Some of you may be switching over to use Coir instead of peat moss in the interest of sustainability. There is concern about the over harvesting and depletion of accessible peat bogs as it takes 20-25 years for nature to create one inch of peat moss. Some believe it is a better trade off to ship coconut coir from tropical shores, where it is a waste product.
I have been happily using Coir for four years now but am hearing some grumblings and rumors in the garden community that it’s not so great. This spring when I started having problems with my seedlings dying, I decided to do some research.
I learned that my experience is quite common. Not all coir causes problems but some does. The problem is the high salt content in some coir. A few plants do okay with that, but some are very sensitive to salts, especially as baby plants. It becomes a problem when salt water, rather than fresh, is used to rinse the product before packaging. Not all companies do this. It’s likely that, in the future, the coir processing companies will be forced to provide a more consistent product, but in the meantime you can flush out these salts yourself.
You can’t just spray and rinse it. You must first rehydrate the Coir fully. This is an important first step as the salts will only be released when it is fully rehydrated. This is not wasted effort as you need to rehydrate it to use it in your potting mix anyway. Drain the first water after it sits a couple of hours, then rinse once again. Your coir should be ready to use then. I know you don’t need another spring garden task but if you have some bricks waiting to be rehydrated I would recommend doing this extra step.
Some things to consider in using coir: It’s not acidic like peat, and it accepts water more readily, but may dry out a little faster so watch your watering.
In the past I found this to be an economical potting soil option but I just read that its shipping container costs have quadrupled so expect higher prices! Most of our peat moss comes from Canada with less shipping. There is the trade off.
As garden beds are coming out from under the snow, remember a quick way to warm them is to put clear plastic over them for a few days. Clear plastic works much better than black plastic as it collects the solar rays and gets warmer and goes deeper. Feel what a difference it makes by putting your hand under that plastic on a day that has some sun. This does not work over the snow as it insulates the snow so use sand or wood ash to melt the snow and once you have soil then use the plastic.
You may want to consider leaving the plastic on all summer where you are planting zucchini plants. Cut four- to five-inch holes in the clear plastic and plant your zuke transplant or direct seed into that hole. They like to have their roots warmer. Weeds will grow under the plastic so make it easy to lift up and weed under a few times during the summer. This has made my zucchini production much more reliable. If you get pointy zukes, pollination probably is the problem. You can hand pollinate or do what I have done, and grow mostly parthenocarpic zucchinis that do not need pollination.
If you are impatient to eat out of your garden, remember this is the time of year that wild edibles (sometimes called weeds!) are best. Baby fireweed shoots, chickweed, lambsquarter, nettles are all more nutritious than many of the vegetables we grow, and tasty when young.
Enjoy your garden!