It's my understanding that cobalt is a non-essential element and that plants can get along just fine without it, but may derive some small benefit if it's there. I can't seem to find a single documented case of cobalt deficiency causing chlorosis in plants. This best I could come up with was this: "cobalt probably participates in chlorophyll b formation" But there is nothing about cobalt being vital to the process, only that it "probably participates". (Earlier in the article it actually states that decreasing cobalt increases 'chlorophyll a' and chloroplast production). Nor are there any documented cases of a cobalt deficiency or a statement of what symptoms might be expected if cobalt uptake were low. Can you help me out and point me towards any documentation supporting the claim that cobalt deficiency leads to chlorosis, or any other symptom, in plants? By the way, if you read through that article there is all kinds of fun stuff. Like this: "Apical application of COC12 (50-100 ~tg/plant) to female plants of Cannabis sativa caused drying of the shoot tip and formation of axillary branches which bore male,reduced male, and intersexual flowers along with female flowers." In other words, you better not spill your cobalt on your pot plant unless you want to give it a sex change. See kids? Who says science ain't fun?

What influences your soils pH is the number of free hydrogen ions floating around in there, and one of the problems that is being discovered today is the high amount of phosphorus in many soils and that this phosphorus, once thought to be fairly stable in soils, is ending up in our lakes and streams and causing large amounts of algae to grow that is choking our water supply. The soil test labs no longer test for N because how much will be available to plants is strongly influenced by soil temperatures, ie. the soil bacteria working away in your soil feeding your plants. One good source of any of those nutrients is organic matter. The amount of lime recommended is about .012 pounds per square foot, a really negligable amount and not really worth trying to spread. You want a soil pH between 6.2 adn 6.8 because that is where most all soil nutrients are most easily available for plants, and increasing the amount of humus in your soil will also influence the soils pH.

Certain precautions supposedly help alleviate the phosphorus deficienncy [sic] problem. Honestly it isn't something you can eliminate and it isn't something to worry about either. It's not a deficiency so much as an uptake problem, it's normal for many varieties, it is common (especially so when plants are started way too early ), it disappears (unpurples) all on its own as the plant matures. This is not to say you shouldn't maintain your fertility and pH as Timmy said. The rest takes care of itself. but I am not sure when BER will show As to the calcium uptake, again it fixes itself as the plant adapts and matures. You can see it quite early on in the fruit - a darker discoloration on the bloom end of the fruit while it is still quite small. You can't "cure" or prevent it. The plant does that for itself. I assume all these plants will eventually be planted outside in the garden? If so, then depending on the weather when you transplant, you may experience some early BER regardless of what you do. But it will go away once the weather stabilizes - assuming sufficient sunlight and that your soil bed is balanced and well-prepared. And if you are transplanting older seedlings (ones that were started way too early ;) then you may see more of it. Old transplants simply can't adapt nearly as quickly or as well as those of proper age and size come transplant time. So, bottom line, I think the "cure" for all your concerns is to quit starting your plants so far in advance. ;) Dave

SOP's fine to go down on damp grass, and you can do it now if you want. Really, you're barely off-cycle for an app I scheduled for October 15th. Always read my dates as "somewhere kind of around this date if that's convenient for you." We can always revise the schedule if things really get off-track. Bermuda doesn't require heavy synthetic winterization and the process can actually cause damage the following spring and summer. Greening's unlikely at this point if growth has slowed significantly. However, I don't recommend keeping soybean meal (or any grain) around over the winter as the stuff is a beacon to mice and other less-pleasant rodents. Lighter organic winterization practices won't harm Bermuda, so I'd put it down. If you have shrubs, gardens, or trees, this stuff would also be very good for them at this point in the season as well. I dropped my last organics on October first (in Pennsylvania), being very certain to strike the Thuja, lilacs, trees, and other shrubs with the stuff pretty heavily.