Physical Properties of Biocontainers Designed for Greenhouse Crops Production

With the increased interest in sustainable production practices, numerous biocontainers produced from nonpetroleum-based plastics or from organic components have come onto the market. The physical properties of various types of biocontainers were evaluated and compared to traditional plastic containers. Containers produced from rice hulls, bioplastic and compressed paper had the highest dry and wet strengths and were similar to traditional plastic containers. Containers such as those made from straw and coconut fiber had low dry strength due to their flexible nature, but they retained a high level of wet strength. Containers made from peat and wood fiber had the lowest wet strength of all the containers evaluated. Containers made from peat and wood fiber had the highest rate of water loss while traditional plastic, bioplastic and rice hull containers had the lowest rate of water loss. Containers made from peat had an average of 48% of the container surface covered by fungal and algal growth after 8 weeks in the greenhouse environment. Containers made from dairy manure, straw and paper had 2%, 3% and 3%, respectively, of the container surface covered with algal and fungal growth after 8 weeks. Traditional plastic, bioplastic, coconut fiber and rice hull containers had no visible algal or fungal growth after 8 weeks.