DIY Organic Potting Mix's for Grass - Ace Spicoli

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Peat moss can also acidify its surroundings by taking up cations, such as calcium and magnesium, and releasing hydrogen ions.

Sphagnum - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Although silicon is readily available in the form of silicates, very few organisms use it directly. Diatoms, radiolaria, and siliceous sponges use biogenic silica as a structural material for their skeletons. Some plants accumulate silica in their tissues and require silicon for their growth, for example rice. Silicon may be taken up by plants as orthosilicic acid (also known as monosilicic acid) and transported through the xylem, where it forms amorphous complexes with components of the cell wall. This has been shown to improve cell wall strength and structural integrity in some plants, thereby reducing insect herbivory and pathogenic infections. In certain plants, silicon may also upregulate the production of volatile organic compounds and phytohormones which play a significant role in plant defense mechanisms.[95][96][97] In more advanced plants, the silica phytoliths (opal phytoliths) are rigid microscopic bodies occurring in the cell.[98][99][96]

Several horticultural crops are known to protect themselves against fungal plant pathogens with silica, to such a degree that fungicide application may fail unless accompanied by sufficient silicon nutrition. Silicaceous plant defense molecules activate some phytoalexins, meaning some of them are signalling substances producing acquired immunity. When deprived, some plants will substitute with increased production of other defensive substances.[96]

Life on Earth is largely composed of carbon, but astrobiology considers that extraterrestrial life may have other hypothetical types of biochemistry. Silicon is considered an alternative to carbon, as it can create complex and stable molecules with four covalent bonds, required for a DNA-analog, and it is available in large quantities.[100]

Sand - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It is also used as a soil additive to hold soil water in drought-prone soils,

Montmorillonite - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

These are the current selections...
As well as epsom salt and oyster shell

Liming (soil) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Using crushed limestone...

Oyster shells are made of calcium carbonate, protein polysaccharides, and trace amounts of other minerals:

• Calcium carbonate: Makes up over 90% of an oyster shell. Calcium carbonate is also known as chalk.
• Protein polysaccharides: A component of oyster shells.
• Other minerals: Trace amounts of iron, manganese, magnesium, sodium, copper, nickel, and strontium are also present in oyster shells.
• Organic compounds: Melanin is an organic compound found in oyster shells.
  
  

Oyster shells can be used in a variety of ways, including:

• Gardening
  Crushed oyster shells can be used as a soil additive, mulch,
• or lime substitute to help balance soil pH levels and promote plant growth.
  
  
  

 

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An oyster shell is primarily composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which is a mineral that the oyster extracts from the water to build its shell; the majority of this calcium carbonate is in the form of calcite, with small areas of aragonite where muscles attach to the shell.


Key points about oyster shells:

• Main component: Calcium carbonate
  
  
• Crystal structure: Predominantly calcite, with some aragonite in specific areas

2015_SJSS_Wetlandsoilsunderricemanagementandseawater.pdf

drive.google.com

 

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Humus has many nutrients that improve the health of soil, nitrogen being the most important. The ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C:N) of humus commonly ranges between 8:1 and 15:1 with the median being about 12:1.[7] It also significantly improves (decreases) the bulk density of soil.[8] Humus is amorphous and lacks the cellular structure characteristic of organisms.[9]

When discussing "carbon and soil ions," the key point is that soil organic carbon, which comes from decaying plant matter, plays a significant role in the ion exchange capacity of soil, meaning it can hold onto positively charged ions (cations) like calcium, magnesium, and potassium, making them available to plants through the soil solution; this interaction between carbon compounds and ions is crucial for soil fertility and nutrient availability.



PEAT / BIOCHAR

 

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Bulk density of soil is usually determined from a core sample which is taken by driving a metal corer into the soil at the desired depth and horizon.[6] This gives a soil sample of known total volume, Vt. From this sample the wet bulk density and the dry bulk density can be determined.[7]

For the wet bulk density (total bulk density) this sample is weighed, giving the mass Mt. For the dry bulk density, the sample is oven dried and weighed, giving the mass of soil solids, Ms. The relationship between these two masses is Mt = Ms + Ml, where Ml is the mass of substances lost on oven drying (often, mostly water). The dry and wet bulk densities are calculated as

Dry bulk density = mass of soil/ volume as a whole

Wet bulk density = mass of soil plus liquids/ volume as a whole

The dry bulk density of a soil is inversely related to the porosity of the same soil: the more pore space in a soil the lower the value for bulk density. Bulk density of a region in the interior of the Earth is also related to the seismic velocity of waves travelling through it: for P-waves, this has been quantified with Gardner's relation. The higher the density, the faster the velocity.

Bulk density - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an atom is a measure of its combining capacity with other atoms when it forms chemical compounds or molecules. Valence is generally understood to be the number of chemical bonds that each atom of a given chemical element typically forms. Double bonds are considered to be two bonds, triple bonds to be three, quadruple bonds to be four, quintuple bonds to be five and sextuple bonds to be six. In most compounds, the valence of hydrogen is 1, of oxygen is 2, of nitrogen is 3, and of carbon is 4. Valence is not to be confused with the related concepts of the coordination number, the oxidation state, or the number of valence electrons for a given atom.

 

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Soil matrix - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Alumino-silica clays or aluminosilicate clays are characterized by their regular crystalline or quasi-crystalline structure.[24] Oxygen in ionic bonds with silicon forms a tetrahedral coordination (silicon at the center) which in turn forms sheets of silica. Two sheets of silica are bonded together by a plane of aluminium which forms an octahedral coordination, called alumina, with the oxygens of the silica sheet above and that below it.[25] Hydroxyl ions (OH−) sometimes substitute for oxygen. During the clay formation process, Al3+ may substitute for Si4+ in the silica layer, and as much as one fourth of the aluminium Al3+ may be substituted by Zn2+, Mg2+ or Fe2+ in the alumina layer. The substitution of lower-valence cations for higher-valence cations (isomorphous substitution) gives clay a local negative charge on an oxygen atom[25] that attracts and holds water and positively charged soil cations, some of which are of value for plant growth.[26] Isomorphous substitution occurs during the clay's formation and does not change with time.[27][28]

• Montmorillonite clay is made of four planes of oxygen with two silicon and one central aluminium plane intervening. The aluminosilicate montmorillonite clay is thus said to have a 2:1 ratio of silicon to aluminium, in short it is called a 2:1 clay mineral.[29] The seven planes together form a single crystal of montmorillonite. The crystals are weakly held together and water may intervene, causing the clay to swell up to ten times its dry volume.[30] It occurs in soils which have had little leaching, hence it is found in arid regions, although it may also occur in humid climates, depending on its mineralogical origin.[31] As the crystals are not bonded face to face, the entire surface is exposed and available for surface reactions, hence it has a high cation exchange capacity (CEC).[32][33][34]
• Illite is a 2:1 clay similar in structure to montmorillonite but has potassium bridges between the faces of the clay crystals and the degree of swelling depends on the degree of weathering of potassium-feldspar.[35] The active surface area is reduced due to the potassium bonds. Illite originates from the modification of mica, a primary mineral. It is often found together with montmorillonite and its primary minerals. It has moderate CEC.[36][33][37][38][39]
• Vermiculite is a mica-based clay similar to illite, but the crystals of clay are held together more loosely by hydrated magnesium and it will swell, but not as much as does montmorillonite.[40] It has very high CEC.[41][42][38][39]
• Chlorite is similar to vermiculite, but the loose bonding by occasional hydrated magnesium, as in vermiculite, is replaced by a hydrated magnesium sheet, that firmly bonds the planes above and below it. It has two planes of silicon, one of aluminium and one of magnesium; hence it is a 2:2 clay.[43] Chlorite does not swell and it has low CEC.[41][44]
• Kaolinite is a very common, highly weathered clay, and more common than montmorillonite in acid soils.[45] It has one silica and one alumina plane per crystal; hence it is a 1:1 type clay. One plane of silica of montmorillonite is dissolved and is replaced with hydroxyls, which produces strong hydrogen bonds to the oxygen in the next crystal of clay.[46] As a result, kaolinite does not swell in water and has a low specific surface area, and as almost no isomorphous substitution has occurred it has a low CEC.[47] Where rainfall is high, acid soils selectively leach more silica than alumina from the original clays, leaving kaolinite.[48] Even heavier weathering results in sesquioxide clays.[49][20][34][37][50][51]

 

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Average CEC (pH 7) for some US soils based on USDA Soil Taxonomy[8]

Soil Taxonomy order	CEC (cmolc/kg)
Ultisols	3.5
Alfisols	9
Spodosols	9.3
Entisols	11.6
Mollisols	18.7
Vertisols	35.6
Histosols	128