Grodan Supreme Slab Capsicum Cultivation Rock Wool Hydroponics Substrate

Growing media tailor made for year round indoor controlled growing of bell peppers, sweet peppers and chilli.

Grodan Supreme was developed for peppers and is ideal to achieve high early production, with better, average fruit quality.

Grodan Supreme is a unique stone wool slab for the cultivation of peppers (V system). The goal of many pepper growers is high, early production, higher total production and better average fruit quality. This demands a substrate with a wide control range for water content (WC) and EC, to promote complete, finely branched root development and lasting vigour. The easier steer ability of the Grodan Supreme slab satisfies these requirements and gives sweet pepper growers more control over the results.

Product characteristics

The Supreme slab is slightly narrower and higher (12 x 10 cm) than the slabs generally used to grow peppers (15 x 7.5 cm). Partly thanks to Grodan's NG2.0 technology, this slab offers several important advantages. These include rapid and uniform initial saturation of the slab, better utilisation of the total substrate volume and - especially at the top of the slab - even better water and nutrient distribution.

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

• Easy to monitor.
• More vigorous plants.
• Better fruit quality.

Product specifications

• Single year, 10 cm high slab.
• 10 cm high slab, developed for the V system.
• With extra light-tight foil.

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 Supreme Slab Product Data Sheet.

Grodan Supreme Slab Brochure.

Grodan Slabs Instruction Manual.

List of some pepper cultivars of the five major cultivated species within the Capsicum genus.