Re: Do plants use nitrate?

• To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
• Subject: Re: Do plants use nitrate?
• From: rrs0062 at ibm_net (Mark A. Thompson)
• Date: Sat, 01 Jul 1995 11:37:47 -0500
• Newsgroups: list.aquatic-plants
• References: <199507010739.DAA06614 at looney_actwin.com>

>From: stevensj at calshp_cals.wisc.edu
>Date: Fri, 30 Jun 95 18:47:42 CDT
>Subject: Do plants use nitrate?
>
>Hi Everyone,
>
>I've just had a discussion with my local store owner after reading a post
>from George Booth saying how Echinodorus may like high-ish nitrates (10-20
>ppm).  My store owner says plants don't use nitrates, they use ammonia -
>is he correct?

I can't speak specifically about sword plants (well, I could but I'd be making
it up<g>), but in general plants can take up ammonium more easily than
nitrates.  Given enough energy (light) and a lack of ammonium, some plants
can use nitrates.  Common sense tells us that this won't work for plants that
don't like bright light to begin with, but many sword plants thrive in bright
light and thus can make use of nitrates under the right conditions.
--
Mark A. Thompson - rrs0062 at ibm_net

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