1. Find an area outside that comprises of different plant life. Find one populated type of plant life in the area. This s plant life will be what varies throughout your plots.

2. Mark down four plots that are 0.5 m by 0.5 m squares.

                a. First plot (plot 1) should have no plant life (positive control)

                b. Second plot (plot 2) should have a different plant life from the one you chose in Step1. (Negative control)

                c. Third plot (plot 3)should have  50% of the plant life you chose in Step 1. (50% plot)

                d. Fourth plot (plot4) should have 100% of the plant life you chose in step 1. (100% plot)

Try to keep the amount of plant life you chose consistent throughout the plots.

3. Label 4 flags per plot and place each of the flags on the corners of a 0.5 m by 0.5 m square

                - Label 4 flags “1” and place them in plot 1 (positive control)

                - Label 4 flags “2” and place them in plot 2 (negative control)

                - Label 4 flags “3” and place them in plot 3 (50% plot)

                - Label 4 flags “4” and place them in plot 4 (100% plot)

4. Take 5 bags per plot and label them according to the soil you place in that bag.

5. Do steps (6-8) on the same day and at the same time.

6.  Use a soil extractor with a diameter of 2 cm to retrieve 15 centimeters of soil from 5 different places located within plot 1.  Place each of the 5 individual samples into their own labeled bags. Repeat this step for plot 2, plot 3, and plot 4.

7. Use a chemical test kit (visit the trouble shooting page to see which kit we used) and follow the extraction procedure (step 1 only fill the tube 7 ml and in step 2 only add 1 level measure of the soil sample) Then follow the nitrate procedure to find the levels of nitrate in ppm in the soil.

8. Repeat steps 6-8 4 times over the course of 5 days at the same time however in step 6 extract the soil in a new spot which none of previous extractions were located. Continue to do this for plot 1, plot 2, plot 3, and plot 4.