How to Break Up Coco Coir Bricks

Links to Products Used In the Video

• Coco Coir

Video Transcript

Coco coir is a horticultural and mycological staple.  It’s basically coconut husk, its prized for its ability to hold many times its own weight in water and when combined with other things like nutrients it can provide a constantly moist medium for plants and fungi to grow from.

In a perfect world you’d be able to source this stuff loose and ready to use however it’s a lot more commonly found compressed or bricked.  The bricks themselves can’t be used to grow much because they still need nutrients and they’re way too tightly packed to hold water or mix anything in as is.

If you’ve ever tried to break them up you may have noticed they can be a bit difficult, which is probably why you’re watching this video so let’s get to it.  Coco coir bricks are usually compressed in a uniform direction, meaning in some orientations they’re extremely structurally sound.  I can pound away at this brick with a hammer in this direction and really nothings going to happen to it. Same with going at it with other types of hand tools… It’s just really tightly compressed and again, you’ve probably already realized this.

But what you might not have noticed is that simply going at it from a different angle makes all the difference in the world.  This brick was compressed nice and flat.  I’m not going to get anywhere pounding straight away it’s flat side but if I just hold it a different way instead we can start to see the direction of the grain and you can also start to see it becomes much easier to get through.  From this angle, just about any tool can pry it apart leaving much smaller pieces that similarly may not break apart in one direction but will easily break apart in another direction.  My personal favorite from here is just slowly and relatively softly going at it with the hammer and then breaking up any small chunks by hand.

Obviously you want to do this on a surface you don’t care much about.  I chose my concrete garage floor and that’s the only reason you see foil here.  I’m a neat freak and it brings me peace of mind that the coco coir isn’t directly on the floor that might have dirt, oil, insects or other debris.

One last tip is that coco coir bricks soften up a lot and quickly if you soak them in water.  I’m personally not doing that here though because the mixtures I’ll be making go by weight and adding water will significantly impact the weight.  So keeping it dry is what’s best for me and hopefully you found this helpful enough to determine what’s now best for you.  Thanks for watching 😊