UK: Developing new blends of growing media for horticulture

At a workshop based on outputs from project CP 138 ‘Transition to responsibly sourced growing media use within UK Horticulture’, find out how research into new growing media blends could help reduce a dependence on peat use for potted herb growers. Join the event to hear from the researchers directly and to see demonstrations of the growing media trials in practice.

The day will include:

Talk by Simon Budge from Vitacress Herbs on their growing media requirements
Discussions about the potted herb trials and view of the trials
Demonstrations of growing media blends and raw materials

For many years there has been a gradual move away from peat-based growing media within the industry towards inclusion of other materials including bark, wood fibre, coir and green compost. This was initially driven by government policy, but recently the benefits of adding other raw materials to peat to adjust and improve the blend have been recognised by industry.

AHDB / Defra project CP 138 was designed to ease the transition from a dependence on peat to the uptake of a broad range of responsibly sourced growing media. This will primarily be achieved by the development of a model to predict the performance of various raw materials when blended together and to test the performance of these blends in commercial production situations across a range of different nurseries in various sectors.

For more information:
horticulture.ahdb.org.uk