Technical guide
Cocopeat Block Types and Sizes: Which Format to Order
The format decides the labour, not the growing
The same cocopeat can be compressed into a 5 kg block, a 600 g brick, a flat slab, a planter bag or a seed starter disc. The material inside is the same. What changes is how much handling you do at your end, and how much air you pay to ship.
The principle
Compression is the whole point
Cocopeat expands to roughly fifteen times its compressed volume, so shipping it compressed means shipping substrate rather than water and air. Every format below is a different answer to the question of where that expansion happens: in your yard, in your potting shed, or in the growing position itself.
One thing that does not change between formats: our low-EC grade is washed with water alone. More than six rinse stages across roughly a week bring EC below 0.5 mS/cm, with no chemical treatment involved. Every format below is available in that grade.
At a glance
Cocopeat formats at a glance
| Format | Typical size | Expands to | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kg block | 300 × 300 × 120 mm | 70–80 litres | Bulk supply, filling your own pots and beds |
| 5 kg chip block | 300 × 300 × 120 mm | 50–60 litres | High-drainage mixes, orchids, berries |
| 600 g brick | 200 × 100 × 50 mm | 8–10 litres | Retail, garden centres, private label |
| 600 g chip brick | 200 × 100 × 50 mm | 6–8 litres | Retail orchid and houseplant mixes |
| Grow bag / slab | Made to order | To specification | Gutter systems, protected vegetables, berries |
| Open top planter bag | Made to order | To specification | Deep root crops, berries, trials |
| Seed starter discs and plugs | Made to order | To specification | Propagation, nursery, transplant production |
| Loose bulk | Baled or bagged | Not compressed | Growers with hydration and filling equipment |
Dimensions and expansion are our standard reference points. Compressed size, expanded volume and packaging are all made to order.
Where the expansion happens
Fifteen times, somewhere
Every format is the same decision made differently: who adds the water, and where.
Blocks move the expansion to your yard, where you have space, water and labour. Slabs and planter bags move it to the growing position, so the substrate arrives ready to plant into. Bricks move it to the consumer’s kitchen table.
Schematic of the expansion sequence. A Phase 5 animation will replace this drawing.
5 kg block hydration and expansion
- Compressed block
- Water introduced
- Hydration penetrates
- Fibres separate
- Material expands
Format by format
What each format is for, and what it costs you
- 5 kg cocopeat blocks The workhorse format. Expands to 70–80 litres with roughly 25 litres of water. Order blocks when you have space and labour to hydrate at your end, or when you are blending in your own facility. The trade-off: you handle the expansion, in a window that is often short.
- 600 g cocopeat bricks About one household planting session. The size exists because of retail, not because of horticulture. Nearly all brick production is private label. The trade-off: more packaging per litre, so cost per litre is higher than a block.
- Grow bags and slabs The standard format for protected vegetables and berries at commercial scale, because it removes almost all substrate handling from the planting operation. The trade-off: committed. Once a slab is made to a layout, changing plant density means changing the specification.
- Open top planter bags A slab standing up: same principle, deeper root volume, opened at the top. Choose it when the crop needs more root volume per plant than a flat slab provides. The trade-off: deeper containers collect water at the base, so blend choice matters more.
- Seed starter discs and plugs One seed or cutting per unit, no tray filling, no loose media. Fine grade cocopeat is normally right, because propagation wants water retention and fine root contact. Low EC matters more here than anywhere else — a germinating seed has no reserves and no tolerance for salt. Produced to order.
- Loose bulk cocopeat Uncompressed, baled or bagged. Only worth shipping over short distances or where the buyer has hydration and filling equipment. For export over any distance, compression almost always wins on freight economics. If someone is offering you loose coir across an ocean, ask what you are paying to ship.
Deciding
How to choose a format
Three questions settle it.
-
Who does the hydrating?
If you have space, water and labour, blocks are cheapest per litre. If you want the substrate to arrive ready to plant into, slabs and planter bags move that work to us.
-
Who is the end user?
A commercial grower takes slabs, bags or blocks. A consumer takes a brick off a shelf. If you are selling into retail, the format decision is a packaging decision.
-
How much root volume per plant?
Shallow and frequent, such as tabletop strawberry, points to slabs. Deep and perennial, such as blueberry or cane fruit, points to planter bags. Propagation points to seed starters.
If you are unsure, tell us the crop, the growing system and the volume, and we will suggest a format rather than ask you to choose from a list. There is no minimum order — we will take a single container, so trying a format is not an expensive decision.
Questions
Questions about cocopeat formats
70 to 80 litres with approximately 25 litres of water. A 5 kg coco chip block gives 50 to 60 litres, because chips occupy more space at lower density.
8 to 10 litres for a pith brick, 6 to 8 litres for a chip brick. Roughly one household planting session, which is why the size exists.
Yes. Compressed dimensions, weight, expanded volume, packaging and print are all made to order. Tell us the litreage your customers plan around and we compress to hit it.
Yes, to order. Disc diameter, height, expanded volume, netting and tray configuration are all made to your specification. Tell us your tray format and cell count.
No. The same washed material goes into every format. What changes is compression, packaging and where the expansion happens.
No. Our low-EC grade is achieved by washing with water alone — more than six rinse stages across roughly a week, no chemical treatment. Calcium buffering is a separate process we offer only when a customer specifically requests it.
There is no minimum. We will take a single container. Many suppliers will not quote below three or five containers, which makes trying a new format or a new source expensive.
Keep reading
Where to go from here
Tell us the crop and we will suggest a format.
There is no minimum order — we will take a single container, so trying a format is not an expensive decision.