Benefits of Electroculture On Soil - Electro-Horticulture - page 56

holding large amounts of water, the plants grown there are more likely to wilt because the
soil-water tends to be tightly retained within the structure of the clay. So when growing on
clay soils, it's usually difficult to improve water availability. Electroculture is a way that
this restriction can be reversed, through the mechanism of electro-osmosis. Water would
be electrically pulled out of clay and into the surrounding pore spaces, making growing in
clay into a benefit, now that the value they provide realizable.
Another way the wilting point can be lowered is through the research of Wang, et. al.,
mentioned above. He demonstrated that applied electric fields increase the pore volume of
the soil (via bacterial interactions), thus giving the soil itself an increase in water-holding
capacity. This is similar to the way that a sponge with large holes can hold much more
water than a weak sponge with a bunch of smaller-sized holes.
Oxygen Content
While the leaves of the plant require carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, the roots need
oxygen for cellular respiration. Normally, plants absorb oxygen from the gases present in
the pore spaces within the soil. Two ways that electroculture facilitates root oxygenation
are:
1. The creation of larger soil aggregates.
2. The electrolytic generation of sub-surface oxygen.
As covered above, the soil structure can be improved through the creation of larger soil
aggregates. This allows for a greater amount of air to be stored beneath the soil's surface
due to the larger pore space that is available. Adding in the plant's increased rate of
transpiration,itmakessensethatanyoxygenpresentinthesoilwillbeincreasedimproving
root-based oxygenation.
The way this works is as follows: as water is taken in and used by the plant, water from
the surrounding pores in the soil is sucked into the plant like a siphon. As the water gets
consumed, the amount of air present below the surface will increase since it gets sucked
into the now-empty pore-spaces, thus helping to oxygenate the plants' roots. Again, the
usefulness of larger pore spaces for oxygenation can be seen by taking a look at the figure
of compacted vs uncompacted soils in chapter 4 .
Furthermore, when electrolysis reactions take place in the soil, it causes the creation of
gasesatsoil-particle boundaries,resultinginthegenerationofhydrogenandoxygengases.
The production of oxygen adds to the amount of air present in the soil. This may explain