permaculture

[Dick Pierce <dickpiercedesigns@gmail.com>]

In Central TX we have alkaline soil (PH 8.5), sit on top of limestone
ledges, with heavy gumbo clay or white limestone clay, called Caliche (aka
Road-Base). We are full of Calcium which ties up the Phosphorous, because of
its overabundance and due to the high PH. Malcolm Beck is my guru - over 60
years of working a farm here, founder of Gardenville, commercial compost
pioneer, extremely intelligent/inquisitive/experimental, good on-the-farm
research and knowledge. Please check out his books, writings and comments on
Google, Amazon, your library.

Two things to whet your appetite for further reading/research. Malcolm talks
about digging a furrow to plant seeds or transplants; then pouring a "bead"
or line of rock phosphate on the bottom of the furrow; placing the
plant/seed right down on to the phosphate and covering the row with soil. I
believe the theory is to get the phosphate right at the roots so they can
get the phosphate before the calcium or the soil ph ties it up (BTW, our
ground water is 8.5 PH as well). And, I'd check him out on whether it's the
minerals that you are missing or the PH that's locking them up - for us it
locks up both P and CA even though both are present in our soil. And, of
course, compost creates micro-environments where PH, mineral solution and
transfer can happen.

I bear to you, as information, only the name of our local soil Elder,
Malcolm Beck and suggest you consult his writings. You'll be entertained if
nothing else. I'm copying him just to see if he will comment. Hello,
Malcolm.

Dick Pierce


On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Stephen Sherman <spsherm@msn.com> wrote:

> I have been following the Albrecht's soil analysis methods in trying to
> build my soil. This year the tests showed that my soil's calcium levels
> were getting too high, however the soils still lacked phosphorus. That
> created an unusual problem in that most natural sources of P contain
> large amounts of calcium (rock phosphate, bone meal, etc).
>
> Does anyone have any ideas about P sources that do not have calcium with
> them?
>
> TIA
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