Coco or Coco Coir

Coconut Coir is a hydroponic soil-less growing media made from the broken husk of coconuts. There are two types of fibers that make up coir — brown and white. Brown coir comes from mature, ripe coconuts and is a lot stronger, but less flexible. White fibers come from pre-ripe coconut husks and are far more flexible, but much less strong. Almost all of the coconut coir used for hydroponics is brown coir since it’s processed even more after initial harvesting.

With most coconut coir products you’re getting three types of coconut coir: the fiber, the pith (or coconut peat), or the coco chips. Each type brings specific benefits and together they provide a powerful growing medium.

Coco Chips

Coconut chips are a natural type of expanded clay pellet, except it's made from plant matter instead of clay, so they do break down eventually. The chips are large enough to create air pockets but also absorb water so plants won’t dehydrate.

Coco Fibers

Coconut fiber adds air pockets into your medium. It’s not very absorbent, which is beneficial since your growing media needs air pockets in order to provide oxygen to the root zone. The fibers are made of cellulose so they break down fairly quickly, resulting in the collapse of the air pockets over time.

Coco Peat or Pith

The pith looks like finely ground coconut or peat moss. It’s very small and absorbent, so if you were to use just coco peat as your only growing medium, you would drown the roots of your plants.

Benefits of coir

Growing in coco coir may feel like growing in soil because the two media look similar, but coco coir is inert, meaning that it has no nutrients within it. You will need to add hydroponic nutrients and control the pH when using coir. Your plants may also be short on calcium and magnesium, so supplementing with “Cal-Mag” might be necessary. It also needs rehydration before initial use, as the coir will most likely be shipped as dry, compressed bricks.

The benefits of coir include its ability to absorb up to 10x its weight in water, so the roots of your plants should never get dehydrated. There’s also a lot of growing media for roots to work through, promoting healthy root development. Coir can be reused more than once, and most garden pests will avoid settling in coco coir.