Soils and Hydroponics Management

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Soils and Hydroponics Management

• Unit 9
• AgriScience 1

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Plant Growing Media

• Media definition material that provides
  nutrients and support through plant root systems.

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Soil Defined

• Soil is the mineral and organic matter that
  supports plant growth and is a mixture of rock
  particles, organic matter, living forms, air and
  water.

Air
Mineral matter- 45
Water
OM5
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Soil- Planet Earth
Land- 33.3
Water- 66.7
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Soil- Agricultural land
Crops- 2.9
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Soil- Land Use in IOWA
Forest 4.9
Minor 2.7
Transportation 3
Iowa- .1
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Soil-less Media

• Media Mixes
• Perlite
• Vermiculite
• Peat moss
• Sphaghnum moss
• Sand
• Compost
• Wood chips, barks
• Water- Hydroponics

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Soil Formation

• Climate
• Living Organisms
• Parent Material
• Topography
• Time
• Weathering

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Climate

• Temperature
• Chemical reaction rates
• Growth of fungi, bacteria, plants
• Rainfall
• Increases erosion rate
• Increases leaching

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Living Organisms

• Decomposers- fungi and bacteria- aid in organic
  matter breakdown.
• Plants- add organic material to soil
• Earth worms- help create soil structure and
  breakdown plant residue.

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Parent Material

• Residual
• Mineral
• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic
• Organic
• Peat

• Transported
• Glacial till-ice
• Alluvial- water
• Loess- wind blown
• Colluvium- gravity added by water
• Lacustrine- lake deposits

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Topography
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Time
Organic matters decreases and more leaching
occurs
Organic matter builds up soil becomes more
productive
Young to old soils
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Weathering
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Identifying Land Areas and Capability

• Legal description-location
• Old-Use a Soil Survey
• NEW-Digital Map resources

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Legal Description

• A legal method of describing property for
  recording on deeds.
• 2 major systems used
• Metes and Bounds
• Rectangular survey

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Metes and Bounds

• Used in the East and Southwest in early
  settlement.
• Uses major landmarks as a marking system.
• Many disputes when landmarks changed.

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Rectangular Survey

• Adopted in 1875
• Latitude and longitude based.
• Baselines and principal meridians
• 5th meridian is our principle meridian.

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Townships

• Laid out starting at the intersection of
  principle meridian and baseline.
• 6 miles square
• 50 feet shorter on the north boundary.
• Correction lines every 24 miles

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Townships

• 36 square miles
• 1 mile square each
• numbered

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Sections

• 1 square mile
• 640 Acres
• further subdivided and described by halves and
  quarters

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Build a Legal Description

• Start with smallest fraction
• section
• township
• county
• State

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Land Capability
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Land is more than soil

• Natural and artificial characteristics of an area
  to be used for agricultural or other purposes
• Includes renewable and nonrenewable resources
  plus improvements

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Land

• The surface of the earth not covered with water
• Maybe temporarily or permenently covered with
  water
• A pond for aquaculture is considered land

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Cropland

• Used for growing crops
• Crops grown typically improve the tilth of the
  land

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Arable land

• Land that can be used for row crops
• Can be tilled
• Alternatives include pasture and forest crops

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Major Characteristics of Cropland

• Soil - Large impact on productivity. Soil
  texture, nutrients and internal structure
• Climate - average of water conditions over a long
  time
• Topography - form or outline of the surface of
  the earth
• Water supply - amount of water available for crops

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• Subsurface conditions - Soil textures, hardpans
• Pollution - can prevent plant growth

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Alternative Uses

• Best land use is determined by how the land will
  give the most benefits to people.
• Which use will give the highest returns
• What will happen if productive cropland is used
  for other purposes?

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Land Improvement

• Four common practices to improve arable land
• Irrigation
• Erosion Control
• Drainage
• Forming (land forming)- surface is smoothed or
  reshaped.

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Capability Factors

• Characteristics of land that determine its best
  use
• Surface texture
• proportion of sand, silt, clay down to about 7
  inches
• three major classifications
• sandy
• loamy
• clayey

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Soil Tilth

• Physical condition of the soil that makes it easy
  or difficult to work
• Poor tilth has hard clod
• Maybe very wet or very dry

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Internal drainage

• Permeability- movement of water and air through
  soil
• Directly related to nutrient content
• Classified as very slow, slow, moderate and rapid
• water quickly soaks into sandy soil with high
  permeability
• soils with clay have slow permeability

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Soil Depth

• Thickness of the soil layers
• Requirement depends upon type of crop to be
  produced
• Four soil depths are used
• very shallow - less than 10 inches
• shallow - 10 to 20 inches
• moderately deep - 20 to 36 inches
• deep - over 36 inches
• Shallow soils are often the result of erosion

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Erosion

• Loss of topsoil by wind or other forces
• Four categories
• very severe erosion- 75 or more and large
  gullies are present
• severe erosion - 75 of soil has eroded but no
  large gullies present
• moderate erosion- 25 to 75 of soil has eroded
  with small gullies present
• none to slight erosion - less than 25 of soil
  has eroded and no gullies are present

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Slope

• The rise and fall of the elevation of the land
• Measured in percents
• Important in determining the best use of the land

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Surface Runoff

• Water from rain, snow, or other precipitation
  that does not soak into the ground
• Can be reduced by conservation practices
• chopping stalks
• terraces
• ground cover

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Land Capability

• Suitability of land for agricultural uses.
• Usage should not cause damage to the land
  although nutients maybe removed

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Land Capability Classes

• Assigning a number to land
• Eight classes used
• I to VIII with I being the best arability
• Class I to IV can be cultivated
• V to VIII tend to have high slope or low and wet

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Classes

• Class I - Very good land
• Very few limitations
• deep soil and nearly level
• can be cropped every year as long as land is
  taken care of
• Class II - Good land
• has deep soil
• may require moderate attention to conservation
  practices

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• Class III - moderately good land
• crops must be more carefully selected
• often gently sloping hills
• terraces and stripcropping are more often used
• Class IV - fairly good land
• lowest class cultivated
• on hills with more slope than class III
• Class V - Unsuited for cultivation
• can be used for pasture crops and cattle grazing,
  hay crops or tree farming
• often used for wildlife or recreation areas

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• Class VI - Not suited for row crops
• too much slope
• usually damaged by erosion with gullies
• can be used for trees, wildlife habitat, and
  recreation
• Class VII - Highly unsuited for cultivation
• has severe limitations
• permanent pastures, forestry, wildlife
• slope is usually over 12 percent
• large rock surfaces and boulders may be found
• very little soil present

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Class VIII

• Cannot be used for row crops or other crops
• often lowland covered with water
• soil maybe wet or high in clay
• aquatic crops maybe grown there
• used for waterfowl habitat

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Physical, Biological, and Chemical
characterisitics

• Unit 9

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What is a Soil Profile?- a view of a cross
section of soil

• 0 Horizon-located on surface, mostly O.M.
• A Horizon-Called Topsoil, good amounts of O.M.
  and minerals.
• B Horizon- Known as Subsoil, Less O.M.
• C Horizon- Mostly parent material, does little
  for plant growth.
• R- bedtrock

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Soil Profile-

• Differences in layers based on
• Organic matter
• Texture
• Color
• Structure

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Soil Color

• Determined by 2 main things
• Organic matter
• Mineral content

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What is soil texture

• It is the relative sizes of the different soil
• particles.

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The major Soil Texture Classes

• Sand-largest particle
• Silt-medium size particle
• Clay-smallest particle

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Characteristics of aSandySoil
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Characteristics of a SiltySoil
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Characteristics of a Clay Soil
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Using the Soil TextureTriangle
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What is Soil Structure?

• Sand, silt and clay particles combine with one
  anther to form cluster called aggregates.
• The way in which aggregates or clusters are
  arranged is referred to as soil structure.

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Soil Structure Categories
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Media Amendments
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Terms and definitions

• Essential Nutrient- Element necessary for plant
  growth and reproduction, for example nitrogen,
  phosphorus, and potassium.
• Deficiency- Plant condition where an essential
  nutrient is not sufficiently available.
• Symptom- A visual sign or condition that results
  from a deficiency symptoms aids in diagnosing a
  deficiency.

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Chemical Elements Essential To Plant Growth

• Non-mineral- air and water
• Carbon (C)
• Hydrogen (H)
• Oxygen (O)
• Nitrogen (N)

• Mineral- from the soil
• Primary
• Nitrogen (N)
• Phosphorus (P)
• Potassium (K)
• Secondary
• Calcium (Ca)
• Magnesium (Mg)
• Sulfur (S)
• Micronutrients
• Iron (Fe), Boron (B), Manganese (Mn), Copper
  (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Molybdenum (Mo), Clorine (Cl)

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10 Essential Elements

• Essential Elements
• Carbon (C)
• Hydrogen (H)
• Oxygen (O)
• Phosphorus (P)
• Potash (K)
• Nitrogen (N)
• Sulfur (S)
• Calcium (Ca)
• Iron (Fe)
• Magnesium (Mg)

C. HOPKINS CAFÉ Mighty Good
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Functions of Nutrients for plant growth

• Carbon, Hydrogen, and oxygen are needed in the
  plant processes of photosynthesis of
  photosynthesis and respiration.
• Approximately 95 of weight of plants comes from
  products of photosynthesis

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Primary Nutrient Functions

• Nitrogen (N)
• Gives green color to plant
• Induces vigorous , rapid growth in plants
• Increases protein and yield
• Aids and promotes seed and fruit development
• Nitrogen constitutes 80 of the atmosphere, yet
  it is one of the most critical elements for plant
  growth.
• Plants cannot utilize N as a gas, it must be
  combined with other elements.

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Primary nutrient deficiency symptoms

• Nitrogen (N)
• Stunted and Spindly
• Yellow, yellowish green or light green in color
  in foliage (chlorosis)
• Older leaves affected first, starting at the tip
  and moves along the middle of the leaf.

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More Primary Nutrient Functions

• Phosphorus (P)
• Important to germinating seedlings
• Contributes to early maturing crops
• Necessary for seed and fruit formation
• Stimulates root growth

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Primary nutrient deficiency symptoms

• Phosphorus (P)
• Stunted Growth
• Very dark green color
• Purple leaves or portions of leaves in advanced
  stages
• Older leaves affected first

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Primary Nutrient Functions Cont.

• Potassium (K)
• Necessary for production and translocation of
  carbohydrates
• Produces plumper seeds
• Controls Water intake and respiration
• Stiffens straw and stalks

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Primary nutrient deficiency symptoms

• Potassium (K)
• Shorter plants
• Bronzing or browning of leaf color
• Lodging (bending of the stem) occurs
• Leaves show yellow to brown coloring along leaf
  margins followed by complete browning.

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Deficiency Continued

• Other conditions besides deficiencies may cause
  abnormal plant growth.
• Cold, wet weather, lack of sunlight, disease,
  insect damage, and improperly applied chemicals
  are examples.

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More Terms and Definitions

• Fertilizer- Natural, manufactured, or processed
  material or mixture of materials that contains
  one or more of the essential nutrients availible
  in
• dry form
• liquid form
• gaseous form

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Fertilizer Terms

• Analysis- Percentage water soluble content of
  nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) expressed as P2O5,
  and potassium (K) expressed as K2O in the
  fertilizer.
• Brand- Trademark of the company which produced
  the fertilizer.
• Complete Fertilizer- Fertilizer which supplies
  all three primary nutrients, (N,P,K)

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Factors that Influence Fertilizer Use

• Chemical and physical condition of the soil
• Crop to be grown
• Climatic Conditions
• Time

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Hydroponics

• Growing plants without a soil media.

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Hydroponic methods

• Aggregate culture
• Nutriculture
• Aeroponics
• Continuous flow culture

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Aggregate culture
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Nutriculture
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Aeroponics
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Continuous flow culture
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