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Article: Soil fertility basics. (The garden).
- Article from:
- Countryside & Small Stock Journal
- Article date:
- May 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Countryside Publications Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The major nutrients required by plants can be divided into two basic groups, cations and anions.
Cations are ions (atoms) that carry a positive charge. The major cation nutrients, which are used in relatively large quantities by plants, are potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg). Soil clay particles and organic matter (OM) contain negatively charged "exchange sites," which attract and hold these cations. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) is a measure of a soil's ability to attract cations and keep them in an exchangeable form. These cations drift back and forth between the soil and organic matter particles and the soil water solution. A soil with a high ...