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beeman_gardener

Soil test results.

15 years ago

Could someone help me understand my soil test for my fruit tree area?

I think I've found out why the apples are not putting on much growth.

The report suggest I add (lbs/ac) 45 N, 40 P2o5, 100 K2O, 15 MG, 20 S, 3.0 ZN, 1.0 B.

As this is a foreign language I would appreciate an interpreter.

Comments (3)

  • 15 years ago

    Call a local agriculture supply store, and not only will they help you interpret it, but will give you a quote for amendments to fix it. A lot cheaper than guessing yourself and trying to buy the stuff at Home Depot.

  • 15 years ago

    beeman:

    Based on the recommended application rates your soil really isn't that bad. Those are mostly pretty small additions.

    The major nutrients can easily be applied using a mixed fertilizer like 5-5-10, 10-10-20 or a similar ratio. Those numbers are the percent N-P-K in the fertilizer. Say you found 10-10-20 and applied about 500 lbs per acre. That would equal 50-50-100 lbs per acre NPK applied, very near the recommendation. Since an acre is 43,560 sqft, you need to apply about 11.5 lbs of 10-10-20 per 1,000 sq ft.

    The Mg is magnesium and S is sulfur. That could be supplied via a small amount of epsom salt, magnesium sulfate.

    Zn is Zinc and B is Boron. Applying these gets tougher because the rates are very low and Boron is very toxic in high amounts. I won't apply those unless you can see a deficiency.

    In my experience nitrogen, N, of which you need 45 lbs per acre, is the primary deficiency that causes slow growth and it is easily applied with something like 21-0-0, ammonium sulfate. That too would apply the sulfur, S, needed.

    The other option is to apply a rich compost, mulch, or manure. It supplies all the above with little fear of excess.

  • 15 years ago

    Here in the northeast a standard apple fertilizer mix for general maintenance contains a ratio with 2 to 1 K to N a trace of Boron and no P- I just bought 3 bags from CPS, my pesticide distributor that supplies most commercial growers in the Hudson Valley area. They call it their apple formula- their peach formula contains equal amounts of N and K, no boron and again no P.

    Sounds like your soil might be about normal, soil is more about texture,drainage and OM content than available nutrients anyway, (although these are related to mineral availability) and I agree that if you mulch with mellowed stable waste your trees would likely get what they need for a home orchard situation but urea might give you a quicker jolt for plants you're trying to size up.