Back to the Roots Succulents & Cacti Mix

This stuff is amazing! Literally just add water to this brick and it will expand beautifully. The texture is fluffy and soft, it spreads and mixes easily. I mixed it in with some compost and white sand and it was perfect for my carrots, radishes and onions! Will purchase again!

While this wasn’t my first experience working with plants, it was my first time needing to completely replace soil to rescue a plant from gnat-infested soil. I chose Back to the Roots Organic Coir, 51 Quart Expanding Soil because I wanted a clean, organic option that would help eliminate pests rather than reintroduce them. I also was working with a small space to replant. I did this in the bathroom. I placed the compressed block directly into a 27-gallon tote and added water let it expand and did a little chopping with a spatula. What stood out the most was just how much soil this product produced. Expanding the coir directly in the 27-gallon tote nearly filled the entire container, which really exceeded my expectations for a single compressed block. The soil has a rich, fine texture and looks evenly hydrated and well-aerated, as shown in the image. It was easy to work with and didn’t feel heavy or muddy, making it ideal for gently replanting without compacting the roots too tightly. Overall, this expanding soil made a stressful plant-rescue situation feel manageable and successful. The lightweight texture retains moisture while still draining well, which is especially important when dealing with fungus gnats. Since switching to this soil, the plant feels more stable and supported, and the surface stays clean instead of soggy. For anyone needing to refresh contaminated soil, repot stressed plants, or simply wants a clean and reliable organic growing medium, Back to the Roots Organic Coir delivers excellent volume, quality, and peace of mind. Picture is of the newly repotted plant.

Coir is a great, more sustainable alternative to peat as a potting medium. Similar to peat moss, coir is low in nutrients (which is important for seed starting as a nutrient-rich medium increases risk of disease for seedlings), and the texture is almost identical to peat moss. This stuff easily expands 2-3 times its dry volume. As you can see in the photo below, I entirely underestimated how much it would expand. I filled the seed tray with coir pieces to less than the height of the rim of the tray, and at the time I took the photo it was still expanding and coir was falling over the sides. So the brick may seem small initially, but it does give you a lot of growing medium. In the second photo, you can see that I have an almost 90% germination rate with the coir. I am growing different seeds in one tray. In the back row, I am trying to grow Gaura seeds, which are notoriously fickle, and which account for the 10% failure rate. (I do currently have 3 germinated.) I have had zero weed seeds germinate, so I think the medium is sterile, which is good. In the photo you can see some long fibers, but overall I found the coir to be of good consistency and low contamination. I do want to note that the dry coir brick is extremely dense and hard, almost as hard as wood. I would advise using a hammer and chisel to break up the pieces, or a saw. Edited to add: I made a rookie mistake with the coco coir. After germinating the seeds, I left the plants in the coco coir for too long. After several weeks without any growth, I realized that my lighting wasn't the issue. The issue was that seedlings need to pick up nutrients in the soil, but the coco coir is sterile. Fortunately, I was able to save the seedlings by transplanting them, and coincidentally, I used bags of Back to The Roots peat-less potting medium, which I found at a local store. Remember to transplant your seedlings as soon as you see true leaves on them.

I've purchased this brand for many years with great results. The Coco Coir is always great quality and expands to more than you would think. I consider coco coir one of the essentials in an organically driven home made soil. My favorite blend is 3 parts coco coir, 2 parts course vermiculite and 1 part course perlite. Mix those together and its an all-in-one indoor plant mix. A balanced and completed compost or organic fertilizer must be used because this medium has no readily available nutrients. This is also great for a beginner worm farm bedding, or as a top dressing for the garden raised beds or potted plants as a mulch. Theres definitely multiple uses for it.

My fault that I miss understood that this was one big piece of organic coir so I had to cut it into 6 pieces. Product worked as expected. Would buy again. It expanded and mixed well.