North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

Mark, regarding your soil test, I'm no expert, but some comments:

Organic Matter=4.8%;  This is fantastic.
Phosphorus-Bray P1 ppm-P=5(VL);  This speaks for itself.  No bumper crops of 
flowers or fruit till you get the P up.
K=101(M);  K has a lot to do with disease resistance.
Mg=330(H);
Ca=2900(H);
S=11(M);
Zn=3.5(M);
Mn=33(H); this is interesting.  We are low in Mn, and by raising pH and 
organic matter, we have dramatically reduced it's availability.
Fe=24(H);  common with clay soils
Cu=1.7(H);  Cu has a lot to do with flavor and keeping quality in tomatoes.
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)

Is 6.9 OK for peaches?    Many crops would do better with a lower pH than 
that, and adding a bit of sulfur doesn't look like a bad way to do it as 
your S levels is only medium.  Another route would be humic acid, but with 
your organic matter, you will have good buffering capacity anyway.  Harvey 
Lisle, NAFEXer and retired soil scientist, says that most soils contain 2- 2 
1/2% organic matter, and that when you get up to 3 1/2%, everything will 
begin to go right for you.
   If you have a heavy sticky clay, you'll want the Ca:Mg ratio about 7 to 
1 to push the particles further apart to let in air and water.  If you had 
sandy soil, you'd want a 6:1 ratio to draw the particles closer in hopes of 
consolidating the soil more and holding water better.    Donna