CONDITIONED PARTICULATE SUBSTRATE STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR PARTICULATE SUBSTRATE CONDITIONING

摘要

A conditionable particulate substrate structure, and in particular a growing medium (2) suitable for the growth of vegetable matter in a surface layer, is described. The structure has a particulate base of soil or the like, a generally planar electrokinetic geosynthetic upper electrode (6) disposed generally horizontally in a surface layer of the particulate base; a lower electrode (8) disposed within the base generally underneath and parallel to the upper electrode, and means to connect an electrical power source (11) between the two electrodes to apply a potential difference thereacross to drive an electro-osmotic process and thus to alter the moisture level in the vicinity of the upper electrode and further to generate gas at the upper electrode. A method for conditioning a substrate, and a method for the creation of a conditioned substrate, are also described.