CEC - what is it?

[seaofgreen18]

All of us who grow something in the soil — gardeners, homesteaders, and farmers — should be familiar with cation exchange capacity (CEC). It affects plant growth and vigor, the nutrient density of crops, and even disease resistance. Let’s take a peek behind the curtain.

 

[seaofgreen18]

What Is a Cation, and Why Would We Want to Exchange It?​

We know our plants need nutrients to grow, flower, and fruit. Some of these nutrients are called “macronutrients” because plants need them in higher quantities. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S) are commonly classed as macronutrients. Plants also need other nutrients in lesser amounts for proper growth and function. We call those nutrients “micronutrients,” and examples include zinc, iron, boron, manganese, and copper. You’re on the right track if these remind you of the periodic table.

Air and water are the ingredients for photosynthesis, but plants’ complex proteins, enzymes, and carbohydrates require a soup of macro and micronutrients. Those nutrients, many of which are present as ions, come from the soil.

An ion is simply an atom or molecule with a net electrostatic charge. Remember the plus and minus signs you hated in high school chemistry or biology? Ions with a net positive charge — a plus sign — are cations. Remember this by thinking of a housecat: They have quite a positive opinion of themselves. K+ is a positively charged potassium ion — a cation. There are also negatively charged ions, like nitrate (NO3-), called anions.

 

[Azimuth]

Your biochar is supposed be add great cec properties to your soil.

 

[seaofgreen18]

Just like in magnetic fields, electrostatic charges are attracted to their opposite. A cation with a positive charge will be attracted to and stick somewhere it finds a negative charge. When a cation attaches to a soil particle, it’s adsorbed.

Soil clay particles and soil organic matter, especially the humus component (because of its chemical composition), are covered in sites with negative charges. When a lonely cation wanders by, it’s Valentine’s Day. Our potassium ion (K+) moves around in the soil solution and sees a clay particle with a negative charge. Pow! The cation is adsorbed and is stuck to the soil particle. In this example, the potassium ion is now “safe” from leaching and loss from the soil root zone — it won’t be carried away by water moving through the soil profile. That’s a good thing.

An adsorbed cation is safe from leaching but isn’t as available for direct root uptake, since it’s in the soil solution. Fortunately, adsorbed cations are easily exchanged with other cations in the root zone.

 

[seaofgreen18]

The number of charged sites available for cations to play musical chairs is the capacity part of CEC in your soil. It varies with three factors: soil texture (sand, silt, clay), soil organic matter percentage, and soil pH. CEC is measured in a soil lab and described in complex units called milliequivalents per 100 grams of soil (mEq/100g). For our purposes, you can ignore the units (don’t tell your science teacher) and say that soil with a CEC of 6 has fewer sites and, therefore, less exchange capacity than soil with a value of 15. Higher values indicate the capacity to store more nutrients, holding them for later use by plants and preventing them from leaching away.

 

[seaofgreen18]

This is one of the #1 reasons for biochar

 

[seaofgreen18]

Hope this was an informative an enlightening post for everyone who wants to learn new things! .

Happy Thanksgiving All!!

 

[seaofgreen18]

The number of charged sites available for cations to play musical chairs is the capacity part of CEC in your soil. It varies with three factors: soil texture (sand, silt, clay), soil organic matter percentage, and soil pH. CEC is measured in a soil lab and described in complex units called milliequivalents per 100 grams of soil (mEq/100g). For our purposes, you can ignore the units (don’t tell your science teacher) and say that soil with a CEC of 6 has fewer sites and, therefore, less exchange capacity than soil with a value of 15. Higher values indicate the capacity to store more nutrients, holding them for later use by plants and preventing them from leaching away.

Reason #1 to get your soil tested purchased soil or reused soil

 

[Roy Growin]

I am a moron
I don't know what EC, ppm, ppfd mu/s, DLI and all that stuff even means

 

[seaofgreen18]

Well you know what cec is now

 

[seaofgreen18]

I am a moron
I don't know what EC, ppm, ppfd mu/s, DLI and all that stuff even means

It's helpful to know instead of chasing your tail to figure out plant problems later down the road just guessing and throwing stuff in your soil to fix a plant problem just wasting $$ and and possibly making things worse

 

[seaofgreen18]

It's helpful to know instead of chasing your tail to figure out plant problems later down the road just guessing and throwing stuff in your soil to fix a plant problem just wasting $$ and and possibly making things worse

Idk about you but it pisses me off when I've wasted all that time and $$$ to get a less than desirable result out of my harvest Quality or yield

 

[seaofgreen18]

Idk about you but it pisses me off when I've wasted all that time and $$$ to get a less than desirable result out of my harvest Quality or yield and we've all had a few of those experiences

 

[seaofgreen18]

@Azimuth KIS got their Black Friday sale on now check it out if you're interested I know alfalfa, kelp, and Bio char is on sale I just reupped my worm supply for fairy cheap Discount Code : THANKFUL

 

[seaofgreen18]

KIS Organics: Organic Gardening Supplies and Soils

KIS Organics offers organic farming supplies, bulk potting soils, compost teas, soil amendments, nutrients, natural pesticides, seeds. FREE US shipping!

www.kisorganics.com

 

[seaofgreen18]

Miicrobial Mass Pro
Anyone use this before??? Im going to check it out