HydraFiber® Advanced Substrate - What's the Scoop?
www.hydrafiber.com
Several in our AV growing community have been testing this new substrate as a replacement or substitute for Canadian sphagnum peat moss. Many are reporting positive results so this new material definitely shows promise!
A couple of months ago, I attended a webinar presented by the North Carolina company Hydrafiber Advanced Substrate who provides this new material. I am always searching for products for our AV growing community, especially those that are more cost-conscious, as well as provide great results. This new product is quite intriguing, as it is a USA-made product that doesn't have to be shipped from another country (e.g. Canada). The webinar was educational, providing information about how the product was made and how large commercial greenhouses are now using it in their production of garden and landscape plants. The planting mix now used by Bonnie Plants, which provides millions of our garden and landscape plants uses HydraFiber® Advanced Substrate in a 50/50 ratio. Apparently, this has decreased their production costs, while providing a quality planting mix for their sale plants.
If you search the internet, you will find many references to this new "wonder product". HydraFiber® Advanced Substrate is a registered tradema product. On their website, they note two other products that now incorporate HydraFiber® Advanced Substrate in products sold at your local Lowe's Home Improvement under the name Sta-Green® Perfect Potting Mix or on Amazon as Glee™ Potting Mix. Use of these two products has been a recent topic of Facebook discussion among several AV growers. From what I understand, root growth is much improved, as well as a better balance of water and nutrient update.
Jolly Gardener C/20 Growing Mix sold on my website was recently reformulated to include 25% HydraFiber® Advanced Substrate. This is a beautiful, rich mix that shows great potential as an AV soil mix base. Additional perlite can be added as desired to lighten mix for propagation of leaves, crowns, etc.
Note: At this time, HydraFiber® Advanced Substrate is NOT in my current GHV Soil Mix sold from my website. My plans are to sell this reformulated C/20 HydraFiber® Advanced Substrate mix separately under a different item code. This will allow growers who are not ready to move to the new HydraFiber® Advanced Substrate with the option of choosing my regular Canadian sphagnum peat moss GHV Special Soil Mix instead.