Re: Lot's of questions
Shellie,
Yes lots of great questions! Yes soluable means available to the plant,
providing there is a balance of the rest of the nutrients and micronutrients
required. I am sure that not all of the nutrients in my soil were available
for plant uptake. Plants are amazingly good at selecting what they need and
what they don't need. Providing the nutrients are all available they will
take what they need and leave behind what they do not. Depending on the
nutrient or micronutrient some will be leached from your soil while others
will remain. What is the proper balance in all of this. I would have to say
common sense! Just like a good well balanced diet for a human. The A&L
books do not comment on toxicity levels, however the book does contain
tables on page 47 which recommends proper saturation levels based on soil
CEC.
Of course there are also disclamers stating that this is just a guide and
excellent yields may be obtained at other than these suggested levels. I
will add that overdoing it with ferts. can impede growth just as much as
improve growth. The big problem we Giant Pumpkin Growers face is that Giant
Pumpkins are not a commercial Agricultural crop of any real importance or
value. Therefor little or no money has ever been spent on research. Much of
what we have to do is use our common sense, better judgement, learn from our
trial and errors and hopefully share this with other growers.
Chris
============================================================
>Pumpkin People,
>Now I just read Brocks mention of Chris Andersen's soil test in 97 had a
>calcium reading of 6000 PPM? Was all this readily available to the roots
>you think? Really? where is the balance in all this? maybe there is no
such
>thing as balance in this case. If the elements are in a soluble form , does
>this mean it's available for uptake by the pumpkin plants root system? If
>there is excess, is it just washed away past root zone? Sort of like humans
>when they get too many Vitamins of B & C..we pass it in out in urine and
>it's not harmful. ( well some people do develop stones) but drinking ample
>amts. of water can prevent that when taking mega doses of water soluble
>vitamins..but when we take on too much Vit. A D E or K ( all fat soluble
>vits) it can be toxic to us, as increased water consumption doesn't help
>with those. Do the books from A&L or any other source, tell which elements
>are not harmful in excess and which ones are the killers to the plant?
>lots of questions here and no answers... anybody?
>It's a pleasure and enjoyable reading this list again! Great topics!
>Shellie
>
>
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