CEC Gain
Stable humus in Terralift fetilisers increases Cation Exchange Capacity
How Terralift Granular Fertilsers increase root zone CEC
CEC comes from 2 sources
- Clay – in effect colloidal clay (microscopic particles)
- Stable humus – from the microbial breakdown of organic matter e.g. mature compost and humate soils (humic/fulvic acids)
Clay and organic matter have negative charges that can hold and release positively charged nutrients (the nutrient cations are absorbed onto the surface of the clay or humus). That static charge keeps the nutrients from being washed away, and holds them so they are available to plant roots and soil micro-organisms.
The roots and micro-organisms get these nutrients by exchanging them for free hydrogen ions (water solution). The free hydrogen H+ fills the (-) site and allows the cation nutrient to be absorbed by the root or micro-organism.
Terralift granules add to sand based CEC root zones on the basis of their stable humus and calcium content. Once the granules hit the ground they will encourage microbial life that will in turn create more stable humus from both the granule content and the ‘sloughed off roots and under leaf. This will in turn be greatly assisted by the presence of calcium (free-calciums are in all Terralift granulars) which ‘opens’ the soil to allow better air/moisture movement for more active microbial break down of the OM to create humus, adding further to and extending the period of CEC.
The percentage gain in CEC calculated for each Terralift granular fertiliser refers to the top 5cm of a sandy root-zone with a CEC of 3.