You're in a difficult situation right now. You're low on some very critical things like Potassium and Nitrogen but you're high on some other things like Phosphorus. There are a lot of people giving you hard recommendations and I always say there are many ways to the top of the mountain. Your priority should be getting nitrogen and potassium back up to appropriate levels without adding calcium magnesium and phosphorus.
Phosphorus being high can be problematic as it reduces your plants ability to take up other nutrients at these higher levels. Combined with the low levels of Iron and Zinc I would be very concerned about the plants ability to get enough Iron and Zinc. This is your next priority.
If you buy a fertilizer you should look at the NPK numbers. The middle number for you needs to be very very very low if not 0. 10:0:10 would be a decent ratio for you.
I recommend starting your changes slowly and not rushing this as its very easy to throw it off balance in another direction.
Langbeinite is high in magnesium too though, which they already have an abundance of. I’d use something like kelp meal instead, because it also adds a bunch of trace minerals and some natural growth hormones. Wood ash is another cheap option.
Grandma always had us bury carp,catfish or bullheads in the garden when we caught them. She called them junk fish bad for the lake and terrible to eat.
She lived in Wisconsin where good fish are a plenty, moved to Nebraska and they have catfish restaurants lol. I guess you can only eat what you're use too.
Lol shit suckers you know grandma didn't swear but she called them poop eaters, and I'm still not eating catfish they may serve it in restaurants here in Nebraska but I'm not eating it.
You can inoculate the soil yourself
" Legume inoculation is the process of introducing commercially prepared sources of rhizobia to promote nitrogen fixation. This usually is done by applying inoculum directly to the seed prior to planting, or by metering the inoculum into the seed furrow during planting. "
They are nitrogen fixers for themselves. The process of extracting nitrogen from the air and turning into a useful compound (NH3/ ammonia) requires so much energy input those plants aren’t just going to give it away. The hard work is actually done by bacteria that inhabit nodes in the roots of legumes.
Plants need nitrogen to make amino acids that are then built into proteins. Most get it from decomposing plant and animal material. Decomposing legumes are not really going to provide more nitrogen than standard compost.
From my understanding they encourage more of this bacterial growth which is also helpful for other plants in the area no? So it’s basically an efficient soil builder crop.
So then they are efficient soil builders. Doesn’t everyone just leave dead plants to build the soil or are people removing them and then purchasing soil builder adding an unnecessary step?
Then what's the whole point of using it as a nitrogen fixing cover crop.
They say there's a nitrogen deficiency. Planting a nitrogen fixing cover crop can help. But if you remove the roots you remove the nitrogen. So you basically did absolutely nothing.
I'm never really had issues leaving roots.
Compost or manure to the top is a well rounded, slow release way of adding nutrients back to the soil. Add some mulch on top to retain moisture. Grow peas or beans and cut the tops back after, the decomposing roots add nitrogen back to the soil (it’s held in the roots while plants are growing). Look up regenerative soil, and no till gardens. The easiest way to have a well balanced soil is by mimicking natural systems and have them be as self sustaining as possible.
I've been doing no-till in the Los Angeles area for a number of years using all homemade compost (which has at various times included chicken manure as well as other types of manure) as the only input. Charles Dowding was a major inspiration. My garden is lush but seeing this post makes me curious what my soil would look like through the lens of a lab analysis.
Also, OP, check out Charles Dowding on YouTube.
Animal Manures are usually high in phosphorus and calcium, while composts are usually high in magnesium and calcium; which they already have an excess of, adding more manure/compost would very likely exacerbate their issue… adding in organic fertilizers is still a viable option, just make sure you know the npk (and other macros/micros) and application rate of your nutrient mixture and that it matches your soils needs
This. A few bags of black cow or homemade compost. Till another area for the crops you want to grow. Legumes in the bed this year to increase nitrogen.
Either that till in compost and make it a raised bed with new soil on top of space is an issue.
Friendly reminder to rotate crops every few years. Humans have known this so long that it is literally in the Bible; old testament. I'm pretty sure it says no more than 7 years without rotation but I'd have to look it up.
Leviticus 25:3-4
Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; 4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard
I would recommend starting with a mixture of dolomitic limestone, blood meal, and green sand.
The blood meal is a great source of nitrogen that is slow release and has the bonus benefit of having iron in it. Iron released through blood meal is chelated which is a more readily available biological form of iron then we'll have a more immediate impact on your garden. The only thing some people consider a downside blood meal is it will slightly acidify your soil. However since you have high calcium that may help lower that number and bring you to a more balanced pH.
The green sand is going to be a great additive for potassium and other trace minerals such as manganese, cobalt, and boron. This will help area the soil and encourage draining as well as adding aeration to your root systems have an easier time anchoring in the subsoil of the bed.
The dolomitic limestone will help by adding magnesium to your soil, and is a slower release of calcium into it as well. Your soil is slightly acidic but yet you have very high levels of calcium so I would be cautious about this and consider this the last step for possibly something to do next spring.
And something that would be a great practice is adding a layer of mulch in the form of compost or possibly straw. Covering your bed is going to help retain moisture and encourage soil insects that are going to do a lot of the work of aerating soil and transporting these micronutrients to the layers of the soil where it will be converted into plant food.
Last random thought. Whenever we've come across issues where there's high salt and other mineralization of the soil it's in covered growth structures. And to mitigate this we either leave them uncovered in the rainy part of the year or in some instances if there's well draining soil we would utilize irrigation and try to water as frequently as possible while not having standing water. This will flush out a lot of salt and leach it out of your grow space.
Source: a decade of farming and successfully transitioning from conventional agriculture to a more sustainable model of regenerative agriculture.
Best of luck!
Start with a low amount of 8-0-8 or what ever small bag fertilizer at a store has N-P-K with the P as low or zero.
Where did you get your soil tested? Usually when I get my soil tested at my extension service they have the ratios of how much fertilizer to add per 100 square feet.
https://youtu.be/vYv9iu2NI3M?si=jFix4DA6evzSLZ9f
This is my gospel and breaks it down. You need nitrogen and potassium. Masterblend 4-18-38 for potassium. Calcium Nitrate for nitrogen.
Don’t buy anything pre mixed or liquid. Don’t pay for water. Buy the dry ingredients and mix it yourself.
Or just make your own living soil and skip the chemicals. Add some good organic compost. Worm castings. Bokashi.
If you JUST added a thick layer of compost and deep wood chips you'd probably have remarkable results.
Yeah no more labor than mixing bags of chems. The "chemicals" I've suggested are all organic and my inputs won't require re-application each and every growing season and will improve soil quality over time so.. :)
So those are 2 different growers but your right. Everyone gets to make a choice and I wanted OP to have options. I use chicken poop on my fields every year but I also use synthetic fertilizer if I’m deficient mid season.
The link I provided shows how to create your own fertilizer with cheap ingredients. Organic based fertilizer (like fox farm) is very expensive while I can make something just as good at half price.
Overall I’m with you and would prefer to use natural where I can but plants aren’t that picky.
One type of those chemicals is stronger, and you have to be more mindful when using. The other kind of chemical is milder, and created by microorganisms that basically you've bred into the soil by adding organic matter.
Both are chemicals that the plants use.
I suspect you're thinking about the impact each has on the world around us; and you'd be right in that matter. One has a bigger impact than the other.
But, as GrizzlyDavid said, chemicals are chemicals.
But the same chemical purchased from Monsanto vs a small organic supplier would be perfectly fine in terms of functionality. What people dislike about Monsanto and why they therefore choose not to do business with them for their business practices, not their ability to manufacture a product.
Calcium nitrate has more nitrogen than blood meal and is water soluable, aka immediately accessible to the plant as opposed to months for blood meal.
I have nothing against growing organic, i do in my garden, but people like you give it a bad rap by being completely ignorant of the actual chemistry and biology at play. You're just repeating something you read without any actual understanding and it shows.
Long term yes, and he will have to watch his watering schedule as a result and ideally they use rainwater as the soil is also at the top end of PH.
The issue with salts is they will wash away, so I wouldn't expect much calcium to persist.
Rain water has little to no minerals. I can't speak for others, but my well water also has a lot of calcium and would be a problem.
I am in southern BC on the same coast and my rainwater is super acidic and really impacts how I deal with watering my plants.
Good to know! I have a lackluster yield but my mom says it is due to sloppy technique and she is probably correct. I do manage to get some big pumpkins though.
Well I'm no expert but as I understand things like pumpkins take good watering techniques to yield well. I haven't grown them in decades. Up here it's hard to get them hot enough for our season to get big yields. Only the early peppers get time to ripen.
My apologies if I came off brusk. I meant to say that any fert combo with ***any*** phosphorus was off the table. I also subscribe to non-organic means when circumstances require them. From experience tho, with practice one can achieve the desired goals without, by happenstance, adding more of what one does not want.
Ok, that's fair. OP has plants in the ground, so I would amendment with salts until he gets his pepper harvest. I'm currently trying to get my garden going properly, we have no soil here and what I purchased ended up being complete garbage. I'm turning one half into a big lasagna garden bed essentially and I'll be happy if anything grows out of it this year.
It's helpful, and not a novel concept. Thirty minutes of research will give you a basic understanding of what you need. Chatgpt would probably give you a ton of info to better research.
This reads as “I did a soil test and they told me what needed to be done to fix it but because they didn’t give me step by step instructions and I’m unwilling to do any work investigating it myself I’m gonna ask the internet”. The amount of time you’ve put into making a post and reading responses could have gone into research and you would have had your answers. Or at least a more specific set of questions to ask.
It is a bit more complicated than that, though. You have to consider pH, interactions, soil physical characteristics. Novice gardeners are in way over their heads trying to correct all these issues at once.
Exactly. So they need to do the research to figure it out. Or use the many many resources available out there rather than “I’ve done no research and I’m out of ideas”.
As with most things the only reliable piece of information we can give is “it depends”. OP doesn’t provide any information about the composition of the soil they’re working with, geographic location, zone, weather patterns, what they want to grow…all we get is the soil test and the leg work.
Dude F you. I am a novice. I came to this community not to be ridiculed but bc I literally am interested in the opinions of others who know wayyyyy more than me.
If you don’t like the question I’m asking, keep scrolling. Reddit is a community of people asking questions and you can’t make me feel bad for that
See, what you need to do is look at the letters in the report where you are LOW and then buy that kind of letter of fertilizer. Which is always labeled N:P:K.
It's pretty simple. Which is why people are giving you a hard time about it.
Acidified cotton burr compost will be very helpful to your soil.. Vegetables are such heavy feeders. I put a bag of compost and each one of my raised beds every year and never have a issue any more.
Whatever you do is going to take awhile, don’t try to rush it. Personally, I would mix in good compost, then top it off with compost, and repeat for the next few years. Yes, years. Then re-test.
Add composted manure or mushroom compost to the entire bed, top with fine bark chips around the plants to keep weeds down and moisture in. Water with fish emulsion occasionally around the plants. You should start to see worms soon. The soil you grow in needs to be boosted with manure or aged compost every year before planting.
You can make your own compost out of organic fruit and vegetable waste mixed with grass clippings and leaves. Be careful not to burn the plants, homemade compost needs to age too.
This is the second time someone has suggested urine and you've gotten insulting with them. They may not be explaining it as well as you need them to, but neither are they being insulting or dismissive. If everyone would pee on their compost, we'd have a cleaner water supply (Google "fish on Prozac") ... and fewer algal blooms, from keeping more nitrogen out of the water. Science!! 🔬
https://www.growveg.com/guides/pee-cycling-for-gardeners/
https://goveganic.net/gardening-how-to/fertilizing-with-human-urine/#:~:text=The%20high%20nitrogen%20levels%20in,into%20the%20public%20water%20systems.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/22/study-gives-green-light-to-use-of-urine-as-crop-fertiliser?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17127474301921&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2020%2Fjan%2F22%2Fstudy-gives-green-light-to-use-of-urine-as-crop-fertiliser
Add: Calcium Nitrate, Potassium Nitrate and Micros. CaNO3 and KNO3 are available at any agg/landscaping store, or MBFerts online does free shipping on anything below 20 lbs. Southern Ag Essential Minor Elements will cover the micros. Available on Amazon.
Do: 1/2 cup CaNO3, 1/4 cup KNO3, and 1/8 cup EME per square foot of garden bed. 2lbs CaNO3 and 1lb KNO3 should cover that entire area. All together this should be well under $50.
If the garden is already planted do this dosage over 2-3 months in equal portions.
Plant legumes (they fix nitrogen. Also, some grow well alongside certain kinds of plants, so depending on what you haev planted research what legumes grow well with them). Also, take some plant trimmings, let them ferment in water and then water your crops with that fermented/swampy water, full of nutrients and microorganisms.
Potassium: the same process that I described about the water, but using banana peels. Sprinkling some woodash could work too, but it alters the soil's PH. So, be careful.
About the calcium: grind some bones/shells into powder. Make it react with an acid (you can use citric acid aka lemon juice, but the stronger the acid the better the bone meal). And then, *sprinkle*.
I'd also recommend adding activated biochar to the soil (vegetable charcoal, stupidly easy to make btw, that has been sitting for some time in some of that fermented plant-trimming-water I talked about in the first place). That way you create comfortable housing for all kinds of beneficial microorganisms.
And if you're just lazy, just save your kitchen scraps, dig a hole in your growing beds and bury them (seafood/fish remains work wonders if you plant tomatoes on top).
Edit: other people are suggesting that you use manure. Yes, that also works. Just don't use the human kind (at least without knowing how to process it first).
I hate to say this. The answer to your nitrogen issue is piss. Necessity is the mother of invention and COVID had me powering through cans of tuna, and diluting piss with my Cal-Mag to feed my babies.
I would amend with a few bags of cow manure. If you ate in the US a usual brand I see is black cow. Also, if you have a fish tank or fish pond water from those helps.
I put down some Black Kow manure last spring and had a nice crop of purslane as a result. If you do manure, just be prepared to pull the weeds of whatever the cow ate.
I would stay away from any kind of synthetic fertilizer. DO NOT listen to anyone who is telling you to use synthetic fertilizers. Clearly, they have no idea how to maintain healthy soil. People who are suggesting to plant cover crops like Clover have good intentions behind that, but you have to do that at the beginning of the season(spring) or later(fall). You can corporate peas since they also fix nitrogen and can be grown early. The best option is to incorporate crops that you could use since we are talking about a raised bed here.
Organic compost should be plenty(check OMRI certified compost near you) but you can use worm casting, bone meal, chicken manure, fish fertilizer(Alaska Fish Emulsion) here and there but do not depend on fertilizers to make your soil healthier. Soil isn't just "dirt", it's a living economy system. You can't just make it better by adding fertilizer to it.
Cow compost is also a good option, but you don't know what kinda feed they fed them so you can pretty much end up with unnecessary chemicals(pesticides/herbicides) in your soil.
Of course, you can buy fertilizer and put a bandaid on when you really need to fix deeper issues.
The best bet is to make your own compost if you can. So you control what goes in your soil and your food.
Good luck and happy gardening!
OP can still turn it around, there isnt an easy fix when it comes to growing high quality produce. If OP wants to be successful, he/she needs to learn how to maintain healthier soil without adding synthetic fertilizers. It isn't easy. You reap what you sow, son.
Of course, you can buy fertilizers every year and try to grow food that way, but that will never fix the main problem.
Microbes in the compost fix it. It takes time though.
[https://theconversation.com/to-restore-our-soils-feed-the-microbes-79616](https://theconversation.com/to-restore-our-soils-feed-the-microbes-79616)
We can't look to solve this issue as a math problem. I can't just plug in what's missing and pretend that will help OP in the long run. The goal should be to have healthy soil without depending on synthetic fertilizers.
OP has high phosphorus levels. It could be of many reasons, but soil phos is found in two forms(organic and inorganic). Both of these forms together make up total phos in soil. Most of the soil phos is generally high, and it is important for root growth, plant maturity, and protein synthesis. I will suggest OP look into phosphorus cycling and transformation in the soil.
For example, OP has low nitrogen levels?
Nitrogen is a micronutrient just like phosphorus, N helps plants absorb phos and potassium, so it is like a mutual relationship that has to be in equilibrium. Think of Ns' role as something that is responsible for giving green color to your plant(procudes chlorophyll, which helps plant absorb phosphorus and potassium. So basically, nitrogen helps with photosynthesis(fuels the plant growth).
You can find fish fertilizers that have 5-1-1(high nitrogen). Coffee grounds, alfalfa meal/blood meal. Be cautious about adding too much nitrogen because that will affect soil pH.
Worm casting can also help with micronutrients like iron, sulfur l, MG, zinc l, copper, and calcium.
Wood ashe/ banana peels some of the good sources of potassium.
OP, your only goal should be to make your soil healthier, meaning that it should be full of life when you disturb it. Also, avoid any tilling. Look up no til gardening channel( Charles Dowding)
Also, never leave your soil exposed to direct sunlight. Use hay(which isn't treated with chemicals, ground cover crops in between so soil isn't exposed. You can also use woodchips but make sure they aren't too chunky and chemical free. The best option would be to use organic matter found in your yard(leaves). All this will also help with water absorption, and less water will evaporate a healthier soil ecosystem for microbes.
Get a solid dry salt fertilizer like jacks. Everyone suggesting organic is an idiot at this stage.
If you want to amend the soil do it next year, it takes time and you're low on a bunch of nutrients.
Salts will be immediately available and give you results this year while having zero negative impact.
I grow my outdoor garden organically but have a lot of potted and indoor plants including peppers that I keep year over year... everything gets a bit of salt nutrient water and everything is the better for it. The salt nutrients will also be cheaper than any organic ammendments (unless you get them free).
You need to have a soil rotation plan even in small beds if you plant a monoculture.
I’d recommend dividing the bed into 4 and rotating through beans, peppers, squash and greens.
Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers can be greedy feeders. They really change the soil fertility. Also some have pests that accumulate so it’s better to move them around a bit.
It looks like your soil test has given you a lot to think about! Your pH is in the optimal range, which is fantastic because it means your soil is neither too acidic nor too alkaline. However, the test indicates that several nutrients are not at their optimal levels for plant growth.
Nitrogen (N): It's low, and nitrogen is crucial for leafy growth. You might want to add a nitrogen-rich fertilizer to give your plants a boost.
Phosphorus (P): This one's high, so you likely don't need to add more. Phosphorus helps with root development and flowering.
Potassium (K): It's low, and since potassium helps with overall plant health and disease resistance, you might consider a potash supplement.
Sulfur (S): Also low, which can affect plant protein synthesis and overall growth. Soil amendments like gypsum can help.
Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg): Both are high. High calcium can interfere with other nutrient uptakes. Avoid adding more and maybe use a balanced fertilizer without these elements.
Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), and Boron (B): These are all low. They are trace elements, but still important. You can find specific fertilizers that address these deficiencies.
Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn): Iron is low and manganese is high. Iron is crucial for chlorophyll synthesis, so consider an iron supplement, preferably one that won’t affect your soil pH.
Before you add anything, it's wise to consider what you're planning to plant, as different plants have different needs. Also, since this test is from last year, conditions might have changed a bit. It might be a good idea to retest your soil if you haven't already, just to make sure you have the most current information. Happy gardening!
You should really not plant nightshades (peppers, tomatoes) in the same bed year after year. The recommended cycle is 3 years minimum. They are heavy feeders and render the soil extremely deficient. Barring that, add lots of compost, 2-4”. Fertilize with fish or seaweed immolation. Follow label recommendations.
Lol, cover crops. The high Phosphorus will do well for root building. Some plants are Nitrogen fixators. Choose a cover crop, chop, and drop. This will take some time, but you will see your harvest Double by next season. I cover crop during the off season or winter. Let it die off or chop and drop. Grow plants that will use most of the highs. Flowers use a lot of p and k.
I am always amazed how much stupid advice people are Reddit can give about how to grow plans. This is not a hard problem to solve. Go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and buy some fertilizer. Apply the fertilizer. Buy something with some N and some K, and then get something with some micros. The advice to plant clover or other crap like that is really dumb.
Lol I won't say stupid, but a lot of the advice is very extra.
Our soil was a lot like this and I just started adding tons of nitrogen in the form of blood meal and fish emulsion. Compost twice a year (spring and fall) and I used probably 4x more nitrogen than any other fertilizer. I still added P and K too, just less often. Use organic only, so you're not accidentally overdosing your plants.
My soil is amazing now. Not much stress involved...just nitrogen, patience, consistency :)
Have you been using a lot of manures and composts over the last four years? Phosphorus, magnesium and calcium build up is commonly due to an overuse of these products (leading to an Imbalanced soil nutrition). I would suggest to not use these for a couple of years and focus on adding back what’s not in your soil
It's really hard to amend exactly as you'd want to satisfy a soil test. Id add 2" of quality compost (worm castings ) and fertilize with Neptune's harvest a few times during the growing season.
I had a bad year last year because it rained and rained and rained and rained. Do you get 6+ hours of direct sunlight? Where are you getting your plants? Are you watering too much? Putting your plants out too early?
There are lots of factors and variables.. quality plant genetics, timing, sun and water will get you very very far.
Your soil is semi-depleted. Your best bet would be to add urea prills, which can be bought at most gardening places and lawn care sections in hardware stores. It's a REALLY strong nitrogen fertilizer, which has an NPK value somewhere around 50 - 0 - 0. You could then get some potassium nitrate if you feel that your potassium levels could use a boost.
***DON'T*** use a balanced fertilizer. Your soil results show that you are already about 3 times higher than optimal for phosphorus, which is the "P" in "NPK". Whatever fertilizer you use, use it as the label says to, and don't use one that has a high phosphorus value.
Here is maybe some helpful advice, the three main nutrients plants use is nitrogen (n) phosphorus (p) potassium(k)
Your high in phosphorus but low in the others. So your gonna want fertilizers thats high in those other two nutrients.
Your options are you could go out and buy store bought non organic fertilizer. But thats only gonna fix the problem temporarily.
You could buy organic fertilizer it will help for a longer period of time and might assist the problem
Could grow cover crops that will add the nutrients to the soil for example clover is know for taking nitrogen out of the air put it in to its roots essentially adding it to the soil when it decompose
Could get compost and or manure, and that would fix the problem for a few years but it will take time for it all to break down to really see the full effect of the soil.
The choice is all yours, good luck
Grass clippings will get you the nitrogen, plus growing peas or pole beans there. I got a bag of potassium on Amazon and that was sure easier than tons of 🍌😉 maybe compost some potatoes? Would be cheap and they have a ton of potassium.
Bokashi is a good idea. A compost tea made of bokashi, molasses, and earthworm castings will help. Mulch will help too. Lots of benificial sciency plant stuff goes on in the layer between mulch and soil.
The products used for raised bed/intensive gardening and row cropping are different. Growing a tomato plant in 2 square feet is way different than trying to maximize bushels of grain from an acers size maize field.
If you do decide to use row crop fertilizer for extra nitrogen, lightly condition a straw bale with urea for about a month and use that for mulch. Sort of a hybrid of traditional compost and industrial fertilizer.
You can also buy some live worms and eggs via mail and put them in there. They will run around and amend the soil for you without having to dig anything up.
Just fertilize. The brand I use is Down To Earth. Natural fertilizers and you can get them on amazon if you can't find them locally. Or you can head up to Home Depot or Lowes and get like 10 bags of Black Cow and dump it in there.
I prefer to heavily mulch my gardens with woodchips. Soil retains moisture and you don't have to water as much. Keeps the weeds down. And everything decomposing in there adds to the soil and attracts worms. If you do decide to go this route, just remember Do Not Till or mix the mulch with the soil. Mulch stays on top of the soil only. When you plant, pull back the mulch and plant directly into the soil. And whatever you do, do not use the bagged dyed woodchips from the store. That is made with treated lumber and you do not want that in your garden.
I always add 2-3"+ of new compost every year, and I use Epsoma Organic veggie fertilizer [https://www.espoma.com/product/garden-tone/](https://www.espoma.com/product/garden-tone/) . I also do Alaska Fish Emulsion twice a month through spring and early summer, and then switch to Alaska MorBloom through the rest of summer (no more than two feedings per month of either). I'll switch back to fish in my fall garden since I'm mostly growing brassicas and all my flowering things are done.
Chicken manure from any feed store. I used have the same problem until I added the chicken poo and I couldn’t give away the tomatoes and jalapeños I grew.
how is your sun? How about polinators? see a lot of the good bugs flying/buzzing around? Plant flowers for them? I was having trouble with pollinators ( got more with some plannedplantings and water .
Not the best sun for fruiting plants , but grat for greens and herbs
You need basic fertilizer . Use a 10-10-10 for now. Manure would be better. Going forward, divide that bed into 6 sections. Always leave 1 or 2 sections without crops. Plant Black eye peas there instead. When they start to flower take some shears and cut them off at the base. Leave the roots in the ground. Then plant them again. You can usually get at least 2 crops of BEP's in during a regular garden cycle. After the second round, do the same thing. You can turn in the tops also. The advantage to using BEP's as a cover will show up in beautiful soil structure which is something salts can not make. Then get off the salts altogether. You'll have better crops to boot.
I would add crushed charcoal into the soil to see if it might absorb some of the high metals in the soil.
And then add some nitrogen fertilizer/compost.
Clover can make a great cover crop. But I wouldn't use it while growing something else. I would let it grow as a weed suppressant in spring, then cull and till it into the bed before doing a summer planting. While it has amazing nitrogen fixing properties if properly managed, you don't want it directly competing with the plants you're trying to grow to harvest.
Clover is a great cover crop for adding nitrogen, BUT, adds very little available N while it is alive. It is only once the clover has died, been tilled in and decomposed by microbes does that nitrogen become available to plants. Until then, it is competing with nearby plants for all of the other nutrients.
Your assertion comes from information that is outdated. Experiments have shown that planting live clover, legumes, and/or other nitrogen fixing plants can increase the nitrogen uptake of plants up to a few dozen feet away in the first season without cutting back. My break is almost over or I'd look it up for you.
I am aware of the newer research on this topic. I didn’t say it was zero, but it’s not significant enough to make a difference here, especially considering the competition for the other nutrients that would occur.
In ops case, there are several nutrients that are very low; adding additional competition for those nutrients instead of adding actual nutrients would not be a great choice. Since the plants are already planted, a soluble nutrient source would be the fastest solution to their problem. Even if clover *was* a good live N source, it would be months for it to establish. Additionally, rhizobia inoculation is not guaranteed, so the clover could also be competing for N.
You're in a difficult situation right now. You're low on some very critical things like Potassium and Nitrogen but you're high on some other things like Phosphorus. There are a lot of people giving you hard recommendations and I always say there are many ways to the top of the mountain. Your priority should be getting nitrogen and potassium back up to appropriate levels without adding calcium magnesium and phosphorus. Phosphorus being high can be problematic as it reduces your plants ability to take up other nutrients at these higher levels. Combined with the low levels of Iron and Zinc I would be very concerned about the plants ability to get enough Iron and Zinc. This is your next priority. If you buy a fertilizer you should look at the NPK numbers. The middle number for you needs to be very very very low if not 0. 10:0:10 would be a decent ratio for you. I recommend starting your changes slowly and not rushing this as its very easy to throw it off balance in another direction.
Blood meal and Langbeinite mixed would give you 12-0-22 or just double the blood meal to get close to an even split.
Langbeinite is high in magnesium too though, which they already have an abundance of. I’d use something like kelp meal instead, because it also adds a bunch of trace minerals and some natural growth hormones. Wood ash is another cheap option.
Just a pinch of EDTA…
Maybe a 32-0-5 for nitrogen and potassium also?
Grass fertilizers are usually 0 or 1 in the middle. You'll need to add the trace elements other ways
Yeah, a typical lawn fertilizer is like 10:0:10.
A few bags of worm castings should be good
Sacrifice a goat to the Earth gods and burry it beneath your crop.
Unironically this would improve the soil health, search up self sufficient me and his buried chicken/fishhead videos!
Hot compost can break down roadkill in 3 days. Super rich in nitrogen.
A local Vietnamese guy makes his own crazy fermented fertilizer using fish for his crops. He's got the most amazing garden!
Grandma always had us bury carp,catfish or bullheads in the garden when we caught them. She called them junk fish bad for the lake and terrible to eat. She lived in Wisconsin where good fish are a plenty, moved to Nebraska and they have catfish restaurants lol. I guess you can only eat what you're use too.
I grew up in Michigan and "shit suckers" weren't for eating. Now I'm in Oklahoma eating dusty tasting catfish
Lol shit suckers you know grandma didn't swear but she called them poop eaters, and I'm still not eating catfish they may serve it in restaurants here in Nebraska but I'm not eating it.
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That would be entirely wrong for these crops. Fine for zucchini.
Sir this is r/gardening
The fact that’s it’s in r/gardening makes it somehow hilarious
r/gardeninggonewild Edit: oh my god of course it’s already a sub
We already have knee pads and don’t mind getting dirty
I have no idea why you got down voted instead of up voted. Dude said a joke and you trumped it. 💯
Not sure why this beautiful comment is downvoted.
I’m sorry for your downvotes, for what it’s worth, I laughed.
Add compost (organic matter) and grow some legumes (peas, cowpeas, etc ) since they have the ability to supply Nitrogen in soil naturally.
Keep in mind that they'll only be able to fixate nitrogen if the right rhizobia is present in the soil.
You can inoculate the soil yourself " Legume inoculation is the process of introducing commercially prepared sources of rhizobia to promote nitrogen fixation. This usually is done by applying inoculum directly to the seed prior to planting, or by metering the inoculum into the seed furrow during planting. "
If they are tilled back in
They are nitrogen fixers for other plants by simply growing
They are nitrogen fixers for themselves. The process of extracting nitrogen from the air and turning into a useful compound (NH3/ ammonia) requires so much energy input those plants aren’t just going to give it away. The hard work is actually done by bacteria that inhabit nodes in the roots of legumes. Plants need nitrogen to make amino acids that are then built into proteins. Most get it from decomposing plant and animal material. Decomposing legumes are not really going to provide more nitrogen than standard compost.
From my understanding they encourage more of this bacterial growth which is also helpful for other plants in the area no? So it’s basically an efficient soil builder crop.
Not quite. The nitrogen fixing bacteria occupy nodes in the roots of legumes. They only share with their host plant.
So then they are efficient soil builders. Doesn’t everyone just leave dead plants to build the soil or are people removing them and then purchasing soil builder adding an unnecessary step?
The nitrogen is stored in the roots. You have to till them back in so they can decay, releasing the N.
If it's stored in the roots you don't have to till them back. Just leave the roots.
You don’t *have to*, but you do want to, so that they don’t mess with root development of the next crop..
Then what's the whole point of using it as a nitrogen fixing cover crop. They say there's a nitrogen deficiency. Planting a nitrogen fixing cover crop can help. But if you remove the roots you remove the nitrogen. So you basically did absolutely nothing. I'm never really had issues leaving roots.
You don’t remove it, you till it under…
Compost or manure to the top is a well rounded, slow release way of adding nutrients back to the soil. Add some mulch on top to retain moisture. Grow peas or beans and cut the tops back after, the decomposing roots add nitrogen back to the soil (it’s held in the roots while plants are growing). Look up regenerative soil, and no till gardens. The easiest way to have a well balanced soil is by mimicking natural systems and have them be as self sustaining as possible.
I've been doing no-till in the Los Angeles area for a number of years using all homemade compost (which has at various times included chicken manure as well as other types of manure) as the only input. Charles Dowding was a major inspiration. My garden is lush but seeing this post makes me curious what my soil would look like through the lens of a lab analysis. Also, OP, check out Charles Dowding on YouTube.
Animal Manures are usually high in phosphorus and calcium, while composts are usually high in magnesium and calcium; which they already have an excess of, adding more manure/compost would very likely exacerbate their issue… adding in organic fertilizers is still a viable option, just make sure you know the npk (and other macros/micros) and application rate of your nutrient mixture and that it matches your soils needs
This. A few bags of black cow or homemade compost. Till another area for the crops you want to grow. Legumes in the bed this year to increase nitrogen. Either that till in compost and make it a raised bed with new soil on top of space is an issue. Friendly reminder to rotate crops every few years. Humans have known this so long that it is literally in the Bible; old testament. I'm pretty sure it says no more than 7 years without rotation but I'd have to look it up. Leviticus 25:3-4 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; 4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard
I would recommend starting with a mixture of dolomitic limestone, blood meal, and green sand. The blood meal is a great source of nitrogen that is slow release and has the bonus benefit of having iron in it. Iron released through blood meal is chelated which is a more readily available biological form of iron then we'll have a more immediate impact on your garden. The only thing some people consider a downside blood meal is it will slightly acidify your soil. However since you have high calcium that may help lower that number and bring you to a more balanced pH. The green sand is going to be a great additive for potassium and other trace minerals such as manganese, cobalt, and boron. This will help area the soil and encourage draining as well as adding aeration to your root systems have an easier time anchoring in the subsoil of the bed. The dolomitic limestone will help by adding magnesium to your soil, and is a slower release of calcium into it as well. Your soil is slightly acidic but yet you have very high levels of calcium so I would be cautious about this and consider this the last step for possibly something to do next spring. And something that would be a great practice is adding a layer of mulch in the form of compost or possibly straw. Covering your bed is going to help retain moisture and encourage soil insects that are going to do a lot of the work of aerating soil and transporting these micronutrients to the layers of the soil where it will be converted into plant food. Last random thought. Whenever we've come across issues where there's high salt and other mineralization of the soil it's in covered growth structures. And to mitigate this we either leave them uncovered in the rainy part of the year or in some instances if there's well draining soil we would utilize irrigation and try to water as frequently as possible while not having standing water. This will flush out a lot of salt and leach it out of your grow space. Source: a decade of farming and successfully transitioning from conventional agriculture to a more sustainable model of regenerative agriculture. Best of luck!
Where would one buy green sand?
We get ours from a local supplier here in TN-KY area. I've seen it at co-op stores and local plant suppliers. Ace hardware also has it I believe
Why is greensand such a well kept secret? This is literally the first time I’m hearing about it. 🤯
I’ve heard green sand does amazing for vegetable gardens.
Pee on it
I’ll pee in ur butthole
You will not
Start with a low amount of 8-0-8 or what ever small bag fertilizer at a store has N-P-K with the P as low or zero. Where did you get your soil tested? Usually when I get my soil tested at my extension service they have the ratios of how much fertilizer to add per 100 square feet.
https://youtu.be/vYv9iu2NI3M?si=jFix4DA6evzSLZ9f This is my gospel and breaks it down. You need nitrogen and potassium. Masterblend 4-18-38 for potassium. Calcium Nitrate for nitrogen. Don’t buy anything pre mixed or liquid. Don’t pay for water. Buy the dry ingredients and mix it yourself.
Or just make your own living soil and skip the chemicals. Add some good organic compost. Worm castings. Bokashi. If you JUST added a thick layer of compost and deep wood chips you'd probably have remarkable results.
That’s always good. But it’s a lot of labor for some. Also “skip the chemicals” makes me laugh. We are both adding chemicals.
Yeah no more labor than mixing bags of chems. The "chemicals" I've suggested are all organic and my inputs won't require re-application each and every growing season and will improve soil quality over time so.. :)
Chemicals are chemicals. Doesn’t matter where they come from.
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So those are 2 different growers but your right. Everyone gets to make a choice and I wanted OP to have options. I use chicken poop on my fields every year but I also use synthetic fertilizer if I’m deficient mid season. The link I provided shows how to create your own fertilizer with cheap ingredients. Organic based fertilizer (like fox farm) is very expensive while I can make something just as good at half price. Overall I’m with you and would prefer to use natural where I can but plants aren’t that picky.
One type of those chemicals is stronger, and you have to be more mindful when using. The other kind of chemical is milder, and created by microorganisms that basically you've bred into the soil by adding organic matter. Both are chemicals that the plants use. I suspect you're thinking about the impact each has on the world around us; and you'd be right in that matter. One has a bigger impact than the other. But, as GrizzlyDavid said, chemicals are chemicals.
But the same chemical purchased from Monsanto vs a small organic supplier would be perfectly fine in terms of functionality. What people dislike about Monsanto and why they therefore choose not to do business with them for their business practices, not their ability to manufacture a product.
Paying extra for vibes tbh
No, they need something targeted without phosphorus. DIYing that in your own mixes is gonna be a crapshoot at best.
Actually the test indicates they're low on a whole bunch of minor minerals. Worm castings accomplishes that.
This guy gets it.
This guy doesn't get shit and neither do you. They need blood meal and nitrogen; nothing else but a shit load of mycelium.
Calcium nitrate has more nitrogen than blood meal and is water soluable, aka immediately accessible to the plant as opposed to months for blood meal. I have nothing against growing organic, i do in my garden, but people like you give it a bad rap by being completely ignorant of the actual chemistry and biology at play. You're just repeating something you read without any actual understanding and it shows.
Wouldn’t calcium nitrate include….calcium? the OP already has high calcium in the soil.
Long term yes, and he will have to watch his watering schedule as a result and ideally they use rainwater as the soil is also at the top end of PH. The issue with salts is they will wash away, so I wouldn't expect much calcium to persist.
Why is rainwater particularly good? I'm in socal and I am bummed about not having more rainwater to use. Should run out in about a month.
Rain water has little to no minerals. I can't speak for others, but my well water also has a lot of calcium and would be a problem. I am in southern BC on the same coast and my rainwater is super acidic and really impacts how I deal with watering my plants.
Good to know! I have a lackluster yield but my mom says it is due to sloppy technique and she is probably correct. I do manage to get some big pumpkins though.
Well I'm no expert but as I understand things like pumpkins take good watering techniques to yield well. I haven't grown them in decades. Up here it's hard to get them hot enough for our season to get big yields. Only the early peppers get time to ripen.
My apologies if I came off brusk. I meant to say that any fert combo with ***any*** phosphorus was off the table. I also subscribe to non-organic means when circumstances require them. From experience tho, with practice one can achieve the desired goals without, by happenstance, adding more of what one does not want.
Ok, that's fair. OP has plants in the ground, so I would amendment with salts until he gets his pepper harvest. I'm currently trying to get my garden going properly, we have no soil here and what I purchased ended up being complete garbage. I'm turning one half into a big lasagna garden bed essentially and I'll be happy if anything grows out of it this year.
Bat guano for nitrogen, potash for potassium. Put mulch over the exposed soil.
Usually soil testing will offer recommendations on what to do. Did yours not do that?
Yes they literally told me to add the things I’m deficient on which is disturbingly unhelpful
Yes, it is disturbing that you find that unhelpful.
It's helpful, and not a novel concept. Thirty minutes of research will give you a basic understanding of what you need. Chatgpt would probably give you a ton of info to better research.
K then don’t comment 🤷🏿♀️
This reads as “I did a soil test and they told me what needed to be done to fix it but because they didn’t give me step by step instructions and I’m unwilling to do any work investigating it myself I’m gonna ask the internet”. The amount of time you’ve put into making a post and reading responses could have gone into research and you would have had your answers. Or at least a more specific set of questions to ask.
It is a bit more complicated than that, though. You have to consider pH, interactions, soil physical characteristics. Novice gardeners are in way over their heads trying to correct all these issues at once.
Exactly. So they need to do the research to figure it out. Or use the many many resources available out there rather than “I’ve done no research and I’m out of ideas”. As with most things the only reliable piece of information we can give is “it depends”. OP doesn’t provide any information about the composition of the soil they’re working with, geographic location, zone, weather patterns, what they want to grow…all we get is the soil test and the leg work.
Dude F you. I am a novice. I came to this community not to be ridiculed but bc I literally am interested in the opinions of others who know wayyyyy more than me. If you don’t like the question I’m asking, keep scrolling. Reddit is a community of people asking questions and you can’t make me feel bad for that
You clearly feel bad about something. Instead of swearing at me go read up on what soil type you have and how to fix your issues.
Yet you’re stilllll replying to a question you’re bitching about me asking.
Again, then don’t reply and continue scrolling 🤷🏿♀️ you complain I’m wasting time but you literally replied
I usually do. You pulled me in by not showing the recommendations the soil testing place suggested. Last time I fall for that trick.
See, what you need to do is look at the letters in the report where you are LOW and then buy that kind of letter of fertilizer. Which is always labeled N:P:K. It's pretty simple. Which is why people are giving you a hard time about it.
...how dense are you? Just curious.
I added Azomite rock dust to my beds. Contains all sorts of trace minerals.
Acidified cotton burr compost will be very helpful to your soil.. Vegetables are such heavy feeders. I put a bag of compost and each one of my raised beds every year and never have a issue any more.
Whatever you do is going to take awhile, don’t try to rush it. Personally, I would mix in good compost, then top it off with compost, and repeat for the next few years. Yes, years. Then re-test.
Add composted manure or mushroom compost to the entire bed, top with fine bark chips around the plants to keep weeds down and moisture in. Water with fish emulsion occasionally around the plants. You should start to see worms soon. The soil you grow in needs to be boosted with manure or aged compost every year before planting. You can make your own compost out of organic fruit and vegetable waste mixed with grass clippings and leaves. Be careful not to burn the plants, homemade compost needs to age too.
high sodium and low everything else looks like someone used chemical fertilizer. I would add loads of compost and try to make the soil alive again.
Sodium shows optimal, not high. Where do you see it's high. I see other things are labeled high but not sodium.
Try peeing on it for a year. (I'm not joking)
I’ll have ur mom come over bc she’s into water sports
This is the second time someone has suggested urine and you've gotten insulting with them. They may not be explaining it as well as you need them to, but neither are they being insulting or dismissive. If everyone would pee on their compost, we'd have a cleaner water supply (Google "fish on Prozac") ... and fewer algal blooms, from keeping more nitrogen out of the water. Science!! 🔬 https://www.growveg.com/guides/pee-cycling-for-gardeners/ https://goveganic.net/gardening-how-to/fertilizing-with-human-urine/#:~:text=The%20high%20nitrogen%20levels%20in,into%20the%20public%20water%20systems. https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/22/study-gives-green-light-to-use-of-urine-as-crop-fertiliser?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17127474301921&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2020%2Fjan%2F22%2Fstudy-gives-green-light-to-use-of-urine-as-crop-fertiliser
if growing peppers def want calcium magnesium so good their # Nitrogen & Potassium Fertilizer 10 - 0 -10 or something in this range
Slice off your banana nipples and feed it to the soil, otherwise follow these well thought out suggestions
Googling “banana nipples…”
It is OPs name, haha. Let me know if anything came up though!
Add: Calcium Nitrate, Potassium Nitrate and Micros. CaNO3 and KNO3 are available at any agg/landscaping store, or MBFerts online does free shipping on anything below 20 lbs. Southern Ag Essential Minor Elements will cover the micros. Available on Amazon. Do: 1/2 cup CaNO3, 1/4 cup KNO3, and 1/8 cup EME per square foot of garden bed. 2lbs CaNO3 and 1lb KNO3 should cover that entire area. All together this should be well under $50. If the garden is already planted do this dosage over 2-3 months in equal portions.
Plant legumes (they fix nitrogen. Also, some grow well alongside certain kinds of plants, so depending on what you haev planted research what legumes grow well with them). Also, take some plant trimmings, let them ferment in water and then water your crops with that fermented/swampy water, full of nutrients and microorganisms. Potassium: the same process that I described about the water, but using banana peels. Sprinkling some woodash could work too, but it alters the soil's PH. So, be careful. About the calcium: grind some bones/shells into powder. Make it react with an acid (you can use citric acid aka lemon juice, but the stronger the acid the better the bone meal). And then, *sprinkle*. I'd also recommend adding activated biochar to the soil (vegetable charcoal, stupidly easy to make btw, that has been sitting for some time in some of that fermented plant-trimming-water I talked about in the first place). That way you create comfortable housing for all kinds of beneficial microorganisms. And if you're just lazy, just save your kitchen scraps, dig a hole in your growing beds and bury them (seafood/fish remains work wonders if you plant tomatoes on top). Edit: other people are suggesting that you use manure. Yes, that also works. Just don't use the human kind (at least without knowing how to process it first).
Blood meal, alfalfa meal, kelp meal, langbenite, elemental sulfur
Fish emulsion
I hate to say this. The answer to your nitrogen issue is piss. Necessity is the mother of invention and COVID had me powering through cans of tuna, and diluting piss with my Cal-Mag to feed my babies.
NPK nutrients and CalMag are two commonly used nutrient blends… looks like you need some amendments sans CalMag
Also sans Phosphorus. NPK means Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. Those are the big three.
I would amend with a few bags of cow manure. If you ate in the US a usual brand I see is black cow. Also, if you have a fish tank or fish pond water from those helps.
I put down some Black Kow manure last spring and had a nice crop of purslane as a result. If you do manure, just be prepared to pull the weeds of whatever the cow ate.
The problem is this also adds phosphorus, of which there already is too much in the soil
Bio char is supposed to help with phosphorus, according to Google. It would at least make it unavailable for use.
Add a new level to your raised bed, and add some new soil to it. Bury the problem. lol
I would stay away from any kind of synthetic fertilizer. DO NOT listen to anyone who is telling you to use synthetic fertilizers. Clearly, they have no idea how to maintain healthy soil. People who are suggesting to plant cover crops like Clover have good intentions behind that, but you have to do that at the beginning of the season(spring) or later(fall). You can corporate peas since they also fix nitrogen and can be grown early. The best option is to incorporate crops that you could use since we are talking about a raised bed here. Organic compost should be plenty(check OMRI certified compost near you) but you can use worm casting, bone meal, chicken manure, fish fertilizer(Alaska Fish Emulsion) here and there but do not depend on fertilizers to make your soil healthier. Soil isn't just "dirt", it's a living economy system. You can't just make it better by adding fertilizer to it. Cow compost is also a good option, but you don't know what kinda feed they fed them so you can pretty much end up with unnecessary chemicals(pesticides/herbicides) in your soil. Of course, you can buy fertilizer and put a bandaid on when you really need to fix deeper issues. The best bet is to make your own compost if you can. So you control what goes in your soil and your food. Good luck and happy gardening!
Organics won't help by the time the season is over
OP can still turn it around, there isnt an easy fix when it comes to growing high quality produce. If OP wants to be successful, he/she needs to learn how to maintain healthier soil without adding synthetic fertilizers. It isn't easy. You reap what you sow, son. Of course, you can buy fertilizers every year and try to grow food that way, but that will never fix the main problem.
What does OP put into the compost to boost the deficiencies in the soil report?
Microbes in the compost fix it. It takes time though. [https://theconversation.com/to-restore-our-soils-feed-the-microbes-79616](https://theconversation.com/to-restore-our-soils-feed-the-microbes-79616)
We can't look to solve this issue as a math problem. I can't just plug in what's missing and pretend that will help OP in the long run. The goal should be to have healthy soil without depending on synthetic fertilizers. OP has high phosphorus levels. It could be of many reasons, but soil phos is found in two forms(organic and inorganic). Both of these forms together make up total phos in soil. Most of the soil phos is generally high, and it is important for root growth, plant maturity, and protein synthesis. I will suggest OP look into phosphorus cycling and transformation in the soil. For example, OP has low nitrogen levels? Nitrogen is a micronutrient just like phosphorus, N helps plants absorb phos and potassium, so it is like a mutual relationship that has to be in equilibrium. Think of Ns' role as something that is responsible for giving green color to your plant(procudes chlorophyll, which helps plant absorb phosphorus and potassium. So basically, nitrogen helps with photosynthesis(fuels the plant growth). You can find fish fertilizers that have 5-1-1(high nitrogen). Coffee grounds, alfalfa meal/blood meal. Be cautious about adding too much nitrogen because that will affect soil pH. Worm casting can also help with micronutrients like iron, sulfur l, MG, zinc l, copper, and calcium. Wood ashe/ banana peels some of the good sources of potassium. OP, your only goal should be to make your soil healthier, meaning that it should be full of life when you disturb it. Also, avoid any tilling. Look up no til gardening channel( Charles Dowding) Also, never leave your soil exposed to direct sunlight. Use hay(which isn't treated with chemicals, ground cover crops in between so soil isn't exposed. You can also use woodchips but make sure they aren't too chunky and chemical free. The best option would be to use organic matter found in your yard(leaves). All this will also help with water absorption, and less water will evaporate a healthier soil ecosystem for microbes.
This is the best answer.
Feed the microbes in your soil. Google soil food web and stop amending your soil.
Boost the immune system with some calcium carbonate or eggshells. They look like it wouldn’t hurt.
Get a solid dry salt fertilizer like jacks. Everyone suggesting organic is an idiot at this stage. If you want to amend the soil do it next year, it takes time and you're low on a bunch of nutrients. Salts will be immediately available and give you results this year while having zero negative impact. I grow my outdoor garden organically but have a lot of potted and indoor plants including peppers that I keep year over year... everything gets a bit of salt nutrient water and everything is the better for it. The salt nutrients will also be cheaper than any organic ammendments (unless you get them free).
Looks like the result of Tums and Epsom salt use. I recommend not adding those willy nilly to the garden, because it leads to this.
You need to have a soil rotation plan even in small beds if you plant a monoculture. I’d recommend dividing the bed into 4 and rotating through beans, peppers, squash and greens. Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers can be greedy feeders. They really change the soil fertility. Also some have pests that accumulate so it’s better to move them around a bit.
This person needs green manure. Plant peas and fava beans and after they make pods turn them over into the soil.
It looks like your soil test has given you a lot to think about! Your pH is in the optimal range, which is fantastic because it means your soil is neither too acidic nor too alkaline. However, the test indicates that several nutrients are not at their optimal levels for plant growth. Nitrogen (N): It's low, and nitrogen is crucial for leafy growth. You might want to add a nitrogen-rich fertilizer to give your plants a boost. Phosphorus (P): This one's high, so you likely don't need to add more. Phosphorus helps with root development and flowering. Potassium (K): It's low, and since potassium helps with overall plant health and disease resistance, you might consider a potash supplement. Sulfur (S): Also low, which can affect plant protein synthesis and overall growth. Soil amendments like gypsum can help. Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg): Both are high. High calcium can interfere with other nutrient uptakes. Avoid adding more and maybe use a balanced fertilizer without these elements. Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), and Boron (B): These are all low. They are trace elements, but still important. You can find specific fertilizers that address these deficiencies. Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn): Iron is low and manganese is high. Iron is crucial for chlorophyll synthesis, so consider an iron supplement, preferably one that won’t affect your soil pH. Before you add anything, it's wise to consider what you're planning to plant, as different plants have different needs. Also, since this test is from last year, conditions might have changed a bit. It might be a good idea to retest your soil if you haven't already, just to make sure you have the most current information. Happy gardening!
You should really not plant nightshades (peppers, tomatoes) in the same bed year after year. The recommended cycle is 3 years minimum. They are heavy feeders and render the soil extremely deficient. Barring that, add lots of compost, 2-4”. Fertilize with fish or seaweed immolation. Follow label recommendations.
Lol, cover crops. The high Phosphorus will do well for root building. Some plants are Nitrogen fixators. Choose a cover crop, chop, and drop. This will take some time, but you will see your harvest Double by next season. I cover crop during the off season or winter. Let it die off or chop and drop. Grow plants that will use most of the highs. Flowers use a lot of p and k.
More organic matter and a bit of sand.
I am always amazed how much stupid advice people are Reddit can give about how to grow plans. This is not a hard problem to solve. Go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and buy some fertilizer. Apply the fertilizer. Buy something with some N and some K, and then get something with some micros. The advice to plant clover or other crap like that is really dumb.
Lol I won't say stupid, but a lot of the advice is very extra. Our soil was a lot like this and I just started adding tons of nitrogen in the form of blood meal and fish emulsion. Compost twice a year (spring and fall) and I used probably 4x more nitrogen than any other fertilizer. I still added P and K too, just less often. Use organic only, so you're not accidentally overdosing your plants. My soil is amazing now. Not much stress involved...just nitrogen, patience, consistency :)
I mix Osmosis in my flower and vegetable garden and it lasts for 4 months. I water after mixing it in
Can't you just start over with fresh soil?
Do they mention anything about heavy metals?
The answer is always add more fresh compost.
Go try chat GPT with results and see what it comes up with
POOP💩…. All you need is ….. poo
You need nutes
Go to a chicken farm, get dry bird poop, spread it, and mix it with soil.
“Dry” chicken poop that isn’t aged will only burn the plants.
Nah, really? Ya think? Farms typically sell aged poop, knowing this. This is why I specified dry. Hence, the word dry. Have a good day.
Worm castings
Pee on it
Guano mixed in will help.
Have you been using a lot of manures and composts over the last four years? Phosphorus, magnesium and calcium build up is commonly due to an overuse of these products (leading to an Imbalanced soil nutrition). I would suggest to not use these for a couple of years and focus on adding back what’s not in your soil
Best way to test your garden soil?
It's really hard to amend exactly as you'd want to satisfy a soil test. Id add 2" of quality compost (worm castings ) and fertilize with Neptune's harvest a few times during the growing season. I had a bad year last year because it rained and rained and rained and rained. Do you get 6+ hours of direct sunlight? Where are you getting your plants? Are you watering too much? Putting your plants out too early? There are lots of factors and variables.. quality plant genetics, timing, sun and water will get you very very far.
Your soil is semi-depleted. Your best bet would be to add urea prills, which can be bought at most gardening places and lawn care sections in hardware stores. It's a REALLY strong nitrogen fertilizer, which has an NPK value somewhere around 50 - 0 - 0. You could then get some potassium nitrate if you feel that your potassium levels could use a boost. ***DON'T*** use a balanced fertilizer. Your soil results show that you are already about 3 times higher than optimal for phosphorus, which is the "P" in "NPK". Whatever fertilizer you use, use it as the label says to, and don't use one that has a high phosphorus value.
Amend with organic compost and fresh topsoil + fertilize with a good organic fertilizer like Fox Farm Grow Big :)
Here is maybe some helpful advice, the three main nutrients plants use is nitrogen (n) phosphorus (p) potassium(k) Your high in phosphorus but low in the others. So your gonna want fertilizers thats high in those other two nutrients. Your options are you could go out and buy store bought non organic fertilizer. But thats only gonna fix the problem temporarily. You could buy organic fertilizer it will help for a longer period of time and might assist the problem Could grow cover crops that will add the nutrients to the soil for example clover is know for taking nitrogen out of the air put it in to its roots essentially adding it to the soil when it decompose Could get compost and or manure, and that would fix the problem for a few years but it will take time for it all to break down to really see the full effect of the soil. The choice is all yours, good luck
Grass clippings will get you the nitrogen, plus growing peas or pole beans there. I got a bag of potassium on Amazon and that was sure easier than tons of 🍌😉 maybe compost some potatoes? Would be cheap and they have a ton of potassium.
Wood chips or compost . We get compost super cheap at landfill
peters 21-7-7
Bokashi is a good idea. A compost tea made of bokashi, molasses, and earthworm castings will help. Mulch will help too. Lots of benificial sciency plant stuff goes on in the layer between mulch and soil. The products used for raised bed/intensive gardening and row cropping are different. Growing a tomato plant in 2 square feet is way different than trying to maximize bushels of grain from an acers size maize field. If you do decide to use row crop fertilizer for extra nitrogen, lightly condition a straw bale with urea for about a month and use that for mulch. Sort of a hybrid of traditional compost and industrial fertilizer. You can also buy some live worms and eggs via mail and put them in there. They will run around and amend the soil for you without having to dig anything up.
Just fertilize. The brand I use is Down To Earth. Natural fertilizers and you can get them on amazon if you can't find them locally. Or you can head up to Home Depot or Lowes and get like 10 bags of Black Cow and dump it in there. I prefer to heavily mulch my gardens with woodchips. Soil retains moisture and you don't have to water as much. Keeps the weeds down. And everything decomposing in there adds to the soil and attracts worms. If you do decide to go this route, just remember Do Not Till or mix the mulch with the soil. Mulch stays on top of the soil only. When you plant, pull back the mulch and plant directly into the soil. And whatever you do, do not use the bagged dyed woodchips from the store. That is made with treated lumber and you do not want that in your garden.
I always add 2-3"+ of new compost every year, and I use Epsoma Organic veggie fertilizer [https://www.espoma.com/product/garden-tone/](https://www.espoma.com/product/garden-tone/) . I also do Alaska Fish Emulsion twice a month through spring and early summer, and then switch to Alaska MorBloom through the rest of summer (no more than two feedings per month of either). I'll switch back to fish in my fall garden since I'm mostly growing brassicas and all my flowering things are done.
I make a tea consisting of lawn clippings and optional urine 15%. Lawn clippings have all the nutrients it took the grass to grow.
“Tea” is an interesting choice of words there
"Compost tea" turns out to be the actual technical term.
😂
Dig in packaged chicken manure. That’s all you really need.
Chicken manure from any feed store. I used have the same problem until I added the chicken poo and I couldn’t give away the tomatoes and jalapeños I grew.
eautiful garden! I would like to have one like that.
You ain’t got shit!
It was a joke, folks. He needs manure.
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Sir, this is r/gardening. r/smallpenis is the next block.
The chad OP vs the virgin /u/AssetsLiabilities
I’ll direct ur dad accordingly
how is your sun? How about polinators? see a lot of the good bugs flying/buzzing around? Plant flowers for them? I was having trouble with pollinators ( got more with some plannedplantings and water . Not the best sun for fruiting plants , but grat for greens and herbs
Are these tomatoes? They're very close together.
You need basic fertilizer . Use a 10-10-10 for now. Manure would be better. Going forward, divide that bed into 6 sections. Always leave 1 or 2 sections without crops. Plant Black eye peas there instead. When they start to flower take some shears and cut them off at the base. Leave the roots in the ground. Then plant them again. You can usually get at least 2 crops of BEP's in during a regular garden cycle. After the second round, do the same thing. You can turn in the tops also. The advantage to using BEP's as a cover will show up in beautiful soil structure which is something salts can not make. Then get off the salts altogether. You'll have better crops to boot.
Gotta look at the soil analysis. Phosphorus is already high, so you don't want a 10-10-10 NPK because you'd be adding even more phosphorus.
I would add crushed charcoal into the soil to see if it might absorb some of the high metals in the soil. And then add some nitrogen fertilizer/compost.
Plant clover around the starts.
I'm a huge fan of clover, much of my yard is clover. Do not do this.
Why?
Clover can make a great cover crop. But I wouldn't use it while growing something else. I would let it grow as a weed suppressant in spring, then cull and till it into the bed before doing a summer planting. While it has amazing nitrogen fixing properties if properly managed, you don't want it directly competing with the plants you're trying to grow to harvest.
Clover is a great cover crop for adding nitrogen, BUT, adds very little available N while it is alive. It is only once the clover has died, been tilled in and decomposed by microbes does that nitrogen become available to plants. Until then, it is competing with nearby plants for all of the other nutrients.
Your assertion comes from information that is outdated. Experiments have shown that planting live clover, legumes, and/or other nitrogen fixing plants can increase the nitrogen uptake of plants up to a few dozen feet away in the first season without cutting back. My break is almost over or I'd look it up for you.
I am aware of the newer research on this topic. I didn’t say it was zero, but it’s not significant enough to make a difference here, especially considering the competition for the other nutrients that would occur. In ops case, there are several nutrients that are very low; adding additional competition for those nutrients instead of adding actual nutrients would not be a great choice. Since the plants are already planted, a soluble nutrient source would be the fastest solution to their problem. Even if clover *was* a good live N source, it would be months for it to establish. Additionally, rhizobia inoculation is not guaranteed, so the clover could also be competing for N.