Sun Gro’er Blog

Review of Major Growing Media Components

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By Dan Jacques and Ron Walden, Sun Gro Horticulture –

The major role of a growing mix is to support the plant, while holding water and nutrients for the plant to use during growth. There are five main components commonly used in making growing media: peat moss, bark, coir, perlite and vermiculite. This article describes the components and outlines desired properties of mixes for various uses in greenhouse production.

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"Dirt and Fert" for Basket Production

Potted plants in Greenhouse
Plants placed above may not receive as much attention as those below. Using CRFs may help avoid nutritional issues.

Interesting how some things don‘t change; hanging baskets are still big business! When you think about it, hanging basket culture is in a league of its own and deserves special
attention. The entire objective of growing a hanging basket crop is different than that of a pack or small pot. The objective is usually to grow big, full, overflowing plants that typically remain in the container. While the objectives for packs and small pots is to grow colorful, compact plants that are proportioned to the pot. When it comes to soilless media for hanging baskets, the initial challenges are to avoid keeping it too wet, depending on the production program employed. Thereafter, when plants are full and sized up, the major challenges are always moisture supply and weight.
–Rick Vetanovetz, Dan Jacques, Mark Thomas and Ron Walden
Read More in The Sun Gro’er Issue 7/1 (2012)
Leer más en The Sun Gro’er Issue 7/1 (2012) Spanish/Español

Update on Sun Gro Growing Media

Sun Gro Horticulture is the largest provider of professional greenhouse mixes in North America. We offer a wide range of mixes covering all the needs of the greenhouse industry, from seed/cutting propagation to general production. All of our standard mixes contain a liming agent to adjust medium pH, a lean nutrient starter charge and a proprietary wetting agent, which helps avoid major wet-out issues. In addition to our standard media offerings, Sun Gro has a few new formulations for your consideration.
–Dan Jacques, Ron Walden
Read More in The Sun Gro’er Issue 5/2 (2010)
Leer más en The Sun Gro’er Issue 5/2 (2010) Spanish/Español

Media, Tissue and Water Testing for Good Growing

Planting flowersRead More in The Sun Gro’er Issue 1/2 (2003)
When do most growers test media, tissue or water in the greenhouse? If your answer is “only when there is a problem”, you are probably right. However, that is not the only time that growers should be testing. Growers should be testing at least for media pH and EC on a weekly or bi-monthly basis (on-site testing) and should also be conducting complete tests 2 or more times per crop for major crops (complete lab analysis).
Tests should not be limited to media pH and EC, but also to water alkalinity, EC and pH. This is especially important if growers are having problems maintaining pH in their mixes. Knowing the alkalinity of the water and fertilizing according to the alkalinity goes a long way in helping assure a successful, high quality crop. This is a separate topic in and of itself.
Continue reading “Media, Tissue and Water Testing for Good Growing”

Sun Gro's Technical Specialists

Read More in The Sun Gro’er Issue 1/1 (2003)
Sun Gro has seven main Technical Specialists, three in the West and two each in the Central and East regions. Their duties include Quality Control (QC) work with specific plants, along with providing technical support for specific sections of their region. Technical support includes work with complaint handling, training and custom blends. These are also the Sun Gro staffers who will be providing most of the content for the Sun Gro’er Newsletter. Here is some basic information that will allow readers to get to know them a little better: Continue reading “Sun Gro's Technical Specialists”