Coir pots are made out of coconut coir fibre bounded together by natural latex and moulded to an attractive shape. The coir material allows air and water to move through the pot while containing soil, so the plants don’t have to pull from the pot at planting time. Plants grown in coir in the greenhouse have better root structures than those in plastic pots.

Air pruning of the roots occurs once they grow through the walls of the pot, therefore other smaller roots develop as well. There is no root twirling, no root bound plants, no need to
manipulate the root ball before planting to help it grow and therefore no root shock. Once planted
in the ground, air pruned roots grow again and robust root growth has been after just 10 days.

They are very popular among nurseries due to the convenience of replanting without removing the pot.
Loss of root disturbance result continuous growth over the newly established field.

Advantages of Coir Pots

The coir pot is easily bio-degradable and transforms into organic matter in due course. Containers impermeable to roots all cause deformation to the roots. The severity of this depends on the shape of the pot and development of the plants. The most common problem is coiling of roots, roots gathering in corners, roots growing upwards, crushed roots etc.

When plants are grown in a coir pot, the roots quickly penetrate the pot walls. Contact with the air stops the roots from growing, root buds start to appear and secondary roots start to develop throughout the pot. This phenomenon is known as “aerial root pruning”.

The volume of the pot is used 100% by a dense network of root hairs of the plant. In containers with impermeable walls, a few very long roots use all the area around the pot.

When a plant grown in a coir pot is planted or re-potted, without removing the pot, the dormant root buds set during aerial containment are immediately active.

There is no shock from transplanting, this difference is particularly marked when ground conditions are difficult (cold, drought, adverse season etc…)