More articles from Issue 1, 2016
Opening Letter
Restoration Silviculture: An Ecophysiological Perspective - Lessons learned across 40 years
Meeting Forest Restoration Challenges: Using the Target Plant Concept
Restoration of Spanish pine plantations: A main challenge for the 21st century
Reforestation challenges in Scandinavia
Citations
10
Dede J. Sudrajat, Yulianti, Evayusvita Rustam
(2026)
Seeding of tropical tree species in Indonesia
REFORESTA, (21)
10.21750/REFOR.21.06.136
Barbara Mariotti, Juan A. Oliet, Enrique Andivia, Marianthi Tsakaldimi, Pedro Villar-Salvador, Vladan Ivetić, Antonio Montagnoli, Ivona Kerkez Janković, Nebi Bilir, Henrik Bohlenius, Branislav Cvjetković, Kārlis Dūmiņš, Juha Heiskanen, Georgi Hinkov, Inger Sundheim Fløistad, Claudia Cocozza
(2023)
A Global Review on Innovative, Sustainable, and Effective Materials Composing Growing Media for Forest Seedling Production
Current Forestry Reports, 9(6)
10.1007/s40725-023-00204-2
Magdalena Pancerz, Marta Czaplicka, Przemysław Bąbelewski
(2023)
Assessment of Fresh Miscanthus Straw as Growing Media Amendment in Nursery Production of Sedum spectabile ‘Stardust’ and Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’
Plants, 12(8)
10.3390/plants12081639
Güven Kavraz, Safa Balekoğlu, Servet Çalışkan, Mustafa Yilmaz
(2026)
The Effects of Different Growing Media on Seedling Characteristics of Turkish Alder (Alnus orientalis Decne)
Kastamonu University Journal of Forestry Faculty, 26(1)
10.17475/kastorman.1916878
Tahira Fatima, Ayesha Mehmood, Iram Naz
(2023)
Morphological responses of marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) to different potting media
Journal of Horticultural Science & Technology, ()
10.46653/jhst23063031
Rosa Elvira Madrid-Aispuro, José Angel Prieto Ruíz, Arnulfo Aldrete, Silvia Salcido-Ruiz, Alberto Pérez-Luna
(2025)
Different nursery techniques in the production of Quercus crassifolia
REFORESTA, (20)
10.21750/REFOR.20.01.127
Egle Köster, Jukka Pumpanen, Marjo Palviainen, Xuan Zhou, Kajar Köster
(2021)
Effect of biochar amendment on the properties of growing media and growth of containerized Norway spruce, Scots pine, and silver birch seedlings
Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 51(1)
10.1139/cjfr-2019-0399
Barbara Mariotti, Sofia Martini, Sabrina Raddi, Francesca Ugolini, Juan A. Oliet, Douglass F. Jacobs, Alberto Maltoni
(2023)
Cultivation Using Coir Substrate and P or K Enriched Fertilizer Provides Higher Resistance to Drought in Ecologically Diverse Quercus Species
Plants, 12(3)
10.3390/plants12030525
Barbara Mariotti, Sofia Martini, Sabrina Raddi, Andrea Tani, Douglass F. Jacobs, Juan A. Oliet, Alberto Maltoni
(2020)
Coconut Coir as a Sustainable Nursery Growing Media for Seedling Production of the Ecologically Diverse Quercus Species
Forests, 11(5)
10.3390/f11050522
Pratibha Agarwal, Sampa Saha, P. Hariprasad
(2023)
Agro-industrial-residues as potting media: physicochemical and biological characters and their influence on plant growth
Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, 13(11)
10.1007/s13399-021-01998-6A synthesis of results on wastes as potting media substitutes for the production of native plant species
Abstract
The three major functions of a potting medium for plant production is to provide support, to retain water and nutrients, and to allow oxygen diffusion to the roots. A potting medium should meet the requirements of practical plant production such as: to be available and ready at all times, easy to handle, lightweight and to produce uniform plant growth. Constituents such as natural soil, peat, sand, perlite and vermiculite are commonly used as substrates for container plant production. Nevertheless, these materials might be fully or partially replaced by various organic or inorganic wastes, thus achieving environmental and economic benefits. This study presents a synthesis of results extracted from many trials on waste materials as potting media substitutes for the seedlings production of the following native plant species: Pinus halepensis, Quercus ilex, Quercus macropleis and Ceratonia siliqua. The studied waste materials were either organic or inorganic components including: spoils of peridotite, raw rice hulls, coconut fiber and kenaf (the ground stem of the plant H. cannabinus L). The experimental potting media tested were: peat:perlite (3:1), a common medium used for seedling production, peat:spoils of peridotite (3:1), peat:rice hulls (3:1), peat:rice hulls (1:1), peat:coconut fiber (1:1), kenaf (100%) and kenaf:peat:rice hulls (3:1:1). The main physical (water retention characteristics, bulk density, particle density, total porosity) and chemical (N, K, Ca, Mg, soluble P, exchangeable cations, pH and loss on ignition) properties of each potting medium were measured. For each plant species the following seedling quality parameters were assessed: morphological characteristics (shoot height, root collar diameter), shoot and root biomass, Dickson’s quality index and shoot and root nutrient concentrations. Then seedlings were planted in the field and their survival and growth was monitored. The feasibility of replacing peat or perlite with various waste materials as well as their effect on seedling quality and field performance are discussed.
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