Is Banana Bloom® Better Than Peat Moss or Coconut Coir?
Peat moss and coir are industry standards for building growing mixes and amending soil - but a newcomer promises to outperform them both - Banana Bloom®. Decide for yourself!
#coir #peatmoss #soilenrichment #plantfiber #soilamendment
www.bananabloom.co.
Recently, we met Chris Curzon of Southeast Fiber Corporation - the producer of Banana Bloom®, a water-loving (hydrophilic) and water-holding fiber from the trunk of banana trees that “super-charges” a soil mix with water-holding properties while opening up the mix for better oxygen access and micro spaces for roots to grow.
While this may sound too good to be true, peat-based and banana fiber mixes are tested side by side. Each dish has the same volume of mix, and the same amount of water is added. The Banana Bloom® mix holds all the water, while the peat mix releases water into the saucer under the pot. Additional water is added, and still no water comes through the mix into the saucer. The mix doesn’t swell, either.
Banana Bloom® is produced after extracting the long strands of banana fiber used in woven and non-woven products. Banana tree fiber is hollow in each strand, which is unusual for plant-based fiber. Banana Bloom® consists of short sections of banana tree trunk fiber. It’s a light, high-volume, hydrophilic product that will significantly improve growing mix characteristics when even only 5% volume of Banana Bloom® is added.
As a hydrophilic product, Banana Bloom® will readily accept a large amount of water—with almost no mixing or “coaxing.” Both peat moss and coconut coir are hydrophobic, so they resist accepting water. Water will tend to run off peat moss's surface, especially for a compressed coir brick. Both need to be moistened repeatedly. A coir brick must be soaked in water for several hours to overcome resistance to accepting water. Wetting agents (aka surfactants) can make water “wetter” and hasten moistening.
Even so, coir and peat moss are time-tested soil additives. Banana Bloom® increases the performance of these legacy products by keeping the body of the mix wet long enough for the peat moss or coir to imbibe the water.
We are implementing Banana Bloom® in the greenhouse, which will be used for seedling trays. We don’t have an automatic watering system (yet!), so plant cells can dry out quickly because of the small amount of growing or germination mix in seed starting trays. After this growing season, we’ll report the results.
To learn about additional benefits and characteristics of Banana Bloom® or to place an order, visit:
www.bananabloom.co.