7/2/22, 5:37 PM What is Coco Coir?
- Washing Vs Buffering
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WHAT IS COCO COIR? - WASHING VS
BUFFERING
Category: Growing Media
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7/2/22, 5:37 PM What is Coco Coir? - Washing Vs Buffering
Posted: 1 years ago
So what is coco coir? Coco Coir initially was a byproduct of industries that cultivate Coconuts.
It is mainly located in tropical countries and is plant derived product that comes from the
processing of coconut trees into husk.
Going from husk to coir will engage many different grading processes, like aging, washing,
buffering, drying, and shaving into different sizes and forms of coir. Coir products are varied
and wide, so the type of product really governs the grading process.
The first thing you need to know is the structure of coconut coir. The coir husk is between the
outer shell and flesh of the coconut, it had limited use in the world, being used to make ropes
and clothes, but after the 1980’s was morphed into a gardening media replacing peat moss
because of its ability to grow roots deep and wide and has become a giant in the hydroponic
industry.
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7/2/22, 5:37 PM What is Coco Coir? - Washing Vs Buffering
What is cation exchange capacity?
Coconut coir in general is negatively charged, and thus attracts positively charged ions (AKA
cations) such as calcium, magnesium and iron. The number of theses positivity charged ions
the media can hold is known as the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). Essentially, the higher
the CEC the more salt is held by the media. This in turn can cause problems with toxicity of
your plants.
“CEC is a measure of negatively charged sites on the surface, which help in holding positively
charged ions and nutrients such as sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium
(Mg)” (Liang et al., 2006).
Because coconuts are grown mostly on the coast, they are naturally saturated with sodium
chloride, therefore making it high in sodium, another cation!. They also have a high amount of
the cation potassium and therefore low amount of iron, magnesium and calcium. This can
therefore be problematic to plant grown directly in untreated coir fibre.
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7/2/22, 5:37 PM What is Coco Coir? - Washing Vs Buffering
The average CEC of coco coir is between 40-100meq/100g which is generally saturated with
sodium and potassium, while locking out calcium, magnesium and iron. These 5 cations are
the most important cations when buffering Coco.
Washing and buffering coco coir
There is a considerable difference between buffering media compared to washing it. Washing
coco coir simply removes water soluble components like sodium which has built up over time.
Buffering on the other hand reverses the bonds that were made between the media and the
salts, releasing the potassium and the sodium. While it is important to do both, for serious
growers it is good practice to buffer coco coir in an active system as it prevents buildup of
salts ultimately giving them more control on the inputs to the media. Most coir available from
grow shops have been pre-buffered with calcium nitrate, help give you the best started to
your plants.
Washing is also pertinent to achieving the best results because of the additional salt content
that raises the electrical conductivity of the media. Washing gets rid of water-soluble
elements, which in this case is the sodium and the potassium (the reason EC is high). Due to
the strength of some of the bonds made between the ions and the media, washing can’t
eliminate all of the salt in the coir, but buffering can.
To buffer coco coir, you must expose it to higher concentrations of a solution that you want in
the media like calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate. Unfortunately, all nutrient salts have
slightly differing degree of attraction (affinity), which is based on the charge they hold, this
must be taken into account. The calcium and magnesium have a double positive charge so are
preferred when it comes to CEC, as a result there will be an exchange of unwanted salts
(potassium and sodium) for wanted salts (calcium and magnesium).
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7/2/22, 5:37 PM What is Coco Coir? - Washing Vs Buffering
When you buffer coco coir with calcium and magnesium until saturation it ensures that when
you add a base nutrient like SHOGUN Samurai Coco all the nutrients are deposited for the
plant to use and not for the media to hold on to.
An unbuffered coco coir will cause nutrient lock out of calcium and magnesium because the
coco substrates have a stronger attraction to these 2 salts compared to potassium and
sodium. As a result, sodium and potassium will be displaced into the solution and uptaken
into the roots.
Calcium is crucial for a plant’s growth and is involved in almost every aspect of a plant’s
development. Your plant will show Calcium deficiencies in a few different ways if you pay
close attention. New leaves may appear crinkled and distorted while they might also show
dead spots where the leaves will turn brown and die-off. Older leaves will show rust spots
where disease can take hold.
Most Coco Coir on the market these days is washed but it may not be nutrient buffered so
please make sure you know exactly what your buying. If you know it has not been buffered
you can use SHOGUN CalMag to reverse all the bonds made to sodium and potassium.
Categories
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Samurai Coco
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