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an experiment using our old inserts as growbed material. Seems to work well.

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Comment by Nate Storey on January 5, 2012 at 5:54pm

Well, the nice things about our current media is that it lasts a couple years before it needs to be replaced, and can still be used- it's mostly shear strength that goes- the body of the media holds up for much longer.  We rinse inserts once they get older- most roots just decompose in the media.  The solids in the rinse are separated and cycled into our vermicomposters.  We don't ever really lose anything that could go in the compost.

Comment by Averan on January 5, 2012 at 5:42pm

i hear ya.  as long as you have some way to reuse the non-bio material while it is packed full of roots and other organic matter...that's the issue i discovered experimenting with plastic fiber as a medium.  when you harvest a plant you can't just toss the root ball into the compost anymore!

Comment by Nate Storey on January 5, 2012 at 4:02pm

Nope, unfortunately.  the problem with non-inert medias is really that they degrade.  I'm looking into triggered degradation- i.e. using a chemical or energy trigger to jumpstart degradation.  In the meantime, I'm just recycling which I'm kind of more of a fan of anyway.

Comment by Averan on January 5, 2012 at 3:57pm

any leads on a bio-degradable material?

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