What coir that you use for pets may be entirely different, than what is used for plants. Plant coir may be sterilized, I have use coir merely by setting it into water until it was damp and could be crumbled by hand. I mixed it with cactus mix, coarse construction sand, and pumice to get the air into the soil this was the only thing added. It is supposed to be able to be used over and over. It is very expensive, and would check out the hyponic growers and see what kind they use, and what it cost from them. I don't use pet litter materials either for my plants, it's made of pure pure clay. Horrible stuff. Go get a bag of cactus mix at the nursery and add more coarse sand. You would be better off. I think you can possibly just use the native soils in Texas, check and see first if there is anything in the soil that may harm cactus. They do grow in situ, in Texas expecially along the boarders. What species of plants are you growing for this class, all cactus New World Plants or introducing old world plants as well? How many in the class, no more than 42 I'm guessing. What size pots are you using,clay or plastic? Norma

I use clay and ceramic pots; there are three jades in bonsai pots, five in unglazed mame bonsai (which is the minature-very small pots), and my outside stuff is in unglazed terracotta. The outside stuff is mostly succulents with a few cactus (I have no idea what genus). The outside stuff has not been transferred into the new soil mix. Those are in cactus soil, mixed with aquatic soil (high fired clay), pea gravel, and pine bark fines. My indoor stuff is what I used the coir on. I don't have any pet litter in my soil. The coir I bought is exactly as you described. It came in a brick about 6" X 3" X 3". I poured 2qts of hot hot water and it fluffed up. It is made for iguanas which are very prone to a lot of diseases so I would think it would be sterilized. I had a man on this forum sugglest it to me.

The cactus soil here is AWFUL. It is mostly peat with a little perlite and pumice. The ground soil is solid clay and thus impossible to grow anything in. I have amended my beds over the years, but don't grow anything insitu here exept for a few kalanchoes that are like weeds and some aloe. It rains too much and I'm afraid of rot so I have them mostly in small to medium pots on little tables in my garden that can be moved under cover if it rains too much. The pots are 2.5" to 6" pots. I guess when I make the next batch, I will try to sterilize it. I think you are suppost to moisten it and then bake it in the oven, but I don't know at what temperature.

Most of the coir nowadays, i.e. after the horrible tsunami in Asia, is bad quality for PLANTS because it contains a lot of salt.

Jordi

Pls go to my website at www.densuventures.com and click on the research tab for the study by the Univ of Florida.
we produce a very high grade of coir and there is no treatment needed before usage. Our coir come s in bale in ready to use format.
Jake