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weird soil (slightly long)
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Posted by ashke SA Aust (My Page) on Mon, Feb 13, 06 at 7:32
| I hope someone can help...I have just pulled the last of the tomato plants, and was about to prepare the soil for the next crop (not sure what tho). Earlier bed preparation (for the tommies) had included mixing in cow manure, compost and dynamic lifter
I watered the soil...turned out the soil had become "waterproof". I had some claybreaker and wetta soil (it's very clay-ie here) which I diluted and added at the recomended rates, watered again, and the soil is STILL water repellant!
So, I'm confused. All other times I have used these products, they've been fantastic (in other parts of the garden), so what's different here?
Maria |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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Sounds like you've done the right things Maria - organic matter, wetting agent, clay breaker - so I'm baffled.
This is what I would do. Give the area a really good drenching, I mean really good, cover with a thick layer of mulch, at least 10cm, and drench this as well. Keep the water up to it. This will be slow but it should eventually help the moisture penetration. Perhaps beforehand, try digging in some more manure. An alternative to deep mulching is a dense cover crop. Once the cover crop is around 15cm tall, mulch heavily.
That's about all I can think of. |
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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| Have you seen much worm activity? I have very heavy reactive clay and I do several things - while its fallow I trench compost - dig trenches and put all my juicing and veg scraps in there and cover with soil. It breaks down quickly and worms love it. Did you use dolomite as a clay breaker? This should be used sparingly and if you can get hold of a few barrow loads of sand it will mix into and break up the clay balls. I add the dolomite to the sand in the barrow and mix it through then spread it and till it in. You have to be careful with clay breakers as it will tend to clog and take a few years to break down the mass. So make sure its well spread through the soil. I'd suspect your soil just needs a rest so it can reorganise its structure ( there is probably a technical term for this!) As Ray suggests, you could use a cover crop which you could dig in or just give it a good workout, mulch it and leave it for few months. When you dig or till the soil make a nice fine crumb to a depth of anout 8 inches. Even if you have a clay pan below that, eventually it will break down. Just takes time. |
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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| OOPS! For dolomite read GYPSUM - brain drain.............pity we don;t get to edit these posts! |
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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| I use soil wetting granules and find I have to apply them several times during the growing season ... once is just not enough. Isn't it infuriating when you water well and then have a poke around in the soil and find it is all dry under that top, moist crust? Drives me crazy. |
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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- Posted by ashke SA Aust (My Page) on
Tue, Feb 14, 06 at 3:39
| thanks for all your responses thus far... ray, might have to do as you suggest, and dig in even more organic material, as on closer inspection most of it seems to have disappearred cosmic, prior to this last planting (just tommies, basil and a few chives) the bed had been fallow for about 10-12 months, with lots of worm activity...on digging now, I can't find any as the soil seems really dry and compacted (and no, I've not walked on it lol). I hadn't needed to use any gypsum as most of the bed was composed of imported sand/soil/organic/manure mix to make up a raised bed. There was some gypsum applied prior to the new soil I think though lil digger - I've given up on using those granules, they don't seem to work for me wonder if there are any other backyard experts out there who could help?
TIA
Maria |
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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| I'd just pile the gypsum on. The useage rate is quite substantial - 1kg/m2, try and break up any big clods first,then let the weather wash it through. |
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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| I'm confused - I understood the problem was clay, hence the use of gypsum - now it seems its " imported sand/soil/organic/manure" that is the problem. Ah well, I agree in principle lomatia - assuming the weather will indeed wash it through - seems the water is running off - or am I even more confused! Must be the fool moon...... |
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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- Posted by ashke SA Aust (My Page) on
Wed, Feb 15, 06 at 6:44
| you're partly right cosmic...I had the claybreaker from treating other parts of the garden, and thought that since the soil in the bed seemed very compacted and also water repellant, that I would use this product in addition to the wettasoil. Not sure why it would be compacted so much, but it is extremely difficult to dig over, and resists breaking up into smaller clods or finer! I guess I took a punt as to what the claybreaker might be able to do with this bed...do you think I might have done more harm than good now? That'd be my luck this week ,given how it's going so far! (car breakdown, wisdom teeth removal, bad garden soil lol) |
RE: weird soil (slightly long)
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| It's got me beat why it would compact like that - I can only reiterate the advice to get lots or organics back into it. Peas straw breaks down lovely and fast and the spores from the mould that develops with pea straw might help get things moving in the bed. I'm a bit of a fan of Peter Cundalls premise that the more you feed the soil the more it feeds you. It will come good and I don't think you've done any permanent harm. Gardening is experiential - I've had beds that have given me fantastic crops one year and lousy ones the next, so we are trying to work with nature but she often gets the last word! Sorry about your car, teeth and soil - its a bad moon this month! |
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