Hi J,

If you want to try Boron, 20 Mule Team Borax available on the laundry isle at the supermarket is a readily available source. As far as the application rate is concerned, the local cooperative extension agent, or master gardener at the university might be of help.

Re: dolomite lime - Don't use it unless you have too much N since the magnesium in that form of lime releases Nitrogen from the soil.

Terran

In several years of reading these forums, this is the first boron shortage I can remember. I would ignore that shortage and just apply organic materials. If you need compost, then compost. I personally don't think very many people really need compost. I think organic fertilizer materials will give you better results and faster. I like corn meal and alfalfa pellets. CGM is great but costs more. All organic materials will contain trace amounts of all the trace minerals.

Dchall

I followed your advise added cornmeal,alfafa cubes, a handful of dry molasses, soaked in a 5 gallon bucket added the top liquid to the lawn after mixing well, allowing few days to ferment. The bottom sediment I added to the flower beds.
Now there are plenty of obese earthworms, happily crawling in my vegetable beds.
My lawn is the only green lawn in the neighborhood.
Total cost $17-00.
I am happy with the result. This year I may add a handful of soft rock phosphate to the bucket.
Thanks again.

I wouldn't consider adding trace elements except in the form of organic matter which will have all the trace elements needed.

I would read up on lasagna composting before I spent a lot of money on a bed.

Boron is a micro nutrient and while it is in "Borox" it is not in a form readliy useable by plants. Other than adding organic matter, a good source of this micro nutrient, what did the people that did the soil test say about increasing the level of Boron in your soil?
Keep in mind that adding just a little too much will create even more problems than a little shortage will.

Dchall

I followed your advise added cornmeal,alfafa cubes, a handful of dry molasses, soaked in a 5 gallon bucket added the top liquid to the lawn after mixing well, allowing few days to ferment. The bottom sediment I added to the flower beds.

At the risk of sounding harsh, that absolutely was not my advice. If it works for you, you should give credit to the real source, but whether it works or not, I don't want any credit for that recipe or method.

As a straight fertilizer and/or antifungal material, I like corn meal applied dry. As an alternate fertilizer I like alfalfa pellets. I don't like dry molasses for anything and I would not "ferment" anything to be used in the garden for a couple of days.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's my advice

What exactly is "very low"? Anything around 30ppm is considered sufficient for the widest range edibles with the exception of some nuts, which require higher levels.

Typically, the addition of compost will satisfy adequate levels of Boron. You run a far greater risk of damage to crops from Boron toxicity than you do to its deficiency in the soil, which is not all that common.

I am going to disagree. I look at a lot of soil tests, and boron is fairly commonly deficient. Unlike the other micros boron will leach and can be lost from the soil (and compost). The general recommendation is that if your soil test report says you have less than 1 ppm, add 1 pound of boron per acre. Note that if you pH is very high you may have plenty but it is unavailable.

My soil test indicated boron levels were around 0.2 ppm. The recommendation was to add 0.04 lb of boron per 1000 sq ft of garden. Other notable factors that needed addressing were the pH (5.1), as well as very low phosphorous levels, low potash, and low calcium levels (sorry don't have the report handy to look at for exact ppm amounts). I believe magnesium was either "low" or "medium" as was zinc. Copper was "medium", sulphur was "high", and iron and manganese were "very high". Organic matter was actually about 2.5% which I felt was fairly high considering most of my lot was bulldozed clear by the developer who built the house.

The recommendations were to add 70 lb of dolomitic lime, 1.5 lb of nitrogen, 5 lb of phosphorous, 5 lb of potash and then the trace amounts of boron along with zinc and sulphur as well (again I don't have the report handy at the moment for exact amounts) all these amounts per 1000 sq ft.

All that stuff is in organic fertilizer. Just fertilize (with organics).

The recomendation comes to 1.75lbs of boron per acre (I tend to think in acres)which is a reasonable rate for your test level. The most important thing to do at this point would be to get your pH up. The recomendation is for dolomitic lime because it contains magnesium (as well as calcium). Note that it takes a good while to react so the sooner you get it incorperated the better. I would certainly add the zinc and boron because they will be even less available once you get the pH up. The P and K you can add at your liesure but if you are going to be tilling lime in there is no reason not to add these at the same time. The N and S I would hold off on until you are ready to grow something because you can loose it. After that intitial amending I personally would do as dchall says and start using organic materials if possible.

As I recall, bagged manure is fairly high in boron. The soil in fenced cattle operations (feed lots) is usually too high in boron because of the manure (boron is one of the micro-ingredients in the salt blocks set out for cattle to lick when they are raised in confinement).

So if you are spreading steer manure, don't worry about additional boron.

Catherine (farmer's daughter)

boron is actually deficient in many N American soils, especially coastal ... a lack can prevent blossoms from setting, a real deficiency can result in fruit trees not even blooming ... an imbalance of boron and calcium is responsible for the problem in apples caled 'water core'

many of the foods we eat [especially apples!] are high in boron, so compost that incorporates a good amount of food waste will take care of maintaining boron levels, but for a quick fix, 20 Mule Team Borax does indeed do the job, particularly because it's unlikely you'll apply enough to cause problems - around here we use and recommend about 2 cups spread around a mature tree out to the drip line - lime/calcium should be applied at a later time as they are antagonistic

Bill

Adding compost and other organic matter will help resolve the Boron deficiency and the other problems over time. You want a humus level of around 5 to 6 percent. Since it can take several months for limestone, or lime (the difference is how the raw material is treated, lime is limestone washed with acids to make the calcium more readily available), the time to applu it is several months before you need the soils pH changed.