Synthetic aggregates (SA) were developed as alternative potting media for ornamental plant production. Four different types of SA were developed from low productive acidic soil and paper waste with adding different types of compost amendments. Compost amendments used in the experiment were cattle manure compost, chicken manure compost, and leaf manure compost. Popular ornamental plant french marigold (Tagetes patula) was used in this experiment. SA with different compost amendments gave considerable physical and chemical parameters compared to commercial zeolite media. Moreover, plant grown in SA media showed better growth and nutritional parameters compared to plant grown in zeolite media. The plant height, number of flowers per plant, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root length, root fresh weight and root dry weight obtained from three different compost based SA were increased by in the ranges of 8.14--14.41%, 5.66--9.46%, 25.52--31.47%, 9.44--16.13%, 6.14--9.23%, 2.40--8.47% and 8.85--17.05%, respectively, compared to zeolite control.
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