Flowering Plants Ltd

Florimat^™ 4

A FLEECE FOR PLANT PROPAGATORS

Florimat 4 is a lightweight, semi synthetic, coated fleece. It is designed to allow air to penetrate, whilst at the same time storing water. When the upper surface of the fleece is dry, the underside will usually carry water. The effect is to reduce the use of water during propagation, while at the same time providing a much more stable micro- climate for your crop.

Grower Experience.
Florimat 4 has been used for cuttings, seeds and micro-propagated material. It has worked well for propagators of Poinsettias. Winter- propagated Lavenders under Florimat 4 have rooted 10 – 14 days faster than under other fleeces. Sweet potatoes do particularly well. Twenty two other crop trials are under way at the date of this review.

Demanding Applications.
Florimat 4 may also be beneficial for growers of pot plant crops such as Begonias and Pelargoniums, where absolute guarantees of freedom from bacterial disease make “single-use" matting with some capillary action desirable. Florimat 4 should be as effective as Florimats 2,3 and 5 in promoting beneficial microflora.

Maintenance.
The materials of construction and the surface treatment are suitable for sterilization in an autoclave. Florimat 4 can therefore be steam sterilized, even under pressure.

In one case, some algae grew on top of the fleece. A small trial of copper sulphate applied by knapsack sprayer to the fleece at the usual rate seems to have worked well so far. For obvious reasons, we do not advise using copper carbonate or copper oxychloride.

Roll Sizes.
We offer samples 7m x 198cm so that you can do your own small trials. Only one size of roll is currently available from stock, 1.98 metres wide by 1500 metres long. We can supply part reels. Otherwise the typical delivery time is 3 weeks from order.

Revisions.
As this is a relatively new technology, we revise our information at frequent intervals.