I stopped by Menard today and bought a bag of cocoa bean shell. I initially thought I bought a bag of coconut shell product. I have never seen cocoa bean shell before, but it looks interesting.
Now, my questions are: can I mix it into soil like peatmoss to grow blueberry. I did Google a little bit after I realized it’s cocoa, not coconut. It can make soil acidic which is perfect for blueberry.
I would like to know if anyone mixed it with soil, not used as mulch. And how the plants grow?
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It will absorb a ton of nitrogen. If you use it in a soil mix, keep the percentage fairly low and add a long term nitrogen fertilizer.
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That’s very funny. I just went to Menards the day before yesterday and was shocked to see cocoa bean shells being sold as a mulch.
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Menard is my favorite go to store for various things. I have never known Menard carries this product until I bought it today.
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My mom used to pay a good amount to have cocoa bean mulch delivered. She said it eliminated slug damage. When we’d spread the stuff in her flower and perennial beds it smelled great for a week or so.
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our menards has carried it for a while but going by price alone, i was never interested in it.
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I have seen it advertised as a mulch but not a soil amendment, I’ve never tried it for either
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I don’t know how much your Menard charges for 2 cb bag. I paid a little over $9 per bag. The peatmoss here 2.2 cb is $15 per bag. The cocoa bean shell is cheaper than peatmoss if it can replace the peatmoss which I am trying to find it out here.
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oh, last i checked it was like $14 in season but dropped before winter and i guess its just the lower price point now. also, doesnt peat expand? when i looked at the shell it doesnt seem like it would hold any moisture and would be more of a perlite replacement in the mix to increase permeability. which would be cheaper. it might be worse, though, because of decomposition in volume and nutrient thievery. would love to know more.
I am learning this product. It’s said the cocoa bean shell contains phosphate, protein, and other nutrient that benefit the plant. And the ph level is at about the level that blueberry thrives after decompression.
I would think it doesn’t hold much water, however, after web searches, many said it can hold a lots of water, too wet for the soil. I can’t see how
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I used to buy it and use it as mulch. It’s a nice fine mulch to use around delicate plants. And it smells great. (And then it molds and looks ugly for a little while.)
I’ve never thought of trying to use it as a soil amendment.
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This is so interesting. Curious to see how it behaves mixed in. Just FYI for coconut coir, I’ve found it’s least expensive even including shipping to order from htg. With how many times I reordered this spring though, probably should have looked for a better bulk deal…
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That is a good price! Where I’ve been purchasing mine from is almost $19, although there is no shipping charge. Add in taxes and comes out to roughly $20.
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Does your Menards carry pine bark? You can use that instead of peat moss and it will acidify the soil. It’s a lot cheaper than both peat moss and the cocoa bean shell.
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I did bouht several bags of pine bark nuggets, and pine bark mulch. In the spring time, never such a thing as too many bags of potting media
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