Logan Labs Soil Test Results

sudshead · May 19, 2018

hello -- I am a natural gardener in that I have my garden is

no till beds
rock dust added once about 2 years ago
azomite added 4 years ago
all my kitchen scraps are put directly in garden
no pesticides - all insects roam in the garden and do what they do
worms all over
leafs gathered in fall and mulched on top
horse manure applied every 2 years
fish, crab, mussel leftovers go in the garden
water is from the sacramento delta

That being said I have a soil test from logan labs that I need assistance with understanding. I see that I need calcium and need to possibly bring the PH down, but cations and others I need help.

How can I bring the soil ph down and how can I add calcium. Naturally

Thanks for any assistance.

suds

Kurly · May 21, 2018

Oyster shell flour for calcium. as far as i can tell its almost pure calcium..

sudshead · May 21, 2018

Kurly said:
Oyster shell flour for calcium. as far as i can tell its almost pure calcium..

Thank you kurly -- I have that product.

Homesteader · May 21, 2018

I think you may want to add some peat for both lowering your pH and to raise your SOM %. I would add gypsum instead of lime or oyster. gypsum will work much quicker at raising your available calcium and it looks like you need sulfur anyhow. Oyster shell can take a year or more if your soil isn't very acidic.

Kurly · May 21, 2018

Nice, glad to help. Was also thinking maybe the ratio of composting material could be messing with ph a bit, when i fist starting using my own compost for indoor growing its ph was way too low and always had too much nitrogen in it (too much coffee grounds and leafy greens). Through some trial and error I learned i had to afjust and even fine tune ratios of what goes in my pile to get a good to go mixture coming out it. Dont know if this helps but figure id share this experience anyway.

sudshead · May 21, 2018

Kurly said:
Nice, glad to help. Was also thinking maybe the ratio of composting material could be messing with ph a bit, when i fist starting using my own compost for indoor growing its ph was way too low and always had too much nitrogen in it (too much coffee grounds and leafy greens). Through some trial and error I learned i had to afjust and even fine tune ratios of what goes in my pile to get a good to go mixture coming out it. Dont know if this helps but figure id share this experience anyway.

Helps a lot - I have read that coffee grounds are neutral in ph (at least a study that tested starbucks grounds). I have added a good amount of grounds say 10%.

sudshead · May 21, 2018

Homesteader said:
I think you may want to add some peat for both lowering your pH and to raise your SOM %. I would add gypsum instead of lime or oyster. gypsum will work much quicker at raising your available calcium and it looks like you need sulfur anyhow. Oyster shell can take a year or more if your soil isn't very acidic.

Thanks - I have found this also so you are spot on.
Gypsum is neutral in pH, and since it has no carbonate ion as part of its makeup, it will not neutralize acidity. However, it is much more soluble than most lime products (about 200 times as soluble), so it does make a very good source for soluble calcium and sulfate. In other words, applying gypsum to the soil will raise the calcium and sulfur levels of the soil, but it will not raise the pH.

So at sulfur my level is 9 PPM - is that high, good or low?

If you have a soil with too high of a pH but you need to supply some sulfur, I usually recommend applying elemental sulfur. This is a material that is consumed by a particular type of bacteria in the soil, and when that happens, they convert the elemental sulfur to hydrogen sulfate, or sulfuric acid. That sounds extreme, but it’s exactly what these soils need to help bring the pH down a bit. In this process we also supply the sulfate ion, which is exactly the same form of sulfur we apply with gypsum (and the form of sulfur that plants actually take up).

sudshead · May 21, 2018

Homesteader said:
I think you may want to add some peat for both lowering your pH and to raise your SOM %. I would add gypsum instead of lime or oyster. gypsum will work much quicker at raising your available calcium and it looks like you need sulfur anyhow. Oyster shell can take a year or more if your soil isn't very acidic.

I was thinking my organic matter percent is 40.29 which is too high? but yes have read that peat would bring down the ph.

sudshead · May 21, 2018

Homesteader said:
I think you may want to add some peat for both lowering your pH and to raise your SOM %. I would add gypsum instead of lime or oyster. gypsum will work much quicker at raising your available calcium and it looks like you need sulfur anyhow. Oyster shell can take a year or more if your soil isn't very acidic.

This link seems to summarize in a clear manner my issues also

https://onpasture.com/2014/06/02/when-to-use-lime-gypsum-and-elemental-sulfur/

sudshead · May 21, 2018

sudshead said:
This link seems to summarize in a clear manner my issues also

https://onpasture.com/2014/06/02/when-to-use-lime-gypsum-and-elemental-sulfur/

Also this link explains ratios that are needed in the soil. Not sure if its correct but it is easy to understand if it is correct.

http://www.lovehoneyberry.com/secrets-of-soil-testing/

Homesteader · May 21, 2018

sudshead said:
Gypsum is neutral in pH, and since it has no carbonate ion as part of its makeup, it will not neutralize acidity.

However, it is much more soluble than most lime products (about 200 times as soluble), so it does make a very good source for soluble calcium and sulfate. In other words, applying gypsum to the soil will raise the calcium and sulfur levels of the soil, but it will not raise the pH.

So at sulfur my level is 9 PPM - is that high, good or low?

No but cutting your mix 25% with peat will drop your pH down into good range and supply you with SOM % (which IMO is probably lower than the tests shows.) Using gypsum will raise your calcium and sulfur.

Elemental sulfur is expensive and will not supply you with the needed calcium.

I guess it depends where and what you are growing in terms of SOM, If drainage is an issue maybe. I doubt those test are really that accurate with SOM %. I certainly wouldn't be worried about having too much though.

Logan Labs Soil Test Results

Logan Labs Soil Test Results

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