How Can One Remove Nitrate Salts From Nitrate Enriched Soil?

Excess Leafy Growth

• If there is too much nitrogen in the soil from nitrate salts, plants can produce lots of leafy vegetation and not much fruit. If you are growing plants for foliage, such as grass, this will not be a problem. Plants like beans, corn and squash may produce less if they put too much energy into leaf production.

Pollution

• Over-fertilization can pollute the groundwater. If lawns or crops are over fertilized, there is a greater chance that nitrogen can leach into the groundwater. Too much nitrogen in water can cause blue baby syndrome and algae blooms in water. Avoid polluting with nitrogen by having your soil tested to determine how much fertilizer it needs. Soil testing labs can tell you how much nitrogen your soil will need depending on what you are using it for.

Leaching and Mulching

• You can easily remove nitrate salts from an enriched soil by saturating it with water several times. As the water enters the soil, it will dissolve the nitrate salt and carry it downward. Small amounts of soil can be leached one shovel full at a time using a bucket and a rag. Place the soil in the rag. Wet the soil several times and allow it to drain into the bucket. Add mulch from sawdust, wood chips or uncomposted leaves to increase the activity of microorganisms that consume nitrogen as they break down cellulose. You can mix these materials into the soil to help speed up the process.

Plants Absorption

• If you can wait, certain plants can absorb the excess nitrogen from nitrate salts in enriched soils. Squash, sunflowers and most grasses will absorb nitrogen relatively quickly from the soil. These plants will produce ample green leafy growth that will use up the nitrogen in the soil. Remove these plants from the area after their growth cycles are complete so that the nitrogen does not return to the soil when the plants die and decay.