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What is Stone Wool?
4 October 2022
Sustainable, Clean, and Efficient. Our Stone Wool story
The global demand for healthy, safe, fresh, and local produce has been rapidly increasing. Among many things, it requires nutritious produce and a sustainable approach to cultivation. Sustainability can be defined in several ways, but an Important one is reduction of the carbon footprint and/or use of resources such as water and fertilizers. As water scarcity is becoming more pronounced and soils turn more saline, optimal use of water is required as well as reducing emissions into the environment becomes a necessity and a daily task for growing businesses. Horticultural approaches offer a wide variety of applicable cultivation systems, from which substrate choice is leading in water and fertilizer use efficiency.
How it's made
Cultiwool stone wool is a natural product manufactured from rocks such as basalt and anorthosite. Both raw materials are plentiful on the earth and are inexhaustible due to volcanic eruptions continuously resupplying the consumed amount. The basaltic rock is melted with 1,600°C (2,912°F) into a liquid substance. From this liquid substance, fibres are spun by high tech fiberizing machines where a binder is added and collected on a belt to form a blanket.
By adjusting the amount of pressure, fibre diameter can be controlled and by adjusting the speed of the belt the density of the media is adjusted. The blanket is cooled down in a furnace with different temperature compartments and different airflows where the stone wool get the firmness and final quality. The blanket is cut into large boards and the basis of the different stone wool substrates is born. From this basis we produce our plugs, blocks and slabs, amongst other products.
Take advantage
Cultiwool stone wool offers essential benefits. This product is clean and hygienic, therefore, no need to disinfect it or process it in any way. You can start your crop uniform and consistently across all plants. All plants have the same amount of nutrient solution available in the substrate. This means that the water use efficiency is higher while the amount of needed fertilizers decreases as the grower can easily recycle and re-use drain water in his growing facility. It not only saves money for the grower, as less nutrients has to be applied but also increases sustainability as it reduces the footprint. Not less important, the advantage of giving all plants the same exact amount of water and nutrients results in crop uniformity, which is crucial for the cultivation processes to maintain high-quality production and good yield.
Scheme of a closed system with reuse of drain water after disinfection. Source: International Potash Institute
On this website you will find more information about our stone wool substrates and instructions for optimum use! If you have any question, remark, or request, please feel free to contact us here, or via our Facebook and Instagram accounts.
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Advanced Nutrient & Crop Steering Techniques in Stone Wool Cultivation
Stone wool has become the preferred substrate for precision cultivation, offering growers unparalleled control over water, nutrients, and oxygen availability at the root zone. As controlled environment agriculture (CEA) advances, one of the most impactful strategies growers can adopt is crop steering. That is a data-driven approach to adjusting environmental and nutritional inputs to guide plant development toward desired outcomes. Whether targeting higher biomass, increased yield, or enhanced quality (such as flavor or cannabinoid concentration), crop steering techniques can transform results in both medicinal and food crop production.
Avoiding the Top 5 Mistakes When Growing in Stone Wool
Stone wool is a powerful and precise substrate that enables growers to fine-tune plant development with unparalleled control. However, with this precision comes the need for accuracy at every step of the growing process. At Cultiwool, we have seen how easily small mistakes can lead to big inefficiencies or lost yields, especially in high-density, high-value crops like cannabis. Whether you are an experienced cultivator scaling operations or just starting with stone wool, here are the five most common mistakes we see, and how to avoid them.
Substrates side-by-side; How Do I Choose the Substrate Best Suited to my Situation?
At Cultiwool, we are frequently approached by growers who want to do a side-by-side of the substrate they are using and Cultiwool. We are happy to facilitate these trials, even provide support on their success. However, there are some common improvements we see across the board that can raise the quality of the trials and improve your decision-making. Therefore, we have written this article to help set up the perfect substrate trial in a facility.
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