Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Advantages of 1:2 Water Extract Analysis

The use of 1:2 water extract analysis has been proven to be an effective method compared to the conventional 1:5 weight extract. The latter presents some difficulty in determining conductivity to evaluate the salt status, particularly for soils that contain a good volume of gypsum. Using the 1:2 extract method, which entails adding moist soil to two parts of water, the results were very accurate for chloride, phosphate, nitrogen, magnesium, potassium and conductivity when compared to the saturation extract. Perhaps one of the drawbacks using the 1:2 method is it's quite laborious. It's important to note, however, that the ratio of water will depend on the content of organic matter in your soil.

Is Knowing Your Soil Enough?

Essential soil analysis will give you a good idea of the mineral and nutrient content of your farm. The idea of course is that you can program an accurate crop nutrient cycle using the information you get from the results of the tests. But knowing the amount of salinity or alkalinity in your soil, for example, wouldn't be sufficient without knowing plant physiology. Just because your soil is rich in potassium and magnesium doesn't mean that the plant is going to absorb most of these minerals for its need. The water extract analysis allows you to determine the nutrients that are water soluble and what can be absorbed by the plant.

Benefits of Water Extract Analysis

Through the water extraction method, you will identity the types and amount of nutrients in the soil and the amount available for the plant. It will also give you an idea of how to program your inputs and fertilizer or amount of liquid sulphur for a healthier crop. Water extract is also the more cost-saving approach because you apply less nutrients after determining exactly how much portion of each of the minerals and nutrients is absorbed by the plant. It's also ecologically friendly because you can identify the imbalances in the soil and make the necessary actions to rectify the imbalance.

Chelation for Improved Nutrient Absorption

While in the subject of being environmentally conscious, the introduction of organic amino acid chelate fertilizer will help minerals and nutrients penetrate even the tippest point of the plant's leaf instead of staying at the roots. Technical description aside, think of the process of chelation as coating a mineral with a clear film which allows it to travel anywhere in the plant without dissolving or leaching.