each season i see many posts on what fert to use or what to feed .
this is fine really but do you know what you already have in your soil not many of us do
most people on here wont even know the true ph reading of the plot they are planting up that is also fine for most people as it just a hobby to get us either fit or for a bit of quiet time down the plot.
i have allsorts of feeds and pots of different stuff in my sheds and i have been known to add this or that incase its missing ,sometimes it seems to work and sometimes it doesnt really make a difference.
since i have gone into competition growing my attitude has had to change there is little point in adding stuff to the patch you dont need or dont want to much of a nutrient is just as bad as to little . so i had my soil tested and i have been surprised by the results
bare in mind i have not added anything at all to my plot since last spring other than seaweed feeds and maybe a couple more feeds during the year i got these results back .
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g110/slyfox-mal/soilreport1.jpg)
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g110/slyfox-mal/soilreport2.jpg)
these results really surprised me as most of my levels are through the roof and only a couple of things are low i.e. iron and boron
i have added the details into a program a friend of mine is developing and it shows me my soil balance is way off in some parts these inbalances need to be addressed before i can hope to achieve my goals
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g110/slyfox-mal/ammendmentchart.jpg)
usually id just go out and buy some ammendments like always and put them on the patch not this year i wont i will only add what needs adding and hopefully i will get some personal best in my growing . i hope this is of intrest to someone this test was only done for 1000 sq ft of my plot as its my giant pumpkin patch good luck everyone this coming year hope you all have a great year
Slyfox: I have to admit I was pretty confused beyond the third line of your report but I am interested in your conclusions. I had best ever results with my pumpkins last year and intend to grow more this year as they store well and are low maintenance. So I would like to learn more but don't intend to exhibit beyond our village show. I have read that they can't have too much organic fertilizer and I have grown them successfully directly into a compost heap. I intend to do that again this year so I would be interested in views on how high the ph should be.
the guidline on the giant pumpkin site is a ph of 6.8 is about right but this may not be true for all pumpkins or squash
Wow! your organic matter level is ballistic. Very impressive. This is probably why the nutrient levels are so high too. Quite apart from soluble nutrients in the compost, as the organic matter oxidises it forms humic acid which is capable of dissolving the (normally non-soluble) mineral component of the soil. Or something like that.
This does support the expression 'compost fixes all problems'.
Maybe you should bag up your topsoil and market it. :-)
my only real concern is my phosphorus content phos is a very immobile nutrient and will prove difficult to lower that in conjunction with my high cec (cation exchange capacity ) of 41.8 everything in my soil stays in my soil quite awhile so cover crops are going to used the next couple of season to reduce levels
thanks for your comments