National inventory of organic wastes for use as growing media for ornamental potted plant production: case study in Spain

An inventory of materials suitable for use as growing media for ornamental potted plant production in Spain has been prepared. Special attention has b een paid to solid organic wastes generated by production, industrial and co nsumer activities. Information obtained from this study has been organised into two data bases. Data base 1 contains the "General Characteristics" fil e of more than 105 materials. In this file, data are available regarding ge neration points, material availability, uses, cost, disposal expenses, etc. Data base 2 is comprised of the "Specific Properties" file of 63 materials selected from data base 1. The main physical, chemical and biological prop erties of these materials as container media have been characterised, and t he results obtained have been compiled. Finally, a computerised data bank h as been created which can be found in the home page of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (http://agritel2.mapya.es/sustratos/). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.