Phillip and his team from the Torfersatz junior research group attended the international conference Growing Media 2025

This took place from 7 to 12 September at the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences in Freising. Under the auspices of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), researchers from all over the world exchanged views on current developments in growing media and their sustainable future.

Our research assistant Phillip Olak presented results from the TopGa project (Link: https://www.fnr.de/fileadmin/projektdatenbank/2220MT006D.pdfat the conference. The focus was on the question of how a reduction in peat use in horticultural production systems affects the CO₂ footprint of products. Using the example of potted basil in year-round greenhouse production, it was shown what share the growing media has in total emissions and what consequences may occur if reducing the peat content results in lower production efficiency.

In addition, Phillip Olak, together with his team from the Junior Research Group on Peat Substituents (Link: https://www.hswt.de/forschung/projekt/1953-nwg-torfersatz ), presented their current research project on the use of paludiculture biomass as a constituent for growing media. The work covers technical processing, crop production trials, and an ecological and economic assessment – both in growing media production and in practical application in horticulture.

A short paper on the presentation will be published on the ISHS website.