Best Soil Nutrients for Papaya?
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years ago
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Tony Doe(Miami, Florida 10b)
7 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b thanked Tony Doe(Miami, Florida 10b)Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years agoRelated Discussions
nutrients for container soils???
Comments (19)He said "Miracle Grow 24-8-16 all purpose is what I have." and you were asking about comments re Epsom salts. First let's establish that MG 24-8-16 contains no Mg, and supplying Mg is why we would use Epsom salts. To decide if it's appropriate to include Epsom salts in our fertilizer program, we need to know if the soil we are using has had either dolomitic (garden) lime added as a pH adjuster and a Ca/Mg source, or in the case of gypsum - as a Ca (and S) source. If dolomite was used, then it's likely there would be ample Mg (and Ca) in the soil for a grow season or more. If you made the soil and chose to use gypsum as a Ca source, it would not include Mg and it should be added when you fertilize (in the form of Epsom salts, usually). You should not add Epsom salts to soils unless you know or suspect there to be a Mg deficiency, because Mg is antagonistic toward Ca and can block its uptake when the ratio of Ca:Mg gets much below 3:1. It's better to add Garden lime or a supplement that contains the correct ratio of Ca:Mg than to add Mg (Epsom salts) alone. Al...See MorePotting Soil & Nutrients
Comments (15)Saaod, I can only relate my experience doing container gardening living in hot, dry Las Vegas, but I think some of the same principles will apply to you. Water sitting in a saucer is bad if the bottom of the pot is not elevated up off the sitting water's surface. It doesn't matter if it's 3 minutes or 3 hours. In my experience, even 1" of water in a saucer will not evaporate in direct 115degree Vegas heat inside of a couple of days. You would think it would, but for me it doesn't. Two days is way too long for my pot bottoms to be marinating in their saucers. I am anal about emptying saucers or making sure the pot bottom is up off the standing water either with blocks or pebbles. I want that salty high-alkalinity water away (and all the salts/impurities/wastes picked up from the soil, etc) from my pot soil as soon as possible with zero chance of it sucking back up into the soil through the drainage holes. The Gritty outside in the extreme desert is not really an option except for maybe some really hardy cacti/drought tolerant plants. It works ok for houseplants inside in the desert. The vanilla 5-1-1 works ok outside but you're going to need to water everyday in summer most likely, especially if the pot gets more than a few hours of direct sunlight. The 5-1-1 works great indoors in the hot, dry desert. Drew's advice about the "muddy mess" in the desert is bad except for plants that tolerate soggy conditions....See MoreFixing Chlorosis: Soil as the issue not nutrients (pics)
Comments (28)There is "no ambiguity in plant nutrition and nutrient " Well, until they can explain the vast interworkings and symbiotic relationships of soil microbes, and various plants and nutrient types they haven't even studied, I would say your claim is extemely over broad and one no real soil scientist would try to make. You seem to be intent on tying your implied position, because soil science says iron gets bound up in alkaline soils it can't be remedied with organic amendments to a "scientific principle" which doesn't go that far. You then attempt to use that overly broad claim of scientific unerpinning to determine that "acification" solved my problem. Really? How do you know that? It might have. You certainly can't know that as a scientific fact. Several other actions, or more likely combination of actions, probably contributed to the tree's vigor. 40 lbs of straight sulfer over the size of the area involved probably wouldn't have lowered the ph enough to overcome the bonding problem. The organic approach and trace minerals might supply, for instance, some microbial action that allows the binding effect to be lessened at the root level. Some microbes help plants generate nitrogen fixing at the root level, for instance. Microbes facilitate actions in the soil in ways large and small that we have little knowledge of or appreciation of at the moment. My personal guess is its less complicated. I just applied enough iron and trace nutrients to overcome the binding effect. The "get a bigger hammer" approach. And, quite to the contrary of what you claim, I don't suggest that people "dismiss everything soil scientist know". In fact, I did a lot of review of the binding problem they point out about iron and alkaline soils and various possible remedies before I tried the greensand. The best scientific answer I found was to drill holes and place iron supplements in the tree trunk. But, the studies suggested it had to be maintained, was costly and rarely had good long term results. NO studies (generally funded by chemical companies) suggested greensand, despite its high iron content and trace minerals. And yet it worked. Likely, in my humble opinion, just because of the volume. (As mentioned above, the "get a bigger hammer approach" is one that I usually don't use in gardening, but keeps working here.) As you can probably tell from my response one of my pet peeves is scientist who over state what they really know and can prove up scientifically. Like many on the global warming debate. We know something scientifically, the earth has been in a warming period of late, and then half baked psuedo science types insist we extrapolate from that scientific confirmation things like: therefore mankind did it, mankind has the ability to effect it, its definitely going to continue if we don't devote huge amounts of our economic resources to try to change it. Starting with one legit scientific observation doesn't give free reign to supply whatever next step one might be inclined to plug in UNTIL scientific trial and error has established it. But, like with most debates, just because you over state your position about what science "knows" in this specific inquiry, and doesn't, doesn't mean you are entirely wrong. I agree that its much better to not have to give supplements to a tree to keep it healthy. Whether by dry product, liquid or pellet form. If this wasn't already an otherwise nice tree in a location where I needed a nice shade tree, I probably wouldn't be bothering. But, since I inherited it and it takes about ten bucks and one act of "maintenance" a (or perhaps less if I experimented a little)to keep a tree that would cost a lot of money to replace with one of like size going strong, I think it well worth my time and money....See MoreBest compost or nutrients for growing herbs and vegetables
Comments (3)Thanks westelle. Maybe I'm making things more difficult than they have to be. My garden will also be container based. I've just read where in the "olden" days manure based compost was used for growing crops and much healthier, nutrient rich vegetables were produced than are available now. I've got enough seeds to try several methods. So I may try a little of the manure compost from Home Depot among other things. But I'm not trying to be a scientist, I just want to grow my own herbs and veggies successfully! I was hoping there was one simple compost combination or mixture that worked for the majority without having to resort to commercial products like Miracle Gro. This post was edited by torchflower on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 12:06...See MoreSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years agofigsinhawaii
7 years agostanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
7 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b thanked stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay areaChrobrego (Orlando 9b)
7 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years agostanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
7 years agognappi
7 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years agoChrobrego (Orlando 9b)
7 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years agogreenman62
7 years agoJason (Zone 10b, San Diego)
7 years agogreenman62
7 years ago
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