Re: clay & sand

I also remember reading an article a few years back that the type of 
clay matters as well and that not all clay turns to cement when mixed 
with sand.

John
On Sep 27, 2005, at 5:46 AM, Ken Walkup wrote:

> 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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John                | "There be dragons here"
                          |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
                          |  to indicate the edge of the known world.

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