Washed Coco Coir Block ~ 650g

Due to the sudden shortage of Pre-Buffered Coir in South Africa we now need to buffer our own coir.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a national issue, and you will need to ensure that your supplier is in fact supplying buffered coir and not just washed coir labeled as buffered coir.

Coir has a very high CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity) and it comes loaded with Sodium (Na) and Potassium (K) these two elements are loosely bonded to the negative surface of the coir.
Coir has a greater affinity to calcium and will take up any available calcium in your growing medium creating the dreaded “calcium lockup”. This in turn will release the weakly bonded sodium, raising the salt levels in your media. This is especially detrimental to seedlings and other sensitive plants.

This process happens because calcium is readily exchanged with the existing sodium and potassium in the coir, as the calcium has a stronger bond to the negative surface of coir.

Livingseeds has created a simple 3 step process to allow you to neutralize the high sodium content of your washed coir.

PLEASE NOTE: Livingseeds supplies the required amount of Calcium Nitrate with every coir block sold.

The Livingseeds 3 Step Buffering Process

600g Washed Coir

Step 1) Dilute 45g of Calcium Nitrate (CaNo3) in 7 Lt of water.

Step 2) Soak your 600g block in the water for 12 hours/overnight.

Step 3) Drain excess water and use as required.