North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

I doubt it's pathogens, because most pathogens are somewhat  
selective, and will kill some plants, but not all plants.  I've sen  
what you describe happen in two circumstances:

1)  A friend had some patches of her yard where nothing would grow.   
After her son was diagnosed with lead poisoning, they got those  
patches tested and discovered they were phenominlly high in lead, due  
to a prior resident having sandblasted 100 years of lead paint off  
the house.  They had the worst of it taken away (at exorbitant cost,  
since it was a hazardous waste) and covered the rest with 4-6 inches  
of mulch. Stuff grows fine in what they have left.

2)  I have some patches in the backyard that die every year during  
the heat of the summer.  Stuff (that I plant, or weeds if I don't)  
grows fine during the spring and fall, but when the weather gets die  
everything dies.  I have bedrock not far beneath the soil, and I  
believe those are the patches where the rock comes closest to the  
soil and has the fewest fissures.

Ginda
zone 6, eastern Mass, where everything sits on granite if you go down  
far enough.


On Dec 8, 2007, at 10:18 PM, Stephen Sadler wrote:

> I previously mentioned my lifeless soil, and it was kindly  
> suggested to me
> that I get a thorough soil test, to not just look for nutrients but  
> possible
> contaminants as well.  There are areas here where not even weeds  
> grow.  My
> suspicion is that the soil isn't lifeless, it's rich in pathogens; but
> testing seems quite wise.
>
> The thing is, I've never tested my soil.  I've had big backyard  
> gardens, an
> acre or less, loaded them up with organic compost, corrected pH for
> individual types of plants, and my past gardens have been thriving and
> bountiful.
>
> So where does one look for soil testing for a small backyard plot?
>
> ~ Stephen
> Sacramento, CA, where we think 50 is cold...