HydraFiber Heroes: Fernando Hernandez, Colorpoint LLC, Illinois
Fernando Hernandez, operations manager at Colorpoint, LLC in Illinois, discusses how easy it was to transition to HydraFiber and the benefits of less dust and improved storage.
Fernando Hernandez, operations manager at Colorpoint, LLC in Illinois, discusses how easy it was to transition to HydraFiber and the benefits of less dust and improved storage.
"The transition to HydraFiber was so easy. I have 25 people on my growing staff and each one had no problem moving from a standard perlite mix to the HydraFiber mix. Things like Bonzi drenches…same rates. pH improved. EC was right there, too. Water management is straightforward and simple. No challenges for the growers whatsoever."
“When we switched to HydraFiber, we shaved 5 hours of labor off every zone each week due to plants needing less water. That’s a 5 to 10% labor savings for us. And on some crops, we have been seeing faster rooting, with white roots all the way to the bottom in 9 days on crops that typically take longer.”
“From what we’ve seen, the pH of poinsettias stays more stable because of the length of the crop. Also the shelf life is better because the HydraFiber retains the moisture and when it’s sitting on the shelf longer at the store, it’s pulling that moisture out of that wood. We’re seeing several more days at retail which is a huge benefit.”
"Previously when we would move some of our dormant grass liners to heat, we would see tremendous top growth, but rooting would lag behind and there’s not much you can do to enhance plant quality without good roots. When we moved these liners to a HydraFiber blend, we had a very successful crop – plants grew uniformly and we had good root quality throughout the crop across various varieties.”
"We’re pretty diverse, doing bedding, succulents, foliage. We’ve not found anything that doesn’t like HydraFiber mix. Our plants have rooted in very well, and we’re happy with what we see."
x