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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Soil test results

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  • From: Greg Bell <gregbell@znet.com>
  • To: ryalbinger@earthlink.net, Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Soil test results
  • Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:12:16 +1000 (EST)



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




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