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Location

Message

Date Posted

Fremont, California

manure, compost, greensand, sand, clay soil amend, gypsum, kelp meal, mollasses, bone meal. am i missing anything?

8/26/2005 10:04:18 PM

Fremont, California

vermiculite and potting soil. also what should i put in my compost? thanks for all the help.



-Dashiel

8/26/2005 10:09:37 PM

Midwest

root enzyme. Sounds like you're gonna make your local garden center very happy!

8/27/2005 12:46:26 AM

Fremont, California

very happy...................

8/27/2005 1:03:44 AM

Montoursville, PA

Twenty pounds of corn meal. Cattle grade if you can find a feed store that stocks it. Any corn meal will help support the good fungi.

A five gallon bucket of fowl manure in the nursery and over the line of travel, for the main, will add good fungi support. Over use will be to hot and not be a positive addition. More or less just sprinkle a little fowl in the mix. It 'aint rocket science. Just do not go nuts with this addition.

8/27/2005 7:23:19 AM

Follansbee, Wv

I'm just curious...why would you add sand and clay?

8/27/2005 7:23:38 PM

Fremont, California

clay soil amend. its breaks down clay soil.

8/27/2005 8:05:06 PM

Hobbiton New Zealand

I go the opposite to doc I go for chicken manure as much as you can get I have put on 10 ton in the last two years into 1800sq ft

8/27/2005 8:51:59 PM

San Diego, Ca.

Holy cow Darky! Was there smoke rising from your patch?

8/28/2005 12:44:13 AM

Follansbee, Wv

LOL, OK, clay soil ammend. I thought you missed a comma and it was clay and something called soil ammend. My bad :)
What the heck is clay soil ammend anyway?

8/28/2005 8:31:43 AM

Montoursville, PA

There is a relationship between clay content and moisture holding ability, of the soil. There is a relationship between clay content, additonal moisture held and CEC. From any clay comes the included "from the sea" trace elements. Perhaps the most talked about clay is the Redmond Clay and it's proven content. Any red clay associated with limestone has at one time, in time, been the bottom, of some ocean.
....I question the addition, of sand and clay, in the same patch. That does not quite add up, in my thinking. That would seem, to be moving away, from increased humus percentages which naturally corrects all soils both physically and biologically.

8/28/2005 10:18:52 AM

Fremont, California

my whole patch was rock hard clay. the sand and the amend is to break it down. my clay is horrible. i agree there are type ofclay good for plants but mine definately isnt.

8/28/2005 10:24:19 AM

Follansbee, Wv

What is "clay soil ammend"? Is that a product?

8/28/2005 10:31:37 AM

Fremont, California

yeah it is

8/28/2005 10:41:33 AM

[email protected]

dashbar...The missing item is a soil test.

8/28/2005 11:32:40 AM

Fremont, California

too expensive

8/28/2005 12:42:29 PM

[email protected]

"manure, compost, greensand, sand, clay soil amend, gypsum, kelp meal, mollasses, bone meal. am i missing anything?"

The last time I checked these items cost a whole lot more than a soil test. Many State Ag Stations offer soil testing for FREE.

Check with this office:

Kathy Hofmann

Master Gardener Program Coordinator
University of California
Agriculture & Natural Resources
Cooperative Extension, Alameda County
1131 Harbor Bay Parkway, Suite 131
Alameda, CA 94502
Tel. (510) 639-1275
Fax. (510) 567-6813
e-mail: [email protected]

8/28/2005 5:40:13 PM

Follansbee, Wv

I still want to know what the heck Clay Soil Ammend is. It's a product, OK, but what's in it? I have hardpan clay a foot down and would like to know more about this.

8/28/2005 7:14:40 PM

[email protected]

Probably gypsum.

8/28/2005 11:07:07 PM

Follansbee, Wv

I think you are right Steve. That's just about all it could be.

8/28/2005 11:32:29 PM

Fremont, California

its slightly leaf compost with gypsum.i use it cuz it softens the clay enought for me but my pumpkin growing ways are seriously un-orthodox.

8/29/2005 9:56:26 AM

Montoursville, PA

Your manures are most likely the best ammendment and clay buster, in the long run. Compost is good too. Manure teas would fit into the picture and not be wrong anytime you are trying, to build tilth and ballanced conditions.

Sand and clay makes hard pan without the fluff created by organic content.

I don't see anything un-orthodox, in your direction, or attempt to build a finer soil.

8/29/2005 10:23:13 AM

Fremont, California

i would make tea, but i cant. its too hard and since im not exacty in charge of the housesold i live in, im lucky that i get that stuff.

8/29/2005 11:35:24 AM

Fremont, California

also i dont have a tiller which makes it a lot harder to mix my soil.

8/29/2005 12:19:34 PM

Montoursville, PA

Hand turning, by hand, is still the best way. Plow and disk would be next followed by the whipping, of the soil, with rota-tillers.

Read up, on the value, of double digging, for a year or so.

8/29/2005 1:37:22 PM