What affect this might have on our environment, and us, is unknown since no research has been done to find out. The bulk of the modification done on any GMO'd crop is for disease, insect or pesticide resistance. For cotton, it is primarily insect resistance - the lack of need to spray insecticides is generally considered by most to be a good thing. Also cottonseed meal - like any other organic fertilizer - needs to go through a process of mineralization before they can be presented in a plant-accessible form. It is hard to consider that with all the necessary decomposition or consumption by soil organisms and the entire photosynthetic process some sort of deadly Frankengenes are going to come back and haunt us. Especially in the concentrations one would normal employ. Lets stay within context here :-)

Honestly, Allison, I think you ought to get a book. Soil chemistry is just that: chemistry. Everything interacts with everything else. It isn't simple plus or minus. You can get books on basic soils science from Amazon. Also, the Master Gardener programs of different states have books. I bought the Master Gardener book for California. Also, I'm going to bet that Texas has some outstanding soils science information for farmers on some aggie extension site. The best soils information is always local because soils chemistry is local - - or at least regional. Even within a county, it can be local. pH is interesting. Many roses can tolerate a really wide range of pH, no matter what people tell you to the contrary. Native roses grow in that stuff out there without lime and without sulfur, where the pH ranges from 5.0 to 8.5. Think of some micro-nutrients and soils chemicals this way: they can be in the soil but insoluble when the pH is high. They can be in the soil and way too soluble when the pH is low. My garden soils, with very low native pH present a problem not so much because the usual good micronutrients are massively available because they are so soluble. The problem is that a "bad micronutrient" is also massively available: aluminum. So I adjust the pH up primarily to stop my roses from absorbing too much aluminum. How do I even know they are doing it? Because I got crazy and had a test done to find out what some weird leaf symptoms were. Results: very high levels of all micronutrients like iron and copper and excessively high levels of aluminum (which our soils test does not show because aluminum is not a nutrient.) Anyway, you need to read about the impact of adding sulfur. It will have other effects on your soil besides lowing the pH. This isn't my issue, so I don't have time to check - - is it Ca or Mg? Those two are twinsies you want to have in a bit of a balance. The balance isn't much of a problem in a lot of soils. In many parts of the country, people add Magnesium as epsom salts. Out here, that's pure lunacy because most of our soils from the coastal mountains to the Pacific are so high in Magnesium they are off the charts. And yet I see garden centers selling epsom salts to rose growers when they really need to sell them calcium (gypsum). But I digress. 1) Check local extension. Farmers know their stuff. Those guys need to know soils because their living depends on it. 2) Get some books. And by the time you spent all that time and energy on self-education, you could have had a soils test and you will have a head start on reading the results and recommendations.

strawberry hill, your post is so interesting. I've never tested my soil but knowing that it's basically decomposed granite (in some places solid granite just 1 1/2 feet down) is a good clue. Growing the right roses for your area, as has been emphasized on this forum over and over, is in my opinion the most important lesson to learn. Having once chosen the right ones, there are still steps that can be taken, as you point out, to fine-tune the results. A lot depends on how much you can or are willing to do. I've found that coffee grounds from my husband's coffee consumption, alfalfa meal and adequate water are the simplest way for me to have good-looking roses. Judicious pruning also has its place. Poisons never will; I'd give up roses first. It's part art, part science and part the will of the roses to live and thrive. It's a little different for everyone, and it is endlessly fascinating. Ingrid

Sharon: THANK YOU FOR THOSE FANTASTIC PICTURES !! I also did red-cabbage test today Sat. 7/25/20. Distilled water boiled in red cabbage is actually acidic according to on-line info. "Pure distilled water should be neutral with a pH of 7, but because it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it's actually slightly acidic with a pH of 5.8." From your pictures above, the grayish blue solution is alkaline with pH 7.5. My pH 7.7 clay is a bit bluer (tested by Earth Corp. soil testing company). Black, gray, or clear solution is neutral pH .. means it's a fantastic buffer (good for plants). I tested COMPOSTED grass clippings and it's clear water above black solution. Buffer is great to neutralize the acidity of rain. Clay buffers better than sand/loamy soil, but the best buffer is composted organic matter. Coffee is also a buffer (at first pinkish, but after 20 min., it's a clear solution). COMPOSTED plant-matter is very alkaline and neutralizes acidic rain well. COMPOSTED leaves decompose to alkaline pH, when I stuffed a bunch of leaves in LOAMY & fluffy soil .. the next year that got converted into HARD CLAY, very alkaline. Green grass clippings stay fluffy longer (more nitrogen & more acidic). Brown leaves are considered "carbon" in a compost pile, and decompose to alkaline pH & hard like clay. My tap-water in red-cabbage is VERY BLUE, it's at pH 9 as stated on village's website. I also tested baking soda and it's more blue than my tap-water. I tested paver's sand or yellow coarse sand, and it's slightly alkaline. I tested composted manure and it's very alkaline (from the lime added to deodorize and kill weeds in the bag). The pH of composted manure is just as alkaline as my clay at pH 7.7. Your LAST pic. is slightly acidic. Rain-water is even more acidic & reddish purple. Rain water here is pH 4.5. I also tested some drops of vinegar and it's fuchsia red around pH 3. All my rooting-soil for cuttings are black or clear solution at neutral pH (they have lots of yellow sand or vermiculite mixed in). The clay taken from diseased & black spotted roses are slightly acidic, rather than blue like my pH 7.7 clay. I had tested 5 different roses with black spots in the past, and the soil taken from the root level is pinkish in red-cabbage juice. It's either acidic rain can't drain well from that spot, or else there's NOT enough buffer to neutralize the heavy rain going down.