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Gary350
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I planted ONIONs today.

It was 15 degrees F last night, it warmed up to 38 today. I bought onion sets today and planted them today. I followed instructions on 2 web sites. I poked a 1" hole about 1/2" deep in the soil for each onion set. Sets are 4" apart with 2 rows 12" apart. I have white onions in 1 row and red onions in the other row. I have half a sheet of sheetrock that is broken into tiny pieces, I sprinkled the sheetrock pieces over the onion rows.

I had some onion sets that I forgot to plant last spring so I planted them October about 4 months ago. They are looking very nice and green with about 9 to 10 leaves each. I sprinkled nitrogen, phosphours and sheetrock pieces on them.

Now.......just have to wait and see how they do.

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jal_ut
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Wow, off to a good start!

Sheetrock? OK, fill me in on what the sheetrock brings to the garden?

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Gary350
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jal_ut wrote:Wow, off to a good start!

Sheetrock? OK, fill me in on what the sheetrock brings to the garden?
I saw a TV show where Tennessee Technology Center did several years of research putting sheetrock in the garden. It loosens the soil and allows for better root growth. They had some good data from year to year. They added more sheetrock each year to see how the plants did. The harvest doubled and trippled from year to year according to how much sheetrock they added to the soil. Some plants did better than others, potatoes did the best. Sheetrock is gypsum.

I have been experementing with it and it works. My soil is too hard for bell peppers and squash but gypsum or peat moss added to the soil both make the plants grow much better. Peat moss compost away and I have to keep adding it but gypsum stays in the soil.

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jal_ut
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That's a good report. I had never heard of using sheetrock in the garden.

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jal_ut
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A Google search turned this up: [url=https://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/horticultural%20myths_files/Myths/Gypsum.pdf]Click[/url]

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vebyrd36
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My Dad for many years has used Sheetrock to Posen hard soils. His pepper patch was first started with Sheetrock 2acres.

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digitS'
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jal_ut wrote:A Google search turned this up: [url=https://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/horticultural%20myths_files/Myths/Gypsum.pdf]Click[/url]
I am pleased that there are people like Linda Chalker-Scott out there to help us. For Pete's Sake, the teevee guys give her enuf nonsense to occupy all of her time shooting it down if she wanted to and had the time to do so! If anything, we need more people with professional horticultural training and a willingness to share their knowledge with the rest of us. She does, however, take something of a contrarian slant to just about everything she writes.

This sheetrock thing for example: it isn't quite enuf to say, "The Bottom Line - Gypsum can improve heavy clay soil structure and remove sodium from saline soils." She does need to say where it is not useful. And, there are places where gypsum is not useful and its use may even be very unwise. But, the tone she takes . . . she kicks so much dust in the air, covering everything with a blanket - myth, myth, myth!

I have never put gypsum on my soil. I live where there is sufficient gypsum to mine - and, it is mined and processed for agricultural use. Less than a dozen miles from one of these companies is a very successful truck farmer. His soil is quite different from the valley where I garden. He tells me he applies gypsum every year.

So, Dr. Chalker-Scott -- gypsum is very useful for some farmers who grow in "heavy clay soil" just as you say. I have neither clay soil nor saline soil. There is a good deal of calcium sulfate (gypsum) available for my plants. So, I don't use it. Thank you for cautioning me with such vigor.

By the way: along with the mined "flour" gypsum, the nearby company also processes sheetrock for the same purposes.

And as for Dr. Chalker-Scott -- you may see me link to some of her writings. I believe in every article she writes. I just have to take them with a pinch of calcium carbonate. Tums for my tummy.

Steve ;)

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rainbowgardener
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perhaps you didn't read to her bottom line at the end?


"Gypsum has no effect on soil fertility, structure, or pH of any other soil type
‣ Most urban soils are not improved by additional gypsum
‣ Before adding gypsum or any chemical to a landscape, have soil analysis performed to identify
mineral deficiencies, toxicities, and soil character
‣ Adding gypsum to sandy or non-sodic soils is a waste of money, natural resources, and can have
negative impacts on plant, soil, and ecosystem health"

and of course sheet rock is not pure gypsum:

Ingredients
Limestone
Or Dolomite
Or Gypsum
Water
Expanded Perlite
Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate Polymer
Or Vinyl Acetate Polymer
Attapulgite
Vinyl Acetate Monomer
Acetaldehyde
Crystaline Silica

https://literature.usg.com/pdf/MSDS06115.pdf

Assuming you did have heavy clay soil and wanted to add some gypsum to loosen it up, you can buy pure gypsum powder.

But Gary, you tell us you add tons of compost, leaves etc to your soil. It's hard for me to imagine that it is still just heavy clay.

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Gary350
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Gypsum is not for everyone. We have very clay soil here. I could probably go into the pottery making business, LOL. It does help loosen the clay soil. When I lived in Illinois and Michigan NO gypsum was needed in that soil.

The clay here is pretty bad. I have to check the soil every day before I till the garden in the spring. If I till too soon it turns the soil into dirt clods. If I get dirt clods they are extremely hard to get rid of then the garden soil is like planting is gravel. It is best to till if the soil is too dry than too wet.

I can do the same thing with peat moss but it composts away so I have to keep adding peat moss every year. This year I am going to buy 3 year old composted mulch it is cheaper than peat moss. I'm not sure how this will work but I will soon find out.

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digitS'
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Gardening on heavy clay must be very challenging.

I did read to the bottom of the page, Rainbowgardener.

My point is that gypsum is useful but by putting those very few sentences on its usefulness under a rubric of "MYTH," Chalker-Scott turns her article into a near condemnation of its use.

Here's how she starts off: "The Myth of Gypsum Magic
'Adding gypsum to your yard or garden will improve soil tilth and plant health'

That's no myth. That is true - but, only with some soil types.

She could just have easily said: "The Myth of Compost Magic
'Adding compost to your yard or garden will improve soil tilth and plant health"

I am sure that you can find a soil type someplace where adding any more organic matter would be "a waste of money, natural resources, and can have negative impacts on plant, soil, and ecosystem health."

Her entire 1st paragraph puts truths and half-truths effectively, all in the category of "myth." One must struggle to make any sense at all out of that paragraph it is so seriously misleading! I suppose that was her intent. If you read the other garden myth busting articles that she writes, you will see the same approach.

I think it is an excellent idea that people with years of training get out there and expose the faulty reasoning behind some of the weird notions that get batted around, often by well-paid "personalities" on teevee and in books. However, Chalker-Scott climbs on her steamroller every morning and flattens everything in sight . . .

Steve

dustyrivergardens
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I garden on clay soil also I have tried drywall maybe not enough. I instead started using raised beds and adding tons of organic material aka compost and composted manures it seems like the more I use the better things get. I think this idea works good anywhere no matter your soil. type.

jaxonj
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Location: Jackson MS

I planted onions today and I have been working to amend my soil for a few years now...although this is the first time I have tilled my entire garden...This year I added about 30 large bags of oak leaves to an area about 12 by 25...Mixed them in real good after shredding them and built the soil up a few inches...that with all the previous holes and compost in them has blended into a decent little area...one of three I have... I am planting onions, peanuts, garlic, egg plant, peppers, cucumbers, and watermelons in this spot...I have it set up to where the melons will cover the onions and peanuts after a month or so...I haven't worked out this part yet but I'm working on it...I have gotten very good at growing a lot in a limited space...I have discovered that after many years of adding lots of compost like wheat straw and leaves my soil is getting better and better...I have especially noticed this in my tomato plot...which is where I pay the most attention to compost as I love tomatoes. I think the best quick fix for clay is probably a tiller and a few truck loads of composted soil...I will also use gypsum on my peanuts when they start to bloom to help them dig in...



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