Coir pellets

[svalli]

I started first pepper seeds today. Just before moving I purcased more seed starting pellets from Wal-Mart and did not pay attention what they were made of. These pellets are Burpee brand and now when I expanded them I noticed that they are not made out of peat like the Jiffy ones; these are made out of coir. The coir pellets did not expand as much as the peat ones and seem to be kinda loose with paper like material around it.

Has anyone used these before? I like using the Jiffy peat pellets, because I do not have to make a such mess inside.I wonder how the coir will hold together and how well does it keep moist. I have used coir in potting mix, but have not started seeds in pure coir.

[dice]

Coir keeps moist fairly well, and it is good at wicking up moisture.

I have not used the pellets, but I have 60% coir, 40% sand this
year for seed starting, and the seedlings are having no trouble
in it. It lacks the tiny bit of nitrogen and humic acid in peat
moss, but the pH is friendlier to vegetable seedlings.

Edit:
One thing about bricks of coir: the idea that you drop it
in so much water and 15 minutes later it is ready to use
is unlikely to be true. I put one in the recommended gallons
of water, left it held down under the water by a concrete
block, and an hour later it had barely soaked in 1/4-inch
around the outside. I ended up breaking it all up by hand,
a little at a time, and it took awhile.

Cutting it up into slices with a power saw first would have
saved a lot of time.

[svalli]

First pepper seeds and a stevia seed had germinated in the coir pellets just after four days, so germination in these works.

I have also used the coir bricks and had to break them apart by with a shovel to smaller pieces to get them all soaked. I think that they need at least a full day to soak as whole bricks.

[outsiders71]

Originally Posted by dice

Coir keeps moist fairly well, and it is good at wicking up moisture.

I have not used the pellets, but I have 60% coir, 40% sand this
year for seed starting, and the seedlings are having no trouble
in it. It lacks the tiny bit of nitrogen and humic acid in peat
moss, but the pH is friendlier to vegetable seedlings.

Edit:
One thing about bricks of coir: the idea that you drop it
in so much water and 15 minutes later it is ready to use
is unlikely to be true. I put one in the recommended gallons
of water, left it held down under the water by a concrete
block, and an hour later it had barely soaked in 1/4-inch
around the outside. I ended up breaking it all up by hand,
a little at a time, and it took awhile.

Cutting it up into slices with a power saw first would have
saved a lot of time.

I'm a big fan of Coir, and use a similar mix to yours except I use perlite instead of sand.

Getting the bricks to expand is so EASY! Just place the brick in a container and then boil some water. Pour the boiling water over the brick and it expands instantly!

[dice]

Just place the brick in a container and then boil some water. Pour the boiling water over the brick and it expands instantly!

I used cold water, and that was simply not what happened.
Maybe some bricks are less compressed than others.

Coir does hold water extremely well, and one needs to be
careful not to overwater. If using coir from an expanded
brick in small pots, avoid packing it in there with your thumb
before adding seeds. Seedlings will develop faster if it is
loosely filled and bottom watered (more air spaces).

Some have cautioned against using 100% coir for seedlings,
but I started a few seeds in just that to see how they would
do. They are doing fine, just about ready to pot up to a larger
pot about 2 weeks after the seeds sprouted.

[outsiders71]

Cold water won't uncompress the bricks . Try boiling water next time!

I've never had a problem with coir, and prefer it over peat. I would never use peat or coir straight, you're just asking for trouble .

[dice]

[growing in 100% coir]

That is likely what the paper-surrounded, compressed
pellets are (comparable to a peat Jiffy-7 pellet), and
I just wanted to see what would happen. I doubt if I
would try that in a larger pot than a seed-starting cell.
(Instructions on the brick were to mix it with potting
soil.)

[wesleythewatch]

I did a trail last year with both coir & normal Jiffy pellets. Though I do garden peat free in all other composts.
As loathed as I am to admit it, the seeds grown in the jiffy pellets grew stronger and quicker than thier acoir counterparts.

Though they soon caught up once transplanted. And this was far from a controlled scientific study.

Wes

[maupin]

I got non-peat pots at Menards this year--first time I saw them comercially offered. the 3" pots were 8 for .69. They are working great for me! Feels good to be peat free.

[svalli]

I am now reporting my experience with the Burpee’s coir pellets. The seeds seemed to germinate fine in the coir, but the seedling growth was not as good as with the Jiffy peat pellets. When transplanting to plastic cups, I did not remove the fabric around the pellets since some of the roots seemed to grow through it. I have used the Jiffy ones for years and never have removed the thin plastic from the pellets. Now I have finally started to put the plants to the final growing places and I noticed that my peppers had grown much thicker roots on the stems above the coir pellets and there were only few thin roots coming through the fabric. I tried to rip the fabric off, but it is quite durable and I had to use scissors to cut them.

If you use the coir pellets, cut the fabric and take it off before transplanting. The material seems to be so thick and durable that the roots can not grow through it.

[bigbubbacain]

If you have your own containers for germinating, Wondersoil makes 2 different varieties of coir pellets, one of which has worm castings mixed in. These pellets also contain the little water absorbing gel "chunks". These help in the beginning, but I usually have a problem with seedlings turning yellow.