What is Coco-based Media & How to Prepare it
What is coco-based growing media? How do you prepare coco media for planting? These are the important questions you should be asking when embarking on a coco-based growing experience. Luckily, we at Plant Magic have put together this handy guide on the natural properties of coco-based growing media, and how to properly prepare it for planting.
What is Coco?
Unlike soil, coconut husk does not naturally contain all the elements, vitamins, minerals, and microorganisms required by plants to thrive.
Also known as coir, coco-based growing media takes an inert natural product – the coconut husk – and turns it into a highly nutritious environment. As coir does not naturally contain the nutritional components necessary for sustaining plant life, they need to be added artificially.
Additionally, coconut husk is high in salts, which is toxic to plant life. Therefore, the salt content needs to be significantly reduced to make coconut husk suitable for growing plants. This is usually achieved through washing or buffering the coconut husk with a chemical solution which strips it of its salts. Also, this chemical process reduces the amount of calcium that the coir can retain, ensuring that the plants are able to get their fill.
This transforms the coconut husk from a harsh, toxic wasteland to a neutral base with where growers can create a perfectly balanced microbiome for their plants.
What Makes Coco Media Good for Growing Plants?
As we established in the previous section, coconut husk is not naturally designed for sustaining plant life (unlike soil). However, it was discovered that coconut husk is naturally very absorbent. Therefore, coconut husk is a good substrate for creating a moist and highly nutritious growing environment.
Unless it is treated with fertiliser, coir provides growers with a “blank canvas” to grow their plants in, giving them complete control over the nutrition of their plants. This includes Plant Magic’s Brick, Block, Grow Bags and Propagation Cubes.
Some coir-based substrates are treated with vital nutrients and elements, for example Plant Magic’s Media Coco Supreme.
How do I Prepare Coco-based Growing Media for Planting?
Coco-based growing media is incredibly easy and simple to prepare for planting. When a coco-based substrate is prepared properly, it leads to massive yields and hefty fruits!
There are four simple steps to preparing coco-based media to optimise plant growth:
- Pre-soak the media – Coco-based growing media is prepared for planting by soaking the media with water, nutrient solutions, and plant additives. Because coco-based growing media holds onto a considerable amount of water and nutrient, it is important to make sure the media is soaked through until run-off appears.
Run-off is the feed that accumulates underneath pots after watering. Warm water is the best for soaking the coco and making its nutrition more readily available to your plants.
At this stage, it is a good idea to create a feed chart for your plants or better yet, refer to the feed charts by Plant Magic, which clearly illustrate when it is the best time to use our range of nutrients.
- Measure pH and Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the nutrient solution – Coco generally falls within a pH of 5.5 to 6.8, but this will change when plant nutrients and water are added. The perfect pH and EC of your growing media will depend on the type of plants you want to grow. So, once you’ve added your nutrient solution to the substrate, it is important to take pH and EC measurements using a meter.
- Manage moisture – The optimal moisture level of your substrate will depend on the preferred environment of your plants. Some plants prefer growing in a drier substrate, while others thrive when they’re soaking wet!
Generally, plants like a warm environment over a cold one. As coco-based growing media retains quite a lot of water, it is recommended that you allow the substrate to create a bit of run-off.
- Get Planting! – Now your coco-based growing media has been infused with the perfect ratios of water and nutrient, it is ready for planting.
Plant Magic has manufactured its own pre-fertilised coco-based growing media, Plant Magic Coco Supreme, to ensure your plants receive the perfect balance of nutrition from day one. Coco Supreme has the perfect ratio of coco substrate, naturally occurring beneficial microorganisms, growth hormones, fytocell for water management, and perlite pebbles for rootzone aeration. This growing media is pre-fertilised for 6-8 weeks to give your plants the best start in life.
Which Nutrients Are Needed for Coco Media?
First things first, you need to infuse your coco media with the vital micro-nutrients and bio-stimulants that coco does not naturally contain. Also, you need to know what stage of growth is the best one for applying the different types of plant nutrients.
When growing in coco-based media, coco base nutrients are essential. Base nutrients provide the building blocks for strong, fast growing plants with masses of fruit and flowers. For the perfect balance of micro-nutrients, calcium, magnesium, and bio-stimulants, we recommend using Plant Magic Coco A&B. This two-part base nutrient provides everything your plants need for overall plant health from the roots to the tips of the leaves.
Plant Magic Root Stimulant is also essential from day one of growth. This nutrient does what it says on the tin… It stimulates rapid development of the root network. Root Stimulant is manufactured using an innovative, carefully controlled fermentation process unique to Plant Magic. This process consists of microbes utilising the ingredients as a food source. Thus, increasing the bioavailability of nutrients by decomposing key components such as sugars and carbohydrates into readily available plant nutrients. This improves every part of the plant’s development, from nutrient uptake to bloom count.
Additionally, Plant Magic offer a great range of additives which are suitable for supporting the plant through the later stages of growth. These additives include Evolution 2.0, which rejuvenates stressed plants and speeds up growth in the vegetative phase. Magne-Cal+ contains a wide variety of vital elements which prevent nutritional deficiencies, such as magnesium deficiency which causes yellow leaves. Designed to be used throughout the bloom phase, Plant Magic Boost delivers bio-stimulants and growth hormones to help trigger the rapid development of flowers. Finally, Plant Magic PK 13/14contains extra phosphorous and potassium for prolific flowering, helping to produce large and tasty yields – without the risk of shock.
As one of the most popular growing mediums used across the global horticulture industry, coco coir has really revolutionised indoor plant care. Growers have greater choice and control over the nutrition of their plants, while benefiting from low risk of disease, strong growth rates, and high yields. But if you’re looking for a more traditional substrate to grow your plants in, why not check out our article on soil and soil-based growing media