Grodan Plantop Rosa Block Floriculture Propagation Rock Wool Hydroponics Substrate

Specialized substrate for floriculture with a focus on roses, gerberas, anthuriums, orchids, cymbidium, hortensia and other flower crops known for their enduring perennial cultivation properties.

The perfect propagation block for growers who aim for optimal uniformity between their rose plants.

Known as the proven and reliable standard in the market for propagating and growing roses.

Product characteristics 

• Outstanding distribution of water and EC over the height.
• Strong, uniform distribution of roots.
• Fast rooting in, over the entire block volume.
• Easy to adjust water content thanks to large re saturation capacity.
• Resulting in vigorous rose plants with healthy roots.

Key benefits

• Growers can realize significant savings on water and fertilizer inputs when using hydroponic methods to grow long term flowering crops.
• These plants are usually grown on the same substrate for several years. This requires additional firmness and stability of the substrate, so the crop can continue to make optimal use of the total substrate volume throughout the entire cultivation period.
• The floriculture crop specific substrate is designed to facilitate quick rooting and fast early growth to support strong, vegetative initial growth.
• Because flowering crops should continue to produce optimally year round, good and instantly steerable slabs are of great importance.
• Hydroponics growing medium adaptive to the new trend among increasing numbers of flower growers to recirculate drainage water to increase the use of biological crop control methods.
• Grodan floriculture targeted products are designed to work with the wide array of growing systems.

Introduction to rock wool

Stone wool, also known as wool, rock wool, slag wool or mineral wool, is made from basalt, which is solidified lava spewed from the innermost depths of the earth. In its manufactured state, stone wool can have multiple purposes, such as an insulation solution or a growing medium. Stone wool growing media used for cultivation of plants in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is pH neutral and has air pockets that make it suitable for hydroponics, as plants need oxygen and moisture in their root zone. This type of soilless growing media is ideally suited to indoor cultivation, from vegetables and floriculture to medicinal crops.

Rock wool hydroponics cultivation systems consist of plugs, blocks and slabs. The plug is used for sowing, where the seed grows into a seedling. Then the seedling with the plug is transplanted in a block in which it is grown into a full fledged young plant. The full fledged young plant with block is then placed on the slab for growing to maturity and producing fruits.

When implementing precision growing focused on the root zone a grower will aim to influence the root zone environment throughout the entire cultivation cycle. Growing crops without soil means growing them reliably. Because everything can be controlled. Every decision made in the greenhouse or growing room today has a major impact on tomorrow's results.

Thanks to the controlled manufacturing process, this growth medium is of a consistently high quality. The main difference between stone wool, coco coir, peat and soil growing media is that stone wool is mineral based, not carbon containing organic matter. It is made of natural stone heated to such extreme temperatures (about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit/ 1500 degrees Celsius) during the manufacturing process, it is a hygienic, clean growing media free of pathogens and food safety compliant, compatible with hydroponic and automated growing systems, as well as automated irrigation technologies that rely on precise control.

The unique fibre structure makes cultivation with stone wool growing media very easy to control. The grower can administer the precise amount of water and nutrients the crops need in a very directed and controlled manner, to achieve optimal growing results. Waste becomes a thing of the past. Efficient use of water and nutrients keeps yield per square metre high, and energy consumption per unit of product low. Additionally, the growing media is lightweight, making it easy to handle. And last but not least, stone wool can be easily recycled into raw materials for products such as new stone wool and bricks.

Resources

Grodan Plantop Rosa Product Data Sheet.

Grodan Blocks Instruction Manual.