When growers choose OASIS® engineered foam substrates for vegetative propagation, it’s easy to focus on benefits like faster establishment, improved plant quality and shorter bench times.
But for any propagator who’s made the switch to OASIS® engineered foam, the cleaner propagation experience our substrates deliver is at or near the top of the list.
If you haven’t tried our OASIS® engineered substrates, like OASIS® RhizoPlug™ or OASIS® Wedge®, it’s time you experience them for yourself. Let our substrates show you just how clean vegetative propagation can be.
Start Clean — ISO Quality, ‘Kill Steps’ and Inspection
When you propagate with OASIS® engineered propagation media, the substrates that ship to your operation arrive clean. Their cleanliness goes beyond appearance and freedom from debris.
Engineered media produced at our ISO 9001:2015-certified Kent, Ohio, USA production facility undergoes extensive quality testing to meet rigorous production and quality control requirements. The standards we set for ourselves are high.
We take all necessary precautions to manufacture our engineered foam substrates to mitigate risks of contamination from pests, pathogens, physical contaminants, pesticides, excess chemicals and more.
Because our engineered foam substrates contain no organic components, they circumvent many of the contamination problems commonly associated with loose fill peat and other media. Our manufacturing environment is isolated from any type of agriculture. Furthermore, no pesticides, contaminants or agricultural byproducts are used when we produce any of our engineered foam propagation substrates.
To help ensure cleanliness you can count on as the starting point for your cuttings, our production process includes two measures that act like “kill steps” that further address contamination concerns:
- Several minutes at temperatures higher than 100°C.
- Highly acidic manufacturing conditions (before stablizing at plant-responsive pH).
As one final step before your substrate ships, we also thoroughly inspect shipping containers and trucks to make sure they pose no contamination risks.
Stay Clean — Benches, Pests and Pathogens
When you propagate with OASIS® RhizoPlug™ and OASIS® Wedge® substrates, the cleanliness carries through. Not just to the current propagation cycle, but beyond that rotation to your future crop cycles, too.
If you’ve ever propagated in loose fill (and we expect almost everyone reading this has at some point), you know things get messy fast — from people, trays and benches to floors and walls.
With our engineered foam, you skip the mess and the extra investment of time and labor spent cleaning up — without setting your young plants and anything else in your greenhouses up for greater contamination risks.
(You also set yourself up to make a much better impression if new or existing customers drop in for an unexpected greenhouse tour.)
In addition to keeping your propagation areas cleaner, our OASIS® foam substrates also help keep your young plants clean.
When you start out with substrates free from fungus gnat larvae, hidden pests and plant pathogens, the advantage starts as soon as your cuttings are stuck. With OASIS®, your edge doesn’t stop there.
Our unique engineered substrate technologies balance proper drainage with readily available water. As a result, cuttings rehydrate and recover rapidly. Misting gets reduced earlier.
Used properly, our engineered foams eliminate your plants’ No. 1 production problem — overwatering — even when they’re tended by your most inexperienced seasonal help.
Your cuttings avoid waterlogged root zones that favor bacterial and fungal pathogens. You experience less pest and disease pressure, including devastating pathogens behind clematis wilt and poinsettia meltdown and soft rot to name a few. Even problematic plants prone to disease perform better and stay healthier, from roots to shoots.
With these OASIS® engineered substrate benefits in action, you’ll also be able to cut back on fungicides, pesticides and other chemical inputs — improving your operational efficiencies and creating a cleaner, healthier work environment, too.
Finish Clean — Shipping, Extraction and Transplant
When transplant time comes, OASIS® engineered substrates continue adding layers of clean. Your cuttings establish rapidly, with more profuse and more consistent roots. Time to ship or transplant comes quickly, with up to 20% faster rotations, while cuttings stuck in loose fill still have days and days to go.
On the left, loose fill peat. On the right, OASIS® RhizoPlug™ Tray. Read the Research Update.
If you’re shipping liners started in OASIS® RhizoPlug™ Tray or OASIS® Wedge®, the same clean you experienced at propagation and production holds. Your customers receive shipments free from the mess, stress and surprise pests they may be used to.
If you’re finishing plants, extraction with OASIS® RhizoPlug™ Trays and OASIS® Wedge® PlugTrays is faster, cleaner and easier, whether your operation is manual or automated.
The young plant you’re transplanting, rooted in a healthier root zone with minimized pest and pathogen pressures, extracts without root damage, stays whole, and inserts easily into your media. It’s ready to take off, free from transplant shock or delay, without any special treatment at all.
If you’re ready to experience just how clean vegetative propagation can be, reach out to an OGS Territory Sales Manager about trialing our OASIS® engineered propgation substrates, or contact our in-house team at [email protected] or +1 (855) 585-4769.
We’re Oasis Grower Solutions. Let our people and our products help you grow.
