Cultivation of young upright plants: a tutor for small 3D printed rockwool cubes

Abstract

The Mechanism of Plant Virus Transmission by Vector team (MOVE team) has long experience of rearing aphids, in particular the pea aphid species Acyrthosiphon pisum. These aphids are generally reared on faba beans in small pots of soil. However, the appearance of soil sciarid flies during rearing led us to opt for an inert substrate: rockwool. However, the instability of rockwool cubes made it difficult to grow upright young plants such as broad beans. We could not find any individual tutors for our rockwool cubes on the market, so we designed our own 3D printable tutors. Robust, inexpensive, and infinitely reusable, this support, which has been in use in our team for 3 years, offers a solution to anyone looking for an alternative to growing in small soil pots (3D plans attached for free access).