Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

eureka AT hctc.net wrote:

> Yes, but I'm afraid I don't know the answer. I presume 
> peat moss, like the other soil amendments readily 
> avialable, pine mulch and cotton seed hull compost, etc. 
> leach acid into the soil when it is watered...is that 
> where you are headed with your questioning? I tried 
> growing blueberries in this without success, the alkaline 
> soils won out after a year.
>
> --Sage
> Way Out in Texas
>
>  
you know sage, i'm planning to do blueberries in raised beds.  the ones 
in the ground are pitiful after 10 years.  i could never seem to get 
enough fertilizer on them.

they say that real alkalinity is hard to ovecome.  in droughty places, 
there's never enough rain to wash away sodium buildup. each watering 
only adds more.  have you tried sulfur?  it's the only thing that works 
for my farmer/nephew in Yuma.  the sodium is still there, but at least 
it's neutralized to form sulfites and sulfates.

i assumed that peat moss was already as leached as can be, so i have an 
alternate theory.  organic acids basically just have a carboxyl group 
(-COOH) attached to them, like vinegar (CH3COOH).  but as molecules 
become larger, they're less likely to be soluble.  so why not huge 
organic molecules left over from anaerobic decomposition of cellulose, 
with lots of -COOH groups attached?  now the mechanism would not be 
leaching out acid, but sucking up metallic ions like Ca++ and Na+.  this 
seems reasonable to me, a total chem novice, but i'm just guessing.

bill
s. oregon coast