[Type text] HYDROPONICS

Transcription

1 General directives for the use of coir Coir has a water buffer. Coir acts as a dry medium. Steering with help of a water content meter or weighing of the grow bag can be a useful method. Coir has a loose, airy structure. A better air/water-content improves root development. Addition of coir chips improves the airiness of the substrate. An airier substrate means a drier substrate. All this simplifies irrigation. General guidelines for growing vegetables on coir In general we can conclude that coir is a powerful growing medium. This is expressed by the fast and lush root development. If you do not take this into account at the start the crop will develop strongly vegetative. To get a proper balanced crop you should use a fixed day/night-regime. Flat temperature regimes improve vegetative growing, where as colder night temperatures turn out to work generatively. Amount of coir The amount of coir per dripper is important. 4 litres of coir per dripper seems to be a minimum. This means 10 to 15 litres of coir substrate per m 2. Specifications Jiffy Growbag Grow bags can be produced with pre-cut plant and drain holes. When using pre-cut drain holes it is useful to order pre-cut dripper holes too. These avoid that the water added during rewetting will not flow into the drain holes before being absorbed by the coir. Depending on the used growing system. Information from the used system is essential to advise where to cut the desired holes. Specifications tailor-made. Irrigation Water gift: with high radiation levels best to add small amounts with high frequencies (i.e cc every minutes, depending on the drainage percentage). At 1200 J/cm2: best to drop cc per dripper at a time. At the end of the season increase the water gift at a time and lengthen the in-between-time. Fertilization See attached fertilizing schedules (separate excel-files)

2 Preparing Jiffy coir Growblocks 1. Take the growblock layers from the pallet or if automated put the pallet into the pallet chain conveyor 2. Be sure that the water for rewetting is not too cold: warmed up to 20 C (68 F) speeds up expansion 3. Shower the growblocks top down and leave the growblocks in a small layer of water for a while (no free drain) to improve expansion and save time or use our Jiffy expandomatic machine 4. Seed the growblocks or add the seedlings (plugs) in the plug holes 5. Transport the growblocks to the propagation room (concrete ebb-flow floor or table system) 6. Jiffy growblocks contain less Easy Available Water than rock wool (EAWcoir=½ EAWrockwool), so add water more frequently compared to rock wool 7. At the start: add water with a lower EC-level to the growblocks when the growblocks are fertilized or order growblocks without added fertilizers 8. Research has shown that a Jiffy growblock is easier to manage compared to rock wool. There is actually no building up of salts and you can add water more frequently To safe guard a healthy culture we advise your customer to take coir or drain water samples on a regular base to avoid (too) low or (too) high nutrient levels. Growblocks in tray Jiffy / Visser Expandomatic

3 Preparing Jiffy coir Growbags 1. Take the grow bags off the pallets and put them in the gutter or on the bed 2. Put them right in the rows watching the in-between distance of the separate units to achieve the demanded plant-distance. When placed head-to-toe leave an extra 1.5cms in between the individual growbags to achieve maximum expansion 3. Fold the plastic foil right to avoid it getting stuck under the grow bag after rewetting 4. Drill holes to place the drippers (if the grow bags are not pre drilled) 5. Start dripping (see start schedule*) and check the proper working of the irrigation system 6. Add at least 9L for a 100x15x8 and 15L for a 100x20x10 grow bag to achieve proper expansion of the grow bags With precut drain holes add the water with intervals (depending on drippers for example 2 minutes dripping 2 minutes rest or 5 minutes dripping 5 minutes rest) 7. After hrs the grow bags are ready to be planted 8. Afterwards the drain cuttings have to be made (if not ordered) To safe guard a healthy culture we advise you to take coir or drain water samples on a regular base to avoid (too) low or (too) high nutrient levels.

4 Growing Systems

5 Plant hole schedule Drain hole schedule