Epipremnum dureum Golden pothos( جايگزيني پيت خزه با ساير بسترهاي آلي براي كشت پتوس

PEAT MOSS SUBSTITUTING WITH SOME ORGANIC WASTES IN POTHOS (EPIPREMNUM AUREUM CV. GOLDEN POTHOS)GROWING MEDIA

In spite of being the main commercial substrate in the world, peat moss is not so economic for grower to use because of its high cost. The purpose of this study was to investigate the substitution of peat moss with some organic wastes as growing media. The study was conducted on pothos in college of Agriculture, Tehran University. A factorial experiment was arranged using a completely randomized design with 6 replications. During this experiment the effects of 4 organic media including: peat moss, coco peat, palm peat and baggasse with two level of perlite (0 and 50%) on pothos growth were investigated. The highest values of leaf area, leaf number, offset number, shoot and root fresh and dry weights and shoot length were observed in coco peat and the lowest values of measured growth indices were obtained in baggasse. Peat moss and palm peat showed similar effects on most growing indices. Coco peat and palm peat were similar in some of their characteristics such as CEC, pH. bulk density and total porosity but different in water holding capacity which was higher in coco peat than the other. If this characteristic of palm peat be improved, it would be a good substitute for peat moss in future. The results showed that baggasse was not a proper organic media. Coco peat despite of having best result on plant growth rate is not recommended because it is an imported media and is not so economic. The results of adding perlite to media were different according to the type of media.