Hello Friends!
Today we will discuss on Coco Pots or the coconut coir pots.
The Pros and cons of using coco pots and how they help in faster plant growth by using
automatic air pruning mechanism.
Coming up.
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For those who want to grow their plants faster organically, shifting from plastic pots or
cement pots to coco pots is the best option.
You will learn about this shortly.
What are coco pots?
Coco Pots also called as coir pots or coconut coir pots are biodegradable pots or planters
made from coconut fibres.
They are widely used in horticulture and home gardening because they have their own advantages
which we will discuss shortly.
These coco pots are available in different sizes and shapes including seedling cups,
hanging pots and other types of fancy planters.
You can check a link in description to purchase these pots.
How are they manufactured?
They are made from coconut fibers which is not expensive and the same stuff is used to
make coco peat which am sure almost all gardeners use in their potting mix.
These coco pots are either hand made or machine made.
We will not go into the details of how these are manufactured.
In short they are made using coconut coir fibres and natural rubber latex which are
100% natural and biodegradable.
Now, before we look into the benefits or advantages of coir pots, we list out the two disadvantages
or cons of coco pots: 1.They are expensive than cement and plastic
pots.
2.They are not durable like plastic or cement pots.
Now, the Benefits of using Coco Coir Planters: 1.Biodegradable: This means, if you are using
seedling pots of coco coir or small planters, you can directly plant the whole container
into the soil.
This will degrade in the soil and the roots establish in the soil.
This way you are avoiding the Transplant Shock or repotting shock which can sometimes kill
your plant.
2.Nourishment: Coco coir is rich in some nutrients like potassium,, zinc, magnesium, copper and
iron, and all beneficial to a plants growth specially useful for seed starting.
3.Light weight: The light weight of the pot makes it ideal for terrace gardening and also
for hanging planters.
4.Air pruning of Roots or Aerial Root Pruning: This is the most important advantage of using
coco pots.
Normally what happens is when you grow in a non-porous pot like plastic or cement pot,
there is congestion of roots.
You can see this root ball.
This is an entangled form of roots growing within a bound container.
Whether its plastic or cement pot, this is what happens - as the plants and the roots
continue to grow, there is no space for root development.
The growing roots hit the rigid wall of the container and go around and grow in the available
space and get Root Bound.
Yes this is called Root bounding and this is the reason why we need to repot our plants
into a larger sized container once a year or so.
But if you apply the concept of Air pruning, this does not happen in air pruning pots.
Plants grown in coconut coir pots undergo air pruning which promotes healthy root distribution
and avoids root coiling.
So what exactly happens with this air pruning of roots.
Coco pots are porous on all sides, the growing roots quickly penetrate or touch the pot walls.
On coming in contact with the air, the root tip is burnt by air and that root point stop
growing and hence two new root branches start to appear leading to secondary roots that
start to multiply within the pot in a similar process without coiling.
You can watch my detailed episode on Air pruning where I have experimented this on a tomato
plant using coco pot as well a fabric bag.
You can click here at this circled end screen link to watch that episode.
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Happy Gardening !