SUSTAINABLE SUBSTRATES

Our immediate goal now is to identify two or three materials with the greatest potential for use in the nursery industry, and focus our efforts on those materials to better understand how they react in the vast and complex environments typical of nurseries throughout North America... Our team's approach for developing new substrates is a four-phase process. First, materials are identified that might be used as substrates on a regional basis in each of our respective regions. Potential of using these materials on a cross-regional basis is also discussed amongst our group (we are currently exploring the idea of using bamboo biomass as a substrate in all of our regions). Some materials may have a limited range of utility (for example invasive red cedar in the Kansas region or reed-sedge peat in the upper Midwest region)... Thus far, our team has been working with the following plant biomass sources: Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), Willow (Salix spp.), Corn (Zea mays) stover, Giant..

Primary location: Wooster United States