Capital letters in Table 5 indicate the statistical comparisonbetween the initial and final (after the six months of shrub growth)values of the substrate mineral contents.
The nutrient contents after six months had changed in most sub-strates. Nmindecreased in all substrates, most particularly in the Cbased mixes and in the control (93% and 84%, respectively), despitethe fact that it was added by fertigation. H2PO4also decreased withrosemary growth. The largest decrease was also found in the con-trol and in the C based mixes (84% and 50%, respectively). K+hadfallen by 97%, 79%, 72% and 41% at the end of the pot experimentin the C, V1 and V2 based mixes and in the control, respectively.The irrigation water was near the very hard limits (based on theUSGS Water Quality Information: water hardness and alkalinity).This is reflected in an increased Ca2+content after irrigating forsix months. The increase was particularly acute in the V1 and V2based mixes (150% and 106%, respectively). With respect to Mg2+there was an increase in all substrates initially containing less than90 mg/L. For the V2 based mixes the increase averaged 119%. A largeincrease in SO42−was observed in all mixes except for C-1 and C-2,in which a decrease was observed due likely to the high SO42−initialcontent of these two. Na+increased in the substrates which con-tained less than 130 mg/L and decreased in those containing morethan 130 mg/L. Ca2+, SO42−and Na+contents might be explained bythe characteristics of the irrigation water, which would have addedminerals to the mixes with low values and wash them in the mixes with high values.