Food Chain and Food Web

1. Food Chain and Food Web A guide to pH measurement and crop rotation for students • By: • Jesse Addis • Phil Johnston • Jim Murphy • Chris Kelly

2. Measuring Soil ph and implementing crop Rotation Goals: Correctly measure soil pH Choose appropriate crops to plant Explore the benefits of crop rotation

3. What you will need • pH strips (included in kit) • Any clean container http://www.mn-net.com/

4. What Else? • Rain water or bottled water (will have a neutral pH) • A growth cycles worth of Maize, Tomato Sorghum, and Potato seeds http://www.greensburggreentown.org

5. Testing Soil pH •  pH is a measure of the soil's acidity or alkalinity. Different nutrients are more or less available depending on soil pH • Important information about soil quality can be gained by measuring soil pH before and after a crop season.

6. Step 1.Dig a 6 inch deep hole in the area where you wish to measure soil pH http://www.wikihow.com/Test-Soil-pH

7. Step 2.Remove a small hand-full from the bottom of the hole and place it in your clean container. Pour in water and mix up until you have a watery-mud texture http://www.wikihow.com/Test-Soil-pH

8. Step 3.Let the mixture sit for at least 5 minutes or until the soil settles and there is clean water above the soil Clean Water Settled Soil http://www.wikihow.com/Test-Soil-pH

9. Step 4.Submerge the pH strip in the water for 10 seconds then compare it to the colors on the box. This will give you an accurate reading of your soil pH. NOTE: If your pH strip is still dirty, rinse it off with the neutral pH bottled water/rain water.

10. What pH tells us • Soil pH should be tested before and after each growing season. • Depending on the pH of the soil, certain nutrients will be more available; making it more hospitable to certain plant types. • This information can be used in planning future growing cycles.

11. Reference Chart 1

12. Reference Chart 2 The chart to the right shows which soil nutrients are available at a given pH level.

13. Choosing The Right Crop • After each growing season measure the soil pH again. Does this reading match the information on Reference Chart 1? • Using the new pH reading, select an appropriate crop based on the available nutrients. See Reference Chart 1 and 2. • The next slide shows an example of a common crop rotation cycle and is a good starting point

14. Example Rotation http://letsmakerobots.com/files Maize http://www.ainakoapono.com Sorghum http://www.aspaceapart.com/ http://www.ainakoapono.com Potatoes Tomatoes

15. The following steps show how to plant the crops used in the sample rotation. These steps will need to be repeated for each crop.

16. An Area to Grow In for Students • Find an available area of land about 1 square meter in size • Break up soil until loose [http://www.herbcompanion.com]

17. Form loose soil into rows Rows should be about a ‘foot’ apart

18. Place seeds or seedlings in soil Evenly space seeds or seedlings, one ‘foot’ is again a good reference

19. If planting seeds, lightly cover with soil

20. Water newly planted crops [http://www.costafarms.com] The new plants or seeds will need to be well watered for the first week. The soil needs to be kept moist but there should not be any standing water.

21. References: Digid. A Rain Barrel In Action. Digital image. Household Tips. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. Essential Nutrients. Digital image. Year of Planting. 2009. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. “Fertilizing Potato." NDSU Agriculture — NDSU Ag CMS. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. "Garden Crop Rotation - A Simple System." Better Hens and Gardens. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. How to Test Soil PH. Videojug. 26 Oct. 2006. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. Macherey-Nagle pH Strips. Digital image. SCIENCESHOPUSA. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. Seeds. Digital image. Greensburg Greentown. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. "Soil Survey Manual - Chapter Three." NRCS Soils. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. "Sorghum Production Practices - Importance of Other Nutrients." || ICRISAT ||. Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.