Growing Media for the Future: Production of Sphagnum for High-quality, Sustainable and Peat-free Substrate

Our collaborative project will develop a method for producing Sphagnum moss at scale for commercial processing into sustainable growing media, with a particular focus on producing quality sterile growing media for vegetable seedlings, hydroponics and vertical farming. Our growing media will enable the horticultural sector to achieve the Defra target of eliminating peat-based composts by 2030, and could also replace rockwool. We believe this is a disruptive, and ambitious idea leading to a new products and service. Micropropagation Services are the only supplier of sustainable micropropagated Sphagnum, which is significantly ahead of others in the field. With the collaboration of industry partners Melcourt Industries and FreshGro, with RTO Centre for Crop Health and Protection, we are well placed to engage with end users throughout this project to ensure rapid commercialisation.