law of minimum, trace elements/minerals

Discussion in 'Advanced Growing Techniques' started by 1tokeovrtheline, Jan 30, 2010.

  1. Justus Von Liebig came up with the famous Law of the Minimum which basically says that plants are more limited by not having enough of even the smallest factor than by having a lot of any other factor. For instance you might think that you have all the big things covered-good lights, good air, etc but you have a deficiency of magnesium and you're limited by that "small" factor. Basically there are no small factors, only factors that come in small amounts.

    Up until even now people have looked at plant nutrition as simple n-p-k, but more people now are starting to regard micro nutrients and factors like beneficial fungus, microbes, nematodes, etc. Few people, however, look at trace nutrition. These are elements, vitamins, etc that are available in extremely small amounts, but are still used by plants (and animals) as nutrition. Many believe this is the reason that artificial food is so unhealthy-it rarely contains trace elements, so we can go on and on living off the "essentials" but we are stressed by the lack of trace elements, which results in poor health. Trace elements are available in bonsai tree "frits", some other places, and most abundantly in azomite, which stands for A to Z Of Minerals Including Trace Elements. I'm not trying to advertise for them, but I would like to open up further discussion on the topic because I think trace elements are important overall, especially in hydroponic systems.
     

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