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

Vertisols have a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them belonging to the montmorillonites

 

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Shellfish is composed of approximately 20–50 % minerals (mostly calcium carbonate), 20–40 % proteins and 15–40 % polysaccharides [6]. The major polysaccharide in shell waste is chitin, which is a cationic polymer of β-(1, 4) linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-d-glucopyranose units [10].

 

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Black carbon (BC) is the light-absorbing refractory form of elemental carbon

Black carbon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Fly ash composition by coal type[citation needed]

Component	Bituminous	Subbituminous	Lignite
SiO2 (%)	20–60	40–60	15–45
Al2O3 (%)	5–35	20–30	20–25
Fe2O3 (%)	10–40	4–10	4–15
CaO (%)	1–12	5–30	15–40
LOI (%)	0–15	0–3	0–5

"Black carbon" refers to tiny particles of soot that effectively absorb light (photons), meaning when photons hit black carbon, they are largely captured and not reflected, contributing to its dark appearance and ability to significantly impact climate change by trapping heat in the atmosphere; essentially, black carbon acts as a strong photon absorber.

Coal combustion products - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Depending upon the source and composition of the coal being burned, the components of fly ash vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO2) (both amorphous and crystalline), aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and calcium oxide (CaO), the main mineral compounds in coal-bearing rock strata.

Anthracite - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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In 2009, a team of MIT physicists demonstrated that a lithium gas cooled to less than one kelvin can exhibit ferromagnetism.[12] The team cooled fermionic lithium-6 to less than 150 nK (150 billionths of one kelvin) using infrared laser cooling. This demonstration is the first time that ferromagnetism has been demonstrated in a gas.

Iron transport and its regulation in plants
​

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2018.10.439

Ferromagnetism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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Table 1. Approximate content in plants, roles in plants, and source available to plants of essential plant nutrients.

Nutrient (chemical symbol)	Approximate content of plant (% dry weight)	Roles in plant	Source of nutrient available to plant
Carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O)	90+%​	Components of organic compounds	Carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O)
Nitrogen (N)	2–4%​	Component of amino acids, proteins, coenzymes, nucleic acids	Nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+)
Sulfur (S)	0.50%​	Component of sulfur amino acids, proteins, coenzyme A	Sulfate (SO4-)
Phosphorus (P)	0.40%​	ATP, NADP intermediates of metabolism, membrane phospholipids, nucleic acids	Dihydrogen phosphate (H2PO4-), Hydrogen phosphate (HPO42-)
Potassium (K)	2.00%​	Enzyme activation, turgor, osmotic regulation	Potassium (K+)
Calcium (Ca)	1.50%​	Enzyme activation, signal transduction, cell structure	Calcium (Ca2+)
Magnesium (Mg)	0.40%​	Enzyme activation, component of chlorophyll	Magnesium (Mg2+)
Manganese (Mn)	0.02%​	Enzyme activation, essential for water splitting	Manganese (Mn2+)
Iron (Fe)	0.02%​	Redox changes, photosynthesis, respiration	Iron (Fe2+)
Molybdenum (Mo)	0.00%​	Redox changes, nitrate reduction	Molybdate (MoO42-)
Copper (Cu)	0.00%​	Redox changes, photosynthesis, respiration	Copper (Cu2+)
Zinc (Zn)	0.00%​	Enzyme cofactor-activator	Zinc (Zn2+)
Boron (Bo)	0.01%​	Membrane activity, cell division	Borate (BO3-)
Chlorine (Cl)	0.1–2.0%​	Charge balance, water splitting	Chlorine (Cl-)
Nickel (Ni)	0.000005–0.0005%​	Component of some enzymes, biological nitrogen fixation, nitrogen metabolism	Nickel (Ni2+)

 

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Soil moisture - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Moisture level concepts​

ECMWF soil moisture forecast for the East Asia region, showing the key moisture levels and intermediate measurementsField capacityA flooded field will drain the gravitational water under the influence of gravity until water's adhesive and cohesive forces resist further drainage at which point it is said to have reached field capacity.[20] At that point, plants must apply suction to draw water from a soil. By convention it is defined at 0.33 bar suction.[20][21]Available water and unavailable waterThe water that plants may draw from the soil is called the available water.[20][22] Once the available water is used up the remaining moisture is called unavailable water as the plant cannot produce sufficient suction to draw that water in.Wilting pointThe wilting point is the minimum amount of water plants need to not wilt and approximates the boundary between available and unavailable water. By convention it is defined as 15 bar suction. At this point, seeds will not germinate,[23][20][24] plants begin to wilt and then die unless they are able to recover after water replenishment thanks to species-specific adaptations.[25]

Wilting point, field capacity, and available water of various soil textures (unit: % by volume)[34]

Soil Texture	Wilting Point	Field Capacity	Available water
Sand	3.3	9.1	5.8
Sandy loam	9.5	20.7	11.2
Loam	11.7	27.0	15.3
Silt loam	13.3	33.0	19.7
Clay loam	19.7	31.8	12.1
Clay	27.2	39.6	12.4

Water applied to a soil is pushed by pressure gradients from the point of its application where it is saturated locally, to less saturated areas, such as the vadose zone.[44][45] Once soil is completely wetted, any more water will move downward, or percolate out of the range of plant roots, carrying with it clay, humus, nutrients, primarily cations, and various contaminants, including pesticides, pollutants, viruses and bacteria, potentially causing groundwater contamination.[46][47] In order of decreasing solubility, the leached nutrients are:

• Calcium
• Magnesium, Sulfur, Potassium; depending upon soil composition
• Nitrogen; usually little, unless nitrate fertiliser was applied recently
• Phosphorus; very little as its forms in soil are of low solubility.[48]

Water use efficiency is measured by the transpiration ratio, which is the ratio of the total water transpired by a plant to the dry weight of the harvested plant. Transpiration ratios for crops range from 300 to 700. For example, alfalfa may have a transpiration ratio of 500; as a result, 500 kilograms of water will produce one kilogram of dry alfalfa.[76]

Water-use efficiency - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The concept, put forward by Frank Veihmeyer and Arthur Hendrickson,[3] assumed that the water readily available to plants is the difference between the soil water content at field capacity (θfc) and permanent wilting point (θpwp):

θa ≡ θfc − θpwp


Sepiolite is renowned industrially for its water-holding and sorptive capacities. It is a common ingredient in cat litter and in agricultural applications such as seed coatings.[20] Sepiolite increases plant available water in sandy soil.[19]

Available water capacity - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

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https://ia801308.us.archive.org/27/items/CRC.Press.Handbook.of.Chemistry.and.Physics.85th.ed.eBook-LRN/CRC.Press.Handbook.of.Chemistry.and.Physics.85th.ed.eBook-LRN.pdf

Solution (chemistry) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Liquid solution characteristics​

See also: Solvent § Solvent classifications
In principle, all types of liquids can behave as solvents: liquid noble gases, molten metals, molten salts, molten covalent networks, and molecular liquids. In the practice of chemistry and biochemistry, most solvents are molecular liquids. They can be classified into polar and non-polar, according to whether their molecules possess a permanent electric dipole moment. Another distinction is whether their molecules can form hydrogen bonds (protic and aprotic solvents). Water, the most commonly used solvent, is both polar and sustains hydrogen bonds.


Water is a good solvent for some polar materials because water molecules are polar and capable of forming hydrogen bonds.
Salts dissolve in polar solvents, forming positive and negative ions that are attracted to the negative and positive ends of the solvent molecule, respectively. If the solvent is water, hydration occurs when the charged solute ions become surrounded by water molecules. A standard example is aqueous saltwater. Such solutions are called electrolytes. Whenever salt dissolves in water ion association has to be taken into account.

Polar solutes dissolve in polar solvents, forming polar bonds or hydrogen bonds. As an example, all alcoholic beverages are aqueous solutions of ethanol. On the other hand, non-polar solutes dissolve better in non-polar solvents. Examples are hydrocarbons such as oil and grease that easily mix, while being incompatible with water.

An example of the immiscibility of oil and water is a leak of petroleum from a damaged tanker, that does not dissolve in the ocean water but rather floats on the surface.

• Molar solution – Measure of concentration of a chemical
• Percentage solution (disambiguation)
• Solubility equilibrium – Thermodynamic equilibrium between a solid and a solution of the same compound
• Total dissolved solids – Measurement in environmental chemistry is a common term in a range of disciplines, and can have different meanings depending on the analytical method used. In water quality, it refers to the amount of residue remaining after the evaporation of water from a sample.
• Upper critical solution temperature – Critical temperature of miscibility in a mixture
• Lower critical solution temperature – Critical temperature below which components of a mixture are miscible for all compositions
• Coil–globule transition – Collapse of a macromolecule from an expanded coil state to a collapsed globule state

Chemical solutions
Solution	Ideal solution Aqueous solution Solid solution Buffer solution Flory–Huggins Mixture Suspension Colloid Phase diagram Phase separation Eutectic point Alloy Saturation Supersaturation Serial dilution Dilution (equation) Apparent molar property Miscibility gap
Concentration and related quantities	Molar concentration Mass concentration Number concentration Volume concentration Normality Molality Mole fraction Mass fraction Isotopic abundance Mixing ratio Ternary plot
Solubility	Solubility equilibrium Total dissolved solids Solvation Solvation shell Enthalpy of solution Lattice energy Raoult's law Henry's law Solubility table (data) Solubility chart Miscibility
Solvent	(Category) Acid dissociation constant Protic solvent Polar aprotic solvent Inorganic nonaqueous solvent Solvation List of boiling and freezing information of solvents Partition coefficient Polarity Hydrophobe Hydrophile Lipophilic Amphiphile Lyonium ion Lyate ion

 

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Reactions​

Reactions in aqueous solutions are usually metathesis reactions. Metathesis reactions are another term for double-displacement; that is, when a cation displaces to form an ionic bond with the other anion. The cation bonded with the latter anion will dissociate and bond with the other anion.[1]

A common metathesis reaction in aqueous solutions is a precipitation reaction. This reaction occurs when two aqueous strong electrolyte solutions mix and produce an insoluble solid, also known as a precipitate. The ability of a substance to dissolve in water is determined by whether the substance can match or exceed the strong attractive forces that water molecules generate between themselves. If the substance lacks the ability to dissolve in water, the molecules form a precipitate.[3]

When writing the equations of precipitation reactions, it is essential to determine the precipitate. To determine the precipitate, one must consult a chart of solubility. Soluble compounds are aqueous, while insoluble compounds are the precipitate. There may not always be a precipitate. Complete ionic equations and net ionic equations are used to show dissociated ions in metathesis reactions. When performing calculations regarding the reacting of one or more aqueous solutions, in general one must know the concentration, or molarity, of the aqueous solutions.[citation needed]

Aqueous solution - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Chart​

The following chart shows the solubility of various ionic compounds in water at 1 atm pressure and room temperature (approx. 25 °C, 298.15 K). "Soluble" means the ionic compound doesn't precipitate, while "slightly soluble" and "insoluble" mean that a solid will precipitate; "slightly soluble" compounds like calcium sulfate may require heat to precipitate. For compounds with multiple hydrates, the solubility of the most soluble hydrate is shown.

Some compounds, such as nickel oxalate, will not precipitate immediately even though they are insoluble, requiring a few minutes to precipitate out.[1]

Key

S​	highly soluble or miscible	≥20 g/L
sS​	slightly soluble	0.1~20 g/L
I​	relatively insoluble	<0.1 g/L
R​	reacts with or in water	—
?​	unavailable	—

See the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics

 

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Water in the vadose zone has a pressure head less than atmospheric pressure, and is retained by a combination of adhesion (funiculary groundwater), and capillary action (capillary groundwater). If the vadose zone envelops soil, the water contained therein is termed soil moisture. In fine grained soils, capillary action can cause the pores of the soil to be fully saturated above the water table at a pressure less than atmospheric. The vadose zone does not include the area that is still saturated above the water table, often referred to as the capillary fringe. [1]

Movement of water within the vadose zone is studied within soil physics and hydrology, particularly hydrogeology, and is of importance to agriculture,

Vadose zone - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

• Aquifer – Underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock
• Capillary fringe – Subsurface layer in which groundwater seeps up from a water table by capillary action
• Epiphreatic zone – Zone between the saturated and unsaturated zones
• Groundwater – Water located beneath the ground surface
• Infiltration (hydrology) – Process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil
• Phreatic zone – Zone in an aquifer below the water table
• Water retention curve – relationship between soil water content and water pressure head

 

[Airloom]

soil organic carbon, which comes from decaying plant matter, plays a significant role in the ion exchange capacity of soil,

This is a great read.

I am busy finishing my outdoor grow and spending long hours in trim jail but found this thread during a break.

I just started making my own LABS to use in watering my living soil and I continue to search for a better understanding of the complex soil environment. I think creeper park does a similarly excellent job of re phrasing (perhaps?) the complicated stuff into examples I can grasp. I appreciate the efforts of others here to illuminate the way for those of us that need a light in the dark. Thank you all

I had a very hot dry summer and into the fall so lots of watering. I relied on a locally acquired blend of microbes to mix into my water. I was skeptical (at 35$ per 100 gallons) but it did really work. My plants had minor pest issues but all thrived on just water with microbes. It seemed a bit like magic to me not mixing or adding nutrients. I read somewhere that if my soil is healthy, the small plant roots in my fabric bags will be consumed by the soil microbes/bacteria post harvest. I never knew that’s why I would find hardly any small roots in my bags in spring. I thought I’d done something wrong and maybe my yield was way off. It seems now that’s not at all the case. I would just leave the stem until spring and just loosen the soil, remove the stem and get ready to plant. I would top dress each bag and use chia or clover and till that in by hand. I’m still learning and still just a farmer.