1. How fertile is your soil? Stick a Fertimeter in it and watch… venerdì 5 june giovday 4 june mercoday 3 june ueesday 2 june monday 1 june

2. friday 5 june thursday 4 june A cotton filament has broken in the soil An indicator stick got released and popped up Snap !

3. friday 5 june A silk filament has broken in the soil An indicator stick got released and popped up

4. What happened?

5. 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

6. 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

7. There are six threads Three are made of cotton = Cellulose = Cellulose (Plant fibers) (Plant fibers) Three are made of silk = Proteins = Proteins (Animal fibers) (Animal fibers) 1) Cotton 2) Cotton + Nitrogen (was soaked in NH 4 NO 3 ) 3) Cotton + Phosphorus (Was soaked in Na 2 HPO 4 KH 2 PO 4 ) 1) Silk 2) Silk + Nitrogen (was soaked in NH 4 NO 3 ) 3) Silk + Phosphorus (Was soaked in Na 2 HPO 4 KH 2 PO 4 )

8. What are the threads + N and +P for? Bacteria are made of Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus etc.. One bacterium chews cotton and gets carbon to make a second bacterium… 1) Cotton 2) Cotton + Nitrogen Cotton = cellulose = carbon But it takes also N to build its sister cell… Now two cells chew the carbon thread TWICE AS FAST It can find N in the soil

9. But what if the soil is POOR in Nitrogen… The bacterium can not reproduce But if there is N on the thread… 1) Cotton 2) Cotton + Nitrogen IT CAN… And the thread with N will BREAK EARLIER THAN THE ONE WITHOUT IT X The earlier the thread with N will break in comparison to the one without it, the more your soil needs nitrogen 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

10. What do you record? At which time from planting has each thread broken? Did the thread + Nitrogen (or Phosphorus) snap earlier that the one without nutrients? How much earlier? venerdì 5 june giovday 4 june mercoday 3 june ueesday 2 june monday 1 june Days from planting to snap Cotton: 12 days Cotton + N: 7 days Cotton + P: 8 days Silk: 10 days Silk + N : 10 days Silk + P : 6 days Fertimeter 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… Interpretive Chart Your result

11. Wireless sensing evolved version Instead of indicator sticks, it mounts a transducer sending data to a PC …Thread n. 3 in Fertimeter unit n.24 in field n.12 has snapped at 12.33 p.m….

12. Thank you for your attention