Soil Mixes W/ Soil Tests

Sulfur should be about the same as your P, P should be about the equivalent of your K. K should be 3 to 5% depending on soil mix type and your overall CEC. Higher the CEC, the lower your K. The lower your CEC, the more K you need.

Even though the oyster shell gives a false reading, am I wrong in assuming that it does no harm? I guess aside from calcium, I was thinking the texture would only add a layer of benefit.

Homey,

Carbonate in excess won't hurt you and will over time, providing your water and biology, give up some of that calcium. What it does hurt though is that it gives you an idea that there is plenty of calcium yet you have calcium deficiencies.

One of my favorite "tricks" here in Peru is to walk into a farm and ask if they have a calcium problem. And then I wait. 90% of the time, the answer is, "yes, we have a terrible calcium problem" our pH is super high from an excess of calcium." But then you look at sodium and it is off the chart. By definition, if you have too much Na there is too much salt.

On my farm, I have some very white soils where the lab stops measuring at 100,000 ppm of Ca using M3. With [email protected], 1500 ppm of Ca. And there is a lot of sodium. What is the only answer? Gypsum. The response is amazing to gypsum.

I'll have to search for the article but I read some years ago about how farmers in the plains are having issues due to constantly using groundwater for irrigation. The carbonate levels had built up to very high levels in their soils, to the point that they were essentially salted soils in terms of production. So I personally do my best to be really careful of adding anything with that CO3 molecule attached, especially given the well water.

Once we're in the high des, I think much is going to change. The water quality differences alone are fairly amazing.

Slownickel said:

Saw the soil analysis, modified morgan. Wayyyyy over stating your Ca. What is the pH of your water? P should equal your K, use your P as your goal for S.
All that carbonate in shells, etc.. is a false reading. It will take a long time to become available.

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Bulldog lives about an hour south of me, and if his water is anything like mine it's very high in dKH (degrees German hardness, aka carbonate hardness) as well as general hardness. IIRC, we both live near explored caves, the one I live near is called Black Chasm and it's noted for its CaCO3 formations. It can be very, very difficult to push pH down of my well water.

Then my observations about your Calcium are correct, way overstated. And you probably not only have carbonates, but bicarbonates too. This steals the soluble calcium from the soil.

Send a soil sample to Spectrumanalytic and ask for the K2 test. You will have results by the end of the week. Take 200 grams of dried sample for the lab. Take a couple of handfuls down about 12 inches or so, where you know you water and fertilizer. Mix the handfuls together and then dry them in a low temp oven or even the direct sun if there is no wind, frequently moving the soil around so that it dries.

A lot depends on what you mixed together.... and how you are watering. If you would like, you can call me on skype or a US number.... just let me know. Too much to ask, you need to answer and too much to write....

Slow Nikel you from peru ??? if so what part i need you to pick me up a package :)

From New Jersey, farm in Peru.

you should be making goose foot strain lol

goose foot?

robomont said:

im currently using peat60%,perlite20%rabbit droppings,earth worm castings and feed with blackstrap.i dont bother with lime because water is a little hard.since its organic i dont worry with ph much anyways.rabbit pellets cover most of the bases anyways.

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I know a lot of folks dont worry about Ph in organic grows and I wont start a debate on that. But if your water source is hard which tells me you have high alkalinity you may want to consider some Ph management. With using a alkaline water source you can cause the rootzone Ph to get way too high. Check out this thread on Ph and alkalinity. Check it out. I hope this helps it is just my .2 cents based on science. peace

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community...-effects-of-water-with-high-alkalinity.77509/

Slownickel said:

goose foot?

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Quinoa is a species of the goosefoot genus (Chenopodium quinoa)

@Slownickel

Going to get a few amendments this week and get a batch tested. I will get the [email protected] from Spectrum. I am a little unsure what to do about micro-nutrients in the short term but this will give me a good base reading I believe.

Increased the gypsum, soybean, bone char, EWC. Left out rock phos, azomite, zeolites, humates, oyster shell.

17 gallons Coco coir (+5 gallons water to hydrate block)
5 gallons Earth Worm Castings
5 gallons sphagnum peat moss
5 gallons rice hulls
5 cups gypsum
3 cups crab meal
3 cups kelp meal
4 cup soybean meal
4 cups bone char
1 ½ cups dolomitic lime
2 cups food grade Diatomaceous Earth
2 cups pine wood shavings

Forget the dolomite.

What is the pH of your water?

Cut the EWC by at leasy 1/2, try mixes with less. Send in a sample of the EWC prior to using it.

This season is wrapping up. My soil performed better than any other soil I have ever used. I used the Coots recipe from the build-a-soil website, using my own compost and worm casting. So this being a living soil, I'm just going to leave it sitting for reuse next season, where in theory it could be even better than this season. A few questions to prepare for next season for a soil test come late spring 2017:

-My outdoor worm bin is full of compost. It gets cold where I live. Should I harvest the compost now and put it in my beds with a good mulch layer for over wintering my beds or leave it in my worm bins for now until spring? It will freeze either way.

-I assume I should add my worm castings before a soils test next season. Let it set a few weeks with some watering while holding off on adding any amendments until after the soils test?

I don't know that worm castings need a cooling off period, so to speak, but if they're going into the final mix then I would assume you would want that in there to be tested. Or... test prior, add only if needed kinda deal? My whole paradigm has shifted south, desert living means no more soil growing for me, it's all going to be AP from here on out.

I use Subs mix but modified. Been having great results for years.