if i planted some tomatoes in this soil one year, what would i have to do the following year if i wanted to replant tomatoes in the same raised bed?
I would feed it a good compost tea. Maybe a shot of dry fertilizer (espoma plant tone) as a top dress. I would mulch some compost around them. If fact that's what I do in my sandy garden, and after being organic 5 years now it keeps getting better.......MIW
^^^Word^^^^^ Top dress with the Espoma, but keep the N down. Otherwise, you get plenty of growth and few tomatoes. Add lime! Up to 2 cups/plant if the mix hasn't been limed recently. Tomatoes like the pH of 6.5-6.7 and are real calcium hogs. The lime, besides the pH thing will prevent Blossom End Rot due to a lack of calcium. Used mix works great! Wet
Mr Wetdog; i'm re-using some bagged soil from my last run. i mixed it with EWC, peat, and perlite. I know it had lime mixed in to it before i used it for 3 months. so should i add 2 cups/plant when i pot them? or is the lime still in there? (i would assume it's not). thank you =)
how much garden lime would you recommend adding to a fresh batch using his regular ratios of 2:1:1 peat, ewc, rice hulls
Dolomite lime is a magical amendment, which will super charge your soil with micro life and "MAXIMUM YIELD". It is recommended at a rate of 1/4 cup per gallon. Try a side by side grow you will see the lime kill moss. These mosses could be related to beneficial fungus "myco's" in some way. However i do not have a citation for that last part.
well that's why lime is a most recommended amendment for hydro- soilless grows, and i urge you to take a pail of gravel, and another pail of gravel with dolomite lime (2 cups per pail) and plant some tomatoes. You'll see the dolomite's keep moss off.
PBG That makes 2 of us. Would love to see the cite on that. That *up to 2 cups* per plant was for in the ground and depended on when the last time the soil was limed. Over 3 years, 2 years, last year and so on. For a fresh mix, I added the normal 1cup/cf. I also ended up doing a top dress ~3 months into the season. The container tom's really seemed to suck it up, although it did wipe out all my carefully cultivated moss. Next fresh mix, I'm going to use a bit more, like 1 1/2cups. This is for container tomatoes. For the used mix, I'm doing 1cup/cf and adding a bit of gypsum for more Ca. We'll see how it goes, but it seems hard to OD tomatoes on Ca. Wet
im planning on doing mine in some raised beds. gotta love it, came to this site cause i like lookin at nugs and plants and that kinda shit, and now am into organic gardening for veggies. really appreciate the input!
If you liked that, here's another good one: Age Old Liquid Ca-libur 20 Suspension 2.5 Gallon Ca-Libur 20 is a high analysis suspension liquid calcium for the correction of calcium deficiencies and strengthening cell walls. It is formulated from organically certified materials and can be applied as a foliar treatment with either a spray rig or orchard mister. It also can be used for the prevention of bitter pit. Repeated applications of Ca-Libur 20 will have an effect on the level of sun damage, and will act as a deterrent for crawling and egg laying pests on plants and trees. 9% Details SKU\tXHH0419 Weight\t4.00 lbs MRSP:\t$7.95 Our price:\t$7.25
Actually there is s study showing the liming assists the establishment of glomus mosseae, with infertile soils... in order to achieve ph 6 Plant and Soil, Volume 168-169, Number 1 - SpringerLink i think there are a few issues with Dolomite lime. it takes 5-6 years to break down, only then loading the cation sites with calcium and magnesium. Wetdog this explains why you need to keep adding dolomites on your dirt. after the 5-6 years it takes to break down it doesn't get better: "A significant increase of organic Cu complexes occurred due to mobilization of water soluble humus decomposition products. The effect of liming on litter decomposing organisms is demonstrated with microorganisms, collembolae and earthworms regarding the abundance and the structure of dominance. It was shown that liming may induce unusually large changes in biocenoses of forest soils. The decay of surface humus accounted for 7.2 t ha-1 or 23% of the store within 7 years. Within the same time span, liming caused a loss of about 170 kg N ha-1 or 14% of the store of the surface humus layer. The nitrate concentration in the drainage water thus increased by about 50 to 60 mg NO3 - L-1. Site-specific conditions are discussed, which produce such negative liming effects as increased nitrate concentration of seepage, humus decay and heavy metal mobilization. Redistribution of tree roots, induction of boron deficiency and root rot are also considered. It is indicated that liming may aggravate the increasing problem of nitrate contamination of forest ground water resources which is associated with deposition of atmogenous nitrogen compounds. Some recommendations are given regarding forest practice." hmmm i wonder if it's recommended?
You're citing FOREST PRACTICE stuff and I'm talking container grown tomatoes, not forest soils. WTF? Do you even garden? Grown anything besides mj? Go play with your bottles. Wet
I like egg shells (well roasted) kelp meal, fish bone meal, oyster shell powder, etc for my calcium needs. A good compost along with ewc's helps to ensure the calcium is available for my plants. H2T, have you ever considered that those recommendations you have been posting (nice cut and paste btw, you're getting better at it) are possibly written by folks who have been bought off by the petro-chemical industry in some way?
Maybe, but the tomatoes love it. I listen to the plants. Would like to try some calcitic lime, but it hasn't been available for a couple of years. Guess the dolomite mine is closer, shipping and all. LD has his opinion on DL and I respect that, but the fact is, it's not a widely shared opinion by any stretch. Use it or don't, doesn't matter much in the overall scheme of things. Wet