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Getting stuff to germinate with coir

brentwood nigelbrentwood nigel Posts: 10
in Problem solving
Morning! I’m using coir for the first time.  Fluffed it up as per instructions. Sowed 30+ borlotti beans in pots. 5 germinated (four got eaten). Sowed a trayfull of red cabbage in a propagator (first time with one of those). Nothing. A whole lot of parsnips in paper plugs so I could plant them out. Nothing. A dozen squash. Nothing. What am I doing wrong?! Overwatering? Too warm? They are in a polytunnel. All thoughts welcome!

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I’m fed up with cr*p compost this year,  I’m now sowing seeds in garden soil with some perlite mixed in.  Parsnips, lettuce, all up in a couple days,   After all,  lots of people sow direct if you do it at the right time of the year.  Self seaders  manage ok in garden soil.
    I’m  rethinking this now,  I won’t be buying anymore bagged compost.

    I did get all my tomatoes and beans to germinated,  definitely not in coir though, and potted them on in garden  soil.
    You just have to learn which is plant and which is weed. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    I have to say my results in coir were very very poor and I also used biodegradable pots which I don’t like either. I have lots of small plastic pots I will reuse next year instead and no more coir for me. 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Is pure coir recommended as a seed compost?
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I'm using peat free composts for the first time this year - not seen it here before this year - and have had dreadful germination from a wide range of seeds - sunflowers, heleniums, rudbeckia, amsonia, chillies, osteospermums and many more.   

    I suspect I've over watered as they seem to form a crust on top that looks dry.

    On the other hand, I've had 80% germination of courgette and squashes sown last month and, after several months, I finally have 2 teeny eucalyptus, one cercis and an abies sown in November in coir pots.

    I shall have another go with flower seeds and some PSB but mix up my compost with garden soil and some perlite and see if they do any better.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Coir is just coconut fibre.
    It doesn't hold water and it has no nutrients whatsoever, so really needs to be mixed with something before use unless its being used for hydroponics.

    My fave compost for several years is Grow Wise (Bord na Mona) either the orange or purple bags.
    It is quite widely available and as you're not far from me I get mine either at Barleylands Farm shop on the way to Wickford or just around the corner from me in Tye Common Road at the Burstead Farm shop - they both sell it for 3x 50L bags for £12 and both will load it into your car.
    I always add perlite to it  - about 20-25% so it drains freely.

    The Burstead Farm shop is under new management and they are lovely people - a great selection of bedding plants etc at very good prices too, locally grown produce, a nice outside coffee area and loads of parking.


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184

  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    I bought this as I don’t drive and it’s lightweight…. Waste of money! 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Peat compost doesn't have nutrients in it either, unless they are added. Technically seeds don't much in the way of food to grow - just a medium. I would mix the coir with some other medium.

    Coir has to be imported from tropical areas and repeatedly washed out before it can be used.
  • brentwood nigelbrentwood nigel Posts: 10
    Thanks, everyone, for your help. I’ll try mixing with it with compost and see if that helps.  Investors too much of the stuff throw it away without giving it more chances to deliver!
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    The pro compost I get now has lumps of crushed wood in. Fine for tomatoes in pots, but it used to be so fine I could use it for seedlings. I think I will be doing a lot of sieving of my own compost for next spring.
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