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nancydobs

Soil problems in beds already planted

14 years ago

I planted 2 of my 5 raised beds a few weeks ago with cold weather crops. The seeds all germinated, but the seedlings don't seem to be growing. Our soil is very sandy. I had it tested this week at the pH is only at 5.2 in one bed, 6 in the other. I'm looking into Aggrand liquid lime (very fine, applied in a slurry to work faster) but read that adding organic matter to the soil will help buffer it to allow more nutrient absorption. WELL, I can't incorporate organic matter around my tiny seedlings(closely planted for square foot gardening). I feel like they are starving. I have applied some worm castings, and have access to rabbit manure. What can I do? Would a rabbit manure tea be of any use to feed the seedlings until I can get the pH problem corrected?

Comments (5)

  • 14 years ago

    Teas made of manure or compost will not do much to increase the amount of organic matter in soil. The low soil pH in one bed may well be inhibiting the uptake of necessary nutrients, although the pH in the other is very close to the 6.2 to 6.8 pH where most all nutrients are most readily available.
    How soon nutrients from manures and worm castings might be available to plants depends on how active the Soil Food Web is and that SFW needs organic matter in the soil to be active. Is your soil mulched? Mulches help 1. suppress unwanted plant (weed) growth, 2. maintain soil moisture, 3. keep the soil cool, and 4. add organic matter to the soil.
    Especially if this is the first year for these planting beds you nay well need to supplement feed with liquid nutrient sources like fish oils and/or kelp meal.

  • 14 years ago

    Top dress with some kind of organic mulch. There's a product I can get here called "Leaf Gro" which is basically fine leaf mold produced by a nearby county composting operation. Surely, there's something similar where you are. Don't use rabbit manure unless it's been composted. There are some organic fertilizers you might try in the interim, like Espoma's plant grow or similar. Did you do a soil test before you planted or just a ph test after the fact? If the soil mix is that sandy, nutrient deficiency might not be just a ph problem (although that can cause it) -- it might be that you just didn't have a very fertile soil mix to begin with. Be sure to fix those other beds before you plant them.

  • 14 years ago

    Try foliar feeding your plants with Neptunes fish and seaweed. Get a small box of Alfalfa and make an aerated tea with a molasses. Then feed your soil around your plants with the tea. This will be a start to get your plants going and sorry to say you have some work ahead of you.

    Ron

  • 14 years ago

    Throwing some "fertilizer", plant food, at plants that are not growing well is not always the solution to the problem, and often can make the problem worse. Throwing some kind of "fertilizer" at plants not growing well is a solution that people with the synthetic gardening mindset would use.
    It is more difficult, and time consuming, if one is an organic gardener/farmer to reason out the real problem, but that will result in better plant growth, better results.

  • 14 years ago

    kimmsr, You are contradicting yourself.

    "Especially if this is the first year for these planting beds you nay well need to supplement feed with liquid nutrient sources like fish oils and/or kelp meal."

    "Throwing some kind of "fertilizer" at plants not growing well is a solution that people with the synthetic gardening mindset would use." I think not. Especially in my growing practices which is all organics not synthetics.

    My recommendations were to give his plants an organics boost. If you think this doesn't work, try it before you disagree with the approach.

    Ron