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San Diego

I just got my soil results from A&L labs. Never grown anything in this soil area before and never tested before. My organic content was super low, 1.9%. Not so good. I want to add a very large amount of manure to my area, but the soil guy I talked to said that too much manure could raise my salt level too high. It was 1.2 ECe dS/m, not sure what that is but it was in the lower medium range on the graph, ok for now. How the heck does everyone put tons of manure on their growing areas each year and not have too high of salts? Is there a trick to this? There must be since everyone does it. What about compost, does that raise salts too? I was thinking of putting compost in fall and spring. Is that good too? I will be planting a cover crop too. Well any help is appreciated, Thanks, Jim

10/10/2002 10:12:52 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Yo Jim, I think this is one of the toughest things to answer and one of the most important questions. It's obvious that once the soil is right growers can consistently grow large pumpkins year after year. Getting from where you are now to where you want to be might take some time. Organic matter can increase with adding just leaves and grass clippings and I mean alot of them. Depending on what your starting with (sandy,clay etc) will determine how fast salt or nitrogen will leach out of the soil. Rain and heavy watering will help. Some of these guys drag in seaweed from the ocean and rinse it out before adding it. If the manure has been composted long enough it should be fine...Even sunny southern california gets some rain! If you put in enough chopped leaves this year to where it looks like you planting in leaves, next year you might get a 5% reading of organic. When you see someone say they have 20% organic material it's unbelievable the amount of Compost that had to be added! and I'm sure it wasn't done in a year! Chuck

10/11/2002 6:01:09 AM

Bemidji, MN

Jim, my organic matter this year was 26% and salt level was 7 which was extremely high here in Mn. It took several years of compost/manure and such to get organic level that high. the salt comes from the horse manure I add but it eventually leaches out. I add green manure each fall, older composted stuff shouldn't have to high salt levels. It's a balance between the two. I don't add any granular ferts because they are EXTREMELY high in salt content. If you add 6-10" on your plot, you won't have any problems for a number of years assuming you have fairly good soil. It took 15 years of cattle pooping in my plot before my salt level got to 7. But even at that high I had best year ever with a 963 this year.Steve

10/11/2002 9:27:35 AM

Knopp, Germany

i am sometimes in awe at all that there is to learn. to every "heavy hitter" out there that adds there 2 cents, THANK YOU, you are helping us newbies.

10/11/2002 11:14:59 AM

Commack, NY

just keep adding any organic you can get your hands on, leaves, grass clippings, and manure. my soil is very sandy, i finally after 5 years of adding copious amounts of manure was able to get my om up to 13%...just keep working at it, you'll get there.

scott

10/11/2002 12:21:50 PM

Montoursville, PA

Jim The only consistency in gardening is the very inconsistency of it all. Just pump in all the free organic material you can get your fingers on. Work with the soil to arrive at 6.5 - 7.0 PH and go from where you are. As you get to understand it you will see the soil improve and the fruit grow larger. My garden is nice for sure but I have built it in the same location for more than forty years. I started on a stony ugly hillside in no better condition than you show in your question. Apply what you can from what you read here. You will be pleased and proud of your improvements. For it is you and your soil that will be the proof in the pudding. The nice huge fruit you see here are poured out, of the sack, of hard work and full understanding gained over years of failure and recovery to this day. Your goal should be to do a little better next year.

10/13/2002 11:04:33 AM