Everyone has something they can’t stop themselves from nerding out over - but often it’s hard to find people to talk to about it. So go ahead, share your interests, and tell us about them!

    • FooBarrington@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      What are metals people wouldn’t expect to find in their local soil?

      Are there processes to extract most/all metal from soil?

      What are the coolest properties of metals that you know?

      • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        What are the coolest properties of metals that you know?

        Hah. I see my mantrap caught someone. I’m talking about metal bands in my first bullet (lmao), but elemental metals in my other two.

        Metals are generally rough to remediate because they are inherent to the soil parent material (rock) that the soil developed on and the geochemistry of that rock. It’s kind of like trying to take carbon dioxide out of the air; you can do it, but it’s not easy and there is a chance your changes will be short lived.

        Typically removal is done through phytoremediation, or by trying to stabilize soil metals in situ so they are in non-bioavailable forms.

        Generally the ones most people (public) don’t expect to see are lead, arsenic, copper and molybdenum. There is a mineral called Galena that can be common sometimes and a large source of the first two metals.

      • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        Why are you trying to remove iron? Make sure you’re correctly identifying the symptoms of toxicity if you suspect Iron toxicity in plants, as this is relativity rare.

        To reduce soil iron availability to plants, you need to add a liming agent and target a pH of 7 to 7.5

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          More like prevent it. This was a problem faced by little farming commune back in the 70s, that I recently heard someone talking about.

          Would that liming agent be a natural thing or would it have been pesticides or something? Could that happen from fertilizer?

          • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Ok, hold on to your hat for a second.

            Iron is naturally occurring in the soil and you don’t usually get toxicity issues unless there’s a source such as mining, tailings or a junkyard or something like I suppose.

            The liming agent depends on what you want to use. Typically it’s something with a higher pH such as wood ash (careful), bonemeal, or lime (CaO)

            By adding the Liming agent you increase the soil pH and reduce the availability of iron in the soil. The total amount of iron will still be there but it will be in unavailable form

            • intensely_human@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              Preventing the loss of iron. Preventing chelation. The problem was chelation of iron. Goal was to prevent it.

              • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                1 year ago

                Sorry, I missed the boat on that one.

                You want to lower pH and use humic acid which will make iron more plant available