Agricultural uses
- Soilless horticulture
- Green Roofs
- Soil improvement
- Ingredient for mixtures and soils for cultivations
- Improvement and drainage of lawns
- Soil coverage
- Urban vegetable production
Soilless horticulture
The cultivation of non-soil is a pioneering method of production in greenhouses, as the producer avoids the use of pesticides, substances with effects on health and the environment in order to disinfect the soil. According to this method of cultivation, the plants do not grow in a natural soil, but they grow in pumice (substrate) in which fertilizers have been added in appropriate quantities. In this way, the spread of pathogens that causes soil-borne diseases is avoided. No chemical disinfectants are used for their treatment , as well as no chemicals are used for the control of weeds. Therefore, the use of pesticides is significantly reduced and it is kept to those which are not toxic to humans and are degraded very quickly in nature.
LAVA pumice stone, the unique natural substrate, has excellent performance as a horticultural growing medium, considering that it is free of plant diseases, features a balanced ratio of water capacity to air permeability and it does not impact the environment at the end of its lifecycle. Furthermore, LAVA pumice stone adequately reconciles water retention needs with proper root drainage and aeration requirements.
LAVA pumice stone is perfectly suitable for soilless cultivations of tomato, cucumber, pepper, rose, gerbera, gypsophila, carnation, chrysanthemum and other vegetables and flowers. For all these reasons, pumice stone has become a very interesting substrate for hydroponic cultures, both in Greece and abroad.
LAVA pumice stone is a domestic natural material with no chemical fermantation thus, compared to other imported or non-imported substrates or soil improvers, its production and transportation costs are significantly lower. Moreover, LAVA pumice stone can be re-used in cultures over long periods of time (up to 6 years).
Please be informed about the pumice stone substrata agroLAVA
To assure correct application of pumice stone in agriculture, LAVA SA has been co-operating with the Agricultural University of Athens.
A Green Rooftop
A Green Rooftop consists in all or part of the surface area of a rooftop or a balcony that has been planted with vegetation
in order to upgrade the environment or, to be more exact
- Increase green spaces in urban environments,
- Reduce the effects of the "urban heat island" effect (UHI),
- Reduce noise pollution,
- Manage rainwater,
- Increase buildings' energy efficiency and
- Cut down on energy consumption.
A green rooftop is a special multi-layer system consisting of a growing medium, an irrigation system and vegetation. Green rooftops are also known as living roofs and roof gardens
LAVA pumice stone as a natural product combines unique characteristics and is an ideal solution for landscape architecture.
- It contributes to irrigation water saving as it has big water retain capacity.
- It has a stable quality and granulometry because of the homogeneity of the deposit.
- It contributes to the reduction of the static load of buildings due to its low specific gravity (density).
- It presents increased resistance in ice cycles compared to other porous materials as it has big mechanical resistance.
- It enhances the growth of plants .
- It is soundproof and has significant heat-insulating properties.
- It presents excellent results according to extensive research carried out in greek green roofs in combination to uncultivated plants of the greek flora.
Soil Improvement
LAVA pumice stone is used as a soil improver.
LAVA pumice stone can be used as a soil improver in soils that do not have an ideal soil texture and suffer either from poor drainage or from insufficient moisture retention capacity. In most cases, the addition of LAVA pumice stone in a soil improves its structure. In paritcular, LAVA pumice stone renders clay soils more porous thereby imroving drainage of excess moisture and thus increasing root aeration, whereas it reduces the average size of the pores in sandy soils and consequently it increases their capacity to retain water. Moreover, LAVA pumice stone increases the total porosity of sandy soils, which by nature is very low (about 35-40%), and consequently it improves their air capacity.
In general, when LAVA pumice stone is added in a soil, it does not affect its pH and does not have a direct influence on its fertility, given that it is a chemically inert natural material . Nevertheless LAVA pumice stone exerts indirectly a positive effect on soil fertility, given that the improved drainage of water and the increased air capacity result in enhanced supply of oxygen to the roots. As a consequence, the rates of root respiration increase, and thus nutrient uptake efficiency is raised, while root growth and extension to a larger soil volume are promoted.
Urban vegetable production
LAVA Mining & Quarrying SA produces and distributes an enriched pumice stone substrate in bags, under the trademark oikiaLAVA, intended for domestic use.
oikiaLAVA is a ready to use grow bag for domestic vegetable production. During the whole period of cultivation it is not required to hole the bottom of the bag for water runoff. The user has only to add water according to the instructions.
Please be informed about oikiaLAVA