Metallic Trace Elements
Posted: Wednesday, December 22, 2010
by Robert Wright
UsaveHydroponics
Metallic trace elements, or micronutrients, play many roles in plants, many are difficult to describe without knowing the plant chemistry. Most micronutrients are classified by chemists as metals. These metal trace elements, with the exception of molybdenum. Soil molybdenum behaves very differently than these other metallic elements.
Metallic trace elements interact with special molecules, called enzymes, that control important biological reactions. Enzymes are "keys" that activate biological reactions in living systems. They are not consumed in the process, but are reused repeatedly. So, very little of the enzyme is needed, a little of the associated trace element is required. Just remember without this tiny amount, however, important processes suffer.
Growers should apply trace elements with extreme caution, after soil and tissue testing.
Metallic trace elements have certain similarities. They are taken up by plants as simple cations, like the ferrous ion (Fe +2).
Much of the metallic micronutrient soil content is held in the soil as compounds like oxides and hydroxides of low solubility, and their improved solubility at low pH is a reason they are more available in acid soil.
They also form metallic - organic molecules called chelates, in which a metal ion is surrounded by a large organic molecule. Chorophyll itself is an example of chelated magnesium.
In the soil, humic acids act as chelating agents.
Chelates are an important form of storage for metallic ions, and in this form they are somewhat protected from being tied up by other chemical reactions, though in some situations, chelation itself may tie up a micronutrient. Artificial chelates are also used as micronutrient fertilizers.
As cations, metallic trace elements also absorb to colloids surfaces, and typical cation - exchange stores and make them available to plants.
Author: Robert R. Wright
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