What topic do you LOVE to talk about, but rarely get to?
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!
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.
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
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