Re: Soil mineral replenishment?

SteveS012@aol.com wrote:
> 
>Hi Steve....Maybe you should back off a bit...We are all here to help each other not condemn their growing practices. Each one of us will have to live with the environment we create but as long as it doesn't affect you, then there shouldn't be any problem. We understand your message about growing organically but since compost is a slow release medium and being that our growing season is short along with the fact that a giant pumpkin actually is a factory needing a constant supply of raw materials, then we have to supply what is missing at the appropriate time. It would be nice to lay back and let nature do the job for us but we'll never reach our goals with that attitude. Constant soil tests and tissue samples are good tools to monitor what is missing thoughout the growing season and if we can supply it organically and if it will react immediately , then great but most compost will only start producing results when we are ready for weighoff day. Another problem with natural i!
ngredients is that they usually supply not only the chemical that we need but others as well. Bonemeal is great for root development but also supplies nitrogen and lots of calcium which we may not need from our test results, whereas a simple application of phosphorus will do the trick nicely and bring our plant back on track. By reading the labels on fertilizers we see that there are different fertilizers needed for different plants. The make up of compost is about 7-11-7 so you see this is not completely suitable for giant pumpkins unless tons of compost were available and a long growing season to allow it to break down. By then the pumpkin would have reached maturity and these chemicals would not have done it any good. 
	I keep my organic level very high (around 30%) and in a dry summer this
is great but since compost holds moisture, during a wet season the roots
are starving for oxygen due to this water holding capabilty. Although
I'm fortunate not to have to use pesticides or fungicides, I still must
apply chemicals to help out my pumpkins when they ask for it.........Ken
Reinsborough ------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index