RE: soil make-up

Joe, 

Michael's advise is excellent. I had a soil test done in October. My P
and K levels were both very high, probably due to the compost I add. I
did not have the N (nitrogen) tested as this leaches from the soil
relatively quickly and a reading then would be meaningless in the
spring. My ph was a little low, only 6.0. I also had an area tested
where I had not previously planted. I will be planting there this year
however. The ph was only 5.0! Pretty typical of my area I believe.
Definately a candidate for lime. I think Michael will agree that a ph
test is probably the most important of all.

I will have another test done in the spring, probably late March. I
won't be planting until late May so this will give me some time to amend
my soil as necessary.

Michael, will dolomite lime raise the ph immediately or will it take a
few months? Also, I asked the group a while back about the reliablity of
the prong-style ph and n-p-k testers you see in the stores but didn't
get much response. Any opinion?


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Michael Cohill [SMTP:mcohill@neo.lrun.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, January 29, 1998 9:51 AM
> To:	pumpkins@mallorn.com
> Subject:	Re: soil make-up
> 
> Dear Joe:
> 	No secrets to good soil make-up.  Contact your local
> agricultural
> extension office and ask them to send you a soil test kit.  Follow
> their
> easy to understand directions and mail off a sample of your garden
> soil. 
> They will send you back the test results which will (should) tell you
> in
> plain english what you need to bring your soil fertility to 100%.
> Follow
> their directions and you will start the season in the top ten percent
> of
> all giant pumpkin growers.
> 	Do it now before they get real busy.  Sending a sample in March
> and April
> - their busiest months - could take many weeks, to many weeks.  Soil
> Test
> Kits are different for every state but average between $10 and $15.
> The
> best money spent in the garden all year.
> 	As I've rarely seen a question or comment on this list
> concerning a
> grower's test results, my quess is few ever bother.  Instead they
> trust
> their instincts, or get good (free) advice as to what they should add
> to
> their soil, etc. from someone 2,000 miles away, who has never seen
> their
> patch.  If everyone on this list did a tests, the lines would be
> jammed
> with mail discribing their top notch soil.  If growers competed in the
> soil
> test, like they do at the end of the season, the over all cumulative
> weight
> of pumpkins on this list would quadruple.
> 	Do not add line to your patch unless the test results say you
> should. 
> Screw up your ph and no matter how much work and money you spend on
> chemical fertilizers, etc. the soil will never be able to release all
> its
> nutrients, or make them available to your plants.  Never add line to
> compost.  The ph of compost will be neutral - unless you compost on
> top of
> high alkaline soils, etc. like some places out west, ie; NV, CA, etc.
> Lime
> your garden if called for by your test, then add your compost to the
> garden.
> 	As to your question about growing directly out of compost - that
> depends
> entirely on the quality of your compost and if it is completly
> finished
> composting.  If you have doubts about the compost's quality - till it
> in as
> soon as the soil can be worked.  
> Michael in Akron
> mcohill@neo.lrun.com
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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