Growing Mediums are used in hydroponic gardening instead of soil.
A good hydroponic medium will be sterile, retain moisture, provide support for the plants,
be inert (won’t break down), be of neutral pH and contain nothing that can be taken up
by the plants. There are various types available, each with it’s own characteristics.
Some plants may be more suited to one medium than another.
Perlite is
a heat expanded, man made product that is perfect for use as a hydroponic
growing medium. Perlite retains enough moisture for it to be suitable
as a hand watered medium, but also has sufficient drainage to be used in
a recycling drip irrigation system. Perlite is extremely lightweight
and is suitable for use in a variety of growing containers eg, pots, trays
etc. Perlite has sufficient water absorbency for it to be used in bottom
fed auto watering systems.
Vermiculite
is another heat expanded man made product which has very high water retention
which is often used as a soil conditioner or for covering seed raising mixes.
Vermiculite holds too much water to be useful as a medium by itself,
but can be mixed with other growing mediums to improve the water retention
allowing a larger period between waterings.
Perlite & Vermiculite,
when mixed together in a ratio of 3:1, is an ideal medium for hand watering as it
holds plenty of moisture but still retains good drainage. Perlite/Vermiculite mix
comes in 10 and 25 litre bags.
Fytocellis a "NEW" growing medium that provides a near
perfect air/water ratio. The open cell structure of Fytocell ensures
good oxygen content throughout the entire depth of the pot of
Fytoflake and "NEW" FytoClone. Fytocell
has a starting pH of between 5.5 - 7.0. It is harmless to the environment
and is 100% biodgradable, compostable, lightweight and impossible to over
water.
Rockwool is
a growing medium made from spun rock fibres which are pressed into various
sizes of slabs, blocks and cubes, or sold in granular form in bags. Rockwool
has a high water holding capacity, whilst also retaining high levels
of air throughout the medium. The Australian Growool is our main line of
rockwool and has a "NEW" structure similar to imported rockwools. New Growool
comes in Propagation Blocks 25*25mm & 35*35mm (25mm = 36, 35mm =
21 per sheet), Wrapped Cubes 75*75mm with or without holes, Wrapped Cubes 100*100mm no hole,
Plain Slabs 750*300*75 & 750*150*100mm, Wrapped Slabs 750*300*75mm. Growool also comes in
a high grade premium granular rockwool, ideal for filling pots and odd sized trays.
The imported Grodan from Denmark comes as 35mm Propagation Blocks in plastic trays of 77, as
well as sheets of 98 and Wrapped Cubes 40*40mm, Wrapped Cubes 75*75mm with or without holes &
Wrapped Slabs 900*150*75mm and Granulated Grodan.
"NEW" from Holland, Toprock is a high quality rockwool available in
Wrapped Slabs 1000*150*75mm.
Hydroton Expanded Clay is
a pebble type growing medium made from baked clay balls. Expanded Clay
is ideal as a hydroponic medium for indoor house plants eg, ferns etc,
and is especially suited to Flood and Drain type recycling hydroponic systems.
Expanded Clay has a fairly low water holding capacity but provides
very high aeration of the plants roots. As of yet there are no manufacturers
of high quality expanded clay in Australia, so we stock the German Hydroton
which is of extremely high quality.
Coir Fibre is an organic compound made from
coconut fibres. Coir Fibre is an ideal medium to use to combine hydroponics with organic
or inorganic nutrients for the best flavours etc. Coco Coir Fibre comes in
compress or prebagged types.
Now in stock for the organic grower, Jiffy Pellets and Jiffy Pots.
Jiffy pellets and Jiffy pots are made from compressed peat and are ideal for seed and clone
propagation.
From CocoPeat we have the Premium Coir Blocks. The
CocoPeat Coco Block comes in 2 sizes. The small block weighs 650gms and will expand to approximately 9 litres of growing medium.
The larger block weighs 4kg and will expand to approximately 60 litres of
growing medium. See the GT Coco Nutrients
by Growth Technology or the Canna Coco Nutrients
from Canna to complement the coco mediums.
CocoPeat wrapped slabs are compressed slabs 1000*200*75. CocoPeat slabs are ideal
as a rockwool slab replacement. See the GT Coco Nutrients by Growth Technology or
the Canna Coco Nutrients
from Canna to complement the coco mediums.
Watersorb Crystals are water absorbent crystals
which hold 400 times their own weight in water. Watersorb Crystals are ideal
for mixing with soils or hydroponic mediums to greatly improve there water retention.
