This worked well for me

[Colin_M]

Without wishing to ignite the endless "is using Peat harmful" debate, I just wanted to mention that I've had some quite good results using Coir over the past few years. Regardless of ethical impact, I find these just work really well at helping to get seeds going.

If your methods don't follow mine, feel free to ignore this. However I often start seeds off in Jiffy plugs - little compressed blobs that you soak "into life", then act as a mini pot till rootlets emerge.

I find you can get a good number under way in a small space (eg. if you're using the airing cupboard instead of a heated germination pad) then the seedlings transfer easily to a pot with no check on growth.

Early versions used peat but you now seem to be able to get good ones made from coir. Whilst some initial versions had quite a coarse grainy texture, ones I got from the place below were fine. If you want to order several things from them, their flat fee of £4.95 may make sense - see here:
Broadoak Nursery - main online shop
If you just want the jiffys, they also sell them via ebay with only £2.75 delivery:
Broadoak Nursery - eBay outlet

Finally, just to say I have no commercial link with this company. If you Google, you'll find several other suppliers doing them. However I found the quality can vary.

[Nature's Babe]

Sounds good for getting things started Colin, early growing season I am always juggling space too.

[Mr Purple]

Hi
Coir is good for getting things started, but remember, it has no "nutritional value" so if you are continuing to use coir for transplanting you will need to suppliment with a feed.
David

[Colin_M]

Hi
Coir ... has no "nutritional value" so if you are continuing to use coir for transplanting you will need to suppliment with a feed.

Hi David, does this mean it's different from peat in this respect? I though that being composted coconut husk, it had decomposed in a similar way to other composted material.

Anyway, I have never had problems with starting seeds in it (they grow just as vigorously). I then transplant into a bigger pot with potting compost, so maybe that's why I haven't had a problem. I'm getting some larger supplies of coir so will try using that for potting on & see what happens - thanks for the warning though.

[Johnboy]

Hi Colin,
Coir maybe easily used on a very small scale operation but commercially, because it needs a completely different watering policy, is very difficult to use. As David has said Coir is devoid of the essential nutrients and so is Peat but with a wetting agent and added nutrient Peat holds the nutrient whereas Coir doesn't take up the nutrients and with the different watering policy nutrients are lost.
I found that with Coir I was not getting the superior root structure which is essential to the production of first class plant.
The root structure of a brassica seedling is all important when planting out. A superior root structure means they take immediately when planted out with no check in the growth. They do not flop over as many plants which are all top and no bottom do. Root structure is of paramount importance for a good strong well established brassicas.
For this reason I give Coir a thumbs down and would not consider using it ever again.
BTW do you know what COIR stands for?
JB.

[Elle's Garden]

BTW do you know what COIR stands for?

No, please enlighten me?

[peter]

My facetious reply would be COconut Industry Rubbish.

The consensus on online dictionaries is:

Coir ( ko̵ir) noun the prepared fiber of the husks of coconuts, used to make matting and rope Origin: Port cairo < Malayalam kāyar, a rope, cord < Tamil kāyaru, to be twisted.

[snooky]

Most of the coir comes from India/Sri Lanka is processed there,packed into containers,shipped to this country in ships burning 45 tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil a day to be processed again into whatever use for which it is required.
The carbon footprint must be tremendous and another reason NOT to use it.

[Colin_M]

Most of the coir comes from India/Sri Lanka is processed there,packed into containers,shipped to this country in ships burning 45 tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil a day

Yes, I thought this would come up at some stage.

Until we have a thriving coconut industry here in the UK, I guess we have to scratch our heads at why New Zealand lamb costs less than British, despite being brought on a longer journey than the coconut husks (I sense a missive headed in this direction from Alan at this point:)). I don't think I can defend this particular product on the grounds of being green.

In the meantime, thanks to JB and others for the points raised. I guess the lack of nutrition and potential root structure issues might be a problem if using coir as the full growing medium throughout the life of the the plant. However for the Jiffy plugs I used last year, my seedlings started off fine, before being planted on or planted out into our allotment.

[Johnboy]

Hi Peter,
You are almost correct but it was introduce initially as;
COCONUT OIL INDUSTRY REFUSE. To me a very apt name and another word for crap!
JB.

[Johnboy]

Hi Colin,
Contrary to my belief the RHS tell us all that COIR is very good for propagation! Having been a propagator for the last 30 years of my working life I totally refute this piece of amazing news.
Coir doesn't hold water when water retention is essential it lacks nutrient and when nutrients are added they very soon disappear because coir will not hold them. Even if you mix Coir with Comfrey compost the nutrient is leached out with every watering and root formation, which is all important with propagation, is seriously affected.
My conclusion is that the person who formulated the RHS blurb did so very much with tongue in cheek!
If you do not believe me then take a block of Coir and soak for 24 hours then tip it all out on the bench and see how long it holds the water that took the 24 hours to take it up. Then by comparison do the same to a bucket of Peat and give that the same amount of water that then tip that out on the bench.
Note the differences and you will need no further words from me.
JB.

[Colin_M]

If you do not believe me then take a block of Coir and soak for 24 hours then tip it all out on the bench and see how long it holds the water that took the 24 hours to take it up.

Thanks JB, your timing is cruelly ironic......when I ordered my last lot of Jiffy plugs, I also ordered a block of Coir! It turned up this week

Looks like I'll have the chance to try your experiment....Doh!

In the meantime though, I'll track progress of the seeds raised in coir Jiffy plugs and report back here. Interestingly, when I soak & rehydrate these, they don't "leak" water in the way you describe - in fact they remain moist for many days (if a cover is placed over the tray). Much in the same way that peat does.

[Johnboy]

Hi Colin,
The Coir that composes a coir Jiffy pot is compressed which may give you a false impression as to the water holding properties of coir. I have doubts that the coir Jiffy Pots are as pure as you may think. I do not mean contaminated but Jiffy are masters at what they do and they have obviously perfected these pots to do the task.
I am glad that you are going to experiment. Experiments are the fun side of gardening. The time to put your own theories to the test. Your own little laboratory. Growing by comparison in side by side trials increases your knowledge and gives you many more ideas to trial. I have found it immensely helpful over the years. It may not prove the right way to do something but it will very soon tell you what not to do again!
Make it fun!
JB.

[Colin_M]

Hi Colin,
I am glad that you are going to experiment. Experiments are the fun side of gardening. It may not prove the right way to do something but it will very soon tell you what not to do again!
Make it fun!
JB.

Many a true word there JB. I seem to remember we had a similar discussion last Autumn about experimenting with using sand when planting garlic. Hopefully in a month or so's time I can give some feedback on that too.

[Colin_M]

After the discussion above, I started off two sets of Calabrese Marathon seed (from Moles) at the end of March:
- One in Jiffy plugs made using coir
- One in John Innes #2 mixture in pots
This is how they looked after a week. One seedling is emerging from the JI in pots. A few are starting off from the Jiffy plugs.

1933-Coir comparison - 01APR.jpg (198.26 KiB) Viewed 3941 times

The blue splodges are the coating on the seeds (these were supplied by a fellow KG forum member and have always been pretty reliable).

I don't want to draw any conclusions yet. Will post some more pictures over the coming weeks. Oh and sorry, but as you can see I'm not a very tidy gardener.