Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: nitrate

Nitrate is the compound NO3-. It the form of nitrogen found most often in solution in soil water. It is the most common form of nitrogen absorbed by plants. Plants need nitrogen to make proteins, nucleic acids and other building blocks. Nitrogen deficiency in plants produces pale yellow leaves, especially in older leaves -- because nitrogen is very mobile in the plant and gets moved from the older leaves to the younger leaves where it is more needed.

In this simulation plants absorb only nitrate, through in reality plants also actively pull a small amount of N from organic compounds and clay in the soil. Simulated plants show nitrogen deficiency as yellowing of the older leaves.

How it works:
nutrient cycling
plant nutrient uptake