I need to assimilate a determining condition for the plant. However, I need to ask you if it is possible to change the properties and concentration of plant nutrients in this material like perlite and vermiculite.
Yes , quite possible , but need to standardize the quantity -intensity factor with agiven combination perlite and vermiculite....
Eduardo Muñoz
I applied NPK and NPK + Cu formulation into vermiculite.
Good luck!
You need to standardize all your treatments. If this is not the case, consider each modification as a treatment, if you want to see the response of the plant to different conditions (concentrations of NPK fertilizers).
As I understand,vermiculite and perlite are common growth media in potted studies.They can be used as per recommended amounts keeping in plants and containers chosen for the study.The macro(NPK) and micronutrients(Zn, Cu etc) can be applied as per treatments desired to be tested. Interaction between medium and treatments if any can be tested using nutrients like K. NH4, Mg etc which may possibly interact to some extent with vermiculite. One can see literature for any previous studies in this line.
Eduardo Muñoz
Vermiculite is a less expanding type of 2:1 clay mineral with a very high capacity to hold (adsorb) and exchange nutrient cations. Thus, it is possible to add nutrients to the vermiculite clay without much loss from percolating water.
Perlite is somewhat inert material and it will only help in proper aeration and drainage in the pot. With proper amounts of peat, vermiculite and perlite one can create growth conditions for plants in the pots. pH of the medium can be checked and adjusted to near 6.5 to 7.5 in the pot mixture after moisture adjustment (vermiculite can also help in pH adjustment and CaCO3 may be used for further pH adjustment). As mentioned by me earlier, the vermiculite can hold and release cationic nutrients like K ,Mg, Ca and NH4.Other nutients can be added at recommended or desired level as per treatments.
Perlite has much lover capacity than vermiculite. But every substrate has it's own pH range, you can look for it in literature. If you want to control some characteristics of a substrate you can use vermiculite in mixture with perlite (because of a very large water-holding capacity of vermiculite) or can use zeolite (of non-clay type). Zeolite is normally used in long-realize fertilizer production.
Eduardo Muñoz I would suggest to avoid perlite, algae can grow on it due to its high water retention capacity. Vermiculite + sand would be a better solution for this kind of experiments. You can get more information for nutrient related studies from the article .
Article Root morphology and cluster root formation by seabuckthorn (...
For my Master's thesis work in Horticulture I did a fertilizer study using various concentrations/applications of N, P, and K. Instead of using vermiculite and perlite, my advisor and I grew the plants in pure silica sand, with a double layer of mosquito netting in the bottom of the pots to keep the sand granules from washing out of the drainage holes during watering and fertilization. Silica sand does not easily bind to certain fertilizer components and is stable/inert. The only draw-back is its weight and the requirement to water it more often, because the sand grains do not stay moist as long, as they would, if perlite and vermiculite were used for a growing medium.
Harald Grieb Interesting information on sand culture.Long time back I faced a problem of iron nutrition in rice crop in sand culture, because of prevalence of more aerobic conditions (anaerobic conditions provide better environment for rice nutrition) Under those conditions foliar application of iron is helpful..For many crops sand culture is o.k.
Thanks to everyone for helping me with my question. Had been of great help.
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