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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Soil test done

barb_roselover_in

13 years ago

I took in a sample of soil to have a test done. The PH was okay, everything else was okay except for the phosphorus (sp?) How do I correct this? It was a simple test offered by our local nursery. My neighbor also had the same report, but she said she had been dumping her wood ashes on there. Mine is from my raised beds. The only thing I can remember is that I put a lot of mushroom compost on my raised beds. I would appreciate any comments. Thank you a bunch. - Barb

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Comments (6)

Kimmsr
13 years ago
Those simple tests seldom provide sufficient information to know what to do. What did that test show about your soils Phosphorus levels, a little low, a lot low? Did those doing that test have any recommendations about how to correct this? Something that a good test from a good soil test lab will include is some information about how to correct the problems, if any, found.
jolj
13 years ago
You can use rock dust or organic manure for phosphorus.
Can you post the report for the soil test?
Here is a link to a thread on phosphorus.

Here is a link that might be useful: organic phosphorus
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I know next to nutthin 'bout reading soil tests but a couple of advisories. Depending on who did the testing, some labs give recommendations for lime for agricultural purposes where they expect the lime to be mixed into the soil rather than spread on top. Keep in mind that grass does best in soil that is at a PH of 6.5ish or so.and that it is much easier to increase PH than it is to reduce it. So if you add to much lime... Second thing to keep in mind is that you do not want to add more than one pound of N per month at a time to an existing lawn. Also too much N in a seed bed is not beneficial to seedlings and can kill germenating seeds Thirdly, N and P leach pretty quickly, so adding more than the plant can use before they leach out is both a waste of money and bad for the enviorment. Maybe there are some soil test readers here, If not, I'd suggest you re-do the test with Logan Labs and pay for them to make recommendations. Just my two cents.
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For past 5 years, I've only used Espoma products, home-made compost, leaves in fall, cm, sbm and alfalfa pellets on all my beds and lawn ~ nothing artificial and no pesticides/herbicides. Seems like everything starts off ok each spring, but by mid-summer all looks tired in spite of good care. Bloom is down and last year a whole back bed of Shasta daisies and larkspur died altogether. I had soil testing done a year ago, but never acted on the suggestions because I wasn't sure how to do so without using chemical fertilizers. Can you help me figure this out? Testing was done through A & L Analytical Labs. Method used: M3 Front flower bed: 5 years old - small tree/shrubs/perennials Soil pH: 7.1 P: 15 ppm K: 45ppm Ca: 1,472 ppm Mg: 140 ppm Organic matter (Loi) 14.2% ENR 328 Suggested:1 lb nitrogen per 1000 sq ft 4 times year, 1/2 lb P in spring and fall and 5 lbs K - 1 in fall and rest over growing season. Back flower bed: 30 years old - shrubs/perennials/annuals used chemical fertilizer until 5 years ago Soil pH: 7.0 P: 167 ppm K: 187 ppm Ca: 2656 ppm Mg: 402 ppm Organic matter: 13.5% ENR 314 Suggested: 1 lb nitrogen (per 1000 sq ft) 4 times year,no P and 2 lbs K ( ") in fall and over growing season Q: Do I have too much organic matter? Q: Would it help to use higher nitrogen like blood meal or SBM and more frequently? Q; What is my best source of organic P & K Q: Is the yellowing of leaves due to too much calcium making iron unavailable to plants? Help ! Thanks.
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Soil tests will tell you about your soils pH as well as the nutrient levels and can help you not spend your money on things your soil does not need as well as help you not add to the pollution of our world. A basic soil test should include soil pH, Phosphorus, Potash, Calcium, and Magnesium levels as well CEC. At extra expense you could also have other things tested for, if desired. Some people think there is no reason to test your soil, but simply knowing that you need not spend money on unneeded stuff should be enough to interest someone in having it done. The test kits sold in garden centers are not ver reliable and the soil pH test does not give you enough good information to make intelligent decisions about your soils pH. While the P and K levels measure readily available amounts of those they do not have the ability that a good soil testing lab will have to give projected levels, what would be available long term. While Purdue no longer does soil testing, there are others that do and either UCONN or UMASS will test soils from other states at a very reasonable cost. Remember "scientia potentia est", Knowledge is Power.
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Kimmsr
13 years ago
Any nutrients in any rock dust need to be converted by the Soil Food Web to be available to the plants which means you need to have ample quantities of organic matter in the soil to have that active Soil Food Web, in which case probably most all of the nutrients plants need will be there without adding the rock dusts.
Animal manures, when combined with vegetative waste, can be a good source of nutrients, but vegetative waste needs to be in the soil to help hold that very soluble nutrients in the manure in the soil.
goren
13 years ago
Superphosphate is a well recommended method to put phosphurus in the ground when you first plant.
Most plants can use this form to enhance rooting and flowering and is recommended 99% of the time at planting time.
The abundance of phosphurus (0/20/0) or triple superphosphate (0/46/0) are the usual packages found everywhere in garden centres and nurseries.

As most garden fertilizer packages have, either a balanced level of nutrients with phopshurus the middle number, or is found in unbalanced formulae, it is easy to pick and choose according to the plants' requirements.
Phosphurus is directly attributable for rooting and flowering and is the reason why, for instance, Miracle Gro...15/30/15 is the leading fertilizer for flowering gardens.
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
13 years ago
Remember that the middle number is referring to phosphate....not pure phosphorus.....15-30-15 has an almost identical amount of phosphorus and potassium.
Kimmsr
13 years ago
Superphosphate is a very soluble form of phosphorus and if not added to soil with care will burn plant roots. For that reason botanists, soil scientists, and horticulturists stopped recommending adding that to your garden soil at planting time about 25 or 30 years ago.

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