NATURAL LOCAL MEDIA AND THEIR EFFECT ON WATER REQUIREMENTS OF Ficus “HAWAII”

This study was carried out in the nursery of the Ornamental Plant Research Department, Horticulture Research Institute, Giza, Egypt during the period from February to November of the two successive seasons of 2009 and 2010. A factorial experiment, in a randomized complete block design (RCBD), with three replicates, was conducted, to investigate the effects of different watering regimes (irrigation with 300, 450 and 600 cm3/pot/week) comprising the main plot and potting media (peat moss, water hyacinth compost, rice hulls compost, date palm leaf compost and a mixture of the four components at equal volume parts) representing the sub-plots on Ficus nitida “Hawaii” plants grown in 25 cm dia. plastic pots. Results show that performance of plants grown in the mixed compost and watered with 450 cm3/pot/week was the best in all characters studied, followed by plants grown in the same medium and watered with either 600 cm3/pot/week (in the second position) or with  300 cm3/pot/week (in the third one). Performance of plants grown in rice hulls compost and watered with 450 cm3/pot/week came in the fourth rank, followed by those grown in peat moss and watered either with 450 or 600 cm3/pot/week, occupying the fifth position in this concern. In contrast, plants grown in date palm leaf compost and watered with 300 cm3/pot/week scored the lowest records in almost all parameters studied, preceded by those grown in the same medium and watered either with 450 or 600 cm3/pot/week.