Soil not "soil"

[August44]

Raw aggregate made from the fiber between the husk and outer shell of coconuts. Comes milled in a few different sizes or "textures" much like peat.

So what is the best size to get for trees in progress, not finished yet by any means?

 

[ZombieNick]

Hello other August @ZombieNick already laid down a decent suggestion and succulent mix will be better than run of the mill all purpose mixes. However, I think theres something to be said about coco coir based mixes if youre using it for bonsai...

I won't go on a rant about how its technically more sustainable... but!

More importantly it's what the cannabis growers use, ala Happy Frog and the other high end coir based soils that line the aisles of hydroponic stores. Pot farmers only use the best for their crop (paranoia?) and are every bit as serious about their horticulture as bonsai enthusiasts.

I also have known many others on this forum to use coco coir itself as an organic in their gritty mixes. So there's precedent as well!

Personally I only have a bit of experience with it, but I have had some downright awful experiences with peat, and I believe coco exchanges water better for our uses.

I have a lot of experience with coco coir, it works extremely well as a hydro medium. It does need to be buffered or it will leech calcium, Happy Frog or other expensive mixes are prebuffered. In my experience it does not work well at all in organic soil mixes. It tends to dry out much quicker than the other soil components and once it does, it becomes hydrophobic - even though everything I've read says it's not supposed to and its often listed as one of it's benefits over peat moss. Just my 2 cents, I know people claim to use it in their mixes to great success, and as usual, it probably comes down to watering habits.

 

[August]

It tends to dry out much quicker than the other soil components and once it does, it becomes hydrophobic - even though everything I've read says it's not supposed to and its often listed as one of it's benefits over peat moss.

I think this has a lot to do with whatever wetting agents are applied to it. I wholly avoid organic potting mixes for this reason; they substitute the non-compliant good stuff with yucca extract. Ive heard people rave about yucca extract so it might come down to ratios.

Ive seen unprocessed peat fines dance around like oil on water where a bag of promix that looks identical has some of the best water exchange properties I've ever seen.

 

[August44]

I have a lot of experience with coco coir, it works extremely well as a hydro medium. It does need to be buffered or it will leech calcium, Happy Frog or other expensive mixes are prebuffered. In my experience it does not work well at all in organic soil mixes. It tends to dry out much quicker than the other soil components and once it does, it becomes hydrophobic - even though everything I've read says it's not supposed to and its often listed as one of it's benefits over peat moss. Just my 2 cents, I know people claim to use it in their mixes to great success, and as usual, it probably comes down to watering habits.

So are u saying happy Frog is not a good one to use?

 

[August]

So are u saying happy Frog is not a good one to use?

He's saying Happy Frog is pre-buffered and thus safe to use.

 

[August44]

He's saying Happy Frog is pre-buffered and thus safe to use.

Sorry, what does pre-buffered mean?

 

[August]

Sorry, what does pre-buffered mean?

@ZombieNick would know more than I about this. But essentially, it means has been treated to nullify any salt content. So that it's ready for horticultural use; I imagine any big name coco coir company produces bags of soil that are ready to use and safe for plants.

 

[ZombieNick]

Sorry, what does pre-buffered mean?

It has to do with cation exchange capacity, you can Google it if you really want to know the chemistry behind it, but "buffering" here is basically just soaking it in a calcium/magnesium solution before use. You can buy a dehydrated brick of coco coir and do this yourself and save a bunch of money if you are needing a lot of it - Happy Frog is just coco coir with some perlite thats been buffered, sold at a premium

 

[Potawatomi13]

Can also buy in dry bricks from Chewy (the pet food/supply folks) online fairly reasonably. Always wear gloves when mixing with H2O or planting. It is in fine short fiber form and these act as little slivers around finger nails. Personally use this for dampened Tortoise bedding.