Crop steering in coco coir is often misapplied due to container volume based irrigation assumptions that do not reflect how water actually behaves in flexible grow bags. This article presents a field capacity based crop steering framework developed specifically for HortGrow coco grow bags, defining shot size, dry back targets, and irrigation windows in terms of plant available water rather than nominal liters. By...

The physical structure of a substrate determines how water, air, and nutrients move through the root zone. In controlled environment horticulture, this comes down to texture. The balance of particle sizes and fibers that make up the medium dictates porosity, water holding capacity, oxygen availability, and how evenly irrigation is distributed. Coco coir is naturally versatile, but its performance depends on how it is...

Selecting the right substrate is fundamental to crop success. Beyond physical properties such as water holding and porosity, the chemical behavior of a substrate determines how nutrients are stored, exchanged, and delivered to plants. A central property in this context is cation exchange capacity (CEC), which is the measure of how many positively charged ions a medium can adsorb and release. CEC is quantified...

"Is your coco already buffered? Is it already charged? And what nutrients should you feed first?” We hear these questions all the time. The good news? Our coco is prepped and ready to go—setting your plants up for strong, healthy growth from day one. Starting with the right foundation makes all the difference, giving your plants the best chance to thrive. First, what do...

In today’s blog post, we will be discussing pros and cons of various growing methods and media types, as they apply to commercial production of high value horticultural crops. Although there are nearly infinite ways to grow plants, we will only focus on the more popular methods that are often employed by large scale operations and methods that are popular in today’s production environments....