Product · Cocopeat
Cocopeat Manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, India
Manufactured at our own facility in Peravurani
Cocopeat is the fine pith left after coir fibre is separated from the coconut husk. What separates one supplier from another is narrower and less glamorous: how much salt is left in it, how consistent the particle size is, how wet it is when it reaches you, and whether any of that was measured before it shipped.
- Low-EC grade
- Below 0.5 mS/cm
- Natural pH
- 5.5 – 6.8
- Minimum order
- One container
Cocopeat material and pore structure
- Fine particles
- Pore spaces
- Hydration
- Water holding
- Air-filled porosity
The material
What cocopeat is, and what varies between suppliers
Cocopeat is the fine pith left after coir fibre is separated from the coconut husk. It holds several times its own weight in water, drains without collapsing, and resists compaction over a long crop cycle — which is why it replaced peat as the standard substrate across much of protected horticulture.
That description fits every supplier’s product. What actually separates them is narrower and less glamorous: how much salt is left in it, how consistent the particle size is, how wet it is when it reaches you, and whether any of that was measured before it shipped.
A grower can design a fertigation programme around almost any substrate, provided it behaves the same way in every delivery. The problems start when it doesn’t.
Washing
Washing cocopeat: where low EC actually comes from
Coconuts grow in coastal soils and husk is often processed near the sea, so raw pith carries a significant load of sodium, potassium and chlorides. Electrical conductivity is simply a measure of how much of that is present.
We rinse in stages rather than once, and we record EC at each stage rather than only at the end. If a batch comes out high, a single end-of-line reading tells you that it happened, while stage readings tell you where it happened — a short rinse, a water quality change, or material that arrived unusually saline. One is a number; the other is something you can fix.
Washed low-EC grade is achieved with water alone. More than six rinse stages across roughly a week bring EC below 0.5 mS/cm, with no chemical treatment of any kind. Standard unwashed grade sits above 0.5 mS/cm and suits buyers who wash or blend in their own facility.
Schematic: the pore structure that holds the water and the air. A Phase 5 animation will replace this drawing.
Cocopeat material and pore structure
- Fine particles
- Pore spaces
- Hydration
- Water holding
- Air-filled porosity
Measurement method
EC measured by the 1:1.5 volume extract method. If your specification uses saturated media extract, tell us and we will supply the equivalent figure. The two differ by roughly a factor of two, and it is the most common reason a perfectly good sample gets rejected.
Buffering
Buffering — and why low EC is not the same thing
Washing removes the salts that are loose in the material. It does not remove the sodium and potassium bound to the cation exchange sites — the places where a substrate temporarily holds nutrients before releasing them to roots.
Buffering soaks washed pith in a calcium solution so that calcium takes those sites before the material reaches a grower. Without it, your feed slowly does the job instead: calcium and magnesium disappear into the substrate while potassium appears from nowhere, and the grower spends weeks chasing a nutritional problem that came from the medium rather than the schedule.
Our standard product is unbuffered, washed with water only. Calcium buffering is a chemical treatment we carry out only when a customer specifically asks for it, and it is worth knowing that buffered material can no longer honestly be described as chemical-free.
Which to order
Unbuffered as standard, buffered on request
Unbuffered
Washed with water alone. Our standard product, and the one most substrate companies want.
- Substrate companies and larger growers who buffer to their own recipe
- Ships lighter and cheaper
- No chemical additives in this form
Buffered
Soaked in a calcium solution on request, so the exchange sites arrive pre-loaded with calcium.
- Long-cycle, high-value crops
- Automated fertigation with little room to compensate early
- Uses calcium nitrate, so it cannot be described as chemical-free
Grades and formats
Cocopeat grades, formats and blending
Screened to fine, medium and coarse. A defined particle distribution can be produced where your specification calls for one.
- Fine grade Holds the most water. Suits propagation, nursery work and small pots.
- Medium grade General purpose pith for potting mixes and blended substrate.
- Coarse grade Drains faster and blends better with chips.
- 5 kg blocks Expanding to 70–80 litres.
- 600 g bricks Expanding to 8–10 litres.
- Grow bags and slabs Made to your gutter and bed layout.
- Open top planter bags Deeper root volume per plant.
- Loose material In bulk, for growers with hydration and filling equipment.
- Blended to order Any cocopeat-to-chip ratio, not only our standard steps.
Blending and packing are done to your requirement. Ratios, particle grade, compressed dimensions, hole configuration, film and print are all made to order. Tell us what your crop and your handling line need and we will produce to it.
Reference blends
What blending changes, measured
Cocopeat is combined with coco chips to set the balance between water buffer and root-zone air. Across our range that moves from 5.2% air-filled porosity at 100% cocopeat to 30.8% at 100% chips, with water holding capacity falling from 7.32 to 4.77 L/kg as chip content rises.
-
100 : 0
Straight cocopeat
- Water holding capacity
- 7.32 L/kg
- Air-filled porosity
- 5.2 %
- WaterHolds the most water
- AirLeast air
Propagation, nursery, tabletop strawberry and low-frequency irrigation.
-
50 : 50
Cocopeat to chip
- Water holding capacity
- 5.66 L/kg
- Air-filled porosity
- 21.0 %
- WaterLess buffer
- AirMore air
Cucumber, bell pepper and high-frequency fertigation.
-
0 : 100
Straight coco chips
- Water holding capacity
- 4.77 L/kg
- Air-filled porosity
- 30.8 %
- WaterLeast buffer
- AirMaximum air
Berries, orchids and maximum drainage.
Any ratio between those points is available — we blend to order rather than to a catalogue. All five reference blends, with their measured properties, are on the coco grow bags page.
Blending and packing are done to your requirement. Ratios, particle grade, compressed dimensions, hole configuration, film and print are all made to order. Tell us what your crop and your handling line need and we will produce to it.
EC figures use the 1:1.5 volume extract method.
Before you order for blueberry
pH sits naturally between 5.5 and 6.8. That is above the ideal range for blueberry, which wants roughly 4.5 to 5.5. This is true of coco substrate generally, not only ours.
Stated plainly
What we do not claim
Cocopeat is a natural material and, in its unbuffered form as we currently supply it, has no chemical additives. But we do not hold organic certification, and buffered material is treated with calcium nitrate, which means it cannot honestly be described as chemical-free.
We do not heat-treat or sterilise, and we do not currently test for pathogens, so we do not describe our product as pathogen-free. If your programme requires certified sterilised or certified organic material, tell us before you order and we will say plainly whether we can supply it.
We would rather lose an order than have a container rejected at your end.
Questions
Cocopeat questions buyers ask
We are a cocopeat manufacturer in Peravurani, Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu. Husk intake, fibre extraction, washing, drying, blending, compression and container loading all happen on our own site. Visitors are welcome.
Washing removes the salts loose in the material and brings EC down. Buffering displaces the sodium and potassium bound to the cation exchange sites by soaking in a calcium solution. A low EC figure tells you nothing about whether the material has been buffered.
The 1:1.5 volume extract method. If your specification uses saturated media extract, tell us and we will supply the equivalent figure. The two differ by roughly a factor of two.
Fine, medium and coarse, and a defined particle distribution where your specification calls for one. Blending and packing are done to your requirement.
Yes. We ship from Tuticorin, Chennai and Cochin. Tell us your destination port and we will quote FOB or CIF against your specification.
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 source expensive. We would rather take one container that ships correctly and earn the second order.
We do not hold organic certification, and we do not heat-treat or test for pathogens, so we do not describe the product as pathogen-free. Unbuffered cocopeat has no chemical additives; buffered material is treated with calcium nitrate.
Keep reading
Related products, crops and technical guides
Tell us your crop and we will propose a specification.
Tell us your crop, growing system and the EC method you work to, and we will propose a specification rather than send a brochure.