CEC (or for the ignorant,Cat-ion, Exchange,Capacity)

Nutrient uptake is dependant on this...CEC,the real name for Potential Hydrogen (Ph)....Any Questions?,dig up some 3rd yr botany text and look it up. Ph,or CEC is a basic chemical reaction involving pos. and neg. ions. Like steel to a magnet,with out proper Ph levels,it JUST WONT WORK!

You mean like this,
View attachment 1468149

And like this,
View attachment 1468151

The ideal PH of gowing media is basic stuff that even the newest of noobs could find and understand within 10 mins on this site.
Don't make simple things complicated in a bid to make yourself look intelligent.

Are you saying CEC and pH are the same? Pretty different if you are... Funny that I haven't heard CEC mentioned once on here when it is so important.

never said the same...buffering capacity, relevant to nute uptake?

thats a nice chart Yourk,the 2nd is good thanks for sharing,kinda brings it into light.

CEC effects buffer capacity for pH but more importantly denotes how much nutrients are bound to the grow medium and constantly available for uptake. Plants generally only absorb the ionic forms of micro and macro nutrients. Ionic = has a charge for those that don't know. A cat-ion also carries a charge and thus the higher the CEC the more ionized nutrients the soil can hold in place.

It blows me away at how many potting "soils" have no actual soil in them. Soil is sand, silt, and clay. Clay has a VERY high CEC, it holds water well but more importantly binds with all of your nutrients so that they don't run out of the bottom of your pot.

hillydirtfarmer said:

never said the same...buffering capacity, relevant to nute uptake?

Click to expand...

Erm.....no,not really.
If the soil has a bad CEC then it will throw your PH off (which IS relvant to nute uptake),but then why would anybody be using soil with a bad CEC for growing bud in the first place? the only way this would happen is if you went out into the sticks and dug up some random dirt and took it home to grow in.
If you just went to the shop and bought a bag of soil this would never happen (which is why it's not mentioned anywhere on this site!),and just to be on the safe side we mix in some lime (buffer?) and we're good to go!

Like I said,don't make simple things complicated in a bid to make yourself look intelligent.