Cocopeat

                       

Cocopeat for Home Composting

Home composting can be done using 2 methods:

1) Cocopeat Composting

2) Soil Composting

In this blog I will be telling you more about cocopeat - what to buy and how to prepare it. 

I have seen several friend's going wrong at this step itself - they either buy the incorrect type or they end up preparing it wrong.

So there are 2 types of cocopeat :

1) One for home composting

2) Another one is for garden use

Garden Cocopeat

The one for garden will have long coir in it and it cannot be used for home composting as coir takes a long time to decompose. 

Home composting Cocopeat

This type will be nice dry and powdery. So while searching for cocopeat online do search for 'cocopeat for home composting'

Cocopeat Preparation DO's and DONT's 

The preparation of the cocopeat should be done rightly as this will affect the moisture content in your compost.

We can purchase cocopeat bricks blocks online. Few videos show that we need to cut the brick with a knife - please DO NOT  do this as you may end up hurting yourself.

They can be easily broken down by adding or sprinkling water on the brick slowly.

Few online seller video's tell us to add 1-1.5 litres water directly which will melt the block (this is quite misleading) . I too had done that initially and it ended up making my cocopeat very moist. 

I had to break down and add another cocopeat brick into it hoping that the consistency will become right. But it didn't help and my cocopeat was still very soggy.

Soggy cocopeat 

I went ahead and used this for my home composting . Now home composting is all about the right balance of wet and dry ratio. 

The wet part is the fruit and veg waste and the dry part is taken care by the cocopeat.

Since my cocopeat was already laden with a lot of moisture , the wet to dry ratio in my compost went wrong. This resulted in a foul smell and maggots and I had to start all over again.

Most of them go wrong in this step and then they are reluctant to try it again.

The right way of breaking cocopeat is :

Keep the cocopeat brick in an old bucket or tub.

Pour or sprinkle water into it slowly and start scraping it off.

It will come off easily. You can just powder it with your hands - this way it will be nice and dry.

The cocopeat with right consistency

Check out how it should be 

The garden cocopeat which you should NOT be using

Your cocopeat is now ready to be used for home composting !

Happy composting !🌏🌲😇

Thanks

smitha