I saw coconuts for sale at the grocery store, with the husk and fibers still attached and had to buy some to experiment. I pulled off and processed the husk, separating the coir fiber from the peat, the began to twine. This is unpleasant fiber to work with. It is rough and short, but it is strong.
I see why the coconut coir fiber is used for thick mats to scrape off shoes, and heavy duty brushes. There are actually many interesting uses for coconut husk, the rest of mine will be used as mulch.
I took my dried coconut husk back outside after soaking it, pulling it apart, rinsing it, and then air drying it on a drying rack inside. The mass of husk was copiously shedding bits whenever the drying rack was disturbed, so outside was the best choice for further processing. I decided to twine the coconut coir, the long, strong fibers from the coconut husk.
Even with the soak and rinsing, there was still a large amount of spongy brown pith on the fibers, which I scraped off with my nails. I separated out the longest fibers, leaving the pith and the short, fine, breakable fibers, which were more difficult to twine.
I was a little disappointed in how few long fibers I was able to rescue, and I’m not sure that the soaking and rinsing really made my work any easier. I have four more white coconuts (unripe), which I will try getting the fibers straight from the husk as a comparison. The coir pith I put in my compost heap, it has excellent moisture retention so will do well in the mix for future plants.
Critters and Craft 