Coco Coir: what is it? how it can benefit your cannabis?

There are a lot of choices when it comes to growing your growing media and it's not always easy to know which to use.

Growers need to take many variables into account when deciding what media will work best for them. There are questions of pH, feeding schedules, drainability, potential nutrient lockout, the list goes on.

So what should you do? In the end the answer is to use the product that works best for you. But again, what one is it? The only way to answer this is to learn a bit about what's available, so to that end, let's talk about coco coir.

What is Coco Coir?

Coco Coir in a plant byproduct, specifically coconut fiber. The manufacture of coco coir involves removing the coir grains from the husk and processsing them into a uniform grow media, creating an elegant, organic grow substrate.

Advantages of Coco Coir

While every grow substrate will have its pros and cons, coco has some specific features that make it very popular with cannabis growers.

• High water holding capacity, ideal for humid environments.
• Coco coir is in the pH neutral range.
• The root system thrives in coco due to coco's drainability and aeration.
• Natural pest control - coco is a natural anti-fungal and can even repel some pest types.
• Environmentally Friendly - Made from coconut waste.
• Reusable - don't forget to flush it before you reuse!
• Greater yields - maybe the most important factor to growers, coco coir boasts larger harvests due to the ability for the roots to easily find food in a coco media.

What about peat moss?

Peat moss has been used as a substrate for a long time and many growers swear by it. While it has some of the same great properties of coco coir, peat moss isn't considered environmentally sustainable. Peat moss is a natural forming substrate that can take 15-25 years to form. Removing it from the environment can have a negative impact on the local ecosystem. Some scientists consider "peat bog" ecosystems to be as fragile as the rainforests.

Interested in coco coir?

If you're interested in coco coir there are numerous products on the market. One of the best we've heard about is Tupur from Royal Gold. We featured the product in our Honeydew Farms episode of Canna Cribs because the grower used it and loved it.

Tupur was developed to give growers a blank slate to build their own feeding regimen. Additionally, Tupur can be watered up to six times a day, making it an ideal choice for automated systems, particularly drain to waste as well as ebb and flow, but Tupur works beautifully in hand-watered gardens too.

Royal Gold Tupur=More bang for your buck

If price is an issue when it comes to media, Tupur is available in a 2 cubic-foot bag that's priced to compete with the industry standard 1.5 cubic-foot bag. Not only can you increase yields and have greater control over your grow, but you'll be able to save money doing it.

Higher yields, happier plants, good for the environment, and costs less? Seems like something worth trying.

So there you have it, our explanation of what coco is and how it can help your grow thrive. Have you used coco before? What kind of media do you prefer? We want to know! Click one of the join buttons on this page and tell us about it in the Growers Network forum!