Coco Wash (Coconut Coir/Peat)

Description

The need to buffer the coconut coir / peat :

Washing coconut coir/peat with water will change the EC but not the CEC. CEC sites have a preference for some cations over others. Because the cations on the exchange sites are held reasonably tight, washing coco does little to change the makeup of the cations on the exchange sites.

When coconut coir/peat is buffered using Coco-Wash, it creates a lower K and Na percentage on the exchange and adds the benefit of Ca and Mg to the CEC. This results in much lower K and Na levels on the exchange. 

As a grower, if you are using an un-buffered coco product, a well-balanced nutrient solution goes into the coco and starts to buffer the coco as well as feed the plants, instead of all of the nutrients going directly to plants. So, the CEC in the coconut coir/peat is exchanging some of the K and Na for Ca and Mg.

The idea is to use a better coco product from day one, ensuring all of a nutrient mix goes straight to the plant versus amending the coco’s CEC.

PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS :

• Form : White Powder
• pH : 5.5 to 6.5
• Ca : 5.0%
• Mg : 3.0%
• Water Solubility : 100%

COCONUT COIR & PEAT WASHING :

The first step is to hydrate or expand the coco-peat/coir completely. Once expanded, leave the coco-peat/coir until there is no more water runoff.

The next step is to mix Coco-Wash in a ratio of 13 Kgs per 1,000 litres of water.

The recommended buffering ratio is 200 litres of treated water (i.e. water mixed with Coco-Wash) per 1 Cubic Meter (or +/- 15 x 5kg blocks) of coco-peat/coir – alternatively – 1,000 litres of water mixed with 13 kgs of Coco-Wash will buffer 5 Cubic Meters of coco-peat/coir. Ideally the treated water should be administered over a 24 hour period via a slow sprinkler system if possible.

After the treated water has been applied, leave the heap for 2 days for the buffer to take full effect and for optimum results.

Once the resting period is over, rinse the coco-peat/coir once more – i.e. let the all the water runoff, wash it again with water and let it then run off once more.

Now you will have buffered coco – peat/coir.