Greenhouse: Coconut husk chip "how to", 1 by stressbaby

stressbaby wrote:
I have started using a coconut husk chip (CHC) based growing medium in many containers. I thought I'd post a little "how to" to encourage others to give it a try in the greenhouse or elsewhere.

Why? What's wrong with Promix or other peat-based growing media? The peat-based media work fine initially. But with time these mixes compact, leading to a high water table in the container, poor drainage and aeration, and root problems. A mix with larger particles solves that problem. Pine bark is often used for this purpose. But CHC has advantages over pine bark. It holds more water in each particle, yet it breaks down much more slowly. Pine bark has broken down substantially in as little as 6 months, yet CHC, because of the high lignin content, can hang around for as long as 7 years.

Why not? Cost. And you can't just dump this stuff out of a bag and throw it in a pot. It requires preparation.

Here is a Ficus 'Brown Turkey' that I potted into CHC about 8 weeks ago.