A Summary of Cations & Anions
Cations and anions are the positive and negative charge of ions. This controls what the plant uptakes and controls the plant sap pH. When the plant sap pH is around 6.4, the entire plant resists environmental pressure like mold, water stress and harmful insects. "CEC" stands for cation exchange capacity. It's the capacity to allow those ions to interact with the water and fertilizer that the plant needs.
AGT-50 contains many electrolytes. It lets the cations and anions move in and out of the plant as they need. It essentially allows the plant to take what it needs, thereby reducing stress. It moderates the mass flow of nutrients at an ideal rate increasing growth and desirable traits like terpenes, sugar, and trace mineral content.
Now the Serious Soil Science
Cation/anion ratio is not a theory. It’s how you set the pH (power of hydrogen) of anything, may that be your feed reservoir or plant sap. Cations are positively charged and increase pH, anions are negatively charged and decrease pH. When everything is balanced in the plant, the plant sap will be very close to 6.4ph. Fungi do not grow well in a pH that high.
Your grow medium has a tremendous impact on availability of cations. Medium is measured by CEC or cation exchange capacity. The higher the CEC in your grow medium, the more likely the medium is to hold cations making them less available to the plant. Rockwool has a very low CEC, essentially 0 it is basically inert, and cations do not bind to it. Coco has a higher CEC usually around 40, some cations bind to it, in the case of coco it also seems selective as to which cations, but that’s a whole different discussion. Soil can be all over the place but can be easily amended to get to a favorable CEC. Typically, we would target around 100 CEC, but a successful fertigation regimen can be made for any CEC. Therefore soil, coco and hydro feeding is different. Environment is also a big factor in this. How the environment is manipulated changes transpiration rate. Nitrate, calcium, sulfur, and magnesium are mass flow nutrients meaning they are only absorbed when the plant is transpiring, and their rate of abortion is directly proportional to the concentration of each in the root zone. The other macro nutrients are absorbed via diffusion, basically osmotic pressure at the roots.
Knowing the pH of your ingredients and how to optimize plant yield puts you in control of your harvest.
Science has proven again and again that a well-rounded health and growth program can no doubt help reach your desired outputs.
For more information on AgTonik information for soil, turf, cannabis, aquaponic, specialty produce, and more, contact us today.
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