Applying an iron mineral supplement near hostas
dstickrod77
5 years ago
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dstickrod77
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Minerals in the soil
Comments (33)"If the material you compost is very diverse" Meaning from many different regions, or meaning compost made from different species of plants? Of course, it is a forgone conclusion that most any bought compost is made from plant material that was grown on soils that have less than optimum percent OM. Most compost and manure ultimately goes back to a grass crop, and hayfields tend to be poorly managed. So you are continuing with your consistent position that mineral deficiency can be corrected by growing and composting plant matter grown on soil with that same deficiency. As a general concept, this cannot be so. In a few cases there is some evidence that over long periods of time certain "accumulator" plants, very deep-rooted weeds, can partially change a surface deficiency. For example, dandelion and burdock grow where calcium is quite low in the top foot of soil. Due to their deep-rooted and perennial habit, they probably must bring up into their tissues at least tiny amounts of Ca that has leached into the denser subsoil or hardpan below. So those types of plants and to some extent probably shrubs and trees as well recover a small part of what is lost to leaching and then release it slowly through decay. Assuredly that is why a freshly converted piece of heavily grown-over land produces well for a few years. This concept does not apply to a heavily-cropped low-level monoculture like a typical hayfield or grain field....See MoreYou Know Youre Addicted to Gardening When(Supplemented version)
Comments (15)Way too funny! I found many, many things that apply to me lol! I especially like the one where you are driving down the road and almost crash into a tree because you are trying to see other peoples gardens! lolololol! That definitely describes me! I almost back ended someone while trying to turn my head 360 degrees to see someones garden! lol You know you are addicted to gardening when you sit outside at work during a break and think about what else needs to be done in the garden that day and week. And, yes my bathroom has lots of reading material of the gardening type! My hubby thinks I'm nuts!...See MoreIn Need of Suppliers of Soil Supplements
Comments (18)Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I love compost. It has the appeal of alchemy for me---black gold from trash. :) I had a hobby pile one summer with my partner's old molded hay bales that was 2x3 hay bales wide and long, and three hay bales high. I filled in the middle. It was such fun--just a scaveger hunt for things to put in. I worked at the hospital and had a new spare biohazard bucket for the coffee grounds, went to a friend's grandfather and helped clean his rabbit cages(great stories he could tell) , went to another partner's garden just to cut his old corn stalks down cuz I wanted them to stand in the middle for oxygenation path. LOL! I put old tobacco sticks through my chipper shredder until I got a little nauseated from the dust. How people chew tobacco is soooooo beyond me. :D That was the year of the livestock yard, and toward the end the hay bales walls collasped inward to add. I really thought it was grand! Then we had to move. Boo hoo! I'm so new I didn't know there was soil and compost forum! Lordy, lordy! Other people like me??? But it stands out in my mind the way a compost pile....well, composts. The first half (maybe) of the decomposition stage is the most dramatic as everything disappears and the pile shrinks unless you feed it vigorously. It seems like lasagna raised bed would get lower and lower and need more on top to maintain height. I'm guessing that would eventually essentially bury anything planted there for more than a year or two. Seems like it would have to have several layers of actual soil to stabilize it. Heh heh. Maybe I could get caught up in another compost hunt for a lasagna bed--that would help me keep my hands off my nice daylily seeds till spring....See MoreMineral / nutrient deficiency & secret to health & antifungal trace e
Comments (50)Moved info. from another thread as to pH preference of different roses: Take YOUNG own-roots in a nursery setting, watered with alkaline tap water (pH over 7.5). Young own-roots are wimpy, haven't secret acid yet, thus need an acidic medium like pine fines (pH 4) or peat (pH 4) & perlite to make minerals soluble in water to feed their tiny roots. Folks who grow roses in cold zone get tons of acidic rain plus snow, and need to lime roses per many inches of rain, if that rose is grafted on aggressive root-stock that secret acid. Dr. Huey-rootstock can go through rock-hard clay better than my shovel through its ability to secret acid. The pH requirement of roses change .. when they are young own-roots are like alfalfa sprouts, they can't secret acid, thus need an acidic medium. But as they get older and roots become more solid and woody, such as 3rd year on, that solid wood secrets plenty of acid. I bought an organic, very acidic SOLUBLE fertilizer, got some on my skin and it burned. I used the dose as recommended, it has acidic soy bean, kelp, and sulfate of potash .. my galllon-size own root roses love it !! Leaves became dark-green, but that acidic solution fried the leaves of 4th-year own-root Sweet Promise (with shiny & glossy and dark-green foliage). Roses grafted on multiflora rootstock, or have multiflora parentage dislike alkaline soil (become pale), thus these roses need an acidic soil to have darker leaves. In contrast, roses grafted on Dr. Huey, or have French Meilland or China parentage are healthier with higher pH. Old Garden roses were bred in the Old days, without high-pH tap water & only acidic rain at pH 5.6, thus prefer acidic soil. Modern roses are bred with alkaline-tap-water, and the most vigorous and dark-green tend to prefer such medium that they were bred, with pH over 7.5 like alkaline tap water. Intrigue hybrid tea is an example, 100% healthy in a pot, grafted on Dr. Huey, tons of buds, with alkaline tap-water pH near 9 (baking soda pH is 8.3). That was for $5 at Walmart. I didn't buy it, since I already saw Intrigue in spring time at the rose park with tons of acidic rain: it was a blackspot fest, and stingy too. But in hot & dry summer, Intrigue bloomed great with alkaline tap water at the rose park. Intrigue has dark-green leaves. Same with Perfume Delight, BS-fest with acidic rain, also dark-green leaves. To have dark-green leaves, roots must secret enough acid to get iron and manganese for dark-color .. such dark-green leaves roses secret more acid to utilize the minerals to make their leaves deep green. As the pH drops, less calcium and potassium are available, thus leaves are more susceptible to fungal diseases unless alkaline minerals is given....See Moreken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years agobkay2000
5 years ago
windymess z6a KC, Ks
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5