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ammonia from fertilizer pellets
> From: ChazzHess at aol_com
> Subject: Re: Osmocote
> I would probably use a fertilizer that didn't
> utilize ammonium as its major nitrogen source.
If you are concerned about the amount of ammonia liberated from the
fertilizer in the substrate, it won't matter whether the nitrogen is in
nitrate or ammonia form since bacterial action in the substrate will
convert nitrates to ammonia. Since ammonia is a preferable nitrogen form
for plants, ammonium nitrate is probably a good choice especially if those
fertilizer pellets are mixed into little clay balls to slow the diffusion
rate. Also the clay will not have carbon (ie organic material) which is
necessary for de-nitrifying bacteria. In other words, putting the pellets
in clay will help prevent nitrogen loss through de-nitrification
(conversion to nitrogen gas). It would also be a good idea to mix a small
amount of micronized iron with the clay (in proportion to the amount of any
sulfate) so that any sulfides released could be converted to FeS and not
H2S or various other harmful sulfides like mercaptan (thiol) which is the
natural gas smell.
BTW, for anyone interested in the various smells from your substrate, the
natural gas smell (mercaptan) is from molecules of the form X-SH where X is
any alkyl like ethyl or methyl. These are common byproducts of low redox
decomposition (anoxic with plenty of labile organic material) which are
produced when H2S is produced so the natural gas smell is a good indicator
of a bad substrate. Mercaptan is a produced along with H2S. Other smells
which you can relate this to are the smell of a burnt sulfer match, rotten
egg or (stretching) the skunk smell. Not sure what's in skunk scent but
maybe someone can let me know offline.
Steve