How to Choose a Growing Medium?
Quality substrates are among the basic prerequisites for a successful harvest. These are mixtures made on various bases, whether it is peat or, for example, crushed coconut fibres. In this article, you will find out everything you need to know before you put a specific growing medium into your basket. You will also learn what to enrich it with and how to improve soil properties for even higher yields.
First of all, you should clarify the answers to the basic questions that should certainly come before choosing the ideal growing medium, namely WHAT you will grow and WHERE you will grow it:
Do you want to grow herbs, fruit or vegetables in a growbox (indoor), in a greenhouse or in a garden bed in the garden (outdoor)?
In a grow tent, in a greenhouse, but also on a windowsill, you will use pots or planters. The standard ones, intended for hand watering, can be filled with soil or coconut coir, which combines the best of hydroponics and growing in soil. Coconut fibres can hold a great deal of water while maintaining a high level of airiness.
In addition to classic bags, you can also get practical compressed coconut briquettes. The pack contains compressed coconut fibres in a dehydrated state, which expand to the declared volume after watering, after which the substrate is ready for immediate use. The benefit of dried briquettes is long-term storage while preserving the original properties of the substrate, as well as easy handling of larger quantities of packs.
It should, however, be said that before using coconut substrate, it is better for the grower to have at least some experience, whereas soil mixes will also serve enthusiastic beginners well, as they allow a certain degree of tolerance for mistakes (in fertilising, watering, etc.). At the very beginning of the growing cycle, you also do not need to deal with nutrition, because peat mixes, often referred to simply as soil among growers, are divided according to nutrient content for the first weeks of the growing cycle into lightly, medium and heavily pre-fertilised substrates.
In the garden, a suitable substrate helps you cultivate the growing space and create a more favourable environment for plants or agricultural crops from seed to harvest.
If your intention is a BIO-quality harvest, use a 100% natural and certified soil mix. It contains, in an optimal ratio, premium white and black peat together with crushed and sieved compost. An important part of the composition of these mixes is also an inert component ensuring aeration of the substrate - perlite, which will be mentioned again in a moment.
Self-watering pots, such as Flo Gro, are filled with inert clay balls measuring 8-16 mm, also known as expanded clay (hydroton).
Expanded clay, like coconut substrates or perlite, belongs among the so-called inert media, which means that it contains absolutely no nutrients (unlike soil).
Perlite is most often used to improve soil properties or aerate substrates, whether coconut or soil mixes. These are white inert granules with a high water content, made from amorphous volcanic glass.
We will stay with inert growing media for a while longer. They find their greatest use especially in hydroponics thanks to their highly absorbent and retention properties. This “sterile” environment prevents plants from being attacked by pests or mould in advance.
Compared with soil, when using them it is necessary to continuously measure and regulate pH and EC values to prevent so-called plant burn or a reduction in the efficiency of fertiliser uptake.
A very popular inert medium is rockwool, also known as basalt wool. This substrate provides the root system of all plant species with a completely ideal ratio between water and air.
Its natural, 100% organic alternative is the increasingly popular Agra-Wool propagation cubes, made from Earthwool. In addition to being environmentally friendly, they help young plants root more easily.
Houseplants and ornamental plants are best grown in a mix of light and dark peat, which contains nutrition for the first weeks of the growing cycle and humus.
Specialised mixes intended for the cultivation of houseplants usually have their pH adjusted with limestone.
Substrates intended for the cultivation of acid-loving plants contain almost no nutrients and have a neutral pH, so that one product can cover as many commonly grown species as possible.
Substrate can even be mixed by yourself. But it requires experience. Industrial substrates, which today you can easily obtain in a quality suitable even for professional growers at an affordable price, moreover provide not only significantly better results, but also a huge saving of time and energy, and above all the certainty of the purity of the resulting mix. That is truly important. Proven products do not contain weed seeds or pathogen spores. Your plants will therefore grow from the start in a favourable environment that suits them, and they will be able to fully “focus” on root development and overall growth.
Final tip: You will achieve the best results if you combine substrates with fertilisers, nutritional supplements and additives from the same brand!
We hope we have made choosing a substrate easier for you. There is truly plenty to choose from in our e-shop, so do not hesitate to write to us at any time and our specialists will be happy to recommend the ideal growing medium tailored to your needs and plans. We look forward to your questions at the well-known address info@higarden.eu.