Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Greg Bell <gregbell@znet.com>]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks so much for the detailed reply.  I'll answer/comment to your specific 
message below, and follow up with another message describing line-by-line 
what the Dept told me about my results.

> pH is somewhat okay.  I do have suspicions on the level of soil biology
> with the other levels given.  Those numbers reveal the biological levels in
> the soil.  Will detail on request.
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Please.


> The 'Total Organic Carbon' I suspect is very similar to the measure of
> organic matter.

Yes, according to the interpretation doc they put together:
http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/soil-testing/interpret-soil-test.htm


> The Phosphorus levels (310 mg/kg or 310 ppm is high, maybe for the test)

Yup, its high.  they say it should be > 50 for veggie production.

Is this bad?


> questions on how K is listed, but P:K ratio seems very high if they are
> equal measures of weight.

According to this: 
http://weather.nmsu.edu/Teaching_Material/Soil252/CHAPT7.HTM

I simply need to multiply by 0.39 to get g/kg.  So its even worse... my K 
would be 4.29 g/kg, giving a P:K ratio of 72.2610.


> I do not understand how the Ca, k, etc are expressed.  It appears as some
> sort of measure of the ions.  If it is a weight measure, I'd point to these
> things.  Ca:Mg is around 4:1, Albrecht wants 7:1 ratio.

Doing the conversions, I get a ratio of 7.4275.


> Potassium seems
> very high relative to Ca if a measure of weight.

Here are those lines, re-done as g/kg:

                                                            g/kg  % of CEC
Electrical Conductivity                  dS/m        3.7
pH (CaCl2)                               pH          6.0
Bray Phosphorus                          mg/kg       310
Total Organic Carbon                     %           11
KCl extractable Ammonium (NH4-N)         mg/kg       12
KCl extractable Nitrate (NO3-N)          mg/kg       5.6
Aluminium                                cmol(+)/kg  <0.1
Calcium                                  cmol(+)/kg  41     8.2   65%
Potassium                                cmol(+)/kg  11     4.3   17%
Magnesium                                cmol(+)/kg  9.2    1.1   15%
Sodium                                   cmol(+)/kg  1.7    .39   3%
CEC                                      cmol(+)/kg  63.0


> (I deal with 35% Mg / 64% Ca), and EXCESSIVE potassium (K).  The potassium
> levels are likely to be the problem as the ideal balance has that under 5%
> of the CEC.

Yup, I'm at 17%.  Will it leach out?  Remember, this is a raised bed, so 
rainwater runs through it.


> Now brings me to a further question, have you used muriate of
> potash/ potassium chloride (0-0-60)?

No.  The bed is on some hard clay.  To fill it initially, I added bags of 
composted steer manure, cheap potting mix, as well as some mushroom 
compost, blood and bone meal (about 10g/sq meter or a handful per sq 
meter) and sulphate of potash (oops).  I also put some home-grown 
vermicompost (mostly conventionally grown fruit and vegetable waste with 
newspaper and straw as bedding materials).  Finally there was some rinsed 
seaweed.

I think I let the bed dry out too much at one point (underestimating the 
excellent drainage) because I had a problem with wetting later.  The soil 
seemed dead and powdery.  We've had heaps of rain recently, so I'm hoping 
that remedied it.


> lowered, and the soil will come in line with some tools and time.  I may
> have an excellent use for this soil, do you have soil tests from any other
> growing beds?

No.


> The other measure I'll point out is the Ammonia and Nitrate concentrations,
> 12 and 5.6 ppm, respectively.  Labs vary, but one lab I work with suggests
> 40 ppm of Ammonia and Nitrate in a soil and will vary some over the season.
> Nitrogen could be a problem for you and the Nitrogen is tied up by the
> excess carbon in the soil and being used to breakdown the carbon materials.

Yes, I believe my nitrogen is very low.  My lab recommended > 20 for 
horticulture.


> Could you tell us more on how the soil feels

Dry and dead despite the ingredients, possibly better now after a thorough 
drenching by the recent rains here.


> looks

Dark and potting-soil-like when moist, powdery and dusty when dry.


> chemical history of
> soil (was it purchased from unknown sources)

The steer manure compost and mushroom compost came from the hardware 
store.  Seaweed from the beach, and vermicompost as described above.


> has it ever grown good
> plants

My button squash did well before succuming to a massive aphid invasion. 
I've had reasonable lettuce, and one tomato plant was happy-ish.

Other than that, lots of failures.


~gb