What makes Greensoils special?
When designing our substrates, it was important to us to create substrates without peat and coconut fiber products that are in no way inferior to conventional substrates.
We meet this requirement thanks to one fact – the plant fibers we produce and configure ourselves from various types of wood and straw. We produce high-quality peat and coir substitutes from two renewable raw materials that we obtain from regional farmers and foresters. We impregnate the specially defibered plant parts with biochar. This means that we work the biochar into the surface of the fibers and bond it to them. The result is our black fibers ™. The advantage of this impregnation is that the biochar is better protected against leaching and remains in the substrate for a long time. As a result, its great effects on nutrient storage, water balance and soil biology are effective for a very long time.
Our Fibrepreta™ are an improved, airier type of Terra Preta. A three-dimensional substrate structure with biochar as an ideal breeding ground for the important soil biology that needs to work well with the roots of the plants. The greatly increased air pore volume with our process is a second property that ensures healthy and particularly vigorous plants.
Two plant fibers – but why?
In order to adapt our substrates as well as possible to the different plant requirements, we need more than one variable.
For this reason, we have decided to work with two types of Fibrepreta™. More on how they complement each other in the next section:
Our Fibrepreta in detail
Our Fibrepreta™ made from wood is our “structural fiber”. It stores relatively little water and provides a good structure so that water can run off easily and the roots are supplied with plenty of air. In other words, wood black fiber performs tasks for us that are performed in conventional substrates by coconut fibers, coconut chips or bark mulch.
Our second Fibrepreta™ is made from straw. It is our “sponge fiber” and, as the name suggests, can store a lot of water. Nevertheless, due to its fiber properties, it forms an air-permeable environment and does not collapse into an air-impermeable “mud”, as normal potting soils often do. Our black straw fiber therefore fulfills the functions of coco peat, peat and compost.
Conclusion
Our Fibrepreta™ as a substrate base meet the same requirements as conventionally used substrate raw materials excellently and better. However, they are significantly more sustainable thanks to short transportation routes and production and processing from a single source.
By mixing the Fibrepreta™ in different ratios with other components such as perlites, we obtain a fully-fledged substrate that meets the requirements for quality and performance as well as those for sustainability and environmental protection.
We are proud of this!