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<\/p>\nPhil Badgery is the managing director of Legro Australia, supplying specialty substrates for berries, salad crops, mushrooms, and young plants, including Botanicoir grow bags.<\/p>\n
He is seeing a shift towards \u2018bench-top\u2019 growing and says that demand for consistent, high-quality coir products is increasing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a trend where growers are moving from soil production to bench-top growing systems and we are following Europe and the UK in this shift,\u201d says Phil.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of knowledge sharing between European\/UK and Australian\/New Zealand based farmers who are seeing increased benefits to growing in hydroponic systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Legro supplies fruit growers and propagating nurseries in Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia and New Zealand and Phil is now seeing more interest from salad growers.<\/p>\n
The market is shifting rapidly, and unpredictable weather is a catalyst to this, according to Phil.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcess heat is an issue for our growers, but so is flooding and excess rainfall and unpredictable weather events,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key is control. Growers using Botanicoir substrate have more steer over water use, crop protection, and disease, plus they have less weed pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cBench-top growing in polytunnels is now very innovative with significant labour-saving benefits for growers. \u2018Cravo\u2019 models have been adopted which have retractable systems for closing and opening, or better venting tunnels so that heat is not trapped \u2013 a limiting factor in the warming Australian climate,\u201d says Phil.<\/p>\n
Phil\u2019s business incorporated with Legro in 2009 and he started selling Botanicoir grow bags in 2019.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe started supplying Mushroom growers and diversified into soft fruits. Mushrooms are still 45% of what we do, the rest is berries and other horticulture, most of which are strawberries and blueberries,\u201d says Phil.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe growers like the consistency of the Botanicoir products and it\u2019s a quality brand in the marketplace that\u2019s competitively priced,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Tony Lerace from TP Cucumber Farm in Perth grows quality cucumbers and says the free draining nature of the Botanicoir grow bags have benefitted his crops. \u201cEver since I have been using Botanicoir Breeze XD my fungal disease issues in the root zone have disappeared,\u201d says Tony.<\/p>\n
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Phil explains that it\u2019s the consistent, high-quality nature of the product that has helped to reduce disease in Tony\u2019s crops. \u201cIt\u2019s free draining and has a high air-filled porosity, with all dust and fines screened out \u2013 all crucial for healthy, high yielding salad and fruit crops.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phil believes that the demand for coir grow bags will keep increasing. \u201cThe future is in bench top growing, and I can see more automated growing and picking in the future,\u201d adds Phil.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"