What's a good non-animal product to amend my heavily composted soil, so as to increase available nitrogen? I'd rather not have to grow and plow under a cover crop. A partially fermented (using a molasses spray) alfalfa called Chaffhaye Alfalfa (www.chaffhaye.com) is available locally. I'm wondering about the efficacy of this product, which is marketed as a feed for horses and goats. I have tried dried alfalfa flakes in the past without remarkable effect. It is an expensive product. Also tried soybean meal which is cheaper but am concerned about this genetically modified product.
Why do you think you need addtitional Nitrogen? Your compost will contain all the Nitrogen that is necessary to grow any plant, although people will sometimes add other, undigested, organic matter with that compost which will change things.
The sign of a good gardener is not a green thumb, it is brown knees.
Posts: 2120 | Location: Central Michigan along the Lakeshore | Registered: August 28, 2004
A&L Great Lakes Laboratories recommended I add 4 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 square feet, following a soil test in which pH was medium (soil 6.1, buffer 6.), Ogranic Matter very high (40%), Phosphorus very high, Potassium very hight, Magnesium high and Calcium medium.
I've had unsatisfactory vegetable results for several years on this plot. The plants appear to start off OK, but then don't grow with any vitality. Broccoli heads were disappointing. Onions no great shakes. Sweet potatoes grew OK, but were completely pitted by grubs. I notice plants closed to the edge of the plot (and hence adjacent ot existing topsoil) do much better. Plot texture is very crumbly.
MO, thanks for the help. I read somewhere that cotton was the most pesticided crop in the U.S., and am concerned those chemicals may carry over to the seed. Do you have any information on that? I don't know about canola.
I noted you did not specify what your nitrogen levels were. Clemson makes recommendations on nitrogen based on crops/plants specified with the soil sample. The reasoning is that nitrogen is so transitory they just provide a general guideline to follow at planting time. Last summer I requested an organic matter test and combined with CEC results was able to guestimate my available nitrogen. Assuming one hasn't killed the microherd with salts from synthetic fertilizer or some other product a healthy herd population and plenty of organic matter will provide sufficient nitrogen even for the heaviest feeders. Of course they (the herd) need time to digest all that compost and poop out the nitrogen (so to speak)! Of course you can always sample for nitrogen. Think I will at several times just to see what happens. I've got more projects and experiments going that one more won't hurt.
Dirt
PS. Of course someone may argue the point with me. Don't, tell it to my garden.
The labs recommendation of 1 to 4 pounds of Nitrogen is a standard everyday thing these soil test labs do because, as Dirt Pit, suggested soil test labs no longer test for soil N because it depends on the soil temperature for availability. However, with organic matter levels of 40 percent (which if true means you have a boggy soil) that may well be one of the problems, there is too much OM in the soil and the Soil Food Web is working at digesting that and not feeding your plants. With that much OM in your soil you may also have too much soil moisture which will also inhibit your plants ability to uptake needed nutrients. You could try something like blood meal, 7 percent N, to see if that helps, but I would not, if your soil OM levels are 40 percent, add any form of N that also has more OM.
The sign of a good gardener is not a green thumb, it is brown knees.
Posts: 2120 | Location: Central Michigan along the Lakeshore | Registered: August 28, 2004
Kimm1, I took another look at the lab report and, sure enough, Organic Matter % is 39.8. By way of background, I built this 10' x 20' plot up over several years after having the top 1' of soil dug out. I did that because the area had been used for a burn pile by the previous owner, and I was concerned about soil contaminants. Each Fall I would layer in mulched maple leaves, Starbucks coffee grounds and filters and fresh grass clippings. I also disbursed a light covering of soil I had delivered from a construction site.
How well does that soil drain? Not something I would normally tell someone but you need to stop adding organic matter. Optimal OM levels in soil are around 5 to 8 percent, maybe 10 or 12, but at the level you have the soil bacteria will be working on digesting the OM and not on feeding your plants. You may well need a fairly large dose of Nitrogen for a while but not manure unless that has been properly composted before applying it.
The sign of a good gardener is not a green thumb, it is brown knees.
Posts: 2120 | Location: Central Michigan along the Lakeshore | Registered: August 28, 2004
Kimm1, the soil drains quite well, with the plot sloping slightly to an old septic tank which hasn't been used in years and is filled with rock. I found this out when some of the rock was scooped out with the top foot of soil I removed before starting the layered composing. It seems to me the plot drains too well, since melons I planted a couple years ago shriveled up in dry weather. Regarding the use of blood meal or bonemeal, I am concerned about "mad cow," especially since CDC says evidence is quite strong that exposure to it causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
