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Seashells in my soil
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Posted by
TAB3230 none (
My Page) on
Sun, Jul 29, 12 at 23:22
| To people who lives in south Florida, I have so many sea shells in my soil is it usual? My soil looks like old sand, I mean sand which looks like sand ashes - gray sand. Is it normal here in south Florida? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Seashells in my soil
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| That does sound like the typical south Florida soil to me. That is pretty much what I saw when I was there. |
RE: Seashells in my soil
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| We live on ancient sand dunes in Nevada. The "soil", as it were. looks like sand but ants bring up many tiny shells, perhaps less than half a millimeter. |
RE: Seashells in my soil
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| Ok Albert, how much it will change my soil resistance to change pH if I go and pick all seashells from what I see? Will it give me break from increasing my pH levels all the timer? |
RE: Seashells in my soil
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| The removal of all visible shells will make NO difference in the ph of your soil. What is the pH and what are you adding to change it? |
RE: Seashells in my soil
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What your soil needs is large amounts of organic matter. That will fill in the spaces between the sand particles and shells and aid in holding moisture and nutrients in the plants root zone. What to use to change your soils pH depends on what it is now and where you need to get it. Contact your local office of your University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service about having a good, reliable soil test done and dig in with these simple soil tests,
1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.
to see what else needs to be done tomake this a good, healthy soil. |
RE: Seashells in my soil
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- Posted by josko Cape Cod (My Page) on
Fri, Aug 3, 12 at 6:45
| On a related note, do (crushed) seashells contribute anything (such as calcium) to the soil? I routinely put mussel chells in my compost, and they seem to disintegrate by the time compost is done, but oyster and quahog (clam) shells survive composting more or less intact. For some time I've been crushing them and scattering on the garden, but I wonder if there's any tangible benefit for doing so. |
RE: Seashells in my soil
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Those shells will, eventually, add some Calcium to your soil, years from now. Some shells are digested quicker then others, but in some places those shells are used in place of gravel on road surfaces.
If you need to make adjustments to your soils pH do not count on sea shells to do that. |
RE: Seashells in my soil
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| And, does your soil actually need calcium? In small amounts it probably wouldn't matter either way, but if you're adding a lot of shells, you might want to get a soil test to see where you stand on Ca, Mg and pH. |
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