Grow mats

I saw on the Chelsea flower show last night, a turf company that uses a matting that they then sow with meadow flower seeds. Later they just roll it up and sell it as a ready made meadow turf.

Does anyone know where I can get hold of some of this matting or have any info about it?

Steve...

(Edit) Just to clarify, I'm looking for the mat only as I wish to grow my own mix of seeds onto it.

 

They are called spreader mats/capillary mating and you can get them from amazon, garden centres ebay or hydroponic shops

 

Will the roots grow through this matting Hydrogen? As the end result is to be a piece of turf to be planted outside.

Steve...

 

Sounds like it might be something rude - tell us more!

 

No, i didnt think it needed to i thought the mating was removed?? sorry i hope you have not already ordered any......

 

the mat was rolled up with the top growth .... there were roots poking out the bottom .... I think they use the matting to make it easy to roll up

 

No, I have not ordered any yet.

As I understand it, the matting is used to hold the growing medium, both of which are placed onto polythene sheet to prevent the roots growing into the soil. The matting/soil medium combo is sown with the seeds and it's grown then without competition from either weeds or grasses already present where you want your wildflower display to be. It can take some years to establish a wildflower display/area, resowing over a number of years, adjusting the seed mix to account for what was missing the previous year.

This seemed like a good idea and foolproof method to plant a wildflower meadow area rich with nectar and ideal for polinating insects, first time out.

Steve...

 

I think spreader mat would be a bit too thin. In asia they use jute/hessian on poly covered tressles with drip irrigation to grow baby lettuce etc. Potato sacking would be good bet and its biodegradable