Cocopeat – The alternative of soil

People who are interested in roof farming or in nurturing indoor plants, face difficulties in arranging soil in urban areas. But we don’t even know that there is a better alternative. “Cocopeat” can be modern and better solution replacing soil in roof farming, even in commercial cultivation

What is Cocopeat

Commercially, the coir or natural fibre extracted from the outer husk of coconut are converted into cocopeat after grinding them automatically. It can be also made at home.

How to prepare Cocopeat

1) First grind the natural fiber of outer husk of coconut, chop them and grind it using grinding machine.

2) Seperate fibre from the powder using seive. Soak into water for several hour and then remove water by pressing in hand.

3) Place this stuff into the pot where you want to grow the plant. Place the pot under sunshine for a day. Your cocopeat is ready.
Beside that people can buy cocopeat for use.

Benefits of using Cocopit

1) Cocopeat is rich in many nutrititive value like Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium.

2) Easy aeration and water circulation make root formation process faster. Therefore plants grow up faster and healthier.

3) Water holding capacity of cocopeat is outstanding. As the requirement of water is different in seasons, Cocopeat users don’t need to overthink about watering.

4) Chemical fertilisers are not required. Using vermicompost or organic fertilizer can be used to cultivate chemical free fruit, flower, orchid or other plants.

5) Cocopeat is light in weight compared to soil. So it is suitable for roof top, indoor plantation. In this way we can easily mitigate the necessity of soil using ”Cocopeat” in this modern age.

Susmita Saha
Faculty of Agriculture,
Bangladesh Agricultural University.
20.11.2020

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash