Stone wool (also known as rock wool or mineral wool) is an inert growing medium that was first used in Scandinavian countries in the early 1970’s. At present, over 3000 ha of greenhouse crops are grown on stone wool in Holland alone, due to its practicable, economic, and high-yielding results1. Made from diabase and limestone, which are melted at a temperature of 1600°C, the liquid material is poured onto a fast-running disc in a spinning chamber to form fibers. The extent of the water holding capacity of the stone wool is determined by the thickness and density of the fibers, as well as the amount of binder and wetting agent added.
Due to its negligible cation exchange capacity, it neither contributes nor holds nutrients to any extent. For this reason, growing with stone wool is considered hydroponic, and all nutrition supplied to the plant must come from fertigation.
While there are a multitude of cultivation methods, many medicinal plant growers choose to grow either on stand-alone blocks, or block-on-block/block-on-slab systems. For this, Cultilene offers high quality growing media to meet the needs of the modern day professional medicinal plant grower.
We have the product available in the following sizes:
- 150x150x142mm
- 150x150x98mm
- 100x100x98mm
- 100x100x65mm
- 35x35x40mm starter plugs are also available, made with pre-drilled pin holes for clone placement.
Above blocks come standard with a plug hole to fit.
Please contact us today to order your supply of stone wool.
1 Stone wool as a substrate for Greenhouse Crops – Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry vol 17 pp 285-312. C Sonneveld