Re: Soilless mix

From: "Celeste Whitlow" politicalamazon at charter.net> on 2002.04.04 at 16:37:17(8463) CEC stands for "cation exchange capacity," and it is a measure of how "fertile" the soil is. It indicates the soil particles' ability to hold on to "fertilizer" (minerals) which exist mainly as cations in the soil solution (water in the soil). If your soil has a higher CEC, they say you don't need to fertilize as often or as much. Soil/media with a lot of organic matter has a high CEC. Clay soil has a high CEC. These both, obviously, also hold a lot of water which is not good for aroids, from what I hear. Sandy soil has a low CEC. So you get excellent water drainage but low ability to "hang on" to fertilizer and water. I would think that in a large commercial operation, they probably "fertigate": that is, every time they water, there is fertilizer in the water. Often that is how it is done with other plants. Again, aroids may be different. +More That's how I understand it...I'm sure the experts here can give you a lot more in the way practical applications. --Celeste ----- Original Message ----- To: "Multiple recipients of list AROID-L" Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 8:31 PM Subject: Re: Soilless mix > on 4/3/02 11:38 AM, Celeste Whitlow at politicalamazon@charter.net wrote: > > > The only thing I would add to this excellent advise is this: when anything is > > grown in a container, modifications must occur because the limited space the > > media occupies dramatically alters water drainage, CEC, ability of the media > > to maintain an even temperature, etc. > Hey, what is the acronym name for the "CEC" , in this sentence. thanks angel > -- > Angel151@earthlink.net >

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.