New peat-free product announcement at Greentech Amsterdam
Source: HD.com
Peat-free substrates lose 90% of nitrogen - significantly reducing nutrient retention. In peat-free formulas, more than half of the nitrogen in this fertiliser is lost after the first watering and, by the sixth watering, nitrogen retention rates are down to 10%.
This is a category-level issue, not a product-level one and, until it's solved, the peat-free transition will be incomplete." © Arevo Niklas Astrom Growers are becoming increasingly skeptical of peat-free compost because of inconsistencies in quality, different water-retention properties, and higher costs compared to traditional peat-based products. © Arevo Independent trials across Europe have already shown that Arginex retains nearly 80% of its nitrogen in existing market peat-free substrates, even after six leaching cycles.
Arginex is CE-certified, backed by over 70 patents and more than a decade of research and extensive field trials across different continents that prove how plants absorb and use nitrogen. 05.530 talking about Arginex in more detail and meeting ingredients partners.
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
