*Make sure only the micropipet tip goes into the serial dilution, not the pipet itself

*We discovered after additional research that we should have tested for calcium, in addition to magnesium and humus, as part of our experiment, so remember kids, be thorough

*Be careful with your soil samples; make sure you don't contaminate or lose the soil, for instance, by dropping the bag in a stream and rendering it unusable for the experiment

*Make sure the whole soil sample is collected in its corresponding bag

*Be familiar with the site and don't mix up the quadrats of the site (for example: Quadrat 1 is the northwest quadrat, not the northeast.)

*To prevent mislabeling soil samples, serial dilutions, soil extractions label all materials ahead of time and use a standard labeling system.

*Make sure you use a new serological pipet for every set of dilutions.

*Use a new micropipet tip for every plating.

*To prevent discrepancies in data perform chemical tests on humus, magnesium and yeast for one sample simultaneously.

*Convert the reading for magnesium into parts per million (ppm) using the guidebook provided in the testing kit.