Yet another soil test from UMass

[andy10917]

To the best of my knowledge, there is no single book out there that gets into all this stuff. I deciphered my indecipherable spreadsheets and came up with this:

There are approx. 2,000,000 lbs of soil in the standard one acre (43,560 sq ft), plowed/scraped to a depth of 6-7 inches. So, 2 lbs of something in an Acre is 1 part per million (2 lbs/2,000,000 lbs). To get it to a rate of "per 1K sq ft", divide everything by roughly 43.5. Soooooo, (are you still awake?), 1 PPM is roughly 0.046 lbs per 1K sq ft.

PS: Minnesota has soil? Somebody actually dug through all that snow?

[simpson]

1 PPM is roughly 0.046 lbs per 1K sq ft.

?

so what would that be in tablespoons?

[andy10917]

Depends on what we're adding.

Keep in mind that you're not talking about pouring water into a glass that it stays in. With a low CEC, it's more like pouring it into a spaghetti colander - it's exiting the bottom almost as fast as you can put it in the top. Adding OM is a bit like having some sponges in the colander.

Fill the colander with newspaper and you'll keep almost all the water - that's a high-CEC clay.

But the spaghetti tastes terrible.

[simpson]

sorry i was being a smart A##

[andy10917]

The thread needed it!!!

You should see these stupid spreadsheets. How much a tablespoon of something weighs. What percentage of Boric Acid is Boron. A guess of how fast it will leak out (leach). How aggressive the person wants to be. What are the Saturations? What is the pH? What are the interacting micro levels? Seriously - I wrote it and I sometimes have no idea how it works...

[simpson]

The thread needed it!!!

You should see these stupid spreadsheets. How much a tablespoon of something weighs. What percentage of Boric Acid is Boron. A guess of how fast it will leak out (leach). How aggressive the person wants to be. What are the Saturations? What is the pH? What are the interacting micro levels? Seriously - I wrote it and I sometimes have no idea how it works...

Its crazy how a tablespoon per 1000sqft does anything.

[andy10917]

Not when you consider that billionths of a gram of testosterone make you want to watch football, and billionths of a gram of estrogen make you understand whatever they talk about on "The View".

[GrassWillGrow]

That's actually a rough guess--based on an article about Minnesota soil.

Very roughly, 100 pounds of iron per acre (2.3 pounds per thousand) will raise soil levels by 10.5 ppm. Very roughly. I repeat: very roughly. A high/low pH will alter the actual numbers, as will excessive P, and half a dozen other things.

http://woodleaffarm.wordpress.com/about/

This link has some bits about how much of what to add, but I'd definitely not consider that completely accurate, especially when dealing with the micro-elements.

This link kind of explains what I'm seeing. It states that if the manganese is higher than the iron, it will bind up the iron. Clearly Milorganite will be used heavily next year.

[GrassWillGrow]

There are approx. 2,000,000 lbs of soil in the standard one acre (43,560 sq ft), plowed/scraped to a depth of 6-7 inches. So, 2 lbs of something in an Acre is 1 part per million (2 lbs/2,000,000 lbs). To get it to a rate of "per 1K sq ft", divide everything by roughly 43.5. Soooooo, (are you still awake?), 1 PPM is roughly 0.046 lbs per 1K sq ft.

Yup, that makes sense. In the book I'm reading, 1 acre, 3 inches deep, is about 1,000,000 lbs of soil. So, your math works.

[MorpheusPA]

Not when you consider that billionths of a gram of testosterone make you want to watch football, and billionths of a gram of estrogen make you understand whatever they talk about on "The View".

What about those of us, myself included, who have the testosterone, but can sew and know what Whoopi is talking about?

[andy10917]

Clue the rest of us in, so we can get the stupid blank stare off our faces.

[MorpheusPA]

Chick stuff, mostly.

[GrassWillGrow]

OK, potentially dumb question...if the reason not to put starter down in the late fall is my super low CEC will not hold nutrients, what makes it any better next spring/summer/early fall?

[andy10917]

That wasn't my point. I was trying to correct the statement that P and K are immobile. They are not immobile in a low CEC environment. I didn't think Morph remembered the CEC when he said immobile. Still, I'd think that I'd want the P and K available when the plants are actively growing. It could be gone with the early Spring rains.

[GrassWillGrow]

See, I told you it was a stupid question. So the initial apps will be to supply for immediate use, with the hope that the OM will increase, which will increase the CEC and then I can build P levels in the soil. I should be able to drop a fert with some P, your just saying to stay away from a starter type. Correct?

[andy10917]

Nah. You'll learn your soil. You'll know how long it will hold the P and K. As you learn, the OM will be rising. Enjoy the trip and don't overthink things.

[GrassWillGrow]

Dropped the Mir-A-Cal on the back yard this evening. Just for fun, I dropped 2/3 rate of Milorganite. It might not be used this season, but the iron should help things for the next month or two before the roots stop growing.

So I couldn't tell from the bag, what's so different about the Mir-A-Cal vs Calcitic lime? The Mir-A-Cal had 35% calcium, whereas most calcitic limes I saw were between 33 - 40% calcium.

[GrassWillGrow]

Andy - Any suggestions on the micros? Due to my low CEC, would you suggest modifying the micros next spring?

[andy10917]

Yeah - we'll hit them in March. Remind me in February so you can have it ready to go when the weather breaks.

[GrassWillGrow]

Sounds good...thanks!