My young stringbeans seem to like the coconut coir from BocaBob? I had to slice the side of the bag and add a cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer but that is all with the exception of the irrigation system. I think it's a good deal for the price as they are light and can be grown or should I say placed on tables for easy access. I'll soon have to stake the string beans although they are bush beans, the way they are growing they will need support.
Hummmmm .. Inovative. : ) I would never really have thought about puttign beans in the grow bag liek that.
How you got the water system hooked up T?
And how expensive is this BoccaBob Coir is ya dont mind my asking.
TPlant,
Beans look great. I'm about to order some coir once we get the shipping cost straightened out.
Starlight, here is the like to BocaBob's site with price. http://davesgarden.com/products/market/view/4034/
Jessica
T, what size are those bags? Could you give me some dimensions?
Thanks, Carol
The gro bags cost $4.95 I believe and include the coir. They are about four feet long and real easy to work with. Put a hole in the center of the bag fill with water, let stand awhile and then fill again until it is all puffed up then slash four two inch slices in the bottom of the bag for drainage. Because I don't have Bob's self fertilizing system I slit the side of the bag and added a cup of 10-10-10 on the side just like my EBs and taped them closed. Worked like a charm. Every once in a while I use Spray-n-Grow on all my plants just to give them an extra boost. What the heck! It couldn't hurt?
Tplant, are you running a drip line to the bag, else, how often do you water?
What keeps the coir and roots from exiting the bottom slits?
You can water daily with a hose as you are now doing . I have a self watering system set up now thank goodness. My bags are set on weed cloth and even if they penetrated the ground that would be OK. Because the mix is protected from the climate it may not be necessary to water daily as the water will not evaporate as quickly if the mix was exposed to the elements.
Tplant - how thick (pumped up) are the bags? The reason I ask instead of running out to my local supplier is that we don't HAVE a local supplier! I can get bags. I can get coir. I can make compost. But I can't get anything all together and if I could they would probably cost around $12 each.
So...my curiousity runs rampant: how to devise a similar arrangement? Does it have to be as thick as a 5 gal bucket is tall?
Carol
I'm not used to the proper terminology as of yet. A grow bag is a 5 gal bag with coir and drain holes. A lay flat bag blows up to about 5" high or so. Check our Marketplace for precise instruction. Enter COIR.
Just thinking out loud, here. The lay flat bag might be great for early spring plantings, thinking that it will heat up inside during the day more than will the surrounding dirt. Later on in the growing season as ambient temperatures rise and the temperature inside the lay flat bag reaches a critical state, dirt could be pulled over the bag to protect the roots by keeping the temp inside the bag down.
Dirt or mulch either one. I am reserved due to ants, BLOOMING FIREANTS!
My Louisiana Long eggplants plus another. One is in a gro bag and keeping up with my EBs even though it was planted later. They enjoy the coco coir.
This message was edited Dec 30, 2008 5:35 PM
I got my 10 bales of Coir and 40 5-gal grow bags, today. I intend to cut the dry bales into four pieces with a band saw. Each piece will go into a grow bag and then into a 5-gal bucket to which water will be added to hydrate the coir. Once it is hydrated the bag will be lifted from the bucket and placed in a line on a tarp on the ground. At some point cattle panels will be secured to T-posts along each side of the row of maters for them to climb on.
Sometime in March after I transplant the maters into the grow bags there will be a drip/spray system installed to provide water to the mater bags. Feeding will be done via all liquid, both direct pour and foliar spray.
Anyhow, this is the plan. Only time will tell...
Jerry
I would place everything in a large tub as it amazed me how much it expands and you don't want to lose any? Wait till you see the results? That coir is terrific stuff and easy to work with. This is one block placed in a small fish pond liner about three feet across. I fill them from here.
Tplant,
How big a block of coir was that?
Karen
One. About 8"x8"x5" approx.
Tplant,
I'm impressed with how much it expanded. Buying coir locally is probably out of the question, but I'm going to give it a try come spring.
Karen
Jerry, keep us all posted on your coconut coir usage. The more people that use it and report on its results the more it will be used. Let's educate all the gardeners.
bocaBob
tplant, Thanks for the tip on hydrating the bale. I will definitely keep that in mind.
bocaBob, Will do!
After more than a month trying to locate a source for the coir close to me so that I could minimize shipping cost, I finally found a hydroponics supplier in South Austin and was able to get what I wanted from them.
The produce they carry is Earthjuice Companion Procoir by Organic Growing Medium (OGM) in California. It weighs 11 lbs., up to 80 liter hydration, requires 7 gal to hydrate in 15 min, and size = 12" x 12" x 5.75". $9.99
A funny thing happened to me this morning. After I paid my taxes in the small community of Sattler, Tx, I walked over to the small feed store that has been there forever, just to browse the garden stuff since that bug has really gotten ah hold of me. And yup, there was a stack of 7 bales of coir on year-end close out - $7.99. Come to find out Earnie the owner who I've known for years is into organic gardening big time so naturally his store is stocked with some of the best organic grow products to be found in the Central Texas Market. He also carries an organic weed killer and insecticides and fungicides. Go figure, right here in my own back yard.
Here are the specs on the coir (7) I got from Earnie: CocoChoice CoirPeat by Renaissance Pacific Corp, Tx, 10 lbs. up to 60 liters, use 5 gal water to hydrate in 30 min., $7.99, 12.5" x 12.5" x 6.5".
Will keep y'all posted,
Jerry
ps...thanks for all y'all's guidance on the coir container growing system.
Hey, Jerry..........Slip me the name of that hydroponic place in Austin. I just ordered 25 five gallon bags from Hydro Gardens in Colorado. $71.00 for the grow bags and $45.00 freight. The weight is listed as 41 lbs. I could save a lot on freight even if I drive to Austin to pick it up. Or better yet, your buddy Earnie is even closer and no city traffic, looks like about 65 miles. If I cant talk my local nursery person into carrying it, I will just drive over that way and pick it up myself.
It's kind of funny that you found it right there in your home town.
Its me again, Jerry..........I got to thinking and boy is it painful as I normally shy away from anything strenious like that. If Ernies source for coir is somewhere here in Texas the source may be Mexico. Im kind of distrustful of stuff coming out of Mexico and I know that Mexico does have a coconut coir industry. What Im wondering is if they do a good job of flushing the salt out of the coir before packaging and selling it. It may be something you wont to check out and Ernie probably has the answers if he has been using it. Does he grow direct in it or use it as soil amendment? As a garden bed amendment, a little salt in it might not be noticable but growing direct in it, it could be a problem. Just thinking.............Ouch.
Jay---the coir from Earnie's is from a distributor in Dallas and is processes in the Philippines. Here is there web http://www.cocochoice.com/ He did say that if I needed more that he could order it for me.
I asked about the salt content in this product, but because he used it as a soil amendment it was something that he never considered.
I didn't ask if he carried the empty grow bags because I intend to use the coir I got from him in pickle buckets and empty 18 lb cat food poly bags. I have also considered cutting in half 30 and 55 gal plastic drums and useing them for gardening.
The grow bags I got in Austin cost $0.35 ea. It will be good if I can fill four of the 5-gal bags with one of their coir bale ($9.99) using about 4.5 gal per bag. That would put the cost of each bag filled with coir at $2.85 + 8.5% tax.
There is still my time and the cost for gasoline for me to drive to Austin, a 90 mile round trip.
There is just no way to get away from shipping cost.
Happy Gardening,
Jerry
Sounds good, Jerry. I may check back with you later and get in touch with Ernie to order some more. That looks like a good company that is processing the coir in the recommended ways. Thanks again.
Jerry,
was wondering what has been your experience in hydrating the Coco Choice coir peat
I got a few of the 10 pound blocks of Coco Choice from the supplier here in the Dallas area. They absorbed an amazing amount of water but were downright difficult to hydrate. I mean they were bone dry and hard. I had to split them into thin slabs with a shovel and let them soak overnite before I could break them up by hand and crumble them enough so they would saturate. I added ten gallons of water initially (in a wheelbarrow), and more water the next morning.
I am impressed by how moist and fluffy it gets (like chocolate cake) when it finally does saturate. One 10 pound block when fully expanded filled a wheelbarrow a little over half full (about 3 cubic feet).
Anyone have any suggestions on how to get this stuff to hydrate a little sooner than later.
fiddle,
Thanks for the tip on breaking the bales into smaller pieces for hydration.
This will be my first time to work with Coir. I plan to cut the blocks into four pieces with a band saw and then put each piece in a 5-gal grow bag in a pickle bucket and add the required amount of water. I intend to just lift the 5-gal grow bag out of the bucket and place it in the garden after the hydration is complete. Was planning to do this around the 1st week in March.
I bought my bales now so I wouldn't have to be scrambling around at the last minute trying to find the coir.
Jerry
you won't need a band saw. the blocks slice easily with a flat blade shovel or axe, if you slice in parallel with the compression plane (not against the grain). the blocks are very dry, so a band saw will generate an impressive cloud of microscopic dust. also, a large amount if fugitive coir dust will be released when the plastic wrap is removed, so be sure to do this part outdoors, and stand upwind.
I have not tried expanding them inside a bag. the blocks that I got were softened up some but were still chunky and solid after standing in water overnite. but maybe the way you suggest will work - initially slice the block into 4 equal slabs and load the quarter slabs into the grow bags and let set in water overnite. you could then hand-massage the slabs inside or outside the bags the next day, if they still need some more hydrating.
I wear heavy chemical-service rubber gloves ($5 from Lowe's) for hand protection while mashing and mixing the coir chunks in a wheelbarrow.
Hi jerry and fiddle. I'm a little puzzled about your hydrating your coconut coir. Mine are 11-12 lbs and I dump the whole block into a tub, add water and in 15 minutes I have it all hydrated. I've done more than 20 like that. I do use a lot of water and make like a thick soup, then hand squeeze it by the handfuls to get the extra water out. Then I use a kitchen strainer to get the rest of it. If you do that you get a amazing extra amount from the block.
Just adding my experience, hope you don't mind
BocaBob
BocaBob,
Do you fill your grow bags or use grow bags that come with the compressed coir already in them. I am trying to get away from manually filling my empty grow bags.
If you are starting with empty grow bags, it sounds like you hydrate the coir in a tub, squeeze the water from the coir by the handfuls and manually fill each grow bag. This is the step I am trying to avoid, but maybe I shouldn't. I dunno.
BocaBob,
your coir must be a better grade, very likely fine dust coir. the Coco Choice compressed blocks that I got locally varied from 8 pounds to 12 pounds each, and most of the blocks contained some visible fibers. one or two of the blocks were obviously very good dust quality and did hydrate completely without any help from me, although it took a little longer than 30 minutes. Maybe this was caused in part by the low outside temps in the 50's, and I did not use hot water.
this hydrated coir is being used in some raised beds as top dressing, and will be covered under a layer of straw after the plants get some size. I am also using it as a blend in some planting holes. the blend ratio I am trying this season is 30% coir - 70% soil. some of it will also be loaded into SWCs (100% coir). I am really pleased with it so far, and am anxious to see the results.
very much enjoy your photos. many thanks for letting us know about coco coir and how to use it.
I do both. The bags that come with the coir in them, I open the bag, Slip the whole thing in a 5 gallon plastic bucket, add water, lift the bag out 15 minutes later and let it drain.You need to fluff alittle. I also experiment with a whole block, hydrating it and filling the bag 1/2 way for a tomato seedling, and adding coir as the plant grows. This is working REAL WELL. I'm not transplanting from the seed starter to another to another.
BocaBob
There are many different specs as far as coir goes I'm finding out. Mine is quite fine, like coffee grounds with very little fibers in it. Glorious if I may say so. Beautiful to work with. Great for seed starting too.I brought in 20 1/2 size lay flat bags with a much rougher sieve to try. This was last year, and now that I think about it, it did take much longer to hydrate. I wasn't crazy about it, but I wasn't trying to amend my soil with it. I use mine "straight"
BocaBob
I also experiment with a whole block, hydrating it and filling the bag 1/2 way for a tomato seedling, and adding coir as the plant grows. This is working REAL WELL.
you are very welcome.
BocaBob
No one can deny his results with the coir? He convinced me! Jungle Growth or Miracle Gro used to be my mix but after using his coir and the ease of working with it, I've been converted and the best part is my plants love it. I still use my 10-10-10 and the dolomite lime although I'd like to use his fertilizer but I can't afford the special automated fertilizing system that he uses though probably could do it manually with a watering can as the plants would strive just like his but my arthritic shoulders will not permit me to carry the weight around and I would surely suffer the next day. The coir is so light and easy and fun to watch it expand as water is added. Which reminds me I have four OSU seedlings to plant today in his new white gro bags.That will wait till I'm finished with my DG friends questions and my delicious Coffee !
Hey ya know I was surprised to learn that the Earthbox people no longer include casters if you don't order the complete kit? Guess they are starting to feel the economy crunch also?
Here's a couple of coco coir grow bag pics taken today
BocaBob
Here is a example of a tomato plant that was planted in a coco coir grow bag with the bag 1/2 filled with coir with a young seedling, then as the seedling grew, more coir was added. The stem is incredibly thick and strong.
Here's a georgia collard plant in a 5 gallon coir grow bag
Impressive and inspiring!! Can't wait to try this out!
Purty, Bob.
Does my eyes and disposition good to see such lush growing tomatoes and veggies!
Shoe, where it is a cool, wet, rainy Winter day and who needs to feast his eyes on Boca Bob's garden. :>)
Shoe, thanks, here 's a few more for you !!!
My strawberries
