raised bed nutrient deficient?

13 years ago

Hi - New to this forum and looking for some opinions on fixing the soil in my raised vegetable bed!

In mid-March I constructed a raised bed and filled it as advised by my local garden shop: about 50% pine fines, 25% organic matter rich bagged topsoil; and 25% bagged compost (mix of leaf & manure). I think that this soil is woefully inadequate in N based on the following observations:

- the radishes I planted on 3/22 have produced only 3-4 tiny radishes. Some of the radish leaves are yellowish.

- carrots and beets planted on 3/22 sprouted but have basically not grown at all past sprouting (1 inch high or so)

- cucumber seedlings I transplanted into the raised bed about three weeks ago have also not grown much. But I planted another seedling in a big pot with potting mixture, and its leaves are about 2x as big as in the raised bed.

- peas I planted on 3/22 and beans I planted two weeks ago are the only things that seem to be growing with any speed. Since peas and beans fix N from the air, this leads me to believe that lack of N in the soil is the problem for the other stuff.

In addition to the problems with N, the soil mix also seems to drain too quickly because of the high percentage of pine fines.

Here are my ideas for fixing the situation:

- feed this weekend with foliar fertilizer. I picked up some "organic" 8-4-4 stuff from Home Depot.

- add some alfalfa pellets

- for the bigger plants, top dress with a healthy layer of composted manure

- if the beets, carrots, and radishes don't take off, then give up and work in a bunch of compost in those sections and plant some seedlings instead.

Any suggestions or comments?

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

Mike Larkin
13 years ago
Before you buy anything else take a few to read and learn about what plants need. Google or buy a good veg garden book.
You basically built a big container, and filled it with great ingrdients, that had little nutrients. Step 1 fill the container , step 2 fertilize the plants - you forgot step 2.
Plants need macro and micro nutrients. 8-4-4 are macro nutrients. Find out what each number means and what it can do for the plant. Go over to the container garden forum - seach for Al, there are many threads on fertilization of containers.
Remember too much fertilizer is not a good thing.

Mike
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
13 years ago
I'm not sure why they suggested such a high percentage of bark fines.......these are usually recommended for container plantings as they hold up well and provide a high aeration/fast drainage component. This is much less of a concern in raised beds - drainage is characteristically fast in these even with a more traditional soil mix just by virtue of their elevation. Often too fast :-)

Because of their woody nature, the bark fines could well be tying up available nitrogen and I think you are correct in your assessment. Blood meal, alfalfa meal and bat guano are all relatively fast acting organic source of N. Or if water soluble, the organic stuff from HD could work also. Composted manure (if properly composted) is a great mulch or topdressing for any veggie garden, raised or not, but I'd not look to it for a fast N solution.
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The blood meal will be available almost immediately, but if soil temps are below about 55* you might want to rethink applying it because ammonium toxicity can be a real issue. Did you use coir or CHCs in your beds? Curious if that's responsible for the elevated K issue - which if high enough can inhibit uptake of other essential elements. Knowing how you made your soil - what from - might be helpful in tracing your problems to their source. Al
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KYtrish, I second gardengal48's suggestion of alfalfa meal. She listed several options for adding nitrogen organically, and they'd all do it. But I find alfalfa really pleasant to work with. I use the meal, not the pellets (that just means it's a powder instead of being in chunks). It has a nice scent that makes me think of growing things (rather than the strange harsh scent of chemical fertilizers). Toss it by the handful into your garden bed. You want a dusting of it, not a thick layer. Scratch it in or water it in or just leave it on top. If you've mulched around your plants, maybe pull back the mulch and toss it underneath. You may already know this, but just in case... When you add an organic food like this to your soil, it isn't instantly available to the plant roots. Bacteria gobble it up, and in the process convert it into forms the plants can use. A little will be available quickly, but most of it will become available in about a month. Generally, this is a good thing - instead of a big wave of nitrogen that soon washes out of the soil (as you might get with a soluble chemical fertilizer), you're putting something into the soil that will provide a "bank" of nitrogen to feed your plants gradually. Blood meal is much stronger stuff - I haven't used it, and feel like if I were going to, I'd want to learn a bit more about how much to use to avoid overdoing it. I haven't tried cottonseed meal, but would imagine it'd be nice to use too. Oh - and Kimmsr's questions about how your plants LOOK is a great one. Another thing you may already know, but just in case: the tests generally look for nitrogen in only some of its forms, and can miss nitrogen that's tied up in organic material. That is - they would work fine for a farmer adding chemical fertilizers (I think), but a warning that you have low nitrogen might not mean anything if you have a good rich soil with lots of organic material in there ... the tests are just not designed to measure that, I think. - Lisa
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if a leaf yellows.. from the tip back ... then it is a water deficiency ... and it usually starts on the oldest leaves.. i like to think of the plant sacrificing the old... to maintain the new ... is it an old leaf ... i swear chris told me this.. when i visited a few weeks back.. and brought a potted plant which looked just like yours .... and i swear i did a post on it ... since then ... which with this group... probably means its already on page 30 .... lol .. post at link ... my second reply .. 5th pic or so ... that would be the end result of the beginning of which you are seeing ... but you will water more now ... pots are tricky.. i hope you have the pot in full shade ... it might also be a hardening off issue... if you bought from a heavily shaded spot in the nursery ... and substantially changed such.. when you got home ... it would be transport shock ... not to be confused with transplant shock ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link
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Re-post the info. from the other thread: The problem with lime? Its high pH kills the soil bacteria that fixes nitrogen, so lime UNDO the effect of nitrogen-fertilizer like alfalfa. I put lime in Pink Peace's planting hole, since the soil was previously occupied by a large bush, plus I wanted to tone-down its gaudy color. The result? Calcium & other nutrients deficiency in young leaves, along with less petals and flowers that don't last long. Calcium could not be released since the pH is too high in the planting hole. Will have to dig Pink Peace AGAIN after its 3rd flush. Grafted Pink Peace gives me hell, compared to much-cleaner-own-root. I dug it up 4th of July since it black spotted on me, fixed the hole with compost & lime, it became pale & less petals after that. It's really hard to achieve balance of nutrients, so I'm better off using slow-released balanced stuff: red-lava-rock & pea gravel, compost, alfalfa hay. My GRAFTED Pink-Peace black spots be it wet or dry. Above pic, it's a calcium deficiency, since the young leaves are, "New leaves (top of plant) are distorted or irregularly shaped. Causes blossom-end rot." see link below: http://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1106.pdf I get tons of blossom-end-rot on my cherry-tomato: the one I forgot to put gypsum in the planting hole. Gypsum is questionable on top, but great in the planting hole, since it's evenly distributed, rather than gunking on top to burn roots. Below is a good chart:
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
13 years ago
Mike, I was composing my response as you were posting yours :-))

Raised bed gardening is far more like inground gardening than it is to containers :-) Most of the aeration/drainage issues common to container gardening do not apply. That's why you can get away with using regular ole garden soil in a raised bed, together with whatever OM is at hand......not something that would produce similarly successful results in a container situation :-) Ergo, one would want to fertilize a raised bed planting similar to how one would an inground planting bed. With the OM the OP has already got incorporated, I believe the necessary nutrients are very likely present, with the exception of the N for the reasons I gave. Regardless, the 8-4-4 forumlation most likely has a variety of micros included - most do. It is only the primary nutrients that are disclosed on the NPK ratio....the others should be listed elsewhere on the packaging.
jolj
13 years ago
If you have clay soil with no organic matter, it would be like a box in the ground & I could see why someone could think 50% pine fines. But if you have sandy or loamy or even clay loamy soil, then you would not need it. However, now that you have it, no worries. It will not hurt anything, but maybe the pH.
The person may wanted to sale you something or just did not know what you needed. You can know with a soil test.

Here is a link that might be useful: This is what I use to add nutrients to compost.

raised bed nutrient deficient?

Comments (4)

Mike Larkin

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

jolj

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