coir for compost

i have just bought some coir blocks to mix with general compost and other ingredients/
for my tomatoes.just wondering can i mix it up now and then bag it.
ready for planting in a couple of months. or should i wait until nearer the time.

 

Be interested to hear what others think but I think:

"nearer the time" there will be loads of gardening jobs to do. Grass and Weeds will be in full flight ... and everything will need pricking out, potted up/on and planting out.

I would do all the "background jobs" now-ish, and I can't think of a reason not to do it (soil sterilisation or similar ...)

I turn old compost bags inside out when they have "something else" in them.

 

I always add water to the blocks and put into old compost sacks, labeled of course. I mix 10 parts Coir to 5 parts own compost. No feed for seeds and use the same mixture with added feed for all my plants.

 

Thanks Kristen/John 558, to both of you thats what i wanted to know.

 

Today gardeners are blessed with so many soil substitutes. In the US. Fir bark is used as a potting medium. No mention of it being added to soil or compost. A friend of mine, Richard who is a grower/wholeseller of lilies. He uses bracken, markeded under the name of Dalepost or similar.

I have used coir this year as a potting compost and a seed sowing compost.
Seed sowing has been 100% plus. Potting up also has been good. Potting up, I took a chance and used coir dry. For general use, I soaked the blocks and some of it I bagged up.

In most if not all these soil substitutes, including what I call floor sweepings, balanced amounts of NPK are added. This at least provides a degree of nutrician.

Not wishing to offend anyone but. To pay out and buy whatever kind of compost or additive and then to chuck it into the compost heap!!!!?????

 

People tend to forget that coir is not very environmentally friendly: it requires large amounts of water to produce, and it has to be transported across the world.
I think there are better solutions to going peat free.

 

I've heard claims like this before. I've also heard the opposite, that coir is very eco friendly due to it being a byproduct of the coconut harvest, and the fact it is lightweight and compact to transport due to being so dehydrated.

I've yet to come across an argument for or against that goes into any detail beyond the vague headline level.

 

I buy the coir bricks for my wormery, it makes the perfect bedding. In due time when it's turned into worm castings it gets spread around the garden.

At one time I did think about using coir for jobs in the garden instead of normal compost, but then I realised that it could soon deplete the garden from iron and other trace elements. I'm pretty sure it would be fine for starting off seedlings, but I've stepped back from it. Financially I don't think there's much in it cost wise, I now prefer to buy the cheapest store compost and mix it with worm castings.

 

When I started my wormery it came with a coir brick to settle in the worms. Since then however I've not used any more. The worms get the appropriate kitchen waste (everything vegetable excluding citrus and onion family), plus occasional garden waste (shredded prunings, dead-heads), and regular topping up with strips of newspaper and cardboard. Perhaps the latter fulfills the same role as your coir bedding @Jenny_Aster? Oh and all of the hair and nail clippings from the household (useful keratin). The final product I get is quite mushy and not crumbly as worm castings are often described. Perhaps with coir you get a more crumbly product? Otherwise I'm happy with what I get, it certainly is very rich.

 

Yes my wormery came with a coir brick. I tried using old grass sods once for bedding, but the worms looked to be escaping, it was clear they didn't care for it. I find the coir keeps the wormery from getting too soggy. I'm presuming your wormery is a tower type version like mine with what I call soupers. Half a hydrated brick I think is enough for bedding in a souper. I also bury the food under the coir where it seems to break down quicker.

The worms do get all sorts to live on, but not so much ripped up paper and cardboard cos I'm afraid I'm too lazy to shred it. I really should give them more paper and cardboard though. Thinking what you wrote, I think it would be a good idea to give them some of loads of the dog hair we get after grooming our dog. Thanks for the tip.

 

With newspaper I get one entire section, and use garden secateurs to make small cuts across the folded side, spaced quite narrowly. I then tear off thick wads of narrow strips using those cuts as starts. I've found this a very easy way to generate a large amount of shredded material in little time.