Production of sustainable planting pods for growing horticultural and ornamental crops

Planting pods (odlingsplugg) are used in horticulture and hobby gardening sector for growing leafy vegetables, horticultural crops and flowers. The main objective of this project is to develop sustainable planting pods from different mixtures of hemp fibers, leaf fibrous pulp and digestate, to replace peat-based planting pods. Main reasons, to replace peat-based planting pods with renewable alternatives, are that the current sources to make planting pods are not sustainable and over-harvesting of peat leads to mineralization, release of atmospheric CO₂ from drained peatlands, which contributes to climate change. Our hypothesis is that planting pods made from different mixtures of hemp, leaf fibrous pulp and digestate can be a suitable replacement that provides growing seeds/seedling with adequate water, aeration and continuous supply of nutrients to enhance growth and establishment. Moreover, planting pods made from hemp, leaf fibrous pulp and digestate will be more sustainable with reduced climate impact.