All Episodes
Displaying episodes 1 - 7 of 7 in total
Episode 1- The Leaky Barrel
How does nitrogen shape life in environments as diverse as cropland, lakes, and oceans? Why does nitrogen increase the abundance of life in some places while decreasi...
Episode 2- The Leaky Barrel, continued
Many of our crops need less nitrogen fertilizer when grown after legumes, such as soybeans, alfalfa, or field peas. Legumes are plants that can take- or “fix”- nitroge...
Episode 3- Winners and Losers
Why do some creatures that live in the soil benefit from more nitrogen while others are harmed? This episode tackles the question of how soil microbes are affected by ...
Episode 4- The Soil Bank Account
In the Midwest, most of the nitrogen our crops use comes from organic matter in the soil rather than the fertilizers we apply. The amount of nitrogen the soil provides...
Episode 5- A Legacy of Salts
If you want to understand how nitrogen behaves in the soil, it pays to think about two things: water and time. These two factors control when and how much nitrogen ca...
Episode 6- The Rule of 1.2
Welcome back to this 6th, bonus, episode of “The Story of Nitrogen”! This episode is all about nitrogen fertilizers and how we decide what rate of fertilizer to apply...