Soil solution extractor
The soil solution extractor – a device invented and developed in 1975 by Yaakov Mottes – the founder of Mottes Tensiometers, an agronomist, researcher and developer credited with many inventions and original ideas including the idea for underground irrigation, which led to the development of the drip irrigation method that is accepted today around the world (first published in the HaSadeh magazine in February 1962). Underground irrigation
Ministry of Agriculture approval for the release of the invention of the extractor in favor of the inventor, the late Yaakov Mottes, in November 1976. This is a blue and white invention, over 46 years of experience in agriculture, with quality and results that speak for themselves!
Ministry of Agriculture approval for the release of the invention of the extractor in favor of the inventor, the late Yaakov Mottes, in November 1976. This is a blue and white invention, over 46 years of experience in agriculture, with quality and results that speak for themselves!
The portable rapid test kits that accompany the extractors
The tests that can be performed independently and quickly in the field, in all types of sampled soils are:
- Electrical conductivity (EC), chlorides, nitrates and potassium.
- There are additional tests that can be performed in light, sandy soils and various growing media: acidity level (pH), phosphorus, amon, calcium and magnesium.
- The test kits are organized in a compact portable box that is easy to carry, allowing growers to easily conduct the tests in the field without the need for special expertise and to get immediate results on the spot.
?What is the purpose of the soil solution extractor
✔️The main idea – to allow the user to extractor a soil solution directly from the plant’s root zone and immediately carry out quick tests on the spot which will provide the grower with important and necessary information about the nutrient requirements of each and every crop.
✔️The benefit – to provide reliable field tests by extractor the solution obtained from representative and constant sampling areas throughout the plant’s entire growth period.
✔️This process provides growers with continuous, in-depth and comparative information regarding all the occurring and emerging changes in the soil solution in the area of the growth and the activity of the plant’s root system.
What are the extractor features?
- Very high quality ceramic porous clay, which provides the extractor with excellent physical sensitivity that allows the extractor of large and representative volumes of soil solution with high availability.
- The ceramics used in Mottes’ extractor are made of inert materials that do not affect the results of the concentration of the fertilizer materials and minerals that penetrate through it into the extractor during the operation of the vacuum.
All the test result values obtained remain reliable and accurate, and that is a unique feature of Mottes’ extractor (see two Ministry of Agriculture reports performed in two different labs at different times).
Soil Solution extractor Purposes and Methods
The compact and efficient structure allows for easy and simple operation free of malfunctions and guarantees proper and continuous operation for many years.
Soil Solution Extractor
Mottes Soil Extractors History Record
The Soil Solution Extractors were developed by Mr. Jacob Mottes on 1975 during his work for the field extension services of the Israeli agricultural ministry. Although he was occupied by the agricultural ministry services, they agreed one year later, on 1976, to release the invention for his private usage.
Mr. Jacob Mottes, is an expert agronomist in the field of soil, water, air and plant relationship, a pioneer and the finder of the drip irrigation concept, as well as more other major inventions of him in the agricultural field.
The early versions of the extractors were with an outside soil solution collecting bottle. The extractors could hold the vacuum as well, but the test results were affected by the sun radiation that came inside the bottle and changed the values of the soil solution. Shortly later on, after a few trials in the field as well as at the laboratory, the new design had come with the build-in inner collecting space that replaced the outside collecting bottle. This new design enables the soil solution sample to be at a dark and cool place without any values distortion that caused by the sol radiation. The Soil Solution Extractors were used primarily at the early 80's in Israel, on cut flower crops in greenhouses as well as in vegetable crops too.
One decade later, at the beginning of the 90's, Mottes started to export the soil extractors to many flower farms in east-Africa, like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Many extractors, measured by thousands, were sold to these countries in most kind of crops like indoor and outdoor growths.
At this period of time the extractors started to be considered as a significant tool for fertilization and salinity control in fruit trees plantations. The more usage of fertilizers through the drip irrigation systems, i.e., fertigation, the more is the importance of the soil solution extractors' major role.
At the latest of the 90's, starting from 1996, many extractors were sold to Latin America countries, such as Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Caribbean islands and central America countries.
Also the Australian market was started that time to play an important part in absorbing the concept with the simple technology of the soil solution extractors. Many extractors were also sold to various crops in Australia at the last decade.
The secret of the great success that was derived from these simple tools lies in the easy way to get the knowledge what exactly is the plant needs at every stage and time of its period of life.
And by this knowledge, every grower and farmer as well as the researcher, can understand and find the right way to maximize his plant productivity. Not alone is to remind the high grade of quality thanks to the ceramic caps, at the bottom of the tubes. These ceramic caps are remarked and excelled for its high sensitivity to absorb the soil solution from the ground as well as for its inert materials, which make the extractors so unique and superior.