Re: Soil mineral replenishment?
- To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: Soil mineral replenishment?
- From: S*@aol.com
- Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 19:10:50 EST
In a message dated 99-02-10 18:21:28 EST, you write:
> [Michalec, Chris] Compost is great. Problem is, if your soil is
> already high in organic matter adding compost will prevent it from draining
> properly. I can't recall what the optimum levels are for organic matter
Huh? Uh, compost IS organic matter, so, adding it will, if anything, help
solve that problem. (?)
> right now, but if you get too much you have trouble. Just ask the
> Pumpkinguru who once turned his whole patch into a gigantic compost pile
and
> burned up everything he tried to grow in it. Getting your soil just right
is
Nooooooo, compost does not "burn" anything. You are talking about something
else, like UNcomposted material or straight UNcomposted manure. If compsot
"burned", then everything in our forests and natural habitats would be
burning. Compost is perfectly balanced organic material. It holds moisture, it
drains well, etc. Of course certain plants prefer different ratios of organic
matter to sand or whatever in their soil, but compost can't burn.
> a delicate balancing act. Too much of anything will cause problems. If
all
> you need is trace elements then you look for things that can supply them
> more directly.
> Chris Michalec
> Covington, WA
But that is what CAUSES the imbalances, when you start trying to play God and
start "making up for deficiencies" by adding a little of this and a little of
that, which causes something else to become unbalanced, so you try to fix that
by adding a little of something else, which causes yet 2 more previously
unaffected things to become unbalanced, which you try to fix by adding
something else which might raise or lower the pH which will cause several
other thing not to be taken up right, so you add something ELSE to adjust the
pH back, which in effect, creates once again, a deficiency in the element you
were trying to correct in the first place! Nature KNOWS what plants need, and
it has all been worked out over millions and millions of years, why mess with
it?! When you start using chemicals and trying to "cure" deficiancies
checmically, you are just opening up a whole new bag of worms.
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