Coconut dust as replacement for peat

In countries such as Britain, where peat must be imported, coir dust - cocunut dust - is cheap enough to compete, even after being shipped from Sri Lanka. Coir dust is what is left of a coconut that has been stripped of its edible flesh and fibre. Because of its sponginess, coir holds ten times its own weight in water; and its alkalinity means that it can hold and gradually release nutrients to plant roots. As a mulch, it survives in soil longer than peat.

In the UK it is sold by a company called Dutch Plantin for growbags at garden centres and for commercial greenhouses.

In Sir Lanka and India coir dust has in the past been considered a nuisance: too wet to burn and too antibiotic to rot.