In order to raise awareness about the potential of coir substrate, BrownGrow launches a special campaign to support growers with extensive trials. The substrate manufacturer has made large quantities of substrate available free of charge for growers to kick-off large scale trials. "In order to convince them about the potential of coir, growers need to trial it in at least one water zone. This will enable a better comparison and learn them how to make a difference", said Thushara Wijayasingha of BrownGrow.
BrownGrow is very busy to keep up with the demand for their coir substrates. "An increasing amount of growers is interested in using coir as a substrate. Many of them however, experience troubles in the use of the material. They sometimes either do not know how to steer it or they are simply using the wrong material. In order to show them that not every coir substrate is the same, we are launching the large scale trials to show growers what a difference the choice of material can make."
Coir slabs and substrates are made of coconuts. "A coconut is a coconut, there is not much you can do about that. But the way that the raw material of that coconut is processed into a substrate is influenced by many parameters", said Wijayasingha. "For the sake of the industry, we want to show that growers should give coir a chance and make them re-consider this as their natural, organic substrate of choice. The entire coir industry will benefit from this."
Wijayasingha explained that he believes that growers sometimes turn away from coir as a result of bad experience. "This did not contribute to the name of the coir industry. We want to show that there are suppliers on the market who have a serious approach to this, and by making large quantities of quality material available for large trials we hope that we can convince growers to give coir a second chance."
Growers interested in a trial with Browngrow's coir substrates can contact them to request a free trial, including free delivery. "We advise growers to make space available for a trial in at least one water zone, in order to allow an optimal comparison. This will also enable them to steer the irrigation optimally and use the slabs at their full potential. All they need to do is go to our website and complete the request form. We also invite research bodies and institutions to apply for a trial."