The effects of added wood fibre in peat-based growing medium on Petunia x hybrida
Lahti, Suvi (2022)
2022
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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022061417843
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022061417843
Tiivistelmä
In Europe, peat is the most used growing medium. However, due to political and environmental reasons the use of peat has been questioned and other growing media alternatives have been studied. One of the most promising alternatives is wood fibre from coniferous trees. The thesis was commissioned by Biolan Oy which wanted to learn more about wood fibre performance in growth testing.
The purpose of this trial was to compare experimental wood fibre to a commercial wood fibre already on the market. The controls were peat and Novarbo Oy's Mossgrow 10 % taimiseos, which also served as a basis for wood fibre mixtures. In the trial, the wood fibres were mixed into the Mossgrow substrate in two different volumes, 30% and 50%. In addition to these test members, one test member was completely peatless containing Sphagnum moss and wood fibre in a 50/50 ratio. The physiological properties of the substrates were first measured and then the substrates were tested in a growth trial with petunia plants. A part of each substrate was also put aside as a storage sample, which was measured weekly for eight weeks.
Substrates with 30 % wood fibre were almost as good as the two controls. Adding more wood fibres into a mix can reduce the growth especially if the fertilizing is not constant and as seen in stored samples the nitrate starts to diminish after a month. The 30% wood fibre addition did produce more flowers than either of the controls, but controls had more buds which could indicate that perhaps the flowering started earlier with the wood fibre amended substrates. The peatless Sphagnum moss+ wood fibre substrate was last with lower growth result. The plant material was very heterogeneous which had influence on the growth trial and the growing conditions were typical for growing in peat. Perhaps with adjusting fertigation and liming the results for wood fibre could have been similar to those of peat. The results from this trial were useful and have been used to modify the wood fibre handling.
The purpose of this trial was to compare experimental wood fibre to a commercial wood fibre already on the market. The controls were peat and Novarbo Oy's Mossgrow 10 % taimiseos, which also served as a basis for wood fibre mixtures. In the trial, the wood fibres were mixed into the Mossgrow substrate in two different volumes, 30% and 50%. In addition to these test members, one test member was completely peatless containing Sphagnum moss and wood fibre in a 50/50 ratio. The physiological properties of the substrates were first measured and then the substrates were tested in a growth trial with petunia plants. A part of each substrate was also put aside as a storage sample, which was measured weekly for eight weeks.
Substrates with 30 % wood fibre were almost as good as the two controls. Adding more wood fibres into a mix can reduce the growth especially if the fertilizing is not constant and as seen in stored samples the nitrate starts to diminish after a month. The 30% wood fibre addition did produce more flowers than either of the controls, but controls had more buds which could indicate that perhaps the flowering started earlier with the wood fibre amended substrates. The peatless Sphagnum moss+ wood fibre substrate was last with lower growth result. The plant material was very heterogeneous which had influence on the growth trial and the growing conditions were typical for growing in peat. Perhaps with adjusting fertigation and liming the results for wood fibre could have been similar to those of peat. The results from this trial were useful and have been used to modify the wood fibre handling.