Every chain is as strong as the weakest link. Our scientists can help you automate.
Grodan GT Master® Slab Vegetable Growing Rock Wool Hydroponics Substrate
Grodan GT Master® Slab Vegetable Growing Rock Wool Hydroponics Substrate
Growing media for year round indoor controlled growing of cucumber, tomato, eggplant, strawberry, melons, large vigorous vegetative crops.
Perfect for precision growing.
Grodan GT Master® is absolutely ideal for tomato, cucumber or eggplant growers who want to realize a generative or vegetative crop response through targeted control.
The Grodan GT Master with NG2.0 technology offers a unique fibre structure that encourages plants to completely penetrate the slab with a finely branching root system. Combined with the outstanding physical properties, such as rapid resaturation and perfect steerability based on WC and EC, crops have the ideal conditions for a maximum performance - even during periods of high solar irradiance. These properties make GT Master perfectly suitable for Precision Growing; controlled and considered management of the climate, crops and root zone environment, mutually synchronized to maximize crop performance, while making efficient use of water and nutrients.
Product characteristics
The Grodan GT Master consists of a unique, dual layer slab structure. This combination of a dual density solid upper layer and an airy lower layer ensures even WC and EC distribution in the slab. This in turn leads to a uniform distribution of roots in the slab, which increases the absorption capacity of the plants.
NG2.0 Technology
NG2.0 is the successor of the Next Generation Technology and adds new benefits to the existing advantages. Water distribution is even more uniform and the crop utilises the total substrate volume better. Continual new growth of roots in both the block and the slab results in a healthier and more vigorous crop throughout the whole growing season. These benefits translate into higher yields, improved fruit quality and reduce the sensitivity of the crop to diseases. The technology is available in plugs, blocks and slabs.
Key benefits
- Optimal steering range.
- Optimal irrigation efficiency.
- Uniform crop development.
Product specifications
- Single year slab.
- Unique upper layer with higher fibre density.
- Open, hydrophilic fibres.
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 GT Master® Slab Product Data Sheet.
