Last April, we shared the results of a research study conducted to compare a Naturcycle growing media to other planting blends in a rooftop urban agriculture setting. The results from the second year of the study are now available.
. . . this research project provided information about the difference in crop cultivation and efficiency across different green roof media. After examining the research parameters, soil characteristics, and growth characteristics, several conclusions and comparisons can be made for the Year 1 to Year 2 study. Potting soil was used as the standard in this study as it is considered the normal growing media for saplings and for container and normal gardening to be used in rotation during the growing season across a large variety of plants. However, it is not usual for it be used in an urban agriculture setting because of the quick depletion of its nutrient’s portfolio. The goal of an urban agriculture media blend is to be a stable container of growing media over several growing seasons. It was previously hypothesized in the Year 1 Final Report that the yield of crops was expected to decrease in Year 2 and that hypothesis was true. Naturcycle had the highest yield of crops during the Year 2 growing season for the crops were planted in both years.
It was also hypothesized that this version of the Naturcycle agriculture media was expected to perform on the same caliber in the Year 2 study as it did in the Year 1 study, even with some slight decrease in crop and harvest yield. This hypothesis was supported, even with the difficult to draw absolute comparisons since the growing season was shorter in Year 2 than it was in Year 1. Another hypothesis would be that if the soil and farm conditions were left alone and the study was to be brought back for a Year 3 study, then the same trends would appear. After Year 3 though the experiment would need to end, and the beds would need to be refreshed due to the compaction and loss of soil due to the monthly soil samples. Based on the data and trends in the Year 1 and Year 2 study, the recommendation that Naturcycle is the long-term (multi-season) agricultural media for dark leafy greens, pepper plants, and tomatoes.
You can read the full report here.
