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27-08-2003, 05:23 AM

In article ,
(simy1) wrote:

Phaedrine Stonebridge wrote in message
...
Some of you might recall that I posted 3 or 4 weeks ago about how
weirdly our 3-4 varieties of paste tomatoes were growing--- some with a
little BER, most of them ripe looking on the outside but green on the
inside and the foliage just not up to par in my experience. All that
while our other tomato patch was just doing grandly with none of the
same problems.

Since we only moved in here a year ago, we took two soil samples to our
extension service and the results were quite interesting. PH was 6.5 &
6.8 in the two plots and most everything was either in the "high" or
"normal" range according to the scale they used. But in the plot with
the underachieving tomatoes the phosphorus content was VERY LOW. Trace
minerals were all just fine including calcium. They told us not to add
any more calcium. So it was not a calcium problem after all and it is
interesting to see what happens to tomatoes in soil that is quite
deficient in phosphorus. I am rather curious how the soil got to be
that way. It had been lawn for about 13 years (with God knows what put
on it) and was cow pasture before that.

Amazingly, they made no suggestions on how to correct this problem so my
DH is calling them today. The plot we need to correct is about 100 x
100 with raised beds and little paths in between.

The two organic amendments I know of that have relatively high P are
wood chips (low N, medium P, medium K) and chicken manure (very high
N, high P, low K). Most other amendments tend to have a profile higher
in N and/or K.

Great infomation! Thank you so much