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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Soluble Organic Sulfur Sources

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  • From: Pete Vukovich <pvukovic1@yahoo.com>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Soluble Organic Sulfur Sources
  • Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 00:44:58 -0700 (PDT)

True lots of lignins in pine needles, but for the most part I've found relatively wet woodland soil to be very acidic particularly below any matting organic layer. Coffee grounds have worked for me in both moderate clay and alluvials, but the soil in my tiny plot right now isn't terribly alkaline. I think the raised beds are intriguing particularly in colder climates, with the right mulch I'm told you can keep them 10-20 degrees warmer than the soil base below.

If she's satisfied she has a good nutrient balance (like it sounds) , acidifing it may not contribute to nute-lock. From what I've read its not uncommon to see different labs give different results for micronutrients (some basing it on indirect findings of alkalanity and aluminum content others using more direct measures).

Never had hollow stemmed broccoli are the stems green or dark? That does sound like a boron defeciency.




--- On Sat, 3/7/09, TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net> wrote:
From: TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Soluble Organic Sulfur Sources
To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Saturday, March 7, 2009, 9:42 AM

Changing soil pH permanently is a difficult business. Pine needles take a
long time to break down and do any good. However, enough compost will
bufffer high or low pH somewhat and allow plants to grow which wouldn't do
well otherwise. In extreme cases it may be necessary to build new soil in
raised beds. This is what I do with great results. A lot of NM is alkaline.
One solution we saw at the NMSU organic farm at Alcalde was ingenious.
Their drip system to acid loving brambles has an injector that drips weak
vinegar at the roots instead of trying to acidify the whole plot.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 3/7/2009 at 11:11 AM Marty Kraft wrote:

>Thanks to you and the pumpkin lady.
>
>I currently have a local coffee shop coming once a week with 10
>gallons of grounds. They spread on one bed and then the next in
>order. I do that mostly to feed the worms. I've heard conflicting
>stories about the acidification from grounds. I wonder about pine
>needles, that they might acidify.
>
>I have been tested for zinc, iron, manganese, copper and boron. MU
>Extension says all high. Boron slightly high. Logan lab test say
>boron slightly low and my broccoli have hollow stems.
>
>Marty
>On Mar 6, 2009, at 3:20 PM, Pete Vukovich wrote:
>
>> A couple things might also be worth considering besides sulphur
>> depending on how big this is.
>>
>> 1) Soil from woodlots is typically going to be more acidic than
>> tilled. If you've got that and check it out, you might want to mix

>> in some. Same goes for pond tailings/bottom detritus, if you've
got
>> those you might want to vacuum them up.
>>
>> 2) If you're small and have local coffee shops coffee grounds make

>> darn good acidifying agents.
>>
>> 3) Too much solubility of acids will lock up things like iron, and
>> calcium (or magnesium? I can't remember) have you had your
>> micronutrients looked at? Maybe a dumb question, you probably know
>> more about balancing these things than I do anyway.
>>
>> 4) Be careful of the bentonite based granulated sulphur stuff, I
>> think this may contribute to structure issues if your tilling. I
>> don't know for sure yet, but I'm suspicious it might if you
have
>> substantial variation in soil temp and rainfall.
>>
>>


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