How fertile
is your
soil?
monday
ueesday
mercoday
giovday
venerdì
1 23
45
june june
june
june
june
Stick a Fertimeter in it
and watch…
An indicator stick got released
and popped up
thursday
friday
45
june
june
Snap !
A cotton filament has
broken in the soil
An indicator stick got released
and popped up
friday
5
june
A silk filament has
broken in the soil
What happened?
Soil contains bacteria and fungi
The more they are, the more they
work…
The more they work, the more organic
matter is mineralized and nutrients
are released for the plant roots
The faster they work, the more your
soil is FERTILE
How does
it work inside?
The threads are
kept in tension
by springs
When microbes in
soil have chewed
off half of the
resistance of the
thread it breaks …
And the indicator
stick pops up
There are six threads
Three are made of cotton
= Cellulose
(Plant fibers)
Three are made of silk
= Proteins
(Animal fibers)
1) Cotton
1) Silk
2) Cotton + Nitrogen
(was soaked in NH4NO3)
2) Silk + Nitrogen
(was soaked in NH4NO3)
3) Cotton + Phosphorus
(Was soaked in Na2HPO4 KH2PO4)
3) Silk + Phosphorus
(Was soaked in Na2HPO4 KH2PO4)
1) Cotton
What are the
threads + N and +P for?
Bacteria are made of Carbon,
Nitrogen, Phosphorus etc..
Cotton = cellulose = carbon
One bacterium chews
cotton and gets carbon
to make a second
bacterium…
But it takes also N to
build its sister cell…
It can find N in the soil
Now two cells chew the
carbon thread TWICE
AS FAST
2) Cotton + Nitrogen
1) Cotton
2) Cotton + Nitrogen
But what if the soil
is POOR in Nitrogen…
The earlier the thread
with N will break in
comparison to the one
without it, the more
your soil needs
nitrogen
The bacterium
can not reproduce
X
But if there is N on the
thread…
IT CAN…
And the thread with N
will BREAK EARLIER
THAN THE ONE
WITHOUT IT
The same concept
applies to Phosphorus
and tells you if your
soil needs P
Cotton reports on the
cellulosolysis and silk on the
proteolytic activities, The
combined information gives
you a full insight on organic
matter mineralization in your
soil
Your result
What do you record?
Days from planting to snap
At which time from planting
has each thread broken?
monday
ueesday
mercoday
giovday
venerdì
1 23
45
june june
june
june
june
Cotton: 12 days
Cotton + N: 7 days
Cotton + P: 8 days
Silk: 10 days
Silk + N : 10 days
Silk + P : 6 days
Interpretive Chart
Fertimeter ®
Did the thread + Nitrogen (or
Phosphorus) snap earlier that the
one without nutrients?
How much earlier?
Cotton: < 5 days: very fertile
Cotton: > 5 days< 12 days :fertile
Cotton: > 12 days : low fertility
Cotton – Cotton +N: = 0 days : no need for N
Cotton – Cotton +N: < 3 days : low N need
Cotton – Cotton +N: > 3 < 6 days : medium N need
Cotton – Cotton +N: > 6 days : high N need
Etc. etc…
…Thread n. 3 in Fertimeter unit n.24
in field n.12 has snapped at 12.33 p.m….
Wireless sensing evolved version
Instead of indicator sticks, it mounts
a transducer sending data to a PC
Thank you for your attention