- Europe’s professional growing industry is in the middle of the largest substrate transition in its history as a combination of regulation puts pressure on peat use.
- Standard ammonium nitrate fertilizer quickly leaches through peat-free substrates, resulting in over 90% nitrogen loss on sixth watering, driving up costs and increasing runoff.
- Substrate manufacturers need to rethink their approach to nitrogen for peat-free formulas, overcoming issues with inconsistent quality, water retention properties, and higher costs.
- Arginex introduces a new standard of nutrition, acting like a magnet retaining nearly 80% of its nitrogen in existing peat-free substrates, even after six leaching cycles.
Driven by EU policy, retailer commitments, and consumer pressure, peat-based substrate formulas are being phased out across horticulture, ornamentals, and increasingly food crops. In response, manufacturers are producing advanced peat-free formulas but these alternatives are introducing new challenges. Peat-free substrates lose 90% of nitrogen – significantly reducing nutrient retention. And increasing grower skepticism is putting the substrate transition at risk, according to global AgTech company, Arevo.
A combination of EU climate law, biodiversity regulation, corporate disclosure requirements and national bans has put huge structural pressure on the extraction and use of peat. But the peat-free substrates coming onto the market as alternatives are changing the physics of nutrient retention. Standard ammonium nitrate fertiliser was designed to be soluble and for peat substrates. In peat-free formulas, more than half of the nitrogen in this fertiliser is lost after the first watering and, by the sixth watering, nitrogen retention rates are down to 10%.
“Nitrogen behaves differently in coir, wood fibre, and bark than it does in peat. While peat provides a uniform, sterile, and moisture-retentive medium, these alternatives often require growers to change their established watering and feeding habits,” says Niklas Astrom, CEO, Arevo. “The peat-free transition has a nitrogen retention problem that growers are trying to compensate for with more frequent topups, higher application rates, and increased runoff – but this undermines the sustainability case for peat-free in the first place. This is a category-level issue, not a product-level one and, until it’s solved, the peat-free transition will be incomplete.”
Growers are becoming increasingly skeptical of peat-free compost because of inconsistencies in quality, different water-retention properties, and higher costs compared to traditional peat-based products. Manufacturers need to rethink their approach to nutrition for peat-free formulas. This can be achieved with a single compound, Arginex, a natural arginine phosphate root nutrition that binds to substrate particles instead of washing out with every watering.
“Peat-free substrate needs a different kind of nutrition,” adds Niklas. “Arginex is positively charged and clings to the negatively charged soil particles like a magnet, peat or no peat. It promotes root hair growth and the establishment of mycorrhiza, the critical symbiotic interaction between soil fungus and plant roots, which leads to faster plant establishment and healthier plants. This is the new nutrient standard that will work for peat-free formulas.”
Arginex is non-living and has a shelf life of five years. This means manufacturers do not need to navigate stock management, cold chain logistics, batch variability, or living cultures. The new technology will be available to substrate manufacturers in two different formats: Arevo’s standalone branded root nutrition, or as a value-add ingredient to existing nutrition for peat-free substrates – with formulas ‘powered by Arginex’ like computers powered by Intel.
Independent trials across Europe have already shown that Arginex retains nearly 80% of its nitrogen in existing market peat-free substrates, even after six leaching cycles. This is approximately seven times the retention rates of standard fertilisers. Arginex is CE-certified, backed by over 70 patents and more than a decade of research and extensive field trials across different continents that prove how plants absorb and use nitrogen. And it is already in commercial use as organo-mineral nutrition in granular form in forestry planting, liquid spray in forest nurseries, seed coating for soy, corn and winter wheat in Europe.
“Peat-free substrate is the future of professional growing – but the nutrition we’ve been pouring into it was built for peat, and it’s washing straight through,” concludes Niklas. “ Arginex is the crucial missing piece of the puzzle for a successful peat-free transition.”
Arevo will be exhibiting at GreenTech Amsterdam at stand no. 05.530 talking about Arginex in more detail and meeting ingredients partners.
About Arevo:
Rooted in science and built commercially for agriculture, forestry, and horticulture, Arevo’s mission is to reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizers and support more sustainable cultivation practices with zero nitrogen waste.
