Shopping for Coco Coir

On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, I went to Adams Fairacre Farms in Newburgh, NY to buy Coco Coir, a natural fiber extracted from the husk of coconuts. Coir is a great substitute for peat moss and peat because it is a renewable resource widely available and environmentally friendly. Unfortunately, gardeners choose to use such products as: perlite (ref 1, ref 2) and vermiculite (ref 1, ref 2) on a regular basis in order to aerate and keep their soil moist. I am determined to use only organic products from renewable resources and I refuse to use either perlite or vermiculite. When I read that you need to be cautious when handling perlite because breathing its dust can hurt you, and also that up to 1990 in Libby, Montana, they mined perlite that was contaminated with asbestos, I stay away from these products.

Soon, I will be receiving several fig cuttings and I am preparing myself for their arrival. There will be several separate posts on this project.

Here is the Coco "brick" I bought at Adams. It is compressed and it will expand almost tripling its volume when moistened.

As I was looking around the gardening products, guess what I saw!!!!!! They had Chicago fig trees. This fig tree may is a very hardy tree that will do very well in our zone 5b.

I had to act fast and immediately grabbed one package, after all, you never know how many customers can swarm this area even though they had about 20 trees. There is the tree, in my shopping cart, looking proud and happy it just got adopted by a loving family.

Happy plantings!