Growing in sandy soil -- your thoughts, advice?
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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- 3 years ago
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Growing trees on sandy soil
Comments (11)Infertility and drought are indeed two common reasons why sandy soils ain't so great and claylike ones not that bad. Of course, it depends on what you are trying to grow. Trees are not able to utilize high nutrient levels in the same manner as field crops so it is just as well to give most of the manure to the vegetables. And if a soil test showed a need for a nutrient such as nitrogen and it was known the manure product supplied that in the needed amount then it would be good to put that on the trees for that reason (and assuming there was not some drawback, like high salt content). All trees have surface roots, those on deep sandy soils or other dry soils may also have deep roots. The main factor is drought driving these down in search of moisture, outside of dry climates it's usual for nearly all roots to be near the surface, where the air is. Even tap-rooted trees will be seen to have most of the fully developed, active roots near the surface, with the tap root and other anchoring roots being different-looking....See MoreGrowing Musa Basjoo in sandy soil
Comments (6)It doesn't really matter if they have wet feet. I have 2 growing in a natural bog that never dries up. They do fine. They are planted right alongside with Egyptian papyrus, thalia (aquatic canna), Colocasias Black Magic, Imperial, and Chicago Harlequin, Hedychium gigners (yes they love wet feet), Red Beauty cannas, and swamp mallow. Some bananas may not like wet feet, but Basjoo will grow in a bog no problem so a creek bank should present absolutely no problem....See MoreFast growing vine for sandy/gravel 'soil', semi drought tolerant?
Comments (3)I was just going to ask this- then noticed I asked this and forgot! Passiflora isn't quite hardy here, well not in this exposed location... but thanks for the idea. Any other ideas? I'm still wishing for grapes and hops but it is pretty dry. Silver lace vine would also work but every time I buy them they seem to winter kill - even though they are supposedly hardy here. Maybe if they weren't in the pot over winter would help!...See MoreThoughts on Soil Test (organic advice preferred)
Comments (3)Y'know, this isn't a bad test. Who did it? There are a few things missing--most notably the minor elements (although minor, they're important), but I can actually give you a partial read off this, good enough to insure some lawn improvement pretty quickly. If you want, you can re-test through Logan Labs, which will include OM, sulfur, minor elements, toxins including aluminum and sodium, and a better phosphorus test for $20. Feeding organically, mulch mowing the lawn, and mowing in all your fall leaves is never a mistake in this type of soil, so if you want to do these things, do them! pH 6.1: This is one answer I don't happen to believe. With your calcium and magnesium levels, you should be in the upper 5.X range, although 6.1 is possible if there's a higher than average level of sodium and lower than average level of aluminum and/or sulfur in the soil. CEC 14.5: Your soil is probably silty, although you'd need to do a jar test to be certain. Regardless, this is a nice number in the middle of the range, and just about optimal in terms of resource retention versus difficulty in altering the soil. Delaware county varies widely from sandy through silty soils (I live in Northampton county, so I'm familiar). Phosphorus 62 PPA/ 31 PPM: I'm going to be gentle here as the Melich 3 ICP test is a little different than what I'm used to. Melich 3 ICP test results show that your levels are already optimal, but they're recommending 1.5 pounds of phosphorus per thousand square feet. I'm going to turn that down to 1 pound per thousand barring a Logan Labs test, which gives me the answer for the entire soil bank of phosphorus. You can use any starter fertilizer that's handy--I usually recommend the cheapest as they're all very similar. 31 PPM is just another way of saying 62 PPA. Calcium 49.1%: Our target here is 60-70%, and I generally target the middle of the range for soils with a good CEC. Rather than use 70 pounds per thousand of cheap but ineffective lime, purchase Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast Lime (all calcium carbonate with enough other stuff to stick them together) as they'll work faster, require far less material, and won't add elements I don't want to be adding to this soil. Magnesium 14.4%: Optimal. No magnesium is required or desired, another reason not to use a cheap lime (which tends to be too heavy in magnesium). Potassium 5.5%/311 PPM: They call this off the charts high, but I actually like this answer and I'm a fan of having some extra potassium hanging around. This will increase your cold and heat resistance, plus disease resistance, and with proper care will help your lawn stay green all winter. No potassium is required or desired, but this certainly isn't a problem. Organic matter, sulfur, sodium, iron, boron, copper, zinc, manganese, and aluminum: Not tested. Recommendations: August 1 or before: Apply 9 pounds per thousand square feet of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast lime. Labor Day: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. April 1, 2016: Apply 5 pounds per thousand square feet of Encap, Mag-I-Cal, or Pennington Fast lime....See More- 3 years ago
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