Growing Media and Sustainability

The global increase in the use of growing media offers access to high, sometimes unparalleled, resource use efficiencies. The sustainability of inputs of energy, fertilisers, crop protection agents, plastics and raw materials for growing media can still be improved. There is a need for general methods for factual comparison to other agricultural production systems. Using renewable inputs forces researchers to adapt and develop methods and to use predictive tools to reach pre set targets for physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics of growing media blends. These predictions include advice on base and maintenance fertilisation, irrigation settings and biostimulants.

In this Research Topic, focus is on:
• The resource use efficiencies of existing and improved growing media-based systems.
• Renewable raw materials for growing media, including quantitative availability and risks for cultivation and public health.
• Evaluation tools to quantify renewability / sustainability / circularity for growing media-based cultivation systems.
• Predictive tools to create growing media mixes with known properties as well as advice on base fertilisation, maintenance fertilisation and adding biostimulants.
• Novel renewable raw materials
• Processing of renewable raw materials
• Sustainability of growing media
• Advances in growing media characterization
• Water and nutrient management in soilless culture
• Influencing microbiology in growing media

Keywords: Substrates, hydroponics, soilless culture, circularity, renewable, re-use, recycling

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.