Offshoot Production of Perennial Groundcovers in Porous Ceramic

摘要

Many groundcover plants such as Ophiopogon, Hosta, Hemerocallis, and Liriope are marketed and sold as bare-root divisions. Dividing and barerooting these plants is a labor-intensive process, whether container grown or field grown. Profile^'^ (Profileproducts LLC, Buffalo Grove, Illinois) is a calcined clay product whose base minerals are illite clay and amorphous silica. The raw product is heated in a kiln at 1500 °C+, which permanently changes the base minerals to a stable calcined clay (also called porous ceramic) particle. The resulting particles have approximately 74% pore space with half of the pores available for capillary (water holding), and the remaining half for noncapillary (air and drainage) pores. The final product also has a cation exchange capacity of 33 meq/100 g. These products have been used for many years as soil amendments in golf course greens to improve soil structure. There have been comprehensive reviews on these and other soil amendments in turfgrass (Daniel and Freeborg,1979; Grunthal, 1996). Past research has indicated an increase in bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) tissue when soil was amended with > 40% ProfileTM (Wehtje et al.’ 2003). Rhododendron sp. has been shown to grow exceptionally well in media containing calcined clay at up to 50% by volume (Carlile and Bedford, 1988).