Original Mulch Block

I saw these advertised in Garden's Supply. They are blocks of dehydrated coir mulch that weigh 9lbs dry. You just add water, wait for it to hydrate, fluff it and then spread on your garden beds. They're not cheap but they're also a bit easier to handle. One block hydrated covers 12 sq ft at 2" depth or 8 sq ft at 3" depth. Just wondering if anyone has used them and what your feelings are about the product.

Thanks, Carol

You meant "Gardener's Supply" ?
This is the first that I've seen coir advertised as a mulch. Interesting. It is quite finely ground and I wonder how it would stay in place.
I use it instead of peat moss for several reasons. Like peat moss, I mix it into the soil to add organic matter and increase moisture retention. pH neutral, important to me living in the north pine woods of MI. Does not repel water when dry like peat does. An easily renewable resource. I purchased the smaller sized bricks when they had them on sale early this Spring. It takes longer than the 20 mintues they say to hydrate, it seems that the longer I let it soak, the better. Once hydrated, I just mix a gob or two into the planting hole and we're good to go. In our sandy soil I'm happy for anything that will hold the moisture.

So, grannymarsh, you seem pleased with the product. My soil is the worst!!! We built our house 5 years ago and I'm still trying to amend the soil adequately to plant. Still dealing with "hardpan". I've started this season with working with lasagna gardening throughout the yard and a raised bed for my vegetable garden. My DH loves the look of mulch and I agree. I just don't like having to pay to have it delivered and then spreading it around. Plus it only looks good for a year anyway. I've been using a lot of peat moss and noticed that whenever I water it does repel water. I'd like to see if anyone else has any comments and then I'll consider buying it. It'll certainly save the ol' back!!

Thanks for your reply,
Carol

I used about 12 of those blocks when amending my veggie garden. Used the coir, chopped straw, greensand, rock phosphate, & manure. It's gorgeous soil now.

Re: the hydrating time...It took almost 2 hours for the brick size to fully moosh. (-technical term, ya know.-)
Another interesting to me tid-bit. There was a partial bucket of coir in the shed, already hydrated, left for almost a week and it was still damp.
I mostly amend my soil a hole at a time. It's coming along. Marsha

I used this also. Definitely does not absorb the water as quickly as the label says. In fact, we were impatient and just used a gardening fork to break it apart and spread it, then watered over the top. Worked just fine.

I haven't had it long enough to say if it will help with soil quality, but it is retaining color nicely, looks good in the bed and is helping with weed supression. Our soil is clay, and holds water pretty well already, so I'm not sure of it's usefulness in that area, either. But I'm liking it enough to use again, I think.

Ours is not that finely ground, it is in various sizes of chunks - from a few loose threads to little hard clumps.