LaMotte Water & Soil pH User Manual

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MICRONUTRIENT: Also known as trace elements. Those nutrients

which are required by the plants in small quantities. The micronutrients

are manganese, boron, zinc, copper, cobalt, aluminum, and molybdenum.
MINERAL DEFICIENCY DISEASE: A plant disease caused by the lack

of one or more nutrients.
MINERAL SOIL: General term used for a soil composed primarily of

inorganic matter.
NEUTRAL: A substance with a pH of 7.0.
NUTRIENT, PLANT: Any element taken in by a plant which is essential

to its growth. Nutrients are used by the plant to produce food and tissue.
ORGANIC MATTER: Usually refers to living or dead plant and animal

matter.
ORGANIC SOIL: General term used for a soil composed primarily of

organic matter.
OXIDATION: Chemical change caused by oxygen reacting with the

substance.
pH: A measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. The pH

scale runs from 0 to 14, with 7.0 considered neutral.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS: The process by which plants manufacture

carbohydrates and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water in the presence

of chlorophyll, using sunlight as an energy source.
POLLUTION: The presence of matter or energy whose nature, location

or quantity produces undesired environmental effects.
PURIFY/PURIFICATION: The process by which polluted substances

are cleaned. Purification can occur naturally, or by any of several

mechanical means, such as filtration or chemical treatment.
RESIDUE: The particles or sediment which remains after the solution is

removed.
RESPIRATION: The process by which living organisms convert food

into energy by chemical reactions and liberate carbon dioxide.