FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Can Coco peat be used instead of sphagnum peat moss?

I asked this question steve d a while ago, he replied:

Hello-- First, after using coir for more than 2 years now, I can see some reasons not to use it, in addition to reasons to use it. If you decide to use coir, please desalinate it thoroughly with repeated soakings and drainings, soaking 8-10 hours or more, and after doing that 7 or 8 times, allow the coir to soak for at least 1-2 full days in pure distilled water, drain, and then soak in distilled (or rain) water again for a day or two, to dissolve and rid the coir of most of the remaining mineral salts and other solubles. This is very important, and even coir that has been treated this way should be flushed thoroughly every 2-4 months afterward (when it has plants in it) to eliminate any buildup of soluble material.

Coir is not as antibiotic as sphagnum moss, and various fungal growths can occur in coir that normally don't happen in sphagnum moss, under certain conditions (too hot or too cold for too long, while being very wet).

Coir is an excellent ingredient for a medium because of its water retention and aeration properties, and its strong resistance to being compressed. But this last property can make it difficult for very small plants to become established in coir, being constantly pushed up out of the soil during every drying phase of the coir after watering. Larger, well established and deeply rooted plants don't have that problem.

Although I continue to use and experiment with coir, only a few of my plants are in a pure coir/sand medium. Most of my plants are in a mix of about 40-50% coir medium to 50-60% traditional sphagnum moss medium, with sand as the other ingredient (perlite works too, but I don't like it as much).

regarding silica sand, the size of the sand doesn't matter: it can be coarse, medium or finely ground, but the composition of the sand matters a lot; almost all of the grains should appear translucent under strong light and high magnification. Lots of opaque grains of sand indicate that there are other minerals and other types of rock in the sand, not just silica.

If one does find almost pure silica sand that is finely ground, I would increase the amount or proportion one uses in a growing mix. For example, with coarse sand in a traditional sphagnum mix, I would use about 50% of each (sphagnum peat and sand) by volume (not weight). With fine-grained sand, I would adjust the proportions to 55% sand and 45% sphagnum peat moss, to retain the aeration and draining properties of the sand in the mix, since finer grained sand will probably hold water longer and hold less air in the soil.

I hope you find this instructive enough to answer your questions.