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| I need fe mn co zn and others to be available to my plants, how I do that? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Where do you live? Even though your soil may be alkaline, many plants do fine in spite of it. What plants are you growing that need those things? Probably wise to get the straight scoop from your county's University Extension Service Office. Use this map to locate your county's office. |
Here is a link that might be useful: locate your county's Extension Service office
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| What is "alkaline"? What was the pH reading that told you that soil is "alkaline"? How much organic matter is in your soil? What type of soil do you have? What kind of life is in your soil? |
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| I live on alkaline soils. The best - and most practical - way I've found to create a good environment for growing plants is to become a fanatic on adding organic matter. Till it in, mulch etc. The decaying matter is acidic, with serves to neutralize the basic pH of the soil. You still won't be able to grow acid loving plants, but that still leaves a whole spectrum of things that do grow. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Mon, Jul 16, 12 at 11:37
| Kimmsr has good questions. And the answer, usually, is exactly what david52 said: compost. It's organic matter that's rich in micronutrients and it will also tend to bring your pH closer to neutral. |
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- Posted by strobiculate none (My Page) on Mon, Jul 16, 12 at 15:07
| the question should be...who is this guy and how hard is he pulling your leg. because anyone who is going to know the relationship between pH and availability of +3 valence minerals.is going to know how to deal with it. which leads us to sulphur. give me.a choice...and i'll take a soil whose parent rock is feldspar. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Mon, Jul 16, 12 at 16:21
| I *think* I know what most of your post means, except for this part: "give me.a choice...and i'll take a soil whose parent rock is feldspar." In any case... Also, there are plenty of gardeners can take their soil to a lab and have the results come back low in ___ (fill in the blank) and not know exactly what to do about it. They show up here all the time. But this one is somehow pulling our leg? |
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| Any soil test that I've seen telling you what is deficient will tell you how to correct it. And yes it is most helpful to know what is to be grown and where. |
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- Posted by blazeaglory 10 SZ22 OC Ca (My Page) on Mon, Jul 16, 12 at 22:00
| My soil is "alkaline" and I have been adding organic matter since the beginning of this year and I have already dropped almost a full point. Keep adding OM. |
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- Posted by gardengrower3 none (My Page) on Thu, Jul 19, 12 at 16:11
| Definitely adding sulphur is the way to go. Organic matter is good too, but adding the sulphur is a sure way to lower the soil ph. You can get the fast acting kind so it works pretty quickly. |
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- Posted by blazeaglory 10 SZ22 OC Ca (My Page) on Sat, Jul 21, 12 at 1:09
| Yeah I forgot to add that I have been using elemental sulfur from Espoma. It really does work!! |
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| Guessing what to add to soil to change the pH, or even what, if any, nutrients are needed is never a good idea. How far out of optimal is the soil pH, if it is? That determines what, if anything, and how much is needed to correct the problem and the only real way to know that is by having a good, reliable soil test done. The optimal soil pH is in the 6.2 to 6.8 range because that is where most all soil nutrients are most readily available to most plants, but a soil pH of 7.2 is not far enough off the warrant "doing something". There are a number of plants that prefer to grow in acidic soils, although many of these do quite well in neutral soils (Rhododendrons do quite well, apparently, on the White Cliffs of Dover) as well. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Mon, Jul 23, 12 at 12:15
| If and when TAB shows up with more facts about the situation, we might be able to offer some useful advice. |
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