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ianinco

Soil Problem / Question

IanInCo
10 years ago

Hi. Long time reader first time poster.

I moved my garden to a new area (about 1/4 acre size) this spring. Last summer I had a friends road grader scrape it down a bit due to the slope. After it was graded down I had about 20 cu yd of compost dumped and spread it out and tilled in. I let it rest the remainder of the year and through winter. I have very sandy/silty soil here.

this year I did spread and till in some triple 16 before planting anything.

My question is: There is this one area that has a higher concentration of the compost/wood chips that spans several rows (about a 15' diameter). There are 3 veg plants that are affected. Three squash plants have grown huge, beet tops are larger than the rest of the beets in it's row, but bush beans are stunted and deformed. What nutrient (or poison) would cause such a difference in grown between those plants?

Thanks for any insight!
Ian

Comments (6)

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    higher concentration of the compost/wood chips ..
    ...........................................................

    composted, or maybe NOT fully composted wood chips tend to absorb the fertilized, depriving the plants from nutrients. I THINK

    I would rake, sift all the chips(as much as I can fish) out and add good compost and fertilize, water.

  • IanInCo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I never thought about the chips soaking up the nutrients.

    One thing I left out was that late last summer (after I tilled in the compost) I planted the entire area with store bought navy beans. The idea was to fix the nitrogen. While these bean plants grew, the same thing happened. There were areas of stunted growth and really thick leaves, some discolored. I didn't put any fertilizer down for those. So I think there's something in the original sandy soil or something in the compost.

    After seeing how the winter squash and beets are responding to it, I'm not sure what to think.

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    10 years ago

    The very large and leafy plants sound like a case of too much nitrogen. The malformed leaves I'm not as sure of, but have been reading a lot about herbicides that persist in some composts. Your best bet is to put together a soil sample and get a soil test done. The results will tell you exactly what you need to do to your soil. It sounds like this could be a case of over-amending soil that didn't need it. If you have a local farm store they can either send the sample off to be tested for you or point you in the right direction to the proper agency that does it. Good luck!

  • digdirt2
    10 years ago

    Agree that a soil test is needed and you may need 2 separate ones from separate areas of the garden as it sure sounds like you have patchy distribution of nutrients vs. decomp.

    The various crop performance is the proof. Legumes (the various beans) have very different responses to nitrogen pockets in the soil so they are often used as a test crop. They don't tolerate high nitrogen levels in the soil but will often thrive in low nitrogen areas. There is an old adage that "beans will grow on concrete better than in good soil" that has a bit of truth to it.

    Root crops have a similar response but not as well defined. In high nitrogen pockets you get big healthy tops but no root development. In low nitrogen pockets you get good root development but not much top growth so the goal is to achieve a balance.

    Your low nitrogen pockets are probably those areas where the wood chip decomp has bound up the N. So it sounds as if the tilling didn't result in a good enough distribution of the compost and all the added fertilizer.

    Personally I never recommend the use of wood chips of any kind in the vegetable garden unless they are decomposed to the point of being non-recognizable as wood. I know many disagree with that. But it is just too easy for them to create serious problems while providing minimal benefits.

    Dave

  • lilydude
    10 years ago

    Maybe you got some diesel or hydraulic fluid from the compost or the road grader. A soil test won't pick that up.

  • planatus
    10 years ago

    If the compost was tainted with persistent herbicides particularly aminopyralid or clopyralid, tomatoes, peppers beans and peas will show abnormalities but most other veggies will grow okay.

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