(First... side note.... whoa crazy new feature with the search thing for the title! I like it though!)
Anyway, I'm studying for my microbiology test and I've been working on the nitrogen cycle specifically... one of the practice questions we had talked about using either ammonia (NH3) or nitrate (NO3-) as a fertilizer. Even though both forms are readily accessible to plants, ammonia works out to be better here because it sticks to the soil, being positively charged, while nitrate washes away since it's highly water soluble. (The problem also involved lots of rain, and the crop that was fertilized with nitrate didn't do so well as a result.)
Now, this is all well and good from a microbiologist's standpoint, but as a horticulturalist I'm cringing about putting straight-up ammonia on plants. I feel like they would kind of fry, even if they weren't super-picky CP's. Am I wrong? Could regular old ammonia that cleans floors actually fertilize plants without killing them? In this problem, does dilution from the rain help? I'm sadly not that educated about fertilizer chemistry and how they work, so any info would be enlightening Now I've got this problem stuck in my head!
Anyway, I'm studying for my microbiology test and I've been working on the nitrogen cycle specifically... one of the practice questions we had talked about using either ammonia (NH3) or nitrate (NO3-) as a fertilizer. Even though both forms are readily accessible to plants, ammonia works out to be better here because it sticks to the soil, being positively charged, while nitrate washes away since it's highly water soluble. (The problem also involved lots of rain, and the crop that was fertilized with nitrate didn't do so well as a result.)
Now, this is all well and good from a microbiologist's standpoint, but as a horticulturalist I'm cringing about putting straight-up ammonia on plants. I feel like they would kind of fry, even if they weren't super-picky CP's. Am I wrong? Could regular old ammonia that cleans floors actually fertilize plants without killing them? In this problem, does dilution from the rain help? I'm sadly not that educated about fertilizer chemistry and how they work, so any info would be enlightening Now I've got this problem stuck in my head!