AIRGRO For Plant Media

AIRGRO are not only environmentally friendly, but have many benefits for your plants! They can be used in any hydroponic setup and will grow well with fruits, veggies, herbs and flowering plants.

Before getting started, you will want to take the proper steps to prep your AIRGRO. Making sure they are free of dust and making them pH balanced is extremely important, especially when using them solely in a hydroponic system.

Preferred AIRGRO preparation for your hydroponic system:
• Rinse AIRGRO with a hose to get rid of any unnecessary debris
• Soak for 24 hours with 5.5 pH adjusted tap or well water. For best results soak in a bucket where the amount of water doubles the amount of AIRGRO
• After 24 hours, discard the bucket of water in the garden
• Flush the AIRGRO with 5.5 pH adjusted tap/well water as a final rinse
• Place AIRGRO in your system with pH adjusted nutrient solution
• Alternative Method to prepping your AIRGRO is to mix with other 

Grow Media: 

• Poke small holes at the bottom of the bag
• Open the top of the bag and rinse AIRGRO with a garden hose
• Drain
• Mix one part AIRGRO with 2-4 parts peat moss, coco coir, composted soil or any other mix you may prefer

Transplanting your plants into AIRGRO: 

• Transplant by carefully setting the roots of your plant in a hole large enough to contain them
• Cover plant roots with AIRGRO planting mix pressing gently with your hands
• Water immediately after transplanting. This creates solid contact between the roots and their new environment

Getting your AIRGRO ready for gardening is easy.

Tools:
• AIRGRO
• pH pen
• General hydroponics pH up and pH down solutions

Always soak and rinse your AIRGRO before using them. Soak them in pH balanced water and adjust as necessary until they have a neutral pH. AIRGRO make an ideal medium due to their rough surface, which forces roots to branch and grow thicker. This promotes water and nutrient uptake in the plants. 

AIRGRO Blend Medium is ideal for use in most planting mixes. Unlike perlite and Hydroton® — which are strip mined leaving huge scars on the earth’s surface — AIRGRO is made from 100% recycled.

Features:
• Ideal for indoor and outdoor gardening
• Will not break down or compact
• Does not float when irrigated
• Made from 100% recycled
• 4 times more aeration then coco coir
• Lightweight & dust-free

Aeration and Drainage

AIRGRO is highly porous and the uneven shaped aggregates provide a balanced combination of small pores inside each aggregates and large pore spaces between aggregates. This determines AIRGRO capacity to store water, air, and the ability to provide them to the plants. 

What’s truly unique about AIRGRO is the combination of pore size distribution and pore interconnectivity. Pore interconnectivity results in a large surface area available for roots to grow in and around. While larger pores between aggregates assure rapid drainage and air exchanges, which guarantees oxygen is rapidly dissolved in the water and supplied to the roots, small pores are filled with fresh air and covered by a film of oxygen-saturated water. As a result, after irrigation, each pore acts as a ‘micro NFT system’. 

The combination of small and large pore spaces creates an ideal environment for roots, microorganisms, and worms to thrive—full of oxygen-rich water, and nutrients.

Water retention

AIRGRO can hold up to 30% of its volume in water after irrigation. Its pore size and interconnectivity also facilitates horizontal water diffusion leading to uniform moisture distribution, which in turn induces uniform root growth, allowing you to take advantage of the entire volume of growing medium.

Capillary Action

AIRGRO pore size and connectivity results in good wicking ability.  AIRGRO absorb and retain moisture four inches above the water level. 

This wicking ability has multiple advantages, all associated with creating a constant moist and highly aerated environment for roots above the water level. These conditions promote continuous development of hairy roots, which considerably increase the absorption area of the root system.

AIRGRO wicking ability also has practical implications on growing. With AIRGRO, in flooddrain tables, the water level need only to be raised up to two to three inches below the surface of the medium. 

The upper layer of AIRGRO will keep moist and filled with air. This eliminates the possibility of excess moisture at the surface of the medium, reducing chances for fungus gnat infestations and algae growth.

Easy root zone control —  high steerability

AIRGRO drier nature in comparison to other growing media has multiple advantages. It makes it easier to change root zone nutrients, pH and moisture levels as quickly as desired. As a result, with AIRGRO, it is easy to transition your plants from vegetative to bloom. 

Frequent feedings with no risk of root rot and fungal diseases.

AIRGRO drier nature also allows taking advantage of frequent feedings with no risk of overwatering or root rot, and it reduces the plant’s susceptibility to pythium and other fungal diseases.

Silica release
AIRGRO surface leaches out silica in a form roots can uptake—monosilicic acid (H4SiO4). Plants that accumulate silica have higher resistance to stresses such as drought, salinity, heavy metals, and pathogens.

Lightweight
AIRGRO are super lightweight with a bulk  density of 0.20 g per cc

Versatile
Great fit for hydroponics, aerator in ‘soil’ blends, bonsai blends, aquaponics, green roofs, and more.

How to adjust or change the pH

Soak for 24 hours with 5.5 pH adjusted tap or well water. For best results soak in a bucket where the amount of water doubles the amount of AIRGRO. After 24 hours, discard the bucket of water in the garden. Flush the AIRGRO with 5.5 pH adjusted tap/well water as a final rinse.

Place AIRGRO in your system with pH adjusted nutrient solution

Always soak and rinse your AIRGRO before using them. Soak them in pH balanced water and adjust necessary until they have a neutral pH. AIRGRO make an ideal medium due to their rough surface, which forces roots to branch and grow thicker. This promotes water and nutrient uptake in the plants.

To mix AIRGRO with coco coir, simply combine the two mediums in a ratio of roughly 50% coco coir to 50% AIRGRO by volume, ensuring the coco is properly hydrated first; this provides a balanced mix with good drainage and aeration, ideal for most plants, but adjust the ratio based on your plant's specific needs and desired moisture retention level. 

To mix AIRGRO with coco peat, you can combine them in a ratio of roughly 70% coco peat to 30% AIRGRO; this provides good water retention from the coco peat while the AIRGRO add significant aeration and drainage to the mix, preventing root rot and ensuring proper oxygen flow to the plant roots. 

Key points to remember:
• Expand the coco peat: before mixing, always soak the coco peat to allow it to fully expand.
• Consider plant needs: depending on the plant type, you might adjust the ratio slightly, adding more AIRGRO for plants that prefer excellent drainage or slightly less for plants that need more moisture retention. 

Benefits of mixing:
• Improved drainage: AIRGRO provide excellent drainage, preventing waterlogging and root rot.
• Increased aeration: the porous nature of AIRGRO allows for better air circulation around the roots.
• Nutrient control: by providing better drainage, you can manage nutrient levels more effectively.