Growing Media

Uncovering a delicate root zone balance

When it comes to root zone management, water and nutrients most likely come to mind, but there’s one component which doesn’t receive nearly as much attention.

Growing lettuce in the deep

Nadine Stielow checks out their new vegetable crop grown in their latest hydroponic system.

Already established in her retail and wholesale ornamental business, Nadine Stielow, owner of Thiel’s Greenhouses in Bruderheim, Alta., considered a number of crops, examined consumer demand and local supply, then reached out to industry consultants before settling on hydroponic lettuce.

Integrated rootzone management: Is it key to production success?

Figure 1. Photo A: Basil (Ocimum basilicum) performs better grown in a smaller pot (left) compared to those grown in larger pots (right), both in a peat and perlite mix. Photo B shows a close look of the typical waterlogging injury symptoms observed on plants grown in the larger pots from Photo A.

I am sure you know of IPM, which stands for Integrated Pest Management, and you have likely been practising this in your operation for years with success. However, have you heard of IRM?

How your soilless mix can improve water and nutrient retention

Unlike days of old, adding super absorbent polymers can vastly improve water retention.

While recently watching a television special on the great women of ancient Egypt, I was reminded that depictions of containerized plants, specifically non-native trees being transported in large containers, can be traced back millennia. By the fifth century, containerized plants were common, and some fast-growing herbaceous species were grown in containers for use in festivals.

Marigolds flourish in biochar

Peat moss is a frequent, major component of potting mixes, but harvest of the material is becoming unsustainable. Not only is peat being removed faster than it can re-form, its harvest and use in potting mix contributes to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

A good year for peat moss harvesting

Sept. 28, 2017, St. Albert, Alta. – It’s been a pretty good year for peat harvesting in Canada.

The complexities of managing the media

July 2017 – Over the past few years, Kwantlen Polytechnic University students have been working with local schools (elementary, middle and high schools) to help design gardens. In each case, it has been at the school’s request. This is critical, since it means they have ownership and therefore (hopefully!) commitment. Plans have been driven by specific constraints of the spaces available and any wants/needs of the school community, and these needs were in turn identified by doing surveys of all stakeholders.

THE ROOT CAUSES of Some Common Crop Problems

Graded cuttings produce great final products.

July 2017 – As growers, many times we do things by going through the motions of what we did before and whether it worked or not. If what we did before worked we try to repeat it – but that is only if we kept records we can review before starting to grow crops we produced before.

Inside View: Latest Dirt on Root Zone Management

March April 2017 – I write this a couple of weeks before his inauguration, and president-elect Donald Trump is in process of picking his cabinet. He’s done Education, Transport, Energy and, of course, all the military/security positions. In fact, he’s done all cabinet and senior advisory positions except for two. Right, he’s down to the last two and at this point, and he’s not appointed anyone to hold the Agriculture portfolio.1 (In case you’re wondering, the only other outstanding vacancy is Secretary for ‘Veterans Affairs’.) Firearms before food is such an interesting concept, don’t you think?

Healthy root zone will help ensure a healthy top zone

October 2016 – Talking about root zone is always fascinating to me because it is the foundation of all greenhouse crops and it is hidden from our eyes. The tops we can easily see but the tops depend on the roots, and the roots depend on the health of the tops!

Do pests make growers invaluable?

September 2016 – Just recently, Dr. Tim O’Neil from ADAS in the U.K. spoke to Canadian growers on the topic of Root Mat Disorder (“Crazy Root,” as it’s called here). This has been seen on hydroponic cucumbers in the U.K. since 1993 and tomato crops throughout Europe (especially the Netherlands and France) a few years later.