Bigred Posted August 29, 2012 was wondering has anyone used the brunnings coir block it does not say it has any thing but coir in it but would love to know if its any good Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DarkSpark Posted August 29, 2012 as long as you get the stuff without nutrients in it coir is coir is coir is coir IMO I mean all it is made of is coconut husks how can they eff it up. I buy the cheapest one i can find. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BentoSpawn Posted August 29, 2012 (edited) i bought a brinnings coir block and it has chunks of coir in it, as well as stringy bits. I read somewhere that stringy bits of coir is better than chunks. I also heard that the chunks can help as they hold water without it evaporating easily. Obviously both contradictory information. I do plan to use it anyway and test out to see how it goes to make up my own mind about it. Sorry i couldn't be more helpful ! Edited August 29, 2012 by BentoSpawn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Change Posted August 29, 2012 I prefer to purchase it in bags rather then compressed blocks, seams like the quality is better Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
goneski Posted August 29, 2012 I had a similar discussion to this with a fellow member a week or two back. He said he used Brunnings coco-coir for a while without problems, but started running into problems -- apparently it was hard to break up and would remain in chunks without absorbing moisture properly. In addition, he began to get contams. He said he ended up switching to Richgro brand coco coir. I've looked at several places for this (mostly different Bunnings and Big W stores which are listed as sellers on the Richgro site) but haven't found it. I've got a couple of the Brunnings coco-coir bricks here as they're so easy to find, however I don't want to potentially ruin my first bulk grow. Sorry I can't really offer any more advice -- I'm pretty much in the same boat. I may just end up ordering the Richgro bricks online somewhere. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BentoSpawn Posted August 29, 2012 (edited) I wonder if boiling / pressure cooking the living hell out of it would help break it up To re introduce healthy bacteria leave it spread out on a tarp outisde to dry out for a few days before pasturising. Alot of work though... Edited August 29, 2012 by BentoSpawn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bigred Posted August 29, 2012 (edited) I got told brands like canna have trich mold in them on purpose a foaf told me to only use the pet variety. Will still go ahead and spawn my portabelo's in the brunnings cube and ad some poo straw . just i cant see much other choices for coir there is the big cube but its mulch. Thanks everyone for their help Edited August 29, 2012 by bigred82 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
migraineur Posted August 29, 2012 Yeah, Brunnings sucks. It is hard to break up which makes it horrible for pasteurising. I find you end up with clumps of dry coir in it. Adding more water to try to fix it means you end up with soggy substrate which invites contamination. Regarding coir and added trich, you'll probably struggle to find any coir without it. However, this is why you pasteurize your coir. If you do it properly then you should not have any problems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BentoSpawn Posted August 29, 2012 Im starting to think i should just use up my coir for my plant pots and buy some other coir for casings for my portabellos Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bigred Posted August 29, 2012 thanks everyone for their posts will try to find the other brand but had no luck at all yesterday Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
