North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Bob Melvin <hasnah8@yahoo.com>]

Hi, Mark,

    To answer a couple of questions:

    You are right about the phosphate, it should move rather slowly in
soil with moderately high pH like yours.  (I have heard it said that on
soil suitable for highbush blueberries, phosphates move about as fast
as other nutrients.)

    There is no need to worry about getting the fertilizer exactly
right.  Just get a mix that's the closest to the recommendations. 
Remember, you can mix in extra nutrients yourself, such as phosphate
from superphosphate if you have to to bring your mix closer to
recommendations.

     Also, rock phosphate is available in some areas, and this should
last a very long time.

     The term cation (pronounced CAT - ion, not KAY - shun) refers to
ions with a positive charge, such as metals and the hydrogen ion.  Most
soils have some capacity to bind and re-release cations.  I've heard
mixed things about the ability to exchange anions (negatively charged
ions).  (Ion exchange devices for use in the home for water softening
are cation exchange columns.)

     Check bags of fertilizer for sulfate content.  I would think that
phosphate fertilizer might have some sulfate in it.  In the days of
rampant air pollution, there was plenty of sulfate everywhere.  Now
it's more rare.  I have bought "sulfate of potash" in the past for this
reason.

     Feel free to correspond.

     By the way, your organic matter is considerably higher than most
of mine.  What is your soil type?

--"Bob Melvin" <hasnah8@yahoo.com>, <rfmelvin@ncsu.edu>
Ph. 919-215-2814


> Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 23:21:35 -0500
> From: "Mark or Helen Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>
> Subject: [NAFEX] Soil test
> To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <004d01c6f336$18e6cbc0$03000004@u3gjg>
> Content-Type: text/plain;     charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> I recently had my soil tested and had some questions about it.  I
> wonder if
> some of you would be interested to look over the results below and
> offer any
> comments.  I don't know diddly about agronomy.
> 
> The soil sample was taken from 10 holes.  In a post, Jerry
> recommended A&L
> labs several months ago and it turned out they were the cheapest lab
> I could
> find for the amount of testing done.  The lab had a very fast turn
> around
> time.  Here are the results:
> All numbers are in PPM unless otherwise noted.  Also, they rated the
> amount
> of each element as either (Very Low-VL; Low-L; Medium-M; High-H; Very
> High-VH)
> 
> Organic Matter=4.8%;  Phosphorus-Bray P1 ppm-P=5(VL);  K=101(M); 
> Mg=330(H);
> Ca=2900(H);  S=11(M);  Zn=3.5(M);  Mn=33(H);  Fe=24(H);  Cu=1.7(H);
> B=1.0(M);  Soil pH=6.9;  CEC-meq/100g=17.8;  Percent Base
> Saturation-(%K=1.5; %Mg=15.5; %Ca=81.6; %H=1.5)
> 
> I also asked for fertilizer recommendations for peaches.  Here they
> are(lbs/acre):
> 
> Lime=0;  N=65;  Phosphate-P205=100;  Potash-K20=95;  Mg=0;  S=0; 
> Zn=2.5;
> Mn=0;  Fe=0;  Cu=0;  B=1
> 
> Here are some questions I have.  Any help would be appreciated, as
> well as
> any comments.
> 
> -Zn, B, K, and S are all listed as Medium in amount, but the
> recommendations
> only call for adding Zn, B, and K(Potash).  What about S?
> 
> -I thought peaches require a pH of 6.5.  I can't see that the
> fertilizer
> recommendations would lower the pH.  Is 6.9 OK for peaches?
> 
> -What in the world is Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)?  Is it very
> important?
> 
> -I only have about one acre of land and am growing fruit trees on
> about 1/2
> of it.  Am I likely to find a Coop that will mix such a small amount
> of
> fertilizer?  If so, any idea on what would be a fair price?  I would
> probably need it bagged.  If they won't mix it for me should I just
> try to
> buy some raw phosphate since it's most lacking in the soil?
> 
> -I've read P only moves down about 1 inch per year.  Will I likely
> have to
> put it on every year?  Would it help to put a little extra on the
> first year
> since it's so low?
> 
> Thanks,
> Mark Angermayer
> Zone 5 Kansas
> 

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