reubent
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Posts: 389
Joined: May 2011
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Post by reubent on Dec 19, 2019 20:01:28 GMT -5
It's the soil electrolyte, allows the other minerals to get into the plant. About 80 lb per acre is the recommended level of soluble soil nitrogen, going by the morgan extract test.
The air being 78% nitrogen has plenty, but it has to be trapped in the dirt. Microbial action can grab it from the air, and a good organic soil usually has good microbe population. Plus they will colonize on legume roots. The breakdown of protein is nitrogen as well, so a compost made from high protein plants like legumes is high nitrogen. And manures generally have some more or less. Then there's commercially made nitrogen of various forms, They are frequently pretty hot, concentrated, so they work best if used with a carbon to moderate and extend their action, helps prevent burning the roots. Liquid humate added to a liquid nitrogen works much better than the nitrogen by itself. Or just high carbon in the soil grabs up the nitrogen, prevents it from leaching and feeds the plants with a more steady supply.
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