Influence of an Aluminum Amendment on Phosphorus Leaching from a Container Medium

Columns of an incubated (25°C, 11% volumetric moisture for 30 days) 2 milled pine bark : 1 Canadian sphagnum peat : 1 builders’ sand (by volume) medium amended with the equivalent of 270 g P·m−3 from radioactive superphosphate (8.7% P) and the equivalent of 0, 33, 200, or 1200 g Al·m−3 from aluminum acetate (13.2% Al) were leached daily with 16 ml deionized water. Eighty percent of the 32P amendment leached during days one to 21 from the medium not amended with Al, whereas 0.3% leached when amended with 1200 g Al·m−3. Leachate 32P levels ranged from 840, 711, 91, and 2.0 μg·ml−1 on day 1 to 2.3, 3.3, 7.6, and 0.9 μg·ml−1 on day 77 for the medium with Al amendments of 0, 33, 200, and 1200 g·m−3, respectively.