| |
|
Entry Date
|
Nick Name
|
Location
|
|
Thursday, March 17, 2022
|
|
Little Ketchup
|
Grittyville, WA
|
 |
Entry 44 of 228 |
 |
|
|
|
Starting to see the results of my soil bioassays.
The healthy leaves on left is my own potting potting mix. I did ok it looks like. Bone meal and miracle grow and some dolomite lime and compost or aged horse manure... I forget. Anyhow, I am showing the most extreme plants of the nine test plants. I have a phosphorous deficiency showing up nicely below (the purplish tomato) and a ph or root disease issue possibly in the yellow plant.
Very helpful so far... And didnt cost me anything. However, its difficult to sort out the deficiencies when there are multiple deficiencies and the ph issues really confuse things because the soil nutrients could be ok but if the ph is off then it distorts the nutrient ratios that enter into the plant.
One thing I am seeing is that the tomato plants only turn purple if phosphorous is the limiting nutrient. If there are other even more limiting nutrients, then phosphorous can still be just as low but the plant doesn't turn purple. Like I said, it gets confusing when there are multiple deficiencies.
On the whole, it appears I need to watch my ph, phosphorous, and probably micronutruents like manganese, and probably continue to try to boost my soil carbon.
The best bioassay was the squash mound from last year, and thats a bit worrying, because although the soil was good there it was never going to break any records.
Which basically means: none of my soil, as it currently stands, will be breaking any records... According to the bioassays.
If you want to do a bioassay on your soil, just remember to plant the same seeds in good potting mix so that you have a control to compare your soil to. If your soil grows things better than the quality potting mix... you might break a record?! If the growth isn't as good as the quality potting mix, then you have work to do and you shouldnt expect to break any records until those improvements are made.
|
|
|
