Ammonium Adsorption on a Pine-bark Growing Medium

Pine bark was shown to adsorb 1.5 mg of N/g of bark when NH4 solutions were leached through the bark. Increasing pH of bark increased adsorbed NH4. At pH 3.3, only NH4 was adsorbed to bark particles when a fertilizer solution containing NH4, Ca, K, and Mg was applied. However, adsorption of NH4 and other cations increased as pH was increased from 3.8 to 5.8. These data indicate that 2 types of sites exist for the adsorption of NH4 to pine bark. One site is effective at lower pH; the other is active as pH increases. Daily application of 2.5 cm of water containing 50 ppm NH4 required 20 days for equilibration to occur so as to satisfy all binding sites. Thus, incorporation of NH4 into a pine-bark medium prior to planting may be advisable to prevent low N levels from occurring in the container solution due to NH4 binding when plants are first planted and fertilized.