Substrate cultivation, a key type of soilless culture, abandons traditional soil and uses materials such as coconut coir, rockwool, and peat moss as growth matrices for plants. These substrates not only provide physical support for plant roots but also regulate water and nutrient supply through their inherent properties, enabling efficient crop growth.
Substrate cultivation originated from scientific experiments in the early 20th century, initially used to study plant nutrition requirements. With the maturity of soilless cultivation technology and the growth of agricultural industrialization needs, it gradually transitioned from laboratories to commercial production. In recent years, driven by the rise of protected agriculture and smart agriculture, substrate cultivation has become a core technology in modern agriculture due to its strong controllability and stable yields.
This model uses large cultivation troughs filled with organic substrates (e.g., compost, crop straws) and relies on drip irrigation with clear water to dilute solid organic fertilizers. It offers advantages such as low cost and environmental friendliness, suitable for large-scale cultivation of fruiting vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers. However, it requires substantial substrate volume and has low fertilization efficiency.
Using plastic troughs as containers filled with rockwool, coconut coir, or other substrates, this model delivers precise nutrient solutions through drip irrigation. Characterized by light weight, durability, and easy cleaning, it is ideal for small-to-medium greenhouses or home gardening, particularly widely used in leafy vegetable cultivation.
This model uses independent containers (e.g., plastic boxes, planting pots) for single-plant cultivation, allowing flexible substrate formulation. It facilitates fine-grained management and is often used for high-value crops (e.g., rare flowers, special medicinal herbs), but requires attention to salt accumulation on the substrate surface.
Bag Substrate Cultivation: Uses plastic bags filled with substrates, offering low cost and mobility, suitable for temporary planting or vertical farming.
Ridge Substrate Cultivation: Piles substrates into ridges, covers them with plastic film, and uses drip irrigation. This improves soil temperature and reduces water evaporation, suitable for 匍匐 crops like strawberries.
Sand Cultivation: Uses river sand as the substrate, which is low-cost but has poor water and nutrient retention, requiring frequent nutrient supply. It is mostly used for experimental planting or specific crops (e.g., watermelons).
In traditional soil cultivation, soil-borne diseases like root-knot nematodes and fusarium wilt are difficult to eradicate, and continuous cropping easily causes soil nutrient imbalance. Substrate cultivation eliminates soil-borne disease transmission by removing the soil environment, making it particularly suitable for greenhouses with severe continuous cropping issues and significantly reducing pesticide use.
Substrate cultivation can be implemented in barren lands such as deserts and stone deserts, as well as in narrow spaces like urban balconies and rooftops. For example, coconut coir substrates have enabled vegetable cultivation in the Middle Eastern deserts, while urban vertical farms use vertical containers for leafy vegetable cultivation, vastly expanding agricultural production spaces.
Substrate cultivation eliminates the need for tilling, weeding, and other labor-intensive tasks. Water and nutrients are automatically supplied through drip irrigation systems, saving over 70% labor. Additionally, precise nutrient supply can be adjusted according to different crop growth stages, achieving "demand-based fertilization" and significantly improving fertilizer utilization.
Most substrate cultivation uses open drip irrigation, where unabsorbed water and nutrients are directly discharged, wasting resources (fertilizer utilization rate is only 50%-60%) and potentially causing non-point source pollution through nitrate leaching into groundwater.
Open Cultivation (e.g., trough, single-container): High water evaporation leads to salt accumulation (e.g., Na+, Cl-) on the substrate surface, causing pH imbalance in the root zone and affecting nutrient absorption.
Closed Cultivation (e.g., bag, rockwool): Under summer solar radiation, substrate temperature can exceed 40°C, inhibiting root respiration and prone to premature aging or yield reduction.
Organic substrates (e.g., peat moss, coconut coir) gradually decompose over time, causing structural collapse and reduced air permeability, requiring regular replacement and increasing costs. If the proportion of organic substrates is too high (over 60%), microbial activity may excessively consume oxygen, leading to root hypoxia.
The market currently lacks universal cultivation facilities, with significant differences in trough sizes and drip irrigation parameters across models, hindering large-scale promotion. Meanwhile, commercial substrates have inconsistent quality and lack unified physical and chemical standards (e.g., EC value, pH), increasing the technical threshold for growers.
Ideal substrates should balance drainage and water retention, typically requiring water-holding porosity to account for 60%-70% of total porosity, preventing waterlogging while storing sufficient moisture for roots. Nutrient retention is measured by cation exchange capacity (CEC) – higher CEC indicates stronger nutrient adsorption.
Substrate particle size should be moderate (e.g., rockwool particles 2-4mm). Too fine particles cause compaction, while too coarse particles reduce water retention. Air permeability is measured by aeration porosity (20%-30%) to ensure adequate oxygen supply for roots.
Substrate pH should align with crop requirements (5.5-7.0 for most crops), and EC (electrical conductivity) should be below 1.5mS/cm to avoid salt stress on seedlings. Additionally, substrates should be free of heavy metals, pathogens, and other harmful substances.
Prioritize widely available and low-cost substrates (e.g., coconut coir, mushroom residue), while considering transportation costs. For example, southern regions may use local coconut coir, while northern regions prefer peat moss or vermiculite.
π Soil, formulated with natural materials, creates a unique porous structure with a drainage rate of 10-15mL/min (vs. 5-8mL/min for ordinary substrates), capable of draining 90% of excess water within 1 hour to prevent root rot. Its aeration porosity reaches 25%, far exceeding conventional substrates (15%-20%), acting as a "natural ventilator" for roots to enhance aerobic respiration and nutrient uptake.
Case Study: A flower nursery using π Soil saw a reduction in rose seedling root rot from 30% to 5%, with average root length increasing by 20% and transplant survival rate exceeding 95%.
Despite rapid drainage, π Soil’s water-holding porosity is as high as 65%, storing water through capillary action. At 25°C, its water evaporation rate is 40% lower than sandy soil, maintaining stable humidity for seedlings for 72 hours and reducing watering frequency (traditional substrates require daily watering, while π Soil needs watering every 2-3 days).
Data Comparison: π Soil absorbs 1.8x more water than rockwool and 1.3x more than peat moss, making it ideal for arid regions or automated irrigation systems.
π Soil undergoes high-temperature sterilization (121°C for 2 hours) and screen filtration (0.5mm aperture), containing no pathogens like E. coli or fusarium, with a weed seed detection rate of 0. This reduces fungicide use by over 70% during the nursery stage, cutting plant protection costs from the source.
Test Data: Cuttings grown in π Soil for three consecutive seasons had 82% lower pest and disease incidence than traditional soil nurseries, with 50% less weeding labor.
π Soil has a bulk density of only 0.2-0.3g/cm³ (vs. 1.2-1.5g/cm³ for traditional soil), weighing just 1/5 of soil by volume. A single worker can easily carry a 50L bag of π Soil (≈10kg), while the same volume of soil requires two workers (≈50kg). For large nurseries, using π Soil reduces handling costs by 40%.
Application Advantage: In vertical farming or elevated seedbeds, π Soil’s light weight reduces facility load and extends equipment lifespan.
π Soil is rich in natural minerals (e.g., potassium, calcium, magnesium) with an initial EC of 0.8-1.0mS/cm, meeting seedling nutrient needs for the first two weeks. Take tomato nursery as an example: π Soil seedlings require no additional fertilization during the cotyledon stage, with top dressing only needed after true leaves emerge, saving 30% fertilizer compared to traditional substrates.
Nutrient Release Curve: π Soil’s slow-release nutrients discharge at 5-8mg/kg·d in Weeks 1-2, gradually decreasing afterward, matching seedling growth rhythms and avoiding "fertilizer burn" risks.
With a stable pH of 6.0-6.8, π Soil is suitable for over 90% of horticultural crops:
Flowers: Rose and lily cutting rooting rates increase to 85% (vs. ≈60% in traditional substrates).
Vegetables: Pepper and cucumber seedling survival rates reach 98%, with root activity (TTC reduction intensity) 35% higher than in peat moss.
Shrubs: Blueberry cuttings show 5-7 days shorter seedling recovery after transplanting, with 40% more new shoot growth in nurseries.
The popularization of closed-loop irrigation systems (e.g., improved NFT hydroponics) can recover 90%+ water and nutrients, effectively solving pollution issues. Developments in intelligent temperature-controlled substrate bags (e.g., with phase-change materials) can maintain summer substrate temperatures below 28°C, overcoming high-temperature limitations.
The emergence of standardized commercial substrates (e.g., π Soil) will drive substrate cultivation toward "plug-and-play" operations. In the future, π Soil may achieve factory-scale production with precision-formulated variants for different crops (e.g., nursery-type, cutting-type, mature-plant type), further lowering cultivation barriers.
The integration of substrate cultivation with IoT and AI (e.g., substrate humidity sensors + automatic nutrient supply systems) will usher in "Precision Agriculture 4.0". As a revolutionary planting method, substrate cultivation is reshaping agricultural production landscapes. With its superior performance, π Soil provides efficient and safe substrate solutions for nurseries. Alongside technological advancements and market adoption, substrate cultivation is destined to become a mainstream trend in modern agriculture, leading us toward a more sustainable agricultural future.
