HelpfulGardener.com

I am growing oak, walnut, and chestnut fom seed.
The trees that I start in the garden by the house grow quickly and look healthy.
Those that I plant in a meadow out back, grow slowly with many die-backs.
The meadow is tiled so the drainage is ok. It is a clay soil and not the most fertile, but the surrounding farmland and forest
is lush.
This used to be used to grow corn. I thought at first that residual atrazine was at fault, but its been 7 years now.
Would this herbicide still be in the soil?
Thank you.

Atrazine? From first thoughts, I would think yes. But, I will need to look into that.

Corn grows scary fast. I would imagine it's slurping nutrients from the soil like an SUV consuming gasoline. It's interesting that you mention that it's a clay soil. Is this just in that spot, or throughout?

If it's just in that spot, I'm wondering if the soil is depleted and in need of organic matter.

What do others think about this?

Anyone from the MidWest want to comment about Corn and it's effect on the soil?

Corn is a heavy feeder of soil nutrients but, contrary to common belief, clay soil is actually usually full of nutrients it is just that they are locked up in non soluble soil aggregates. The way to make these soil aggregates soluble is to add more organic matter and thefore increase the size of the aggregates thus, liberating the nutrients stored in clay soils.

With a clay soil, it is more likely that the Atrazine is stored in the soil.

Anyone else have information on this?