Forums » Soil Amendments

• JamesNewton

  

  • 15 posts
   

  June 8, 2011 3:02:08 PM PDT

  As a friend here pointed out, it might be good to actually test the soil to see what it needs before amending it, huh? LOL... I've been just tossing on the compost and hoping for the best. But somehow (and this just shows how twisted my mind is) it seems like cheating to actually test the soil and amend it accordingly... that just makes /way/ too much sense!

  Any recomendations on a specific testing kit? 

  Any idea why I'm resisting the idea? Or to but that in a more reasonable qustion, any reason NOT to test the soil?

• AndyPandy4

  

  • 26 posts
   

  June 22, 2011 3:39:34 PM PDT

  Hi James,
  I'm not too sure if the little test kits from the store are very accurate; however, I used one a few years ago and it read my soil testing way too alkaline, even though I had much compost and composted manure mixed in. I decide to purchase a garden acidifier (sulfur pellets) and I had an awesome garden that year. I have not retested, and I amended this year with only a small amount of sulfur, as last season I used fairly rich pine compost. I would like to send soil samples to my local extention, to get a more complete picture, but it's fairly costly.
  
  Even if you test, you do need a yearly application of healthy compost and fertilizer (organic), as the plants usually take a lot out of the soil from year to year. Crop rotation is another method if you have the space to rotate.
• JamesNewton

  

  • 15 posts
   

  June 22, 2011 5:24:44 PM PDT

  Well, even if they are perfectly accurate, finding and correcting the gross errors is still worth doing right?