Coco peat is the fine, spongy material left over when the long fibres are extracted from a coconut husk. It is also called coir pith, coir dust or cocopeat, and it is sold compressed into blocks, briquettes and grow bags that swell back to many times their volume when wetted. In horticulture it is used as a soilless growing medium on its own or blended with other materials, mainly because it holds a lot of water, stays open and airy, decomposes slowly and has a pH most crops can use without liming.
The husk is roughly two-thirds pith and one-third fibre by weight. A paper presented at the FAO Symposium on Natural Fibres by Romulo Arancon of the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community puts it at about 70 percent dust and short fibre to 30 percent fibre for a 400 g husk. For decades that pith was dumped as waste outside fibre mills; today it is the most traded coir product. The International Coconut Community's March 2024 market review reports that India shipped 1.058 million tonnes of coir and coir products in 2023, with coir pith and fibre making up over 98 percent of the volume.
Coco peat, cocopeat, coir pith, coco coir, coir dust: what the words mean
Buyers meet half a dozen names for what is often the same material, and sellers do not use them consistently.
| Term | What it usually means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coir | The fibre from the coconut husk, and by extension anything made from the husk | Comes from the Tamil and Malayalam words for cord or rope |
| Coir pith | The fine, pithy tissue between the fibres | The term used by the Coir Board of India, Indian standards and most research papers |
| Coir dust | Same as coir pith | Common in older horticultural research (for example Evans, Konduru and Stamps, 1996) |
| Coco peat / cocopeat / coco pith | Same as coir pith, named for its resemblance to peat | The usual trade and export name; "cocopeat" is the one-word Indian spelling |
| Coco coir / coconut coir | Ambiguous: pith, fibre, or a blend of both | Common in North American hydroponics, where it almost always means pith-based substrate |
| Coir chips / husk chips | Cut pieces of whole husk, 5 to 20 mm or so | A different product with different physics (see below) |
| Coir fibre | The long strands | Bristle and mattress grades; used in substrates only as a minor component |
Two points are worth settling. First, "coco peat" contains no peat; the name is a comparison. Second, because "coco coir" can mean pith, chips, fibre or a blend, a specification should name the fractions and their proportions rather than rely on the label. Klasmann-Deilmann's technical note on coir describes three basic products from the husk, pith, crush (chips) and fibre, and notes that the mix of those fractions determines the physical behaviour of the substrate.
How coco peat is made
Coco peat is a by-product. Nobody grows coconuts for it; it comes out of the fibre industry, and the way the fibre was extracted shapes what the pith is like.
1. Husking and soaking
Coconuts are dehusked and the husks are soaked before processing. The CFC/FAO coir processing report describes soaking in water tanks for about five days before mechanical defibering; traditional retting in ponds or lagoons runs three to six months.
2. Defibering
Soaked husks are crushed in a breaker and fed through revolving drums (decorticators) that separate long fibres from the short woody fragments and pith. What falls through is raw coir pith: fine particles, short fibres of a few millimetres, and some sand and husk fragments. According to Newman's "Core facts about coir" (2007), this pith is about two-thirds of the husk by weight.
3. Sieving and grading
Raw pith is screened to remove long fibre, chunks and sand. Mesh size sets the particle profile. Research by Konduru, Evans and Stamps (HortScience, 1999) found that screening waste-grade coir through 3, 6 or 13 mm mesh changed fibre content, bulk density, pore space and water-holding capacity compared with unscreened material. Klasmann-Deilmann reports that the most commonly used grade is quarter-inch (about 6 mm) sieved pith with an air content of about 20 percent.
4. Washing
Fresh pith carries soluble salts, mainly potassium, sodium and chloride, and the amount varies a lot with origin and handling. Washing rinses the loose salts out with fresh water and lowers electrical conductivity (EC). Newman points out that unusually salty coir is often the result of husks being washed with salt water instead of fresh water, so the quality of the water matters as much as the number of washes. Some producers go a step further and "buffer" the pith with a calcium solution to displace potassium and sodium held on the exchange sites. That is a separate process, covered in our article on buffered vs unbuffered coco peat. At CVM Fiber and Industries, coco peat is washed with water to reduce EC; no calcium nitrate or other chemicals are used, so the material is unbuffered.
5. Ageing
Pith that is stored for a period after processing is said to be aged. Klasmann-Deilmann's note explains why producers do this: young coir has a high share of cellulose relative to lignin, so the material becomes finer and wetter during cultivation and its air content falls. Ageing reduces the cellulose and lets naturally occurring phenols, which are toxic to plants, leach out. Konduru, Evans and Stamps also found that the age of coir dust significantly affected its chemical properties.
6. Drying and compressing
Washed pith is dried, traditionally on concrete yards in the sun, until it is dry enough to press. Hydraulic presses then compress it into 5 kg blocks, small briquettes, or the sleeves that become grow bags and open-top slabs after expansion. Compression saves freight: the end user adds water and the block swells back. The same 1999 HortScience study found that the pressure used to form blocks significantly affected the physical properties of the coir dust, although not how well the blocks rehydrated.
Physical and chemical properties
Coco peat is a natural by-product and varies by origin, particle size, age and processing. The published ranges below are wide for that reason; no single number is "the" value for coco peat. Ask the supplier for the figure for the lot you are buying.
| Property | Published range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bulk density (dry) | 0.04 to 0.08 g/cm³ | Evans, Konduru and Stamps, 1996 (5 Philippine sources) |
| Total pore space | 85.5 to 89.5 percent by volume; above 94 percent in another study | Evans et al., 1996; Abad et al., 2005 (13 sources) |
| Air-filled porosity | 9.5 to 12.6 percent (fine Philippine pith); 24 to 89 percent across 13 sources of varying coarseness | Evans et al., 1996; Abad et al., 2005 |
| Water-holding capacity | 750 to 1,100 percent of dry weight | Evans et al., 1996 |
| pH | 5.6 to 6.9; most commercial lots 5.8 to 6.5 | Evans et al., 1996; Newman, 2007 |
| EC, raw and unwashed | 0.3 to 2.9 mS/cm (1996 study); 0.39 to 5.97 mS/cm in saturated extract (2002 study) | Evans et al., 1996; Abad et al., 2002 |
| Cation exchange capacity | 38.9 to 60 meq/100 g; 31.7 to 95.4 cmol/kg; 73 to 117 meq/100 g | Evans et al., 1996; Abad et al., 2002; Noguera et al., 1997 |
| C:N ratio | 75 to 186; around 105 on average | Abad et al., 2002; Noguera et al., 1997 |
| Lignin | 53.3 percent of dry weight (CFC/FAO); "more than 45 percent" (Newman) | CFC/FAO coir processing report; Newman, 2007 |
| Potassium (raw) | 19 to 948 mg/L | Evans et al., 1996 |
| Chloride (raw) | 26 to 1,636 mg/L; 400 to 700 ppm "not uncommon" | Evans et al., 1996; Newman, 2007 |
| Sodium (raw) | 22.3 to 88.3 mg/L | Evans et al., 1996 |
A few points behind the numbers:
Water and air depend on particle size. Abad and colleagues (HortScience, 2005) compared 13 coir dusts from Asia, America and Africa against sphagnum peat and found that physical properties depended strongly on particle size distribution. Dusts from India, Sri Lanka and Thailand were mainly pithy tissue; most of those from Costa Rica, Ivory Coast and Mexico contained abundant fibre and were coarser. Water-holding capacity fell and air content rose as coarseness increased, and particles between 0.125 and 1 mm had the largest effect. This is why a fine, pithy Indian coco peat and a fibrous Mexican one behave differently in the same pot even though both are "coir".
Nutrients are low, except potassium. Across the studies, available nitrogen, calcium and magnesium are low while potassium (and in some lots phosphorus) is high. Noguera and colleagues (Acta Horticulturae, 1997) describe potassium as "extremely high". A grower moving from peat to coir will usually need less potassium and more calcium and magnesium in the feed, and the high C:N ratio means some nitrogen can be tied up by microbes early in the crop.
Cation exchange capacity is lower than peat's but real. Rose and Haase (Native Plants Journal, 2000) measured sphagnum peat at 130 meq/100 g against 73 and 89 meq/100 g for two commercial coir products. CEC is why raw pith arrives with potassium and sodium on its exchange sites, and why buffering was invented.
It breaks down slowly and wets easily. Coir pith is more lignin than cellulose, the reverse of most plant residues, which is why it lasts two or more growing seasons without collapsing and why raw pith is slow to compost. Newman notes that coir absorbs water readily without a wetting agent, unlike dried peat, so growers moving from peat usually have to change their irrigation practice.
Main uses in horticulture
Coco peat is used wherever a stable, water-retentive, soilless medium is wanted.
- Hydroponic and fertigated vegetable crops. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and strawberries grown in grow bags, slabs or pots with drip irrigation. The pith's water buffer and re-wettability suit high-frequency fertigation. See our pages on greenhouse and hydroponic applications.
- Soft fruit. Blueberries, raspberries and strawberries in containers, usually in blends with husk chips for more drainage.
- Nursery and propagation mixes. Seed-sowing media, plug trays and young-plant substrates, where fine, uniform pith is blended with perlite or peat. A University of Florida trial reported in Greenhouse Grower (2011) found Dieffenbachia and Calathea grew as well in a coir-based mix as in peat-based mixes.
- Peat replacement in potting mixes. Substrate manufacturers blend 20 to 60 percent coir into peat-based mixes. Premier Tech Horticulture reports that 20 to 30 percent coir reduces media shrinkage from container walls on drying.
- Soil improvement and mulching in field horticulture and landscaping, and as a carrier for composts and biofertilisers.
Formats: blocks, briquettes, grow bags, chips
Coco peat is almost always shipped dry and compressed, then expanded by the user. The formats differ in handling, not in the material.
| Format | Typical use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 5 kg blocks | Bulk substrate for nurseries, mix manufacturers and farms that fill their own pots or bags | Palletised; hydrated in a tank or on a floor; lowest cost per litre |
| Briquettes (around 650 g) | Retail, small nurseries, trial lots | Hydrated in a bucket |
| Grow bags | Long-cycle fertigated crops: tomato, cucumber, pepper, strawberry | Compressed slab inside a UV-stabilised plastic sleeve; expands in place when watered; planting holes cut on site |
| Open-top bags and slabs | Pots and troughs for berries, cannabis, ornamentals | Pre-formed to the pot or trough shape |
| Husk chips | Drainage fraction in blends; orchids; berries | Cut husk, not pith; adds air between particles |
| Loose or bulk bagged pith | Local markets | Rarely exported because of freight cost |
How much a block makes. Figures vary with compression and moisture. Rose and Haase (2000) report that a 650 g brick wetted with 4 litres of water yielded about 6 litres of coir, and a 7.5 kg bale about 70 litres, roughly 9 to 10 litres per kilogram. Suppliers commonly quote 60 to 80 litres from a 5 kg block, and a widely repeated rule of thumb is 15 litres per kilogram. Verify the figure on a sample.
On chips. Adding husk chips to pith raises the air content, mostly in the spaces between the chips rather than inside them. Klasmann-Deilmann reports that coir crush can lift the air content of a mix by 10 to 40 percent depending on quantity, size and shape; Dutch Plantin's Wim Roosen told HortiDaily that an ideal coconut substrate has 30 to 50 percent air and that many small chips distribute it more evenly than a few large ones. See our husk chips page for sizes and blends, and grow bags vs blocks for when a pre-filled bag beats loose block material.
Coco peat vs peat moss, briefly
Sphagnum peat and coco peat look alike and do a similar job, but they are not interchangeable without changing the feed and irrigation. The main differences:
| Coco peat | Sphagnum peat | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Coconut husk, an annual crop by-product | Mined from peat bogs that formed over thousands of years |
| pH | 5.6 to 6.9; normally no lime needed | Acidic (4.4 in Rose and Haase's sample); normally limed before use |
| CEC | Lower (73 to 89 meq/100 g in the same study) | Higher (130 meq/100 g) |
| Native nutrients | High potassium and chloride; low calcium, magnesium, nitrogen | Low across the board |
| Salts | Raw pith can be salty; washing or buffering needed | Low |
| Re-wetting | Wets readily | Hydrophobic when dry; wetting agent often used |
| Decomposition | Slow; high lignin | Moderate; shrinks and compacts |
For the full comparison, including sustainability, cost and crop-by-crop considerations, see coir vs peat.
How to judge coco peat quality
For a professional buyer, "good coco peat" means pith whose measured properties match the crop and the system it is going into, lot after lot. These are the points to specify and check.
- EC, with the test method stated. The number that matters most, and the one most often quoted without a method. An EC of 0.5 mS/cm in a 1:1.5 volume extract is not the same as 0.5 in a saturated media extract. Ask for the figure and the method, and test incoming lots yourself. Our buffered vs unbuffered article explains the common methods and what EC levels mean for different crops.
- pH. Expect 5.5 to 6.8. Anything outside that range suggests contamination or unusual processing.
- Particle size and fibre content. Specify the sieve grade (for example, 6 mm screened) and the maximum fibre and chip share. This is what sets water and air behaviour.
- Sand and foreign matter. Sun-drying on bare ground picks up sand, which raises bulk density and wears mixing equipment.
- Age, moisture and washing water. Ask whether the pith was aged and for how long, specify a maximum moisture at pressing, and ask what water was used for washing. Brackish wash water defeats the purpose.
- Consistency. Ask for data from several lots, not a single datasheet. The research literature agrees that coir varies between and within sources; a supplier who understands that will show you the spread.
- Standards. The Bureau of Indian Standards publishes IS 17739, Raw Coir Pith: Specification, first issued in 2022 and since revised. Referencing a standard in a contract gives both sides a shared test method.
If you are specifying coco peat for a new crop or a new market, or want samples of blocks, briquettes, grow bags or chip blends, contact us with your crop, your system and your target EC and we will advise on the right grade.
FAQ
Is coco peat the same as coco coir?
Usually, yes, but not always. Coco peat is the fine pith from the coconut husk. Coco coir is a looser term that can mean the pith, the fibre or a blend. In North American hydroponics, products labelled coco coir are almost always pith-based substrate. Check the product description for the proportions of pith, chips and fibre rather than relying on the name.
What does cocopeat mean?
Cocopeat is the one-word spelling of coco peat used widely in India and other producing countries. It refers to the same material as coir pith or coir dust: the spongy tissue left after coir fibre is extracted from the husk. The word peat is a comparison with sphagnum peat; the product contains no peat.
Is coco peat acidic or alkaline?
Mildly acidic to near neutral. Published values run from about 5.6 to 6.9, and most commercial lots fall between 5.8 and 6.5. That is in the working range for most crops, so coco peat normally does not need liming, unlike sphagnum peat which is much more acidic.
Why does coco peat have to be washed?
Raw pith carries soluble salts, mainly potassium, sodium and chloride, picked up from the husk and from processing. Research on unwashed coir dust has measured EC from 0.3 to almost 6 mS/cm depending on source. Washing with fresh water rinses out the loose salts and brings EC down to a level crops can tolerate. Washing with salty or brackish water does not help, so the quality of the wash water matters.
How much water does coco peat hold?
A lot. A 1996 study of Philippine coir dust measured water-holding capacity of 750 to 1,100 percent of dry weight, and industry sources quote up to eight or nine times its weight. The actual figure depends on particle size: finer pith holds more water and less air, coarser pith with fibre or chips holds less water and more air.
How many litres does a 5 kg coco peat block make?
Suppliers commonly quote 60 to 80 litres. Published measurements are a little lower: one refereed study found about 9 to 10 litres per kilogram after rehydration. The result depends on how hard the block was pressed, its moisture at pressing and how fully it is wetted, so check it on a sample rather than relying on the label.
Does coco peat contain nutrients?
Very little of most of them. Available nitrogen, calcium and magnesium are low. Potassium is high, and chloride and sodium can be high in unwashed material. Treat coco peat as an inert medium that needs a complete nutrient solution, with extra attention to calcium and magnesium and less potassium than a peat feed.
How long does coco peat last?
Longer than most organic media. Coir pith is roughly half lignin, which decomposes slowly, so blocks and slabs hold their structure for two or more growing seasons. Finer pith breaks down faster than coarser grades. Many growers reuse slabs for a second crop after checking EC and sterilising if disease was present.
Sources
- Arancon, R. (Asian and Pacific Coconut Community): Coir fibre in Asia, Proceedings of the Symposium on Natural Fibres, FAO (2009)
- Common Fund for Commodities / FAO: Coir Fibre Processing, in the CFC/FAO coir project report (undated)
- Evans, M. R., Konduru, S. and Stamps, R. H.: Source variation in physical and chemical properties of coconut coir dust, HortScience 31(6) (1996)
- Konduru, S., Evans, M. R. and Stamps, R. H.: Coconut husk and processing effects on chemical and physical properties of coconut coir dust, HortScience 34(1) (1999)
- Abad, M., Noguera, P., Puchades, R., Maquieira, A. and Noguera, V.: Physico-chemical and chemical properties of some coconut coir dusts for use as a peat substitute for containerised ornamental plants, Bioresource Technology 82(3) (2002)
- Abad, M., Fornes, F., Carrión, C., Noguera, V., Noguera, P., Maquieira, Á. and Puchades, R.: Physical properties of various coconut coir dusts compared to peat, HortScience 40(7) (2005)
- Noguera, P., Abad, M., Puchades, R., Noguera, V., Maquieira, A. and Martinez, J.: Physical and chemical properties of coir waste and their relation to plant growth, Acta Horticulturae 450 (1997)
- Rose, R. and Haase, D. L.: The use of coir as a containerized growing medium for Douglas-fir seedlings, Native Plants Journal 1(2) (2000)
- Newman, J.: Core facts about coir, Greenhouse Management and Production 27(2), reprinted in Forest Nursery Notes (2007)
- Klasmann-Deilmann GmbH: Coir Physically, technical note (2024)
- Premier Tech Horticulture: The value of coir as a component of growing media, HortiDaily (2014)
- Roosen, W. (Dutch Plantin): Microchips in coconut substrate for increased rootable volume, HortiDaily (2023)
- Greenhouse Grower: Tips for best use of coir, reporting research by K. Moore, University of Florida (2011)
- International Coconut Community: Market review of coconut fiber, March 2024 (2024)
- Bureau of Indian Standards: IS 17739, Raw Coir Pith: Specification (2022, revised 2024)
- Wikipedia: Coir (accessed 2026), for terminology and etymology