Coir mats for ponds

Coir mats for ponds

The standard mix is the one shown in the established mat pictured, and we've found from experience it's one that works well. The mats are planted at 10 plants per square metre.

The coir is imported from Sri Lanka as highly compressed fibre, which reduces shipping volumes by 80%. It's a sustainably and organically produced waste product of coconut production. The coir fibre takes around 10 years to rot down, so they're a perfect growing medium for pond plants. It's inert and pH neutral.

The coir will expand to accommodate the plants root systems as they grow. All the plants supplied with them are grown at a British nursery from guaranteed native seed. We've learnt from experience that these marginals do well growing in coir, without dominating.

If you're using the mats on a butyl liner it's very important that the mats are in really good contact with the water - i.e. a significant part of them - 70% to 100% - are at or just below water level. As you can see from the photos this is much less important if you're laying them on top of soil, for obvious reasons - the plants can root down into the bank. If they are in deeper water you may find the bottom edge needs weighing down with stones. If you experience several weeks without rain do keep an eye on them and water if necessary.

The product was originally designed for large scale bio-engineering projects, but works just as well for domestic ponds. The mats need to be in contact with water but are designed to sit on a pond or river bank, covering a butyl liner, for example. They can offer a brilliant solution to planting a lined pond, but do also make sure the liner is good quality. If your pond is under around 12m circumference we don't recommend using these mats all the way around it as water travels up through them.

Coir Pricing and Product Detail

We've made a short video about our coir matting. I can't promise George Clooney, but it'll give you the gist of the product:

We offer unplanted individual 2mX0.5m mats and accompanying plug plants for you to plant. These come with an instruction leaflet and are what we sell online here. PLEASE NOTE that these plants are much smaller than the established plants in the preplanted mats shown in the photos, so we supply 20 per mat. Please Contact us for details and pricing for the preplanted mats.

Supplier : Gower Wildflowers Ltd.