ABSTRACT
Plug trays are now-a-days commonly used for healthy nursery raising, which are popular among nurserymen with the names of plastic trays or pro trays. Soil has traditionally been accepted as part of seedling growing mixture. The amount of undesirable material coming with the soil such as diseases, weeds, trash and clay is high. Perlite is neutral in reaction and provides almost no nutrients to the media. As an inert light material, perlite is used to reduce bulk density. It does not retain moisture or hold any plant nutrient. The most common softwood sawdust available is from Pinus radiata , which contains less toxins than some of the Australian hardwoods. The value of adding sand as an inert mineral to any seedling mix is to obtain a balance between the other components and to give some bulk to the final product. A common belief is that sand helps with drainage in fact the reverse can occur.
