Excessive phosphorus

[Chuck]

The article I read suggested 1/2 cup / 2 gallons to help correct steril soil.

My bad. I forgot you had sterilized topsoil. 1/2 cup is correct.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I put 1/2 cup molasses in 2 gallons water and watered my raised containers with this. 2 days later there is an amazing difference . Wow! they act like this is just what they needed. I'll hit them again next week with the molasses.

They are not drinking molassess. Just so you know If you keep over fertilizing you will have to fight all the things like fungi and bacteria that you have brought food to feed.

 

[Don Perry]

Ok, I'm going to chill.

 

[headfullofbees]

Put some wet cardboard onto your garden elsewhere.
Turn it over after 3 days, and you'll probably find a number of worms there.
Transfer them to one of your beds (the original population will soon recover.)
Do this for all three beds.

 

[Don Perry]

Chuck in Tarpley, Tx. Why should I throw Miracle grow away? Gardeners here use it all the time. What brand of ORGANIC fertilizer are you using?

 

[Chuck]

Chuck in Tarpley, Tx. Why should I throw Miracle grow away? Gardeners here use it all the time. What brand of ORGANIC fertilizer are you using?

I just answered your other thread named Why is MG Junk. Why should you throw it away? Are you a serious gardener? If not just keep on doing what ever it is you are doing. Before organic fertilizers came on the market about 30 years I too was a chemical fertilizer guy. There was nothing else. I learned which is better and cheaper in the long term.

 

[Chuck]

I just answered your other thread named Why is MG Junk. Why should you throw it away? Are you a serious gardener? If not just keep on doing what ever it is you are doing. Before organic fertilizers came on the market about 30 years I too was a chemical fertilizer guy. There was nothing else. I learned which is better and cheaper in the long term.

I am using Medina 3-2-3 as a granular and Medina 6-12-6 liquid plant food and fish emulsion.

 

[Don Perry]

Very valuable info , Thanks . I see if I can find it.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Chuck in Tarpley, Tx. Why should I throw Miracle grow away? Gardeners here use it all the time. What brand of ORGANIC fertilizer are you using?

I will use miracle grow specifically when micronutrients seem needed. Organic methods are cool but with such slow oxidation sometimes I use a burst of the immediately available. I use calcium nitrate in the same way, for immediately available calcium rather than waiting on eggs to rot or something like lime to break down.

 

[Chuck]

I will use miracle grow specifically when micronutrients seem needed. Organic methods are cool but with such slow oxidation sometimes I use a burst of the immediately available. I use calcium nitrate in the same way, for immediately available calcium rather than waiting on eggs to rot or something like lime to break down.

If you want fast acting non-chemical for nitrogen use blood meal. Most soils and compost already has plenty of calcium but the plants are unable to uptake it. Use Epsom Salts for this. What I mainly use for micronutrient deficiencies is Chelated Iron and Greensand. I would never use MG on anything

 

[gary350]

Excessive phosphorus is not a bad thing plants will use only what they need. If you are using a general purpose fertilizer like 5-5-5 or 10-10-10 or 15-15-15 or 20-20-20 stop using it. Don't use anymore fertilizer with high phosphorus for several years.

Too much potting soil in bags will create high ph soil. I use grocery store vinegar to lower my ph. Buy some PH paper test your water if your water is high PH it will make your soil high PH also. If you live there there is lots of rock & sand soil PH is often high. Fill 5 gallon buckets with water then check ph of water with ph paper. Add enough vinegar to get 6 ph water. Use 6 ph water to water your plants. Soil ph will slowly drop with 6 ph water.

Each plant needs a specific fertilizer,

Potatoes need, 5-10-20

Tomatoes need, 5-5-20

Peppers need 5-10-20

Beans do good with 20-5-10

Onions need high nitrogen 46-0-0 until they grow 13 leaves then switch to a different fertilizer 0-20-20

Corn needs both 46-0-0 & 15-15-15 a week before planting seeds, then 46-0-0 when plants are knee high 1 lb per 30 ft row, again when ears have silks.

Ph paper is $1 per pack on Ebay. Dip a ph paper in water, remove shake away excess water, wait 30 seconds then use the color chart to see what ph your water is. Add 1/2 cup vinegar to water stir well then test again. If you learn 1 cup of vinegar lowers 5 gallons of water to 6 ph you don't need to test water each time after that just add 1 cup vinegar to 5 gallons it will be 6 ph. I buy 5% vinegar at the grocery store it is $2 a gallon.

Potatoes & tomatoes do best with 5-10-20 fertilizer. Onions & garlic need high nit

 

[roadrunner]

This is one reason (of many) to organically build up your soil naturally and not rely on man-made chemical fertilizers.

Leak at old phosphate plant could cause discharges into Tampa Bay

Environmental advocates worry about damaging algal blooms.

www.tampabay.com

Excerpt:


PALMETTO — Wastewater appears to be leaking at an old phosphate plant in Palmetto, records show, and Florida environmental officials are allowing the company in charge of the property to discharge some of the water to Port Manatee on Tampa Bay to prevent “a potential catastrophic failure.”

The emergency order from the Department of Environmental Protection comes after HRK Holdings, which manages phosphogypsum stacks at the old Piney Point facility, reported last Thursday that it seemed to have a leak at the site, a state spokeswoman said.

The property holds old byproducts of the fertilizer industry, including what’s known as process water that can contain phosphorus and nitrogen. Piney Point has for years loomed as an environmental risk for Tampa Bay, with rainfall threatening to cause overflows. Manatee County officials in recent months have debated what to do amid warnings from HRK that ponds at the plant are approaching their limits.

 

[cpp gardener]

If you want to lower the pH, you can use soil sulfur. It isn't a one-time thing, but neither is any fertilizer. You could put a layer of compost on top of the soil and mix it in in-between crops.

 

[headfullofbees]

See that dead topsoil that you're having to fix?
Well that's because some members of the Miracle-Gro family were used there.
I'd agree with Chuck about the use of molasses, but I'd add it as actively-aerated compost tea, because it's no good feeding microbes which ain't there!

 

[headfullofbees]

If you want to lower the pH, you can use soil sulfur. It isn't a one-time thing, but neither is any fertilizer. You could put a layer of compost on top of the soil and mix it in in-between crops.

True, but since most veg material is slightly alkaline, cropping acidifies the soil. That, & rainwater mean that I have to lime my veg plots every third winter.