Trouble Shooting
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Make sure to organize and label your soil samples in bags or cups so you can identify them! | |
Fill a beaker with water and use it to clean the pipettes while testing. | |
Fill an empty carton with water to clean the soil extractors while outside to avoid contamination. |
After dilutions are completed, wash the test tubes with the sterilizing soultion, called Alconox. | |
After each set of dilutions, change the tip and place the used ones in a 10% bleach solution in a beaker. | |
Be sure to wear nitrile gloves and goggles while chemical testing for safety; wear gloves also when handling fungi plates and wash hands when finished. | |
After using fungi plates, be sure to clean the table with alcohol. When grown plates are finished, dispose of them properly in a sterilizer, or an Autoclave. |
For soil extraction and chemical testing we recommend the LaMotte Model STH-14 Test Kit shown below!
For easy access to this kit, click on the following link:
http://www.lamotte.com/en/soil/agricultural/5029.html
For creating scatter plots found in sample results, we recomend using the computer program Fathom. However, if you cannot access this program, any program will work as long as the same values can be recorded and plotted. |
For calculating yeast and mold colonies we recommend using 3M PetrifilmTM Yeast and Mold Count plates. To access these plates follow this link: http://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/food-safety-us/support/buy-food-safety/
Lastly, be sure to wear long pants and use bug spray. Nobody wants bug bites or ticks, now do they?
Pictures from: https://www.mentis.co.nz/fathom , http://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/YEASTMD-3M-Petrifilm-Yeast-and-Mold-Count-Plates?N=5002385+3293785151&rt=rud