I have a question that came up in a discussion with another faculty
member. We both work with heavy metal toxicity and started discussing
the sensitivity of CP to minerals and the fact that these plants grow in
acid peat and should be watered with distilled or deionized water.
My question is this: Does peat contain a lot of soluble minerals and
metals or few? Metals are much more soluble in acid conditions than at
neutral or basic pH. But if there are already a lot of dissolved
minerals/metals then why the concern about watering with mineral free
water? Or in a peat bog are there actually fewer dissolved minerals
because of the chronic acidic conditions (the minerals are 'washed
out')?
Any information or references about this would be very helpful. We had
even discussed the possibility of doing a nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) study on some roots and add various metals and watch for changes
in intracellular pH and metal composition, comparing CP roots to
'normal' plant roots.
Greg Long
greg.long@factory.com
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. POW 1.1 0043 . "We must laugh at man, to avoid crying for him" Napoleon