There are several 'soil test results' discussions running over on the Vegetable Gardening forum. More importantly there is a Soil & Compost forum here that addresses this type of issue regularly.

And of course there is the SQ Foot Gardening forum. I'd suggest that those forums are more relevant for this discussion than this one.

IMO it is important to keep in mid that there are many methods of gardening - some more legitimately proven than others, some much more radical than others. Trying to incorporate several of them, at the same time usually leads to disaster,

Just something to consider.

Dave

I agree with Dave, you will get great information by posting your soil test results in the soil and compost forum. There are many experts there, as well as a few organic/compost extreamists.

If you want to discuss questions specific to growing tomatoes in regards to your soil then we could do that for you here. But you will generally get better info on your soil in that forum.

thanks to both of ou. i hadnt thought about those other forums. I am more concerned with the tomatoes tho. I read somewhere that a lady used a weekly feed of mix of 13-13-13 fertilizer, micronutrients, and calcium nitrate, and her tomatoes were huge, and plants looks extremely healthy, with huge productivity.
tammy

I read somewhere that a lady used a weekly feed of mix of 13-13-13 fertilizer, micronutrients, and calcium nitrate, and her tomatoes were huge, and plants looks extremely healthy, with huge productivity.

One can "read" all sorts of claims on the web. Whether they are true or not is a whole other matter.

One way to determine the amount of truth or accuracy in any of these claims is to determine if they are common practice, been researched/tested by others, or something out in left field.

There is much truth to the old adage that "if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is" ...too good to be true.

I think you'll find that most experienced gardeners would agree that a weekly dose of 13-13-13 would result in huge dark green plants with very little production. The correlation between high N fert use and low production is well established and well documented.

Not to mention the well-documented fact that using a phos and K level of 13 weekly results in little but wasted money, run off and ground water contamination.

Dave

Well I tried to post the link to the forum where I read the above and found out its a site note allowed to be posted here. Dave, what plan do you recommend to keep healthy productive plants?
tammy

Dave, what plan do you recommend to keep healthy productive plants?

You mean fertilization plan? Well not sure how much help it would be as my "fertilization plan" is basically very fertile soil with as close to a neutral pH as I can get. I have very alkaline soil here so some of the supplements that I have to use wouldn't necessarily apply to your garden.

My gardens have been amended with copious amount of home-made compost and well-aged manures 2-3 times a year over many years so they have really good tilth but because of the pH problem I have I also have to use sulfur and magnesium supplements.

I also do regular top dressings with additional compost, heavy mulching with straw and hay, and weekly fertigation with well-diluted, low N liquid ferts.

Dave

Thanks for your tips Dave, I have also been heavily amending my soil as well , and it looks pretty good. I was digging in it a few days ago, and the soil is very loose.Not my usual hardpacked clay and rock.
I have been reading more and more about the Mittleider method. I havent found a bad comments yet, and loads of blogs with comments about how it has greatly improved their yields and health of plants. It sounds very interesting, so i plan on giving it a try this yr.
Tammy

Yeah I have read about it and if one can sort out the hype about it from the actual facts it has some positive aspects.

My main objection to the pre-planting mix is all the lime. Given my alkaline soil all that lime would destroy my gardens. Plus I don't think it stresses enough that manure tea should only be used as a root drench, ever applied to leaves, and never used around low-growing ground contact crops.

The weekly mix recipe has many good things in it

IF your soil is actually depleted in those minerals and a waste of money if it isn't.

Low K and low P soils are very rare, one reason why so many gardeners are switching to just low N fertilizers, and adding all the P and K just leads to even more ground water contamination. Those of us that live on wells or near large bodies of water can't risk all that contamination.

So if your soil test shows adequate levels of all the micro-nutrients - copper, iron, boron, moly, etc. - then none of that is needed and can even lead to nutrient toxicity symptoms in plants.

Gardening is one of those situations where "more is not necessarily better".

Dave

Dave i didnt find on my soil test where it listed those micro nutrients so i am not sure.
I did speak with LDSPrepper on youtube, where I first started reading about this method, and he said if you have under 20" of rainfall per year you would use Gypsum , and if you have over 20" of rainfall per year,, you use lime. We have over 40" per yr. i dont remember the exact number. From what I understand the amount of rainfall would effect your ph, however, he stated not to worry what the ph was just go by the amount of rainfall.
Now after reading your last post, I went back and re checked my soil test. The area of my current garden has HIGH levels of k20 and P205. But the area outside the garden that i havent started amending yet is low is P205, and High in K20. So I probably need to read more on these 2.
Tammy

he said if you have under 20" of rainfall per year you would use Gypsum , and if you have over 20" of rainfall per year,, you use lime. We have over 40" per yr. i dont remember the exact number. From what I understand the amount of rainfall would effect your ph, however, he stated not to worry what the ph was just go by the amount of rainfall.

Jeez . Talk about taking a basic law of hydrology and soil science and then extrapolating to the extreme.

Excessive rainfall [30+ inches] does remove basic [alkaline] cations over a long time period. That period of time all depends on the nature of the soil, sandy being the fastest, clay the slowest. However we are talking about over multiple decades, not annually.

And even then that approach is assuming that none of those alkaline cations are replaced by natural decomposition of the soil or even by garden watering - which they are - or recognizing that most garden plants grow best in acidic soil with a pH range of 5.5 - 6.0.

And to say to ignore the soil pH? The pH is the most vital element of the soil as it is what determines nutrient uptake by the plants - what is available to them or not.

So exactly what did you soil test say? Interpreting the WV Soil Test report

According to the soil taxonomy report on WV there are 5 different classes of soil in the state all with widely varying native soil pH so depending on where you live, lime may or may not be of benefit to you and if needed then it would have been reported as such in your soil test.

I commend your desire to understand all this but you know there are numerous reputable, even university and scientific, sources for all this information available on the web. Some guy on youTube is not one of them.

Explore the WVU Extension service website and if you can't find the soil sciences info there then go to the one of the university websites that have a Soil Sciences division like Wisconsin, Florida, Minnesota, etc.

Choose your sources of information with care.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: OK State Ext. - Cause and Effect of Soil Acidity

Thanks for those links Dave, I will take some time and read them more thoroughly.

In our area, I know most farmers use lime in the gardens. I havent yet.My soil Ph in the amended garden was 5.8. It was recommneded to apply lime and N. In the non amended area of the yard it was 4.9, and lime N and P was recommended.
Tammy

Here is a link that might be useful: My test results