Growing Plants With Grodan Rockwool
Since 1969 Grodan has been the worldwide leader in supplying innovative and sustainable stone wool-growing media solutions. Over the last 50 years, customers from commercial hydroponic growers to home-based gardeners have been using Grodan products to cultivate safe, healthy, and high quality-vegetables and plants.
Types of Grodan Rockwool
Cultivators steer crop growth on the basis of climate and irrigation strategy, which is largely defined by the choice of blocks and slabs chosen. Grodan offers an ideal range of stone wool blocks and slabs to designed to produce high-quality, consistent crops with superior yields and decreased risk of pests.
- GroDan Slabs - Enjoy maximum versatility over plant spacing throughout the lifecycle while enjoying all the benefits of growing in slabs with Grodan Gro-Slab™, Grodan’s Single Plant Slab solution - ideal for growing a large size plant to its full potential. Growers working within plant count limits, looking for maximum production per plant, choose Grodan Uni-Slab because of its productivity potential and versatility.
- Grodan Cubes - For growers seeking a forgiving, easy-to-use loose-fill media, Grodan Grow-Cubes is an excellent choice. Composed of uniform 1/4” cubes of stone wool, Grodan Grow-Cubes offer many advantages over other soilless potting mixes.
- Grodan Blocks - A core component of our "Precision Growing” philosophy, Grodan Improved Gro-Blocks with Advanced Wetting Technology allows you to cultivate more uniform and high-quality crops while using less water and nutrients, batch after batch.
- Grodan Starter Plugs - Give your cuttings and seedlings the perfect start in life with Grodan Starter Plugs— the trusted propagation solution of horticultural professionals worldwide.
What is EC?
Electrical conductivity or "EC" is a measure of the “total salts” concentration in the nutrient solution (drip, slab or drain). The required EC for optimum plant growth will depend on the crop and variety being grown the physiological stage of plant development and the prevailing environmental conditions both inside and outside the greenhouse.
Why is it important to monitor EC?
The EC of the nutrient solution impacts the growth and evolution of the plant. During the winter months, a higher EC is used as this limits the uptake of water. As an effect, the cells in the plant do not elongate or "grow" as much. They stay smaller and have a wider, stronger cell wall.
The plant then appears darker, shorter, and with smaller leaves. In this situation, the plants put relatively more energy into the formation of flowers and fruit. If the EC is too low in poor light conditions (i.e. winter), the plant will produce too much leaf growth and too little fruit growth and hence will be too vegetative.
Contrarily, a high EC under high light conditions (summer) will restrict water absorption too much and thus the ability of the plant to cool itself via transpiration. Therefore, the crop will become stressed.
The EC also influences production and fruit quality. In general, a higher EC in the root zone environment leads to lower production and smaller fruit size.
This is because the cells in the fruits take up less water, which results in a lower fresh weight. However, a higher EC results in better fruit taste. Therefore a compromise must be struck between fruit quality, yield, and the vegetative and generative development of the crop.
Strengths of Stone Wool Growing Media
Below we explain why Grodan stone wool is perfectly suited for growing healthy and fresh food efficiently and sustainably. And with that the growing media to feed a growing population. Each strength is explained and enriched with links to other publications. In that way, you can read much more on topics related to this story.
- A uniform growing medium – thanks to a perfectly controlled manufacturing process. This makes the quality and properties of Grodan stone wool and this leads to precise plant behavior thanks to an excellent root zone management.
- Water-saving properties – we are all aware that water is a precious source. Stone wool is an inert medium and the water including the nutrient solution that it holds is in its entirety available to the plants.
- Respect for biodiversity – At a time when biodiversity is under threat, we are proud to be contributing to the safeguarding of our ecosystems A bountiful natural resource – Every year the earth produces 38,000 times more basalt than ROCKWOOL uses to produce stone.
- Transparency and proximity – Grodan factories operate in accordance with the highly stringent European regulations for working conditions and product quality/
- 100% recyclable - one of the reasons our growing media are awarded the EU Ecolabel is because it is recyclable.
- Food safety compliance – food safety has never been this crucial in today’s world. Renowned institutes ensure that our products do not pose any threats to either human We believe we inspired you to read further and to discover much more on the seven strengths of our stone wool growing media. In case you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
Final Thoughts On Grodan Hydroponic Growing Meda
Fifty years ago, in 1969, the practice of using stone wool for horticulture was born. The start of a success story as Grodan is still growing strong. Since then we are making an impact. Not only in the horticulture industry but in the world by providing a sustainable growing solution.
Call one of our experienced growers to get advice and help pick out the best Grodan products for your needs.
