How important is the Soil PH?
How important is the soil ph? Ive been doing a lot of reading and it appears this may be an iterm ive overlooked. Ive never checked soil ph but ive been getting some really dismal results from some really great fertil looking soil. I'm beginning to think its time to investigate this aspect of gardening. I'm looking for opinions from those who are more advanced than myself. I recently built raised beds for this years garden and with all the energy ive put into it I want great results.
That's a complicated answer.
Got any more data you could throw out there about your soil?
Fertilizers? Organic matter? Your water (rain, well, tap)?
What do you mean by dismal? Can you give some species?
I had dismal results last year with many species, especially the ones that take longer. But my gardening partners are very advanced. We just had no sun, and crazy rain. Nothing but slugs, slugs, slugs. I never even knew they like tomatoes. Oh the humanity!
I'm probably not much more advanced than you, but I know that the advanced ones here can only help you if they have information.
Got any more data you could throw out there about your soil?
Fertilizers? Organic matter? Your water (rain, well, tap)?
What do you mean by dismal? Can you give some species?
I had dismal results last year with many species, especially the ones that take longer. But my gardening partners are very advanced. We just had no sun, and crazy rain. Nothing but slugs, slugs, slugs. I never even knew they like tomatoes. Oh the humanity!
I'm probably not much more advanced than you, but I know that the advanced ones here can only help you if they have information.
I was growing tomatoes and peppers both were disapointing. but my container garden really took off. The containers were planting mix of different types whatever was cheap rather than the natural soil.
I have piped for drip watering in my raised beds also to better control my water usage and keep the weeds down. my tap water is right around 8.0 out of the tap. what about chlorine I know they add it too does it have a negative effect on the plants?
I have piped for drip watering in my raised beds also to better control my water usage and keep the weeds down. my tap water is right around 8.0 out of the tap. what about chlorine I know they add it too does it have a negative effect on the plants?
I'm not sure what's in your water (ask your city), but can you tell us more about the soil?
How did you prepare it? Are you composting? etc... Is this organic? Fertilizers?
Tomatoes and peppers are not easy to grow, so you should not feel bad. Our brandywines were an epic fail last year. The peppers were ok but had worms. Fried up nice though.
can you describe what made them disappointing? I mean precisely. No fruit? rot? bugs? etc....
How did you prepare it? Are you composting? etc... Is this organic? Fertilizers?
Tomatoes and peppers are not easy to grow, so you should not feel bad. Our brandywines were an epic fail last year. The peppers were ok but had worms. Fried up nice though.
can you describe what made them disappointing? I mean precisely. No fruit? rot? bugs? etc....
well I didnt do a thign to the soil except till it up real nice I then used miracle grow it diddnt help so I tried schultz tomatoe spike still nothing.
the pplants were small not a lot of growth low yield of peppers and tomaotes. a Couple years back the same garden was excellent big plants lots of fruit. I didnt change a thing in fact the last two years were disapointing.
the pplants were small not a lot of growth low yield of peppers and tomaotes. a Couple years back the same garden was excellent big plants lots of fruit. I didnt change a thing in fact the last two years were disapointing.
would you be interested in recycling your kitchen waste and yard waste into compost instead of using all that miracle grow and tomato spikes? It kinda takes out a lot of guesswork. It's more work at first, but it makes less work in the end.
head on over to the compost forum and you can get tons of ideas and help. It's really easy, and you'll grow the best tomatoes you've ever had, provided you have enough sun.
meantime, for this season, does your city or town give away compost? or maybe a town nearby? you can also buy compost at certain gardening stores.
head on over to the compost forum and you can get tons of ideas and help. It's really easy, and you'll grow the best tomatoes you've ever had, provided you have enough sun.
meantime, for this season, does your city or town give away compost? or maybe a town nearby? you can also buy compost at certain gardening stores.
I would suggest that you have your soil tested. Most plants are happy within a certain range of acidity or alkalinity, usually very close to neutral, but some prefer things a little more extreme. If the pH of the soil is incorrect for what you want to grow, it can prevent the roots from absorbing nutrients in proper amounts.
You'll want to have the [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=924]N-P-K[/url] levels tested, as well as the pH, so you'll know what amendments to add, if any.
Many Extension Service offices will test soil, sometimes for free, other times for a small fee. You can also buy soil test kits at most garden centers.
You'll want to have the [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=924]N-P-K[/url] levels tested, as well as the pH, so you'll know what amendments to add, if any.
Many Extension Service offices will test soil, sometimes for free, other times for a small fee. You can also buy soil test kits at most garden centers.
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rainbowgardener
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It wouldn't hurt to check your soil pH, it's a good thing to know. But if 3 years ago you had thriving plants and the last couple years not, your soil pH (unless you made major amendments in between) probably didn't change much.
So what did change in between? You say you didn't change anything (didn't change what varieties you are growing? didn't change the layout of the garden, so things are in different sun exposures than they were?). If that is true that leaves me with two hypotheses:
Weather. In many parts of the country including mine, last year was a very rainy season, most of the season. Tomatoes and peppers like a fair amount of water, but they also like SUNSHINE and we didn't get much. And as Toil notes all that rain did make a bad year for slugs. I also had lots more than usual. They didn't bother the tomatoes that I could tell, but chewed up the peppers pretty good.
Soil Fertility It gets used up. Tomatoes and peppers are heavy feeders. If you aren't replenishing the fertility of the soil, it is getting depleted, so the same patch of ground is not as fertile as it was a few years ago. You added MG and artificial fertilizer, which adds a few elements (NPK), not necessarily in the best form for the plants to use. You need to be adding lots of organics to your soil. Tomatoes love good, rich, organic soil. COMPOST, composted manure, worm castings, MULCH, green manure, leaves ....
If you just made raised beds for this year, then presumably you are adding new soil to fill the beds. Make sure it is good enriched topsoil and then add a bunch of all the above, maybe a little bit of potting soil to lighten it, maybe some bone meal, blood meal, kelp, etc...
So what did change in between? You say you didn't change anything (didn't change what varieties you are growing? didn't change the layout of the garden, so things are in different sun exposures than they were?). If that is true that leaves me with two hypotheses:
Weather. In many parts of the country including mine, last year was a very rainy season, most of the season. Tomatoes and peppers like a fair amount of water, but they also like SUNSHINE and we didn't get much. And as Toil notes all that rain did make a bad year for slugs. I also had lots more than usual. They didn't bother the tomatoes that I could tell, but chewed up the peppers pretty good.
Soil Fertility It gets used up. Tomatoes and peppers are heavy feeders. If you aren't replenishing the fertility of the soil, it is getting depleted, so the same patch of ground is not as fertile as it was a few years ago. You added MG and artificial fertilizer, which adds a few elements (NPK), not necessarily in the best form for the plants to use. You need to be adding lots of organics to your soil. Tomatoes love good, rich, organic soil. COMPOST, composted manure, worm castings, MULCH, green manure, leaves ....
If you just made raised beds for this year, then presumably you are adding new soil to fill the beds. Make sure it is good enriched topsoil and then add a bunch of all the above, maybe a little bit of potting soil to lighten it, maybe some bone meal, blood meal, kelp, etc...
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gixxerific
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About the pH question yes it does make a difference. Higher and lower levels are directly related to availability of certain nutrients in the soil. If your pH is way off one way or the other it's like having a fridge full of food but it's locked and you don't have the key. When you get the proper pH key than you can open the fridge and get you a nice sandwich out.
[url=https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=MG4]Here[/url] is a great reference about soil structure, the meaning of pH etc. Scroll down roughly half way and there is a chart that represent what I stated above.
The pH levels may not be off in your garden but this is still good info to know.
Good luck
[url=https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=MG4]Here[/url] is a great reference about soil structure, the meaning of pH etc. Scroll down roughly half way and there is a chart that represent what I stated above.
The pH levels may not be off in your garden but this is still good info to know.
Good luck
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gixxerific
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Amen to that the three rules to healthy plants is Compost Compost Compost make the soil healthy and the rest is easy breezy cover girl.Toil wrote:I gotta agree with gix and rainbow, but check it out:
when the organic matter (compost and all that) in your soil gets high enough (10%), the pH rules get relaxed big time. So if you do get that compost in, and your pH is in a good range, you are double golden.
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gixxerific
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Well since you are new to compost you might want to check out this link from the Mo University Extension [url=https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6956]Making and using Compost[/url]. Also don't forget about the compost forum on this site and the sticky at the top of that page that describes the various items that may go into compost [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9089]here[/url]. While I'm at it here's another good [url=https://compost.css.cornell.edu/OnFarmHandbook/apa.taba1.html]link[/url] that explain the states the c:n ratios of certain items.codger wrote:well strange tha tyou mentioned compost. I started a compost pile right after finding this site its not ready to use yet. we eat alot of salads and fruit so we generate lots of good waste for composting. this year ive put in the raised beds with soil mix of topsoil and compost.
On and not to go too crazy what about [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17097]compost tea[/url] I know that's a lot but you have time, it will make your garden happy and in turn make you happy.
Good luck
Dono
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GardenGeek
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I have to second (or third) that ... have your soil tested.Kisal wrote:I would suggest that you have your soil tested. Most plants are happy within a certain range of acidity or alkalinity, usually very close to neutral, but some prefer things a little more extreme. If the pH of the soil is incorrect for what you want to grow, it can prevent the roots from absorbing nutrients in proper amounts.
Most County Extension offices make it easy, the test is inexpensive, and it will tell you a lot about your soil.
pH is important ... plants can't efficiently access the nutrients available in the soil if the pH is too far off.
Compost is a wonderful thing, but you may need to supplement it with Lime or Sulfur at some point, to correct or improve the pH.
The only way to know for sure is to do the test.