I added bonemeal too.

You think I should turn the drip off to that section for a few days & see if
everything dries out, and just foliar feed when necessary for a while,
trying not to saturate the bed? Maybe just rely on rain for a week or two?



"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
news.verizon.net said:

Thanks Pat & simy. So far here's what I did:

I'm not really a granular guy so shot the bed with some calcium nitrate
and
mag sulfate, but first scattered some pelletized lime (only type I had.)
I
also sprayed both Neptune's Harvest (2-4-1) & Maxicrop seaweed powder
(1-0-4) at 2-3x rate. I may be able to score some wood ash from GF's fire
pit at her summer trailer but can't guarantee what else got burned there
too.

I'd maybe pass on rained on ashes of not entirely known origin...

The drip system uses Plantex 15-15-18 w/Micros (soilless mix formula.)
It's
on the trickle setting, I think 1000:1 (water to mixed fert) and runs
anytime the drip is on (usually around 30 min per day except rainy days.)
The bed is pretty much saturated from the rains the last week or two plus
the flooding I did--the driveway started getting wet after 15-20 minutes
of
the drip being on.

That's likely not helping thing, your highly organic soil being so
saturated.
Roots need oxygen.

I also scattered some 14-14-14 Osmocote, though it's
pretty tough to scratch in now. Maybe put some fresh compost over
everything
again? Or try spraying some high P water soluble like Miracle-Gro or
Bloom
Booster? I also have some muriate of potash I can disolve & spray, and
may
have some triple-super phosphate left but don't want to overdo things.
Plus
I'm noticing we are going in 2 different directions--soluble vs OG.

I like the Osmocote (slow, sustained release). The Miracle-Gro or Bloom
Booster might help. (You could do a small area and see if it hurts or
helps.)

I don't
know how much OG can help this year and probably can add leaves & refresh
all or 4-6" of the compost in the Fall, or next year, but what's best for
an
'04 crop? I always thought bone meal was slow acting.

I think your soil is highly organic already and needs some mineral bulk
and
from your descriptions maybe even something like perlite to pump up the
volume and add airspace. I am highly devoted to compost and organic
matter,
but it *can* be overdone. I'm beginning to think that you might have
better results
with your drip irrigation w/soilless fertilizer if you were planting in
nearly pure
sand topped with a mulch of compost.

You're definitely having a soil test done before adding anything this
fall, right?

As for not finding greensand locally, I'm not entirely surprised. It's
heavy,
and (seemingly) low-value as a fertilizer. But it provides a host of
micro
nutrients and improves soil texture (and the K it provides is not in a
highly
leachable form -- the low 'available K' rating is offset by the large
residual
amount).
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)