The indoor floricultural industry faces increasing pressure to reduce its reliance on current unsustainable resources, such as peat and coco coir, for use in soilless potting mixes. Typha, commonly known as cattails, may represent a more sustainable alternative for the cultivation of ornamental plants and flowers. Its suitability is further justified by the local availability, quick grow time, and harvesting benefits of these wetland plants in Manitoba.

Three distinct growing media have been designed by subjecting existing shredded Typha plants to specific combinations of three processing methods. These methods have individually been shown to mitigate the challenges with previously tested Typha-based media, as cited in literature, such as a low water holding capacity and high nitrogen immobilization. The benefits of each are as follows:

• Composting, to increase the available nitrogen for plant uptake, • Milling, to reduce the particle size, and • Pasteurizing, to eliminate pathogens. The proposed Typha Media Designs incorporate these processing methods to investigate their unique benefits. The three Media Designs are as follows:

1. Media Design 1 (MD1): [REDACTED]
2. Media Design 2 (MD2): [REDACTED]
3. Media Design 3 (MD3): [REDACTED]

Verification of the success of each Media Design was assessed by 11 passing criteria, or technical specifications, selected based on the properties of peat and other commonly used growing media. None of the three Media Designs passed all criteria; however, [REDACTED] showed the greatest overall improvement when compared to unprocessed, shredded Typha. Alongside the verification testing, germination and grow trials were performed to further validate the results, utilizing a peat-perlite mix as the control. In the germination trials, media containing [REDACTED] performed best with higher numbers of germinated plants. Varying trends were observed in the grow trials. The trial conducted in a vertical hydroponic wall, which accommodated the media in net cups with a diameter of two inches, exhibited the best results in [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] , while the other, conducted in a greenhouse, displayed better outcomes in [REDACTED].

Moving forward, further research into composted Typha-based media is recommended, including testing growth in larger commercial plant pots, [REDACTED], an assessment of a flower’s full growth cycle solely in Typha-based media, and a full project cost-benefit analysis to ensure economic viability. The results from technical specification testing, germination trials, and grow trials show that, while this Typha-based media does not entirely replicate peat, it may be a viable option for use as a soilless growing media. Testing based on the proposed recommendations will further the success of this media as it nears entry into the market as a local and sustainable growing media for floriculture growers.