With the LINK it's easy

LINK grants have been enabling significant advancements in horticultural practises.

Five members of the industry told delegates at the Horticulture in Focus 2005 conference about the success of projects sponsored by LINK collaborative research, a government mechanism for supporting partnerships between UK industry and the research base.

Keith Waldron of the Institute of Food Research outlined the project he has been involved in to produce horticultural growing media from composted food-processing waste.

Project HL0172 is the first to receive a ‘feasibility grant’ from Link, which covers 75 per cent of the cost.

Waldron highlighted the pressure on growers from the government to reduce the use of peat by 90 per cent by 2010. But he said growers were reluctant to comply with this having no viable alternatives.

He said: “There is a lack of knowledge of composting and the functionality of peat. The aim of this project is to assess the feasibility of controlled composting of traceable, sustainable and locally produced plant waste.”

Waldron said the difficulty lay in finding a blendable substance with the same kind of structure as peat, able to hold water but give good drainage and aeration, with a good nutrient status.

However, plants could be implemented if investigated further, Waldron claimed.

He said: “Composting plant material generally results in a total breakdown of plant structure and produces a final product which is unsuitable for use, on its own, as a growing medium. But if the breakdown can be controlled, it is likely that sufficient structure can be retained to provide suitable characteristics in growing media.”

Waldron said tests involving onion waste had shown it could be possible to modify their cell walls and change the way they behave with regards to water uptake.

Delegates also heard Simon Pearson of Marks & Spencer deliver the latest developments in a project to revolutionise the floriculture category by reducing latent botrytis in cut flowers and pot plants.

Pearson said the introduction of monoclonal antibody detection kits had been helping the researchers discover the stages of the botrytis’ development, which should help the process of its elimination.