I don't buy the idea that your dirt is done. Your dirt has been there millions of years and may need to be "fixed". I have the worst infestation of Root Knot Nematodes that I have ever had and still plan on growing a crop next year

Tree, dig up a small amount of dirt from here, yonder, over there, etc. and put in a clean bucket, and mix it up. Then put some of this mix in a zip lock bag, and take it to the nearest extension center for a soil test.

They have, or at least used to have special bags for the soil tests, but if you do it my way, you don't have to make two trips, cause you can transfer your soil.

Get that test done. You need to find out, what is needed in your soil to grow good crops.

It is money well spent!!! and a WHOLE lot EASIER than building new raised bed, with purchased soil.

Besides, realize, you don't have dirt, you have something much more precious, you have soil! :)

Moni

Amen Moni!

George
Tahlequah, OK

What kind of soil was in your flats? Did it come from your garden soil or was it a potting soil? Where did the manure come from? How much manure went on the garden? Was it fresh or old and dry? This sounds strange but sometimes it makes a difference. There are no guarantees in gardening sometimes you luck out and sometimes you don't. But soil doesn't wear out when it has been amended like you have done. There has to be some cause.

Tree,

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a bad year. I know that it is very discouraging to work so hard and to have everything turn out badly, but some years are just that way.

With the garden soil, unless you do a soil test you are just blindly guessing what might have gone wrong. The basic Routine Soil Test from OSU is inexpensive ($10.00) and would be the place that I'd start. It will at least tell you your soil pH, and your N-P-K levels. It is a whole lot easier (and smarter) to start with the soil test to see what it tells you than to just start all over with a new garden plot in a different area.

In the spring, since you had so much rainfall, I think it likely that your soil stayed too wet and the assumption I'd make is that the soil wasn't draining quickly enough during that rainy period. That's only an assumption, though. If your soil has a high clay component, the odds are higher that the soil stayed too wet and the plant roots rotted. Also, when soil stays that wet for a prolonged period of time, lots of plant diseases rear their ugly head.

The word you used that made me nervous was manure, and I'll explain why. Since about 2000 or 2001, we have had a continued problem with a particular class of herbicide that doesn't break down quickly enough and that leaves residues in manure (and compost as well) at a high enough level that garden plants die when their roots take up enough of that residue. The class of herbicides that cause this to occur are used to control broadleaf weeds in pastures and fields where grains are grown, including golf courses and city parks where they are used to keep broadleaved weeds out of the grassy areas. The herbicides that have these residues which are slow to break down include picloram, aminopyralid and clopyralid. These herbicide residues have been found in hay, they have been found in the manure of animals that ate hay treated with these herbicides, and they've been found in compost made either from the hay or other plant residue from areas where the herbicides were used. The herbicide residues have been found in compost purchased (or obtained free of charge) from municipal composting facilities, as well as purchased bagged compost and purchased bagged manure.

Even more worrisome, a couple of years ago these residues were found in bagged compost and, following that incident, the composting company's investigation discovered that they used contaminated manure from animals who had been fed a purchased, bagged, name-brand animal feed. The actual original source of the herbicide contamination was one of the components of the bagged feed, which apparently was raised in fields where these herbicides were used. That means that the herbicide residue survived being processed into feed, and then it survived the animals' digestive tracts, and then it survived the composting process at a high enough level that plants grown in beds enriched by that compost were killed by the herbicide residues. To me, what this tells us is that any time we bring in compost or manure from a source other than our own property where we have 100% control over how it is grown, we may be bringing in herbicide residues along with that compost or manure or hay/straw that we use as mulch.

I used to use a lot of manure, and I used to use a lot of hay as mulch. As the herbicide residue contamination of gardens has become more and more common, I've almost completely stopped using manure. I don't even use the manure from our own chicken coops on the compost pile I maintain for the garden because I use purchased feed for the chickens. Nowadays all the chicken manure/bedding just gets dumped on a cold compost pile I am using to fill in a eroded gully on our land. There is no way I'm going to use any of that compost in the garden because of the risk of herbicide residue contamination from components in the purchased Chicken Scratch. The only compost I use nowadays is compost from my own pile and none of the materials I put on that pile have been treated with herbicides because I don't use them. If I want to use manure at all (and I rarely do), I only use the Black Kow brand. That is a long-standing policy of mine because this brand always has been 100% manure whereas other purchased manures may contain only 10% manure with the rest being filler (usually black clay). It frustrates me that the government allows products that are only 10% manure to be sold as manure, so I stick with Black Kow. I've never had herbicide residue contamination from Black Kow so I feel like they've obviously taken measures to keep herbicide residues out of their products, and I'll keep using Black Kow for as long as it stays free of herbicide residue contamination.

When garden soils become contaminated with herbicide residues of this type, it can take from 1 to 4 years for the herbicide residues to degrade to the point that plants can be grown there again without risk of plant death from the herbicide residues.\

So, since you use manure and compost, unless you have 100% control over everything that goes into the manure and compost, you may be inadvertently bringing in herbicide residues that kill your plants. I know several people, one of whom lives right here in my neighborhood, who have had their veggie gardens killed by herbicide residue in either manure they added to their soil or hay they used as mulch.

The last time someone gave me hay for my garden was 2011 and I let those bales sit and break down for 2 years before I used them as mulch in the garden. By then, I'd seen enough broadleaved weeds growing right beside the bales to know that the hay was clean and free of herbicide residue. I doubt I'll ever use hay again, though, because the risk is too great. Even if the folks raising the hay do not use any herbicides at all, there's always the slim chance that those herbicides are used by the electric company underneath power lines, by the county along the roadside or by an adjacent rancher, and herbicide drift could contaminate the "clean" field if that is the case.

Whenever somebody tells me that their garden plants are mysteriously dying in a garden area where they've long gardened with success, my first thought always is that maybe their soil has become contaminated with one of these persistent herbicides. If you want to read more about this, just Google "killer compost" or "herbicide carryover" and you'll find lots of info.

The plants in flats are a different case altogether, unless you're using garden soil or compost in the flats. I always start seeds in flats in a sterile, soil-less mix because that is the best way to ensure healthy seedlings. When you start with a sterile, soil-less, seed-starting mix, you greatly lessen the chance that disease will kill your young seedlings, as long as you avoid overwatering them.

I hope you'll be able to figure out why your garden soil has given you trouble this year, and I hope you can just fix the soil you have and not have to start all over again with a new garden plot.

And, if you are in an agricultural area where the adjacent fields are sprayed with lots of chemicals of various kinds, then that would be a whole separate issue.

Keep us posted on what you figure out.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Test Lab---Oklahoma State University

I'm so sorry it was such a failure! I put of testing for a long time because I simply could not afford it. It's worth prioritizing. It's just near impossible to figure things out without a soil test!

Like Dawn, my concentration was on the contents of the manure. Near impossible to find untained manure these days.

bon

Tree, Do they spray the crops near you with planes? I seem to recall that you live near a rapeseed field, or "GMO canola field". Am I remembering right?

I spent a lot of time this summer near a commercial soybean field which was sprayed at least twice. Once before planting and again in fall to make it drop it's leaves before harvest. We rushed to get out of the area as soon as we heard the crop dusters because it was just awful. I had planted some tomato plants before the first dusting and although they produced tomatoes, the vines didn't look normal and healthy the entire season. Their beans looked good, but my plants didn't.

I think it is getting harder and harder to garden near a large agricultural area which seem to use sprays on everything.

Having said that, I cannot prove it and I realize that at least one person will disagree and be back to tell me how safe it is and how wonderful American agriculture practices are. We will just have to agree to disagree.

Soonergrandmom Yes I live among the rape fields for at least 2-3 months flowering and 1-3 not flowering. If that makes since.

Closest to me are wheat fields and they always plane spray when the wind is blowing from the south where the fields are.
Lots of soy this year.
across the street was alfalfa for years now it's wheat. They tractor spray and that field is only a few feet away.
My new neighbors spray Tempo they said. They are even closer(a fence line away)

All the compost I buy is 90% from Wal-Mart organic as well as the Manure. I have bought from Attwoods but is usually the same brand as wm just on sell.

My growing med hasn't changed in 15 yrs(Scotts soilless mix).
Before the end of last growing season I bought a few bags of Scotts like mg potting soil for 2$ a fifty lb bag and used that.

I MAY HAVE SOUNDED BAD but I love my land its just been real hard to garden here the last couple years.

Thanks all for your advice love all
TREE
s

Just because you bought something from walmart that was marked organic, doesn't mean, it was good for your garden!

I bought old Miracle Grow potting mix on sale once for a cheap price. It had been out in the sun and the plastic bags were rotting. It wouldn't grow anything. Spend the money to buy good potting mix and try some leaf lettuce then a pot of peppers next year. Use a very large pot that takes at least 2 cubic feet or more so you don't have to water so often. I have good luck with peppers in pots. Cover your pot when they are spraying if you can. Start small and see if you can get some success.

Sounds like a lot the same problem I have had, Tree.
Drift from herbicide spray. I lost a lot in the spring and then again n the summer.my tomatoes never did recover and produce even though they tried really hard. next year I am going to plant main garden in town. They don't spray around there by plane anyway.
Also what soil or potting mix did you use in trays? I use the cheap seed starting mix from $gen and it works great for me. Starting seeds is tricky.
kim

Hi, seeker -
you emailed me and i responded but i didn't hear any more from you.
do you want some of my plants? were you just saying hello?
let me know
nik