Research Analysis: Shaking things up

The media in which you grow your plants is imperative to their overall quality. And the slight upswing in the economy is allowing growers to allocate more resources to it. Our 2015 State of the Industry Report reflected that many growers came back with higher profits this past year, leaving them extra cash to spend on their growing media and providing more room for experimentation.

For example, growers are making a stronger effort to diversify their growing media. More and more growers are using at least three to four different mixes in their greenhouses. More rice hulls, bark and lime are making their way into growing media. Coconut coir is showing the highest integration into growing media since we debuted this survey in 2012.

See how else growing media trends have evolved over the past year, from the way media is manufactured to the biggest issues growers face regarding their growing mixes in the following pages. And on page 54, get an overview of the importance of starter charge in your growing media, and considerations for potting media from Penn State University’s Sinclair Adam.

Although our survey is now closed, we’re still interested to learn what you think about the current trends in growing media. Feel free to drop us a line at cneiden@gie.net to share your insights!

Methodology

The total sample list for the survey consisted of current Greenhouse Management subscribers. An email invitation was deployed on April 27, 2016. A follow-up was sent to those individuals on May 5, 2016. The research was closed on May 9, 2016 with 180 responses. An incentive was used. Respondents were offered a chance to be entered in a drawing for one of 5 $50 VISA gift cards.

Growers are steadily spending more on their growing media — likely a reflection of a recovering economy and a stronger housing market. This year’s increase was not as significant as the jump from 2014 to 2015 (less than 5% bumps in all spending brackets) — but today, about 37% of growers are spending more than $25,000 annually, compared to just 24% in 2014.

Please specify by percentages the components that make up your most common growing media formula.

More than 90% of growers are including peat as an element in their growing media. For those growers, peat makes up anywhere between 20-80% of their media mixes. Peat usage has remained consistent over the past few years.

Perlite showed up in growing media slightly less this year. About 80.6% of growers reported using perlite in 10-30% of their mixes, compared to 85.3% in 2015.

We saw a slight uptick in bark this year. About 31% of growers reported a 40-70% integration of bark in their media, compared to about 24.5% in 2015, an increase of 6.5%.

Coconut coir also saw a significant increase in 2016. 25.81% of growers report using at least 20% coconut coir in their media, compared to only 8% in 2015.

Rice hulls have become much more present in today’s growing media than in the past. The 2016 results showed that 35% of growers’ said their media contains 20% rice hulls. In 2015, that percentage of growers was just 5.3%.

Vermiculite & sand remained about the same. Growers also reporting integrating elements such as compost, lime and cinder into their media.

More growers are also turning to field soil as a media component option. In 2015, 68.75% of growers said they use absolutely no field soil. This year, that number plummeted to 38.75%, with most growers using between a 10 and 30% composition.

11% more growers report using rockwool in their operations’ media overall, compared to 2015.

Photo: Laura Watilo Blake

One of the growing concerns for growers is availability from the manufacturer or distributor — the number of growers who considered it one of their biggest issues is up about 8% from 2015. Although, that could be a good sign that the industry demand for growing media is increasing more and more, indicating possible production growth.

Package size also saw a bit of an uptick, from 6.8% reporting complaints in 2015 to 11.11% in 2016.

While growers didn’t report much of a difference in fluctuating prices, inconsistent product and shrinkage, the issues of minimum quantity order, and storage of media saw 7% drops. That means growers are able to order the quantities they need easily, and are using up the product, negating the need for extended storage. These are good signs for the industry as a whole.