You may have heard how excess nutrient , such asphosphorus , can endure off of crop fields . This can cause impairment when the nutrients end up in rivers and lake . However , there are other sources of excess nutrients you might not think of , such as the mess nursery plants get along in .
Researcher Jake Shreckhise compile drainage water from columns containing pine barque growing medium to set how dolomite and micronutrient plant food amendment touch unlike forms of P . Credit : Alex Niemiera
Phosphorus runoff , including that from container - grow plant life , can be harmful to water quality . Because of this , researchers are looking into ways greenhouse can keep P where it belongs - in the pots . Jacob Shreckhise of the USDA ’s Agricultural Research Service has been look into this trouble .
“ Specialty crops , including cosmetic plants , small fruit , and yield Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , may expend all or a part of their life in a heap or container , ” explains Shreckhise . “ Growing plants in containers saves blank space , facilitate with shipping and manipulation , and ask no arable country . These container are usually occupy with peat or bark rather of ground . Because peat and bark allow very small nutrients , plant are given fertilizer that release nutrients tardily over metre . ”
However , petty research has antecedently been done to find out what additions to the peat or barque might aid keep the daystar in the containers . To help answer this query , he and other researchers performed a laboratory discipline on pine bark - based potting medium and two ingredients baby’s room often lend to it : bitter spar and micronutrient fertilizer .
For their lab experimentation , they fill pillar with the potting material , a fertiliser and ingredients think to avail with keeping phosphorus around . Then , they water the columns and collected the drainage water to analyze .
They found that the two additive , bitter spar and micronutrient fertilizer , reduce the assiduity of a particular grade of phosphorus by an average of 70 % .
The additive ferment because ofcomplex chemistry . Phosphate , a form of phosphorus that plants can use , has a negative charge . This means it likes to stick to thing with a positive charge , such as bitter spar and micronutrient fertilizer . In add-on to improving works growth , this enquiry picture that these amendments aid keep atomic number 15 in the pot .
Shreckhise and his team also examine how long dolomite and micronutrient fertilizers aid to retain morning star in containers . Their next step is seeing if that keep phosphorus is in a mannequin that plants can apply .
pulverize dolomite , an amendment commonly added to growing spiritualist , can also boil down the amount of phosphorus draining from nursery pot . Credit : Jake Shreckhise
“ This research was just the first footstep toward understanding the Lucifer interpersonal chemistry occurring in these grass , ” he say . “ Since plants were not involved in this study , we can not make specific recommendations to growers found solely on this enquiry . The general public should eff that baby’s room growers routinely add these amendments to the potting medium . This is a step in the right direction to maintain the immature industry ‘ greenish . ’ ”
Read more about this work inSoil Science Society of America Journal . This research was part funded by the Hatch Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture ( include SCRI 2014- 51181 - 22372 ) , the US Department of Agriculture , the Horticultural Research Institute , and the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association .
informant : American Society of Agronomy ( Kaine Korzekwa )
