concentrations of nutrients in soil 2

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flamingreddragon12594
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Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:18 pm

concentrations of nutrients in soil 2

Post by flamingreddragon12594 »

The thing is that my sources for the three nutrients contain ions. We plan on using things like KCl, NH4Cl and Na3PO4 - which would be the individual sources of the K, N & P for my samples.

I would like to know if the ions could dehydrate or harm the plant in other ways. If they are going to harm the plant then I would like to know your opinion on what sources of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium I should use. Thanks for your help.
staryl13
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Post by staryl13 »

Hi!
Some ions can actually facilitate growth. For example, potassium ions may help to in the opening of guard cells. In addition, this link has information on phosphorus ions.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distributi ... C6795.html
Hope it helped, good luck!
"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere." -Isaac Asimov
Grace
Former Expert
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Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:37 pm

Post by Grace »

Hi there,

I think your project sounds really interesting!

You could look at what forms of N, P, and K are used in fertilizers. Since a fertilizer that is harmful for plants wouldn't make much sense, it may be a good idea to use some of the same nutrient sources as commercial fertilizers.

For example, I see KCl mentioned as a common fertilizer component, so that shouldn't have strange, harmful effects for your experiment. As for N and P, do some research to see what forms of these nutrients are commonly used.

I Googled "fertilizer nitrogen phosphorus potassium plant growth." You might want to do this yourself and see what you come up with, but the following links might be helpful to you:

http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/Ag ... ifert.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/fertilizer?cat=technology

Let us know if you have further questions. It's easiest for us to keep track of your experiment and questions if you reply on this same thread instead of creating a new topic. Hope this helps!

Grace
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