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Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/02/2012 7:30 AM

If the mineral and composition of two different soils are the same and one is dyed to darker color, which one is more fertile?

Do the reflection and refraction affect growing of plant?

Thanks

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Guru

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#1

Re: Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/02/2012 10:21 AM

Neither.

More detail required.

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#2

Re: Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/02/2012 10:50 AM

The dye itself may contain chemicals which are either advantageous or damaging to the crop - no comment.

if the dye affects the water holding effect of the soil it also may have an effect as to reduce or increase availability of water - no comment.

More detail please.

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Power-User

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#7
In reply to #2

Re: Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/03/2012 2:05 AM

I am doing experiment about crystal soil.

I am choosing different colors of crystal soil growing the same plant.

Of course, they soaked with the same fertile solution first.

Anyone has conduct a similar experiment before?

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#8
In reply to #7

Re: Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/04/2012 10:40 AM

Your experimental design is flawed. To learn something positive from an experiment, you should control all variables except one.

In your present experiment, the use of dye to test for the effects of soil colour/reflection is a confounding variable, because dye has chemical properties as well which could affect the plant. The experiment will not show whether differences are due to the colour or due to the chemical difference produced by the dye.

A better test of soil colour effects would be to use identical mulches of a different colour on the soil surface, which have a stable composition (not leaching free dye). It could be done with differently coloured natural (undyed) stone pebbles, for example.

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#3

Re: Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/02/2012 10:57 AM

for the most part,..... yes

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Guru

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#4

Re: Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/02/2012 11:07 AM

The color, by itself, does not contribute to fertility vis-a-vis nutrients...Now it could be argued that a darker soil retains more heat and warms seeds so that germination takes place quicker than a similar seed in a lighter colored soil, but that's dubious...The amount of light a plant receives does contribute to growth, but too much and the plant can be cooked, and of course different plants react differently...so it would depend on the plant....

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Guru

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#5

Re: Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/02/2012 11:38 AM

"which one is more fertile?"

Both the soil will exhibit equal fertility.

"Do the reflection and refraction affect growing of plant?"

Yes. It does affect growth.

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Guru

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#6

Re: Fertility vs. Color of Soil

09/02/2012 11:39 AM

As several have already noted, much more information is needed concerning where, when, in what weather, how and what is being grown.

.

There is another problem though. The inferred premise is flawed.

.

It isn't how dark or light something is colored that dictates if it is gaining heat or not. If you have ever walked barefoot on very hot white sand, or some white concrete, then you know this to be true.

.

Whether or not solar energy is adding heat to a surface (in the near term, and ignoring convective and conductive heat transfer) depends on the how the radiative emissivity of the surface compares to the radiative absorptivity of that surface.

.

There are surfaces that reflect a large percentage of the incident spectrum, but compared to the small portion that is absorbed, even less is emitted. Aluminum foil under a heat lamp is a good example of this.

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