Coconut Growing Media for Microgreens

Coconut coir for growing microgreens in two forms: as a loose substrate and as a ready-cut mat. The material is the same in both, cleaned coconut husk fiber, pH neutral, holding up to ten times its own weight in water. What differs is how you work with it.

Coco Coir is a compressed brick that expands into loose medium and is spread as a 1-2 cm layer, so you set the depth yourself. CocoMat is a mat, 5-6 mm and about 700 g/m², with natural latex on one side. CocoMat Double-Sided Latex is the heavier version, 6 mm and about 800 g/m², latexed on both sides. All three are fully biodegradable and sized for standard growing trays.

Coco coir or a coco mat: which one for your setup

Growing microgreens in coco coir

Coco Coir comes as a compressed brick. Soaked in about 3 litres of water it expands into roughly 7 litres of loose coconut coir, which you spread as a 1-2 cm layer, level and sow. Because you control the depth, coir suits crops you want to root deeper, and it lets you use one material across trays of different sizes. It is pH neutral and holds up to ten times its weight in water, so it buffers watering rather than drying out between cycles. The trade-off is handling: loose fiber has to be levelled in every tray and it leaves residue when you harvest.

Coco coir mats for microgreens

A coconut coir mat is the same fiber pressed into a sheet and bonded with natural latex, so it goes into the tray in one piece and comes out in one piece with the roots. There is no levelling, no loose material on the bench, and the layer is the same thickness across the whole tray.

CocoMat is 5-6 mm thick, weighs about 700 g/m² and carries natural latex on one side, which goes face down. CocoMat Double-Sided Latex is 6 mm and about 800 g/m², with latex on both sides: a denser mat that holds more water per tray and takes more handling. Both come in sizes matched to Shallow, ExtraStrength and Midi trays.

How to use coconut growing media

Coco coir. Soak the brick in about 3 litres of water and let it expand into roughly 7 litres of loose medium. Spread a 1-2 cm layer across the tray, level it, sow, and cover for blackout. Coir holds water well, so it needs less watering than most substrates.

Coco mats. Take the mat that matches your tray, latex side down, wet it through, sow directly on the surface and cover for blackout. Nothing to level, nothing to mix. At harvest the mat lifts out in one piece with the roots and goes on the compost heap.

Both are inert: coconut fibre holds water and air but carries no nutrients of its own, so for longer cycles add a nutrient solution.

Three questions that settle it

• Do you want to set the depth of the medium? If yes, coco coir. If the same thickness in every tray matters more, a mat.
  
• How clean does the bench have to stay? Mats lift out with the crop and leave nothing behind. Loose coir always leaves some residue.
  
• One-side or double-side latex? One side is enough for standard tray growing. The double-sided mat is denser and more robust when trays are moved often or handled by machine.

What both have in common

• Cleaned coconut husk fiber, free from soil and visible contamination,
  
• pH neutral, so they do not shift the pH of your nutrient solution,
  
• Water retention up to ten times their own weight,
  
• Fully biodegradable and compostable after harvest,
  
• Suitable for hydroponic systems as well as tray growing.

Working with non-standard trays or ordering by the pallet? Order free samples first, or contact us with your dimensions.

Read more: Coco Coir vs CocoMats for growing microgreens, how to use CocoMats step by step, or see all growing media for microgreens including hemp, cellulose and recycled mats.