but I try to only use what I need in my ecosystem to genuinely help me produce food and help my friends produce food. I try to evaluate "cradle to grave", when I use things in my garden, with the knowledge that many people who tell you, "you can't garden without X" are usually trying to make money and there are often alternatives (like putting punky wood in the bottom of my planters to act like a sponge).

   
    There's so much to converse about here that I wish we all were in the same room. Especially #5.  I won't use peat because, to my understanding, it's a limited resource not easily renewed. I bought three blocs of coco coir in a moment of weakness as a possible lesser evil to peat after utilizing at-hand resources as soil modifications; the frustrations, mistakes and successes with those belong to a whole other thread.
    Thank you for validating the mental gyrations I go through before buying almost anything. The fossil fuel factor.   Where was it made?  How was it made and with what materials and how were they sourced? Is the company one I wish to deal with? What is my current level of strength to fight the temptation to choose "easy" rather than "better"? etc.
    When using the resources around me, similar gyrations go on. I'm in suburbia with almost an acre, half flat, half of it wooded with a steep slope (50° to 70°) separating the two.  I always keep habitat in mind. Habitat is hard to come by for wildlife living in the 'burbs.  I have two huge downed trees from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.  I left them in place where the fell, earmarking them for a future resource.  There's some grade A punky wood now, but there are burrows dug beneath them.  My wooded area was being taken over by multiflora rose (a plant that has been listed as one of Long Island's most invasive plants).  It also serves as habitat/shelter for rabbits etc.  I left the multiflora rose intact in a large (relatively speaking) are in an upper corner of the wooded area for the bunnies.  I control the spread not by digging, but but persistent pruning to ground level, and then repeating any time they try to grow back. I "annoy" them into submission and eliminated Japanese honeysuckle from my property by doing this.  Invasives have many uses, but if I allow them take over everything, the cherries, blackberries, and wineberries won't have a chance.  
   Sorry, I seem to have diverted from coco coir.
   
   

Hi everyone!
I just had a very wet, puddled area in my back yard and I threw som coir on top to suck up the moisture.  Gave no thought at all as to whether that was a good idea or not; what say you?
Because there is no "tone of voice" in posts, I just want to say that if my above post seemed cranky or snippy, I say "NOOOOOOOO!!!😁"
I loved the info Jay gave and I love the whole "cradle to the grave" way of thinking.  I (for myself and for myself alone) try to consider sourcing, carbon footprint, sustainability, place of manufacture, etc. etc. On the other hand, there are times that I feel that I don't have enough "spoons" (https://permies.com/t/48536/spoon-theory) to take the next step forward, never mind having enough time and energy to micro-analyze each penny I spend, so I am gentle with myself. I also don't put a thought to what other people do, I haven't shared a meal with most people in the world,never mind walked in their shoes, so it's none of my business.  

Susan Mené wrote: I just had a very wet, puddled area in my back yard and I threw some coir on top to suck up the moisture.  Gave no thought at all as to whether that was a good idea or not; what say you?

OK - I have heavy clay soil. Water doesn't soak in well, so puddles tend to evaporate, which is part of the water cycle, but doesn't help my growies!

So coir added to the puddle might hold that moisture and give it more time to either soak into the clay a bit more, or encourage the worms to move in and help aerate the clay (how the worms manage to get through amazes me, but they do because I see the tunnels).

So I would say this is a great experiment and I hope to hear how it works for you. If your puddled area is low on organic matter, increasing that alone could provide nice benefits.

Jay Angler wrote:

Susan Mené wrote: I just had a very wet, puddled area in my back yard and I threw some coir on top to suck up the moisture.  Gave no thought at all as to whether that was a good idea or not; what say you?

OK - I have heavy clay soil. Water doesn't soak in well, so puddles tend to evaporate, which is part of the water cycle, but doesn't help my growies!

So coir added to the puddle might hold that moisture and give it more time to either soak into the clay a bit more, or encourage the worms to move in and help aerate the clay (how the worms manage to get through amazes me, but they do because I see the tunnels).

So I would say this is a great experiment and I hope to hear how it works for you. If your puddled area is low on organic matter, increasing that alone could provide nice benefits.

Thanks
I live on Long Island in NY.  My neighborhood's soil (soil can vary a lot here) is glacial till: clay, silt, and sand, but with pebbles, cobbles, and boulders scattered through, and all of this add up to poor drainage, so I'm going for it.