RE: drywall bad for soil amendment???

J* V*

I believe drywall can also contain fungicides.
I would never add a soil amendment that's not organic.
See www.omri.org for specs.

Re: gypsum for clay... too much can cause the soil to NOT hold water well.
Also, it's a sort of hit and miss approach, in which you don't know how much
to add, and the change can be minute over time.

Also, calcium trapped in clay may not show up in a soil test, and adding
organic matter would help make it available. However, if you add gypsum, you
risk adding calcium in excess of the soil's need, i.e. if calcium is hidden,
then you add a bunch of gypsum, then the hidden calcium becomes available...

The best thing for clay is
A) digging (NOT tilling) to GENTLY introduce air;
B) composted organic matter.

Clay is a great thing to have for soil structure. Digging and compost are
free, the results are immediate, obvious and managable, and do what really
needs doing.

This is writing from experience in the WORST clay soil in Maryland where
gypsum was added for years to no apparent avail, with significant cost and
effort to spread.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: community_garden-admin@mallorn.com
> [c*@mallorn.com]On Behalf Of Kevin Webb
> Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2000 12:34 PM
> To: community_garden@mallorn.com
> Subject: [cg] drywall bad for soil amendment???
>
>
> I know gypsum is good to add to soils with high clay
> contact, but I've heard using drywall as a gypsum
> source adds some bad chemicals because of the binders
> used. Anyone have a fairly definitive take on the
> issue?
>
> Many thanks in advance for any help,
> Kevin
> Community Garden Coalition of Columbia
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger.
> http://im.yahoo.com/
>
> _______________________________________________
> community_garden maillist  -  community_garden@mallorn.com
> https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
>

_______________________________________________
community_garden maillist  -  community_garden@mallorn.com
https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden