clay & sand

Karl & others,
	I can say from experience that sand & heavy clay don't turn to cement, IF 
the sand is coarse.  I'm using stuff they get from glacial till; it has 
particles up to about pea size but mostly smaller than that.  Around here 
it's called builder's sand.  I understand that fine sand, like you find on 
a beach, can be a problem.
	My iris plot is about 25 X 75 feet.  There are rows going the short 
way.  Over the last several years, as the opportunity presents itself, I've 
emptied one row at a time and added the sand and organic material including 
peat and commercially purchased composted manure.  The soil here is 
naturally just on the acid side of neutral and the amendments don't seem to 
have changed that much.
	The reading I have done about root rots has convinced me that a healthy 
soil won't allow these things to get out of hand.  They are naturally 
present all the time everywhere, but so are other organism which are 
antagonistic to them.  I may continue to have trouble for a while, because 
they can persist in the soil for many years; improving the drainage, adding 
organics, and regularly turning the soil should all help.  I mentioned 
adding hardwood bark chunks because several of the university web sites I 
consulted say that this reduces problems from root rot fungi.  I have not 
tried this, but obviously you would have to add nitrogen to compensate for 
what is lost as the bark decomposes.
	The good thing about adding sand, as opposed to just adding organic 
matter, is that sand is forever.  In the three years it takes for an iris 
to go from seedling to mature clump, most of the organic material you add 
will decompose.
	Ken




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