North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Steven Covacci <filtertitle@gmail.com>]

Hi,

This is a description of the soil that I would be working with, if I went
with this property.

Ordinarily, I would be concerned with the fact that the pH will be 5.0 --
however, with the presence of the specific minerals in the soil, I wonder
if these abundance/presence of these will help compensate for the low pH.

The mineralogy is dominated by quartz and feldspars -- with some mica and
ferromagnesian minerals.

Very deep well or moderately well drained soil formed in till on complex
hilly topography. Moderately deep to a fragipan, or dense, hard subsoil.
Permeability is moderately rapid to moderate above the fragipan and slow to
very slow in the fragipan. Rockaway soils developed in course or moderately
course textured till composed of granitic gneiss with smaller amounts of
quartzite, sandstone and shale. Natural vegetation is largely woodland
dominated by oak, ash and hickory with some maple, birch, and hemlock;
Rhododendron spp., Kalmi, Lindera benzoin, etc.. Depth to bedrock is
typically greater than 6 feet. Depth to the fragipan is 18 to 40 inches and
the thickness ranges from 12 to 36 inches. Rock fragments range from 5% to
65% of the soil’s makeup. Reaction is strongly acid or very strongly acid
throughout; average pH of 5.0.

For growing stone fruits, paw paw, persimmon, pecan, and other fruit crops,
if I need to add lime, I will pass on this property.

I want to note that I researched the pH of the sandy soil (high seasonal
water table) that is found on my friend's property -- he grows all of the
above crops (again, including pecan) on sandy soil which is even more
acidic: pH of 4.6.

If the fruit would taste good and not have a great shelf-life, I'm ok with
this. If the shelf-life is poor and the quality (flavor) of the fruit is
compromised by a pH of 5.0, then I'll pass on the property.  I don't mind
scattering limestone gravel around for the surface layer.  The last thing
I'm interested in doing is tilling up acres of ground and destroying,
simultaneously, acres of meadow habitat.   The ecological value of my
project is of equal importance to the permaculture value.

So, pH value of 5.0 with a soil rich in feldspars (which I suppose might
give off some calcite), and some iron/magnesian components as well.

Thank you,
Steve