Self-sufficiency is a goal. Helping others in the community with different soil plant food and flowers is another.
So, not sure if this is intended or not (devs please don’t sue me for my hydrazine) but you can take out a tiny bit of hydrazine from a container, and it will work when mixing things in the chemistry lab (instead of a full thing of hydrazine, which could be used a lot more with jet packs, thrusters, and now the new jet vehicles). If you time it right, you can make something with only the smallest sliver of hydrazine.
I'm currently looking at a site with the potential for CH4 migration in the subsurface and looked for traditional compound and isotope markers but processes like diffusion, atmospheric dilution, oxidation and potential background microbial methane is creating very ambiguous signals in this "open" system.
I've got some preserved soil samples and I'm wondering if it would be possible to identify the nutrients present in unsaturated soil 30-60cm below the surface using acid extractions and ion chromatography to further identify the potential for in-situ methane production based on nutrient availability (ie redox sensitive compounds that would outcompete any methanogenic activity)?
I know getting saturated soil/groundwater would be the preferable media to identify potential redox processes occurring at the site, but I'm thinking since the site has a relatively high clay content it would hold onto water pretty well, allowing for the anoxic conditions of CH4 production to occur after rainfall events because of the reduced penetration of atmospheric O2.
Really interesting work here, still a lot to learn in our field on how to best care for these trees in the challenging Urban Forest.
"The urine of dogs is rich in urea, which breaks down to available N in the form of ammonium in the soil through the process of hydrolysis. A recent laboratory study by Lee et al. (2019) showed that even short-term applications of dog urine has significant effects on soil biogeochemistry in urban green infrastructures and negatively impacted the ability of these structures to retain and treat stormwater."
"Significant rapid and long-lasting impacts on soil biogeochemistry have been shown to result from even a single application of urine (see, e.g., Haynes and Williams, 1992; Orwin et al., 2009; Lee et al., 2019). The effects on soil chemical properties observed in our study suggest that the impact of dog urine in urban greenspaces is even greater than the impacts observed in these studies."
"Dogs have played an important part in human societies for thousands of years and will undoubtedly continue to be valuable partners. However, as our populations continue to grow, so does the need to better understand the role of dogs in urban N deposition and their broader impacts on sustainable urban development and the environment."
So how do we best convince a client that their beloved Great Pyrenees could actually be having a direct effect on their tree's soil environment?
Study:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.615979/full
I am having trouble balancing the nitrogen in my soil, what has worked well for you in the past.
Hey everyone, I'm a soil chemist designing an experiment and wanted to get some feedback. The focus is on rice paddy systems, which are challenged by arsenic contamination and methane emissions with anoxic flooded irrigation, and challenged by cadmium contamination and nitrous oxide emissions with oxic wet/dry irrigation. I am trying to address the dual contaminated system with iron oxides, manganese oxides, and biochar. I'll run batch incubation experiments where I'll be measuring all major electron acceptors in solution (and products), acetate, arsenic, cadmium, and dissolved organic carbon. I'll measure CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide gases and then digest the solid and do chemical analysis on it. Using these results I am planning on making a model so we can really understand these reactions occurring in soil and how they impact contaminant fate and emissions.
So, its kinda complex, and a lot being measured, but any advice will be much appreciated!
The low efficiency of ammonium fertilizers used in agriculture contributes to significant environmental issues and economic losses. This Review discusses the chemistry and enzymatic mechanisms of microbial nitrification in the soil and highlights phytochemicals which can act as nitrification inhibitors, thus providing opportunities to stabilize ammonium in farm soils to increase the efficiency of nitrogen use.
Abstract
Approximately two percent of the world's energy is consumed in the production of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen gas. Ammonia is used as a fertilizer ingredient for agriculture and distributed in the environment on an enormous scale to promote crop growth in intensive farming. Only 30–50 % of the nitrogen applied is assimilated by crop plants; the remaining 50–70 % goes into biological processes such as nitrification by microbial metabolism in the soil. This leads to an imbalance in the global nitrogen cycle and higher nitrous oxide emissions (a potent and significant greenhouse gas) as well as contamination of ground and surface waters by nitrate from the nitrogen‐fertilized farmland. This Review gives a critical overview of the current knowledge of soil microbes involved in the chemistry of ammonia nitrification, the structures and mechanisms of the enzymes involved, and phytochemicals capable of inhibiting ammonia nitrification.
https://ift.tt/2Gw05qI
Like the title says, I'm looking for growing game that requires the player to learn and apply soil chemistry skills to ensure healthy crops. Anyone?
So I've got a little 2 acre property with a little acre of field that the neighbor farmed last year but hasn't talked to me about this year. But that's fine, since I got it in my head that I want to do some hobby farming. I just inherited grandpa's micro tractor, and am looking to fab up some little plows, planters, etc for the 3 point hitch on the back. So far I'm looking at switchgrass for fuel pellets, and like, onions and stuff.
Anyways, a little side tracked there. I'm trying to learn "farming stuff", and it's been kinda hard to find good sources of info on my own. Especially soil chemistry, fertilizing and stuff. I have chickens, so I have lots of chicken poo, and I know I can use that somehow too.
Anyways, any recommendations of websites and books and stuff would be great.
Soil Chemistry is a beautiful branch of chemistry! Let's dork out together!
