Engineered soilless plant culitvation medium
AssigneeNano Growth Technologies, LLC
InventorTimothy Ward
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An engineered soilless plant cultivation medium for potting applications includes specific balanced amounts of nutrient additives. Major nutrient cations (Ca, Mg, K, Na, H) are balanced according to optimal base saturation percentage ranges. Nutrient levels, namely, the amount of major nutrient cations, major nutrient anions and minor nutrients satisfy desired ranges for both standard Mehlich III soil extraction tests and saturated paste tests.
Claims18
A pre-mixed, engineered cultivation medium having specific balanced amounts of the major nutrient cations calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, the medium comprising:
- a soilless substrate mixture;
- and
- nutrient additives comprising:
- 1) major nutrient cations including calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium 2) major nutrient anions including phosphorous and sulfur;
- 3) minor nutrient elements including boron, iron, manganese, copper, zinc and aluminum;
- wherein according to Mehlich III soil extractions tests said engineered cultivation medium has a cation exchange capacity in the range of 10-15 mEq/100 g, and a base saturation percentage of the calcium is within the range of about 60% to 70% of the cation exchange capacity, a base saturation percentage of the magnesium is within the range of about 10% to 20% of the cation exchange capacity, a base saturation percentage of the potassium is within the range of about 3% to 8% of the cation exchange capacity, the base saturation percentage of the sodium less than about 3% of the cation exchange capacity and the base saturation percentage of exchangeable hydrogen is within the range of about 7% to 15% of the cation exchange capacity, the combination of the calcium and magnesium base saturation percentages does not exceed 80% of the cation exchange capacity and further wherein saturated paste tests on the engineered cultivation medium result in:
- calcium in the range of about 30-45 ppm, magnesium in the range of about 7-8 ppm, potassium in the range of about 15-20 ppm, and sodium less than about 3 ppm.
A method of making a pre-mixed, engineered cultivation medium comprising a soilless substrate and nutrient additives and having specific balanced amounts of the major nutrient cations calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, the method comprising the following steps:
- determining relative amounts of constituents for the soilless substrate and the nutrient additives for the pre-mixed, engineered cultivation medium by adjusting the relative amounts of the constituents for the soilless substrate and the nutrient additives until the resulting mixture has the following characteristics:
- (i) a cation exchange capacity (CEC) measured according to Mehlich III analysis;
- and (ii) the presence of major nutrient anions including phosphorus and sulfur and (iii) the presences of the major nutrient cations of calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and hydrogen, in the following amounts according to Mehlich III tests;
- the base saturation percentage of calcium is within the range of about 60-70% of the measured cation exchange capacity of the resulting mixture, the base saturation percentage of magnesium is within the range of about 10-20% of the measured cation exchange capacity of the resulting mixture, the base saturation percentage of the potassium is within the range of about 3-8% of the measured cation exchange capacity of the resulting mixture, and the base saturation of percentage of sodium is less than about 3% of the measured cation exchange capacity of the resulting mixture and the base saturation percent of exchangeable hydrogen is within the rage of about 7%-15% of the measured cation exchange capacity of the resulting mixture;
- the combination of the base saturation percentages for calcium and magnesium does not exceed 80% of the total cation exchange capacity of the resulting mixture;
- combining the determined relative amounts of the constituents of the soilless substrate and the nutrient additives and mixing to make the pre-mixed, engineered cultivation medium for end use, wherein the pre-mixed, engineered cultivation medium includes the major nutrient cations calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium in the following amounts measured by saturated paste tests:
- calcium in the range of about 30-45 ppm, magnesium in the range of about 7-8 ppm, potassium in the range of about 15-20 ppm, and sodium less than about 3 ppm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.