Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi I am doing an expermint with biochars, its ability to retain most of nitrates from fertilizers. Do you have some ideas on how I can measure nitrates from fertilizers in water at home. Also, what kind of fertilizers I can use

Hi suchetay,

This is an interesting project idea! Science Buddies has a project looking at the effects of nitrogen-containing fertilizers on plant growth: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p012.shtml. You can use the information in the Background and the ideas in Make It Your Own to help you design your project.

A quick internet search for "measuring nitrates in fertilizer" gave me some interesting sites.
This one describes using test strips to measure nitrates in water: http://extension.usu.edu/waterquality/f ... e_test.pdf
This site describes research at the University of California on nutrient and fertilizer management: http://ucanr.edu/News/Healthy_crops,_sa ... anagement/
This page (linked from the UC site) describes details for measuring nitrates in fertilized soil: http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdet ... stnum=4406

I hope this helps you get started. I recommend doing your own search for more information about how to test (safely!) for nitrates and what different fertilizers you can test. Please post again (in this same thread) if you have more questions.

Heather