Experimentation with Coco Peat

I got 3 blocks of packed coco peat for experimentation purposes.  Basically, this is to find out if coco peat is indeed an ideal medium to grow seeds.  I brought it home and got my youngest son to watch as the dried coco peat expanded while we soaked the material in water.  In a few minutes, the coco peat becomes a gooey brown material ready for the seedling trays.  I used Styrofoam cups.  I also had the lettuce seeds pre-soaked in water and left to air dry in newspaper.

I lined a wooden box with newspaper and scooped wet coco peat.  This will serve as one of my seedling tray.   The cups were also half filled with the coco peat and slowly, father and son dropped a few seeds here and there.

I told my son that in a few days, tiny leaves could be seen.  My son's eyes widened as he said, he'd wake up everyday to check on the seed boxes.

In two days, tiny seeds sprouted from the coco peat material.  I sprayed diluted Effective Microorganisms.  This is the last time I am using a locally made commercial EM concentrate.  I plan to use locally sourced indigenous microorganism.

I put the Styrofoam and wooden box seed trays in a sunny window.  I have to cover with glass (taken down from our old windows to control the full sun which hit the window some long hours each day.








The seeds indeed grew but they were quite not ideal for transplanting.  I did found out in the end that the coco peat did not have much nutrients. The trick was to mix in the coco peat with good garden soil.  The soil will then provide the nutrients.  The coco peat though is an ideal material for seeding because it is porous-allows the roots to breathe.




Coco peat is an ideal material for seed preparation but it is not readily available in our mountain region.  One can make arrangements with the market vendors so that you can get their coconut wastes.  Wet the husks and have it decompose in a few months.

Meanwhile, you can still do seeding in a well prepared garden plot (compost added).