Coconut Coir (Hilo: houses, buy, organic)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Now that i know ther are some gardeners on this forum:

Since coconuts grow in Hawaii, is coconut coir manufactured (processed?)?

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Never heard of it, so I looked it up. Interesting process, but I've never seen it on the BI. No large growers of coconut trees (maybe they take too much water?). There's been sugar cane and pineapple and macademia nut and now coffee is the big crop, at least in Kona and Ka'u.

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

Never heard of it, so I looked it up. Interesting process, but I've never seen it on the BI.

Ditto.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

Never heard of it, so I looked it up. Interesting process, but I've never seen it on the BI. No large growers of coconut trees (maybe they take too much water?).

Yeah, as far as I can tell there are coconut palms scattered all around the islands, at least at lower altitudes, and they were once important to native cultures. But I don't know of any commercial cultivation. Ironically I've found that some of the fresh coconuts sold at the big farmer's market in Hilo are imported from Thailand.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

It's a substitute for peat moss. I'm not a huge fan of coir or peat moss, either one, but if you need it, then you need it.

It looks like it is just ground up coconut husks, so maybe I could get a wood chipper and grind my own.

I know that peat moss is going to be imported and probably cost more than I am used to paying. I use a lot of perlite, and that is volcanic, but I don't think it comes from Hawaii.

What do you all use for potting mix?

[CyberCity]

For potting mix, I just go to a hardware store and buy a big bag of the stuff. My days of mixing my own are over.

[OpenD]

Peat moss is readily available. It's sold by the bale at Home Depot, as well as at various growers' supply houses. Ditto perlite, and various growing mixes in up to truckload lots. Remember that Flower growing is big business on the Big Island.

Coir hanging baskets are a standard garden supply item, but my impression is that they are all imported.

The preferred medium for orchid growing is chopped up tree fern trunks, particularly the hapu'u, but tree ferns grow very slowly, and all the wildcrafting harvests over the years have depleted the stocks, so it's one of those things that you have to feel out for yourself whether to use or not. For my own use dividing and repotting orchids I've been able to find all I can use on my own property.

[hotzcatz]

We have a hydraulic coconut splitter and a couple of old coconut trees so there's usually coconut fiber around if we wanted it. For potting orchids, I just get a coconut, chop off about one third of it and then crack the hard nut shell inside to promote drainage and plant the orchid right in the coconut shell. Those are then wired up in a handy tree and then the orchid is on it's own. They actually seem to thrive on that.

[KauaiHiker]

My wife went to the organic gardening store in Kapa'a (Kaua'i) just the other day to get coir. The owner was lamenting the fact that he imports 30 tons of it a year because nobody produces it locally. So if you're looking for a business idea, I can hook you up with one customer. But I think you're a bit naive if you think a wood chipper will make coir. I think hotzcatz has the best solution, and the key seems to be the hydraulic splitter. Simple and minimal processing.

Kaua'i has old coconut plantations that are no longer picked (that I know of), and newer agricultural "estates" that get their ag exemption by growing coconuts. Also, many people have them on their property as they would any other fruit tree. One story I heard is that Hawaiians would plant a coconut tree when a child was born, the message being that it would provide food for the person throughout their life.

But what really happens to all those coconuts I don't know. A few are sold at roadside stands, and a few more to juice bars and tourist stands (who take the water and throw away the meat--auwe!). I know one guy who collects them from various sources and sells either the nuts or the water to people. But I really don't see anybody who opens them regularly the way I do, nor any tell-tale piles of husks in the yard. I'm afraid that the vast majority of coconuts on our island just rot on the ground and are wasted. Coconuts are really a super-food and a super-plant, with so many uses, but the western ways that prevail in Hawaii nowadays sadly shun it as unhealthy or just too much work.