• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.319-330
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• 2007

This study analyzed physical and chemical characteristics of peat soil to use peat soil as the materials fur pot media and investigated seedling quality of horticultural plants in order to use peat soil as the raw materials fur pot media. The summary of the results is as follows; The chemical characteristics of peat soil, which is main ingredient of pot media are as follows; pH was 4.9, EC was less than $2.0ds{\cdot}m^{-1}$, which interferes the growth of the plant and organic ingredient was 33%. When looking into the germination characteristics of plants according to the mixture of pot media, red pepper showed 54.2% speed of germination and 97% germination rate in peat soil single treatment. Therefore the peatsoil was appropriate for the pot media for red pepper. In case of cucumbers, in the 50 : 50 treatment of main ingredient (peat soil) and auxiliary ingredients (vermiculite, peat moss and perlite) they showed 100% speed of germination and 100% germination rate. Therefore 50 : 50 treatment was appropriate fur the pot media for cucumbers. In case of chinese cabbage, peat soil, perlite and peat moss mixture (50 : 25 : 25) treatment showed the highest speed of germination (77.5%), while the germination rate was a little lower (92.15%) than comparative soil. However, it was appropriate for the pot media for chinese cabbage. In case of watermelon, germination was bad because of the influence of EC when the teat soil ingredient is over 80%. However, in the mixture of peat soil and vermiculite (50:50) treatment, they showed 91.6% speed of germination and 100% germination rate. Therefore it was appropriate for the pot media for watermelon. When looking into the growth of the plants according to the mixture of ingredients, peat soil and perlite (50:50) mixture showed excellent seedling quality for cucumbers, peat soil and perlite (50:50) mixture showed excellent seedling quality and it was proven to be appropriate for the pot media for cucumbers. In case of watermelon, peat soil, peat moss and perlite (80 : 10 : 10) mixture showed excellent seedling quality and it was proven to be appropriate for the pot media for watermelon.