Perlite in agriculture industry
Today human beings are always looking for solutions to improve the quality of the life and wellbeing level of society. Promoting food and agriculture industry is one of main factors of progress and improvement of human life quality.
Using perlite has created wonderful spurt in agriculture industry and it will create in future so. Perlite has 2_6% water in its structure. It's common that by heating this material and existing water evaporation, the secondary volume increases by 4 to 20 times more than original volume, and the physical shape of the concentric circles are creating with lots of pores that lighten the perlite. It should be noted this operation, also changes the gray or shiny black color of perlite to snow white or light gray.
So expanded perlite is a lightweight, porous material with neutral PH that could absorb and maintain water. In presence of perlite, the problem of aggregation of CO2 in soil, almost is removed. Also roots and ground organs of plants could move easier in soil. In terms of health, we are facing with sterile environment, that is free of pathogen micro-organisms and it is more interesting that perlite has herbicide property.
Due to being mineral and similar to the chemical structure of soil, it does not disturbance in soil structure. Perlite causes quick growth and greening of the plants. It has enrichment minerals in its structure such as Fe, Na, Ca and other minerals. Increasing moisture absorbency and its maintenance, making close the soil to neutral and decreasing distance between particles, are from the effects of perlite in sandy soil.
Perlite in clay soils causes following items:
1_Creating pores for drainage and gas transfer in soil
2_Reducing cracks in the soil
3_Preventing from compression, improving spread of roots in soil and finally improving plant growth
The use of perlite for soil repair, is done mostly in fields such as floriculture, gardening, sulfated fields, dry farming and fields with hard structure, and often in best way solves physical and chemical problems of soil and as comparison to chemical dung, absolutely is more economic.
Perlite in hydroponic cultivation
It is known, in places that don't have farming soil, there is common kind of cultivation, called hydroponic that is a Greek word and means cultivation in water. This method requires to provide water containing minerals.
Therefore could use perlite or rock wool. Of course perlite is performing better and its practical sample on tomato cultivation has showed that by using perlite, amount of product is 7 times more than using rock wool, and this is exactly the reason that perlite ability is eminent in nutrition and water maintenance.
Perlite in every hydroponic cultivation is reusable and only it would need sterilization. Also perlite could utilize as a carrier for chemical dungs, herbicides and pesticides. Perlite addition to the soil due to high absorption and maintenance of water has main benefits, because it makes preventing from evaporation and keeping water for long time.
Soil moisture causes to reduce water requirement and preventing from nutrition laundering, also existence of lots of pores and cavities in perlite along the soil causes air inter chance between soil pores, increasing seeds and roots of plants could grow in soil easily.
The main properties of perlite in agriculture consumption come as following:
1_Including neutral acidity and not disturbing the natural growth of plant, does not cause sudden changes in soil temperature, being hygienic, preventing from negative effects of weeds and vermin, having similar structure to the chemical structure of soil minerals and not disturbing in soil structure.
2_Growth and propagation: Appropriate mixing of perlite with chemical dungs and clay is main factor in plant growth and propagation. This mixture makes perfect drainage in soil, maintain moisture in its self, prevents from weaken roots and destroying them while propagation or cultivation.
The mixture is using as a growth factor of potted plants and not mixed perlite is using at bottom of the pot for fair drainage.
3_Soil and grass repair: often gardening and farming soil are sandy or clay, sandy soil because of distance between particles has low tendency of moisture maintenance and neutrality, while air in clay soil is transferring difficulty, also drainage is difficult, by the way compressibility feature is better in it.
Adding perlite in both kind of soil makes to adjust conditions and improve qualification of soil.
4_Seeds sowing and growth: Usually in this case is using granule perlite. From main properties of expanded perlite that it's useful in this case are: ability of moisture maintenance in fixed amount, insulation feature, sunlight reflection ability because of white color that makes steady temperature around the seeds.
In seeding is used perlite mixed with organic materials or perlite mixed with organic materials and soil.
Perlite in field with hard structure and low permeability, favor the soil, increases permeability, makes Oxygen and roots move easier and by importing existence minerals in perlite to soil makes the soil rich.
Although because of insulation feature, by special technology could produce required products for cold seasons and in cultivation of hand planted forests is very useful. Compounds does not contain perlite, have low watering ability and excrete the Oxygen that causes to block the phloem of roots and finally results to plant suffocation in lack of Oxygen. So perlite due to containing tin pores of Oxygen could supply required water and Oxygen for roots easily.
