Toxic1979
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Location: Labrador City, NL, Canada

Loosening Packed Clay Soils

Looking for a little advice on loosening soils that compacting too much.

A lot of our community garden plots have a very clay like consistency of soil. The soil compacts fairly quickly and you almost need tiller just to break it up. I don't have any sieve results back on the soil yet. To be honest most of the. potato farmers have to till the land quite a bit to get into the ground.

The majority of gardeners are planting potatoes in the soil, but they using a lot of Lime on the beds. They are telling me it breaks up the soil, so the potato can grow better. They are getting good results, but amending the soil with fertilizers as well. Some also use large amounts of Peat Moss.

I'm a bit fearful on using the Lime in the soil. I figure it's going to raise the Ph. Which I think may be the reason I'm seeing scab forming on the potato? I'm kind of waiting on some test results of the soil.

I'm wondering what else to use to break up the soil, and loosen it a bit. Digging potato out of the soil is a bit difficult, and I'm figuring it must constrict its ability to be able to grow.

I'm reading that Gysum would be a good alternative. But I'm wondering about how much gypsum would be needed for a plot sized around 30' x 40'. Its not overly cheap to purchase from what I'm seeing so far.

I'm just looking for some input on the matter. Maybe something else is needed instead of either.

Nyan
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Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:44 pm
Location: North Alabama Zone 7B

I just add the lime to our soil and move the potatoes to different plots until the next year. Haven't had a problem with scab, but I might just be lucky.
Possibly you could add the lime and fertilize with ammonium sulfate? That is what I do in my rock hard Alabama soil, and it seems to work well. It has increased the blueberry yield several fold.
In the fall I also add a little bit of compost and cover the ground with cardboard and wood chips on top of that, so I'm adding a lot organic matter to help loosen the soil. Not sure if that would work where you are as our ground doesn't freeze much and it breaks down a lot over winter.

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TNCatHerder
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applestar
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You really need to know what the ACTUAL general pH of the soil you are using is like. Most people would suggest a soil test. pH is pretty standard. I admit to mostly using “what weeds are growing?” as a guide.

Adding Lime would raise pH which as you said is not what you want to do excessively for potatoes due to inviting scab. gypsum and peat moss would lower the pH but you need to know which way the soil tends.

Another way to avoid the clay soil issue altogether is to grow in mulch such as straw and/or hay. But this is not easy if your local climate is dry with little rain — you would need to water regularly. I had a really good result one year when I was dedicated in taking care of them and grew in “silos” made of circle of chicken wire — Seed potatoes On the surface of the ground, topped with mixture of dry leaves, straw, hay, grass clippings, Pine needles, occasional shovelful of garden soil.

Rotating crops and growing strong deep-rooters like sunflowers, corn, tomatoes, etc. will help break up the clay soil, too.


...and Using garden fork too deeply fracture the clay soil — not necessarily to dig up — is good practice.

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TomatoNut95
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Location: Texas Zone 8

I feel for ya. I have the concrete clay soil and I hate it with a passion. Your best bet is to use organic composts. NEVER attempt mixing sand with clay; trust me, that doesn't work.



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