Washing Coir

How do you wash coir? It says it was washed but other places say you have to watch out for it being washed in salt water. It absorbs water so easily how do you get it to let loose of the salts. I did a couple of flats without rinsing and I am wondering if I should rinse the next bunch. I used the bricks.

Just stick the pot under the faucent or hose and let the water run through it
till it pours out the bottom of the pot for 5 to 10 minutes or so ..

I use an old sheer curtain to line a big collandar. After hydrating the brick, I transfer a smaller amount to the collandar and use plenty of hot water to rinse. I squeeze the coir as best as I can to remove the excess water and then store in a big plastic bag.

The plants are germinating just fine without washing, so I will leave it at that. Using perlite topping or a coir topping doesn't seem to matter, though the coir stays damper, which may be good or bad.

I had too much to use a collander. I just put it in a big container, added water, then drained it through an old rag. Worked fine. The coir holds together very well so you can tip the container enough to get almost all the water out. Well see if it makes any difference. The unwashed coir worked pretty well with just a few species not germinating, and I may be just too impatient on those. I am going to switch over the paper towels, actually the flat round coffee filter paper.

I buy coir by the 10 lb block these days to root my rose cuttings in. I soak it apart in the wheelbarrow and then drain it through a windowscreen I bought just for that purpose. You really should rinse your coir, and more than once due to processing salts. I always rinse three times to be safe.

Diana

Where do you get your ten pound blocks?

Pretty much everything has germinated at about the same rate or better without significant washing. A significant amount leaching does take place when you bottom water. I do wash it once and the coir is only a third of the mix. Plus, I am germinating things on filter paper and then growing them on with the coir, so if the salts were too high, they would croak when transplanted which they are not doing. The only problem I have had has been caused by the damping off from the fungi growing on the filter paper. That seems to have only affected a few species and I think I might have it under control. I will find out tomorrow night when I go through the filter papers, all 150 of them.

Some brands are safe to use as is, some are not. I never take a chance and rinse mine as a precaution since I root cuttings in pure coir. Some people I know lost plants due to salt content when they didn't rinse.
You can get the 11 (my bad, not 10) lb bales from Seeds of Change, also there are sellers on Ebay for the bales but watch your shipping charges.

http://seedsofchange.com/garden_center/product_details.asp?item_no=S15810&added=1&page_no=1

Diana

Thanks, I will check them out.