Coco peat is fast turning out to be a great alternative growing medium to soil. In places where there is acute water scarcity, coco peat can turn the tables on if you’re looking to growing tomatoes, ball peppers, green chilies and brinjal even on a small plot of land. Guess what these vegetables would look like as if they are growing out of coir foot mats inside grow bags.
Coco peat was originally grown in green houses, but later farmers started growing them out in the open air. So far, the results have proved to be successful, and the yield has grown considerably with a bit of innovation and a series of experimentation.
Select crops have found to be growing well and harvests to be successful. For example, for 480 bags of vegetables, it is enough if they are watered once every week for about 10 minutes. This said more experimentation and test results can convince more farmers to try coco peat instead of soil as growing medium. Another advantage of using coco peat is that it requires less maintenance and time to grow crops, especially if you’re a small farmer working with less than an acre of land or so. Also, weeding takes up a lot of resources compared to conventional agriculture. Coco peat is free of weeds and requires very low maintenance. The yield is excellent. A single bag can contain 4000 grow bags. And each bag can contain three plants, which is equal to 12,000 saplings. The minimum yield is found to be 24 tonnes of produce per crop cycle. Stash it up against growing crops on soil, it comes to 8 tonnes per crop cycle.
Coco peat can undoubtedly usher in a mini green-revolution in drought prone and dry areas, in addition to promoting organic vegetable cultivation for toxin-free and fresh vegetables.