PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A LIGNO-CELLULOSIC MATERIAL

A ligno-cellulosic material, commercially called "Hortifibre", has appeared five years ago in France.
It comes from the wood technology and is made with wood fibers of Pinus pinaster.

The physical and chemical characteristics, the composting resistance of the pure material have been determined to know the possibility of use as growing medium.
Hortifibre has a medium water capacity and a high air capacity at ten cm pressure, a medium water availability, an acid pH, a low cation exchange capacity and a very low salinity.
The composting resistance is good as the dry matter loss reaches 15 % after 240 days.

The possibilities of mixing Hortifibre with other materials like sphagnum and French brown peats have been also studied.
The best mixtures have been used as growing medium in ornamental pot and container experiments.

Symposium on Substrates in Horticulture other than Soils in situ

F. Lemaire, A. Dartigues, L.M. Rivière

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1989.238.1