GROWING MEDIA VARYING IN PARTICLE SIZE AND SHAPE FOR GREENHOUSE TOMATO

Replacement of rockwool as growing media by more readily renewable materials or by waste product is now a worldwide target.
One purpose of this study was to identify a suitable waste based growing media for greenhouse tomato and to test how their physical properties, affected by their particle shape, were related to yield.
The performance of seven substrates made of rockwool, sawdust, wood shaving, composted bark and peat pure or in mixture were compared based on water retention characteristics, hydraulic conductivity, pore tortuosity, and gas diffusivity.
Peat and bark pure and in mixtures gave similar yield as rockwool while sawdust and shaving lead to lower yield only during the second year of production.
Yield was not related to physical properties although they greatly vary between substrates.
The results indicated that if irrigation was adjusted for the physical properties of substrates, then different recycling organic materials with various particle sizes and shapes can be used for tomato production in greenhouses.

International Symposium on Growing Media and Hydroponics

S. Allaire, J. Caron, C. Ménard, M. Dorais

gas diffusivity, bark, water retention characteristics, pore tortuosity, peat substrates, potting media, rockwool, sawdust, wood shaving

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2004.644.41