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Cant seem to raise nitrogen in soil

Posted by svirfnebli CA (My Page) on
Mon, May 9, 11 at 23:25

Hello All.

This year I started my first garden. I've make 16" tall raised beds (Beds are 8x3). The bottom 10" of soil is fill dirt (from agromin) and the top 6" is a 50/50 mix of eb stone compost and "top soil". My mulch is "fine orchid bark". I'm watering using micro sprinklers every other day for 6 minutes.

All the plants seem to be suffering from nitrogen deficiency - Slow grown, yellow leaves, etc. And my home soil test kit indicates virtually no nitrogen. The wierd part is that i've been taking steps to raise the nitrogen yet nothing seems to be working. I've used fish emulsion (twice by soil application and twice by foliar), and used two cups of blood meal per raise bed (24sqft).

What am I doing wrong, and why wont the nitrogen increase?

Other information
PH About 7.1
Phosphorus: Sufficient
Potash: Sufficient


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Cant seem to raise nitrogen in soil

Use some urea, its 46% nitrogen.


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RE: Cant seem to raise nitrogen in soil


my home soil test kit indicates virtually no nitrogen

Your "home soil test kit" is wrong IMO. You have increased the nitrogen too far and burned the root system.
Get a real soil test.


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RE: Cant seem to raise nitrogen in soil

Many forms of Nitrogen are very water soluble and if not used by plants fairly quickly the available N is washed out of the soil with water as it drains. Soil temperature also can influence available N, although in Ca that should not be a reason. More than likely there is too much undigested organic matter that the soil bacteria are working on and utilizing the N to the detriment of the plants.


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RE: Cant seem to raise nitrogen in soil

Or your problem may have nothing to do with nitrogen. Lots of stuff will turn a plant yellow. As stated above, get thy soil to a lab.


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RE: Cant seem to raise nitrogen in soil

Run microsprinklers for 6 minutes? Wow, I'm surprised the plants are upright. With that, very little of your growing media is being moistened.

Far too little water, and likely contributing to their problems. Likely you need to run the system far longer.

To determine how long to run the system, try 30 minutes, then stop. An hour later stick a trowel in it to determine how deep the moisture went.

If you think that's far too long as a starting point, run the system for the usual 6 minutes, stop, then an hour later check.


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RE: Cant seem to raise nitrogen in soil

It is not possible to get an accurate N reading from a home soil test kit. Even many professional soil testing labs do not test for this nutrient.

N is the most mobile of the three primary plant nutrients and is very difficult to assess. It will read differently based on time of year/time of day, whether the area is in sun or shade, how much moisture is in the soil, quantity and type of organic matter and a host of other various factors. At best, you will only get an approximate reading at that point in time. It is also the single nutrient that is most often naturally lacking or deficient in an unamended cultivated garden.

Blood meal is a good source of fast acting organic N but sometimes it is too fast :-) In a warm, humid environment, blood meal will convert to ammonia rapidly and this can often burn fragile roots. You need to be very careful with your application rate - no more than a pound per 100sf. A slower, less soluble source would be better. Together with the organic matter of the compost, I'd guess the blood meal plus fish emulsion may have created too high a N level, at least temporarily. And I don't think this is aided by your watering practices (which would flush the excess soluble N) - 6 minutes is not a sufficient duration for any kind of proper soil depth penetration or to satisfy the needs of young, rapidly growing seedlings. It is far better to offer water at the root zone (not with sprinklers, where most evaporates before it hits the ground) for a longer duration and less frequently. You want to check and make sure the water penetrates down into the soil at least 6-8 inches. The bark, if applied very heavily, may also be impeding water penetration as well. I dislike bark for a veggie garden. Better to use a finer textured mulch - chopped grass trimmings, shredded leaves, compost, composted manures, etc., as these will help to retain soil moisture rather than repel it.


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