Camel Thorn Horticulture

Camel Thorn Horticulture Camel Thorn Horticulture supplies growers and resellers across Southern and East Africa with sustainable growing media.

As the South African distributor of Jiffy, we combine RHP certified products, local expertise and trusted relationships.

21/08/2026

As we're getting closer to September, we're curious what's actually holding growers back from getting spring propagation moving.

A. Media or plug stock delays
B. Greenhouse/tunnel space not ready
C. Labour availability at peak sowing time
D. Irrigation or climate control not dialled in yet

Tell us below what your answer is and why 👇

18/08/2026

Transplant shock isn't usually caused by the plant. It's caused by the handling.

A few things that quietly stress plants at transplant:
✔️ Squeezing or tearing the root ball to fit a container
✔️ Moving from a fast-draining plug straight into a slow-draining substrate (or vice versa)
✔️ Transplanting into media that hasn't been pre-wetted to the right EC and pH
✔️ Delaying transplant past the point the roots have started circling

Matching your propagation media and your growing-on media — same supplier, same certification standard — removes a surprising number of these variables in one move.

What's your biggest transplant-stage headache — timing, handling, or media mismatch?

14/08/2026

Did you know a strong root system does most of its growing before you ever see it above the growing medium?

By the time a seedling shows its first true leaves, the root system has already determined:
🌱 How well it will handle transplant stress
🌱 How efficiently it will take up water and nutrients later
🌱 How resilient it will be to the first heat spike after planting out

That's why the propagation stage — not the growing-on stage — is where most yield is won or lost.

What's the one crop you're most nervous about propagating well this spring?

"Tissue culture plants are too difficult to handle outside a large operation."We hear this regularly. It's worth unpacki...
11/08/2026

"Tissue culture plants are too difficult to handle outside a large operation."

We hear this regularly. It's worth unpacking.

The hardening process does require care — but it is not inherently complex. Most of the losses come from three things:

1. Wrong growing media (not sterile, inconsistent, wrong moisture balance)
2. Humidity dropping too fast after the lab
3. Contamination introduced at transplant

None of these require specialised equipment. They require the right inputs and a consistent process.

Smaller nurseries across South Africa are successfully hardening TC banana, protea, blueberry, and fern material. The barriers are lower than people assume.

Are you considering TC propagation, or already running it? What's the biggest question holding you back? Ask below 👇

07/08/2026

Beginning of August. How's your winter season going?

Tell us what's giving you the most grief right now:

1️⃣ Slow, uneven germination in the cold
2️⃣ Damping off and fungal pressure
3️⃣ Inconsistent root development
4️⃣ Moisture and drainage management

Comment your number and tell us what crop you're working with 👇

Your plant looks fine above the soil. Below it, the real story is playing out.In winter, root development slows. Cold me...
04/08/2026

Your plant looks fine above the soil. Below it, the real story is playing out.

In winter, root development slows. Cold media reduces microbial activity, oxygen availability, and the speed at which roots can absorb nutrients. A plant that looks healthy in August can quietly stall — and you only notice when growth doesn't recover properly in spring.

What keeps roots performing through winter:
🌱 Aeration — cold, compacted media cuts oxygen to the root zone fast
💧 Drainage — waterlogged cold soil is where root pathogens establish
🔁 Consistency — a substrate that performs the same way at 8°C as it does at 22°C

Substrate choice in winter isn't just a cost decision. It's a crop protection decision.

Pull a plug from your tray and have a look at the roots. What are you seeing? 👇

31/07/2026

Winter Germination — Why Cold Is Killing Your Consistency ❄️

It's 4°C at sunrise. Your seeds are in the ground. Here's what's working against them.

Cold slows cell division. Uneven soil temperature creates uneven germination. And once half your tray is four days behind the other half, you carry that inconsistency all the way to harvest.

What actually makes a difference in winter propagation:
🌡️ A stable micro-climate around the seed — propagation domes do more work than most growers give them credit for
💧 Media that holds moisture without waterlogging — cold soil drains poorly and roots suffocate fast
🌱 A substrate that holds temperature rather than shedding it

What's giving you the most grief in winter propagation right now? Drop it below 👇

The hardening phase of tissue culture is where most losses happen. The plant is at its most fragile, the environment shi...
28/07/2026

The hardening phase of tissue culture is where most losses happen. The plant is at its most fragile, the environment shifts fast, and any inconsistency in your growing media amplifies the stress.

Jiffy 7C pellets are used by TC producers for two specific reasons:

1. They're sterile from manufacture — made from RHP-certified coco-substrate and flash-dried at high temperature. No competing organisms to threaten a freshly acclimatising TC plant.

2. The coco-structure gives excellent aeration alongside moisture retention. That's the exact balance delicate TC roots need — enough air to establish, enough moisture to not dry out in a cold greenhouse.

No root disturbance at transplant. No media variation between plugs. The same environment from plug 1 to plug 200.

For a plant coming out of perfect lab conditions, the last thing it needs is inconsistency at the first step.

What's your current hardening protocol? Share below 👇

24/07/2026

Most growers have heard of tissue culture. Fewer understand what makes TC plants genuinely different to handle — and why the hardening phase is where most of them are lost.

TC plants are raised in sterile lab conditions: stable temperature, near-100% humidity, controlled nutrition. They have never experienced real-world variation. When they leave the lab, everything changes at once.

What they need in that first critical week:
✔ A sterile growing medium — contaminants introduced at hardening can wipe a whole batch
✔ Precise moisture control — too wet causes rot, too dry causes stress collapse
✔ Gradual exposure to ambient humidity and light

The substrate you use at hardening matters more than most growers realise. It's where the plant makes its first real roots in an uncontrolled environment.

Are you working with TC plants? What crops? Tell us below 👇

When you need plug uniformity that holds up in automated lines and tight tray spacing, Jiffy Preforma box plugs are wort...
21/07/2026

When you need plug uniformity that holds up in automated lines and tight tray spacing, Jiffy Preforma box plugs are worth understanding.

Unlike conventional pellets, Preforma plugs are pre-formed coco-peat blocks — cube-shaped, no netting, designed to maintain structure through transplant without compressing or tearing roots.

Why that matters for TC hardening and precision propagation:
✔ Consistent pore structure means a predictable air-to-water ratio across every single plug
✔ The block shape holds cleanly at transplant — no squeeze, no root damage
✔ Compatible with automated seeding and transplanting lines

For TC operations moving hardened material at volume, the Preforma takes a lot of handling stress off the plant at the point of transfer.

Which crop are you currently propagating in trays? Drop it below and we'll recommend the right plug size. 👇

Address

94 Frere Road, Judith Paarl
Johannesburg
2094

Opening Hours

Monday 08:00 - 16:30
Tuesday 08:00 - 16:30
Wednesday 08:00 - 16:30
Thursday 08:00 - 16:30
Friday 08:00 - 16:30

Telephone

+27825647091

Website

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