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[APD] limiting



I have a bone to pick over the use of the term "limiting". When a
particular nutrient is growth limiting for a plant, it says nothing
about whether the plant is growing at a fast or slow rate. If all other
nutrients and light are sufficient, nitrogen can be growth limiting at
10 ppm or at 0.01 ppm. The growth rate will be vastly different in each
case however the concentration of nitrogen would still be the factor
which determines the growth rate.

If you want to talk about keeping (all) nutrient levels low in order to
reduce growth rates, this is another matter. Please don't use the term
LIMITING to describe that or else we agree to a special definition for
the word LIMITING and instead use a different term such as "growth rate
governing" to refer to what is scientifically termed "limiting".

To refer to a situation of low overall nutrients, perhaps the term "low
aggregate" nutrient levels would be less ambiguous.

Steve

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