21
votes
Adding worms to clay soil - worth it?
There's little point in adding worms to soil which seems to have none, they'll just go elsewhere - the thing to add is as much organic material as possible, so if you can get hold of things like leaf ...
- 135k
13
votes
Accepted
Why it is bad to add sand to soil?
This reference says that you need to add prohibitive amounts of sand to remediate clay soils. And if you don't get it right, you get a soil like concrete
The problems occur when sand and clay are ...
- 23.4k
9
votes
Will applying twenty year old cow manure hurt my vegetable garden?
Unless harmful elements fell into your manure during those 20 years without your knowledge, it certainly shouldn't hurt anything. It might not be as potent as properly matured and composted manure, ...
- 321
8
votes
Is it helpful to add coffee grounds to a droopy mother-in-law's tongue?
No; the current fad for coffee grounds use is just that, a fad, and its not helpful for almost all potted plants. Remove the coffee grounds, or as many as you can, they don't do any good at all and ...
- 135k
8
votes
Medium you can add to soil to improve airiness and create loose soil
This link (10 Ingredients to Make Your Own Potting Soil) lists ten ingredients for making your own potting soil. The only thing I would add is, where it talks about compost you've made yourself, it ...
- 135k
7
votes
Accepted
Should I add soil with living things, like worms, to a potting mix?
The trouble with introducing 'life' by inoculating with garden soil is you have no control over which life forms you are introducing, and some of them might be pathogenic when contained inside a pot ...
- 135k
7
votes
Will applying twenty year old cow manure hurt my vegetable garden?
Sounds like perfect stuff. You are going into winter, yes? If you are, just put it on top of the beds thickly. This will help keep the weed seeds already in the soil from germinating as well. In ...
- 40.5k
7
votes
Accepted
In store-bought fertilizer for camellias, what's the difference between NPK 10-10-10 and say 4-4-4?
It's quite difficult to give a straight, simple answer - fertilizers are formulated differently in terms of how quickly they break down, so liquid formulations will be almost instantaneous, whereas a ...
- 135k
7
votes
How can I soften clay soil and enrich it for plants?
You need to incorporate as much humus rich material into the soil as you possibly can, so that means things like composted animal manures, good garden compost you've made yourself, leaf mould, spent ...
- 135k
7
votes
How can I soften clay soil and enrich it for plants?
I'll add in to the fine answer above that the unwanted plants can do a rather good job at loosening up the soil, so don't look at them as enemies, but as limited term employees that will help in your ...
- 663
6
votes
Is it really important to give blueberry plants acidic soil?
Pine needles will not acidify your soil! They are slow to decompose, and even after they do, dead pine needles are pH neutral and thus have no effect on soil pH. It's amazing how many people, ...
- 69
6
votes
What relevance does fungal dominance have to a vegetable garden?
I'm not sure it's something you should worry about for home grown vegetables. The soil will contain mycorrhizae of various fungi anyway, though unfortunately, during the planting process, you are ...
- 135k
6
votes
Is wood ash from black locust harmful to plants?
If you're incinerating the wood, then any allopathic chemicals would be oxidised by the fire, and what's left is wood ash.
Much wood ash contains calcium carbonate as its major component, ...
- 23.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Watering plants with soaked forest soil
Forests are complex ecosystems where all the necessary elements have been taken up into the biomass. When something dies, falls to the ground, gets decomposed by decomposers, the soil micro and macro ...
- 40.5k
6
votes
What is Horticultural Grit?
Horticultural grit is washed grit with a particle size of 1-4mm, or sometimes 2-6mm, with a neutral ph. It is intended for use in some potting mixes that you make up yourself, or to make a commercial ...
- 135k
6
votes
Accepted
Does Kinnikinnick require soil amendment for planting
Arctostaphylos likes infertile, well-drained/gritty soils. You've probably got the well-drained part, since you're planting on a bank. It likes full-sun, however, which may become problematic as your ...
- 20.4k
6
votes
Accepted
A section of land/soil is bad due to salt? How to fix?
First thing is to plot out the soil profile for the area. Remediation measures depend very much on what type of soil you have, whether clay, sand, silt or loam and what mixture of each. Clay will be ...
- 21.2k
5
votes
In store-bought fertilizer for camellias, what's the difference between NPK 10-10-10 and say 4-4-4?
Yes. The numbers is the content of fertiliser (N, P, K) in percent. So a 4-4-4 means 4 kilograms of N, 4 kilograms of P and 4 kilograms of K on a 100 Kg bag.
The absolute numbers are important if one ...
- 14.7k
5
votes
What relevance does fungal dominance have to a vegetable garden?
I think you are overthinking it. It is not difficult to have a vegetable garden, so I expect that the conditions to growth vegetables are there naturally. This seems true for most vegetables. There ...
- 14.7k
5
votes
What relevance does fungal dominance have to a vegetable garden?
Soil associated fungi are classed into three broad groups:
Decomposers - saprophytic fungi are able to decompose complex carbon based structures such as lignins, and cellulose found on the forest ...
- 23.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to modify soil pH with plants?
In short, no, it isn't possible to alter your soil's ph by growing particular plants - if your soil is chalky, choose alkaline loving plants to grow in it and avoid acid lovers, or grow those in pots ...
- 135k
5
votes
Accepted
Can urine return moisture-holding capacity to the soil?
I don't think I've ever disagreed with Bamboo before, however:
Urea, found in urine, is a humectant
A humectant attracts and retains the moisture in the air nearby via absorption, drawing the ...
- 2,419
5
votes
Excess Zinc in garden soil
Zinc is tricky, soil can contain a higher ppm than what you might want (10 ppm or so) without it being a problem because a good portion of the zinc is being held within the iron and oxides which is ...
- 1,670
5
votes
Accepted
What makes Ammonium Sulfate a soil acidifier but not Potassium Sulfate
Good question, I understand the confusion about sulphur and sulphate. But chemically they are different and have different chemical reactions. Even different sulphate salts do not react the same, and ...
- 13.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Crushed Ceramic As Soil Amendment?
Ceramic has been fired to about 2000°F. It is unlikely to be very porous.
And if it has been glazed, then you don't know what chemicals it has. There are literally 1000s of glazes (my wife is a ...
- 2,913
4
votes
Should I have added dead leaves directly to my garden?
Leaves have a lot of nitrogen in them, as well as carbon. I think it's a good idea to add leaves to the garden in fall. You can just leave them on top, or dig them in.
4
votes
In store-bought fertilizer for camellias, what's the difference between NPK 10-10-10 and say 4-4-4?
You are right - as others said, bigger numbers mean more active ingredients in a given weight of fertilizer. Since the proportions are the same for both (10-10-10) and (4-4-4) the two are ...
- 11.5k
4
votes
Is wood ash from black locust harmful to plants?
Robinia pseudacacia is thought to be allelopathic to some extent, particularly with regard to fallen leaves, but not much research exists as to which plants it might affect. The bark wood is often ...
- 135k
4
votes
What is the benefit of using peat?
Peat has been extensively used for years as a soil amendment or an ingredient in the mix for potting composts. Nutrient level is low to non existent, but because it holds onto water, it can also ...
- 135k
4
votes
Is dry sphagnum moss dead?
This product is primarily intended for use as a growing medium for particular plants such as Sarracenia/carnivorous ones, or for mixing in to other materials to create a particular potting mix to ...
- 135k
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