Rotor Tilling Coir a Good Idea?

I am wondering if it would be a good idea (or not) to beef up my garden soil this spring by adding Coir instead of peat moss? I hear there are some environmental concerns about peat. It just seems that the section of land I use for my garden in Central PA has sunken way below the surrounding lawn, and I thought it might be a good idea to 'fluff' it up with some coir. I have had two extremely satisfying seasons growing veggies there without adding anything, so I think I have wonderful soil. The area has been tilled only twice, each spring before planting. Am I unneccessarily breaking down the soil structure and thus compacting it? I still consider myself new to this as this will be my third garden ever!

Thank you for any advice or suggestions

Melissa :)

Personally, I would not add either peat moss or coir to a vegetable garden, prefering compost instead. Many landfills are now collecting and composting grass clippings and leaves which makes an excellent soil conditioner, Does not have quite the nutrients of a composted manure, but very good none the less and cheap. One method that I use on my kitchen garden is sheet composting., ie I mulch with grass clippings, leaves etc and plow it down in the fall. I am an advocate of tillage, even to the double dig method for deep rooted cultivars. They need a loose deep soil for proper aeration of the roots.

What is Coir?
I add as much compost as I have and a bit of peat moss before tilling.
Farmerdill, Why no Peat.?
Andy P

Coir's that stuff you see on the outside of a coconut: the husk, more or less.

I second the compost/leaves/grass clippings suggestion. Did wonders for my garden. Look up the lasagna method for next year, maybe: that will raise your beds considerably with no tilling and little work.

Three reasons., Andy. I already have naturally acidic soil, peat has little nutrient value, and it is expensive. Plus it is not a renewable resource. If I don't need to destroy peat bogs, than I should not contribute to thier demise. And no, I am not a wild eyed environmentalist. My motto, do the least harm possible to survive.

Thank You Both, always something new to learn here on DG.
I add the peat for water retention. With a little lime to neutralize the acid.
Andy P

Our soil is alkaline, with mostly clay and some areas of rock and sand, and coir is just about perfect for both. It aerates anf fluffs up the clay and adds water-holding capability to the sand. I can't say enough good about it.

My question is- where's an economical place to buy it online? Anybody have a great source?

I've never done business with them, but you might try http://www.composters.com/docs/lawncare2.html?gclid=CJncnOfMqoMCFSuDCwodh0YHJw about 3/4 of the way down the page.

Thanks for all the information, everybody...It looks like I can't go wrong with coir, compost, or some combination. Around here, Penn State University used to compost all their grass and stuff and offer it to the community free, but one year there was a virus or disease that was composted and I guess it didn't get hot enough to kill whatever it was, and it was a real problem for the local people who used the compost. I worry about that part of it. I don't want to put anything detrimental into the garden, but I guess there's always a chance.

I might be able to buy mushroom compost from PSU's mushroom farms...I bet that would be great for the garden!

Melissa

Coir is probably going to be very expensive in large quantities. I have bought a couple of bricks (probably $20 per brick which might be a 1ft x 6" x 6" recangle of very compressed coir) of it for potting mix that I make up for cacti & succulents. I would go with organic matter for your veggie or perennial beds as that will lighten the soil over time. Mushroom compost work great, so you can look for that either at PSU or most landscape supply places carry it and also can deliver. My veggie beds are a 50-50 mix of topsoil and mushroom compost. Very fluffy soil and the plants and worms love it. You would think I was growing worms when you dig. It will settle over time as the organics decompose, but just add some more compost every year or two as needed. Back to coir. I absolutely love the stuff for potting mixes, especially cacti and succulents. Most commercial mixes have peat which is very hard to re-wet after it dries out, which doesn't work good for cacti since they are dry all winter and much of the year. The roots semm to love how light the mix is also, as they grow great compared to the block that forms with peat. I do like peat in the garden, just not in pots for most things.

Wow. I get a 11 lb. brick of coir for $5.20 at Countryside Natural Products near me. It expands to 2.5 cubic feet. Twenty bucks, ouch.

Lee Valley has it but I don't remember the size or price.

RE: the mushroom compost mentioned in a post above. Any feedback about it? A local wood yard sells it for $23. a yard and I have shoveled it heavily on my blueberries as a weed smothering mulch. A place where it was piled up didn't grow anything, so I don't think it has a lot of nutrients but I really have no idea.

Some issues w/ mushroom compost:

http://www.weedpatch.com/mushroom_compost.html

I used it in one bed and the pH jumped half a point. As my soil already tends alkaline, that's not the kind of help I need. sigh. Also, its soluble salts level is supposedly high and it should be "cured" a while before using.

I wouldn't use it on roses, or acid lovers like azaleas.

Well, good info, My soil is acidic in the main but upping the ph on the blueberrys isn't a very good thing. My main goal was too smother weeds.
Too late now but I won't be using it as freely anymore. Thanks Zeppy.

I wouldn't use mushroom compost in areas where a higher ph is a problem. In my veggie bed the ph seems fine for most veggies (never checked actually). As far as clogging soil pores, I am not too worried as there is an army of worms in there to lighten it up. It is like a masacre everytime I put a shovel or trowel in there. Feel bad for the little guys. I have heard about the potential salt issues and I think that probably depends on the initial source of the manure for the mushroom growers which is out of my control. The stuff I got looked more like horse manure than cow, so maybe the salt level wasn't too bad. I only did a one time use of it and annually topdress with homemade compost so I am not as worried about salts building up over time. I bought the coir probably 4-5 years ago from a local nursery that does cacti & succulents, it definetly wasn't $5.20 but the size seems about the same. At that price it might be doable. Till away.

Thanks for the link Zeppy. Good info about the mushroom compost.

Doesn't look like anyone's suffering too bad there, does it. :) Lovely beds. Yeah, love the worms. I let my hens out while digging a new path and they were just in heaven.

Yes, like mulch & everything else, it must depend on the source.

Zeppy, just noticed you live in Shenandoah Valley. Must be a pretty place to live. I've backpacked there once in the fall and it was lovely, cold & rainy actually but great none the less. Thanks