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- Author or Editor: Yuan-ling P. Lin x
Alumina granules charged with P were used as an amendment to improve the ability of a soilless medium to retain P and provide it to plants. Commercially available alumina was acidified, saturated with P, and evenly distributed in a medium of peat, vermiculite, and sand to grow potted marigolds (Tagetes spp.) to a commercially salable stage. Marigolds grown in medium amended with P-charged alumina had adequate nutrition and similar or superior shoot growth (as measured by height, number of branches, and flower production) and fresh and dry weights compared to marigolds grown using commercial fertilizer. Phosphorus-charged alumina at 1% or 2% of total medium volume was sufficient to grow marigolds for at least 8 weeks and substantially reduced P leaching compared to conventionally fertilized controls. Alumina amendments in this range did not cause Al toxicity, as evidenced in root growth and leaf Al content.
Soilless growing media are used extensively in the greenhouse, especially for the potted plant production. Unlike soil having a phosphorus (P)-fixing ability, soilless media allows greater P leaching from the media. Leaching of excess P results in inefficient fertilizer utilization and effluent pollution. In hydroponic and sand-culture systems, alumina adsorbed with P (P-alumina) has been developed as a P source to maintain buffered P concentrations in nutrient solutions. This P-alumina has not been used with soilless media; however, it may have a potential of serving as a P source for plant growth and a P buffer to alleviate P leaching in soilless media. Marigolds were grown in soilless media (peat moss: vermiculite: sand=2:2:1, v/v/v) with P-alumina at various concentrations being substituted for sand. These marigolds were fertilized with a nutrient solution containing no additional P, while the control was fertilized with complete nutrient solution. In four cultivars of marigolds, me P-alumina treatments produced comparable or superior growth and floral production compared to plants provided with complete nutrient solutions or conventional fertilizer. 70% of applied P was leached in conventional treatments compared to only 2% in the P-alumina treatments.