FWIW, I looked into this topic:
RedRock is white labeled VidaWool. The Pro and standard versions are not the same; they have different fiber densities and binders, etc. They don’t sell the standard anymore because it had less density and water holding capacity (IIRC). So it could be that they are still referring to the standard as the standard even though it’s the Pro (which is how their website lists their products). They said it was comparable to the Pargro blocks from Grodan, IIRC. All blocks and slabs are now the Pro version.
Grodan started selling the GBI blocks around 2020. Here’s the product line progression:
- original (I’m not sure what it was called) > Pargro & Delta (concurrently) > GBI > Max
From our Grodan rep:
Off the top of my head I’m going to say Jan 2020. It was a pretty slow rollout because our distributors were well stocked on Silver wrapped “Delta” wool, plus that’s what the market had long used, so the transition took the better part of 18 months.
There was also the Pargro line that was similar to delta (same wetting agent/binder) just a bit less dense. Delta was around for many moons, then came GBI, and Max is next in line. Max is currently available in Europe, but not yet in the US. All indications are that it will be released, however, the how and when are in question. What will likely happen, once we have a confirmed launch date, is that trial product will be made available. If you’re interested in trialing the MAX we can put that together down the line.
I’m not sure; I don’t use slabs. But you can reach out to Grodan and ask them. I know you don’t want the sensors at the very bottom because the moisture content is greatest at the bottom.
Just thinking off the cuff, if it were me, I might install two sensors in two of the three blocks and one or two in the slab. For our grow, we’re using four sensors per zone, with an average of those sensors used to automate irrigation. But I may increase it to six after uniformity testing.