how do you fix soil? My grandfather has raped the land with corn for 30 years. it seems more clay than anything. so far i have added compost and nutrients, I am thinking some perlite and vermiculite too?
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soil fix my soil
- Thread starter PexPeppers
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yea, more compost is coming tomorrow
time to find some gypsum.
oh, what about vermiculite?>
juanitos said:
time to find some gypsum.
oh, what about vermiculite?>
gypsum for clay but if he only planted the same crop over and over it is in fact raped.PexPeppers said:
Farmers always rotate crops for that very reason along with disease reduction as well. We rotate corn, soy and cotton on our farms. yeah definitely. same stuff every year for about 30 years. anyways, i am thinking a boatload of compost and some organic hydroponics nutrients
PexPeppers said:
Sounds expensive if your grandpa was growing on any kind of considerable acreage. Manure would be waaaay more cost effective. Also it contains lots of organic matter which is exactly what raped clay soil needs. Mulching with leaves or wood chips will also add organic matter and feed the soil biome.
as someone else mentioned have a soil test done, that will help you the best. From there you can correct any problems. Gypsum can help with the clay, and compost is always your friend. I have a high OM level in my garden and the results are great.
think dustbowl soil.
We add fresh rabbit manure, fresh alpaca manure and/or composted chichen manure along with homemade compost. We don't till because we have a pretty small garden and hand made raised bed. We just spread it and use a digging fork to turn it into the beds. Still a lot work but it works great.
PexPeppers said:
Wasted money. After one season in the soil, vermiculite will just compact and break down and all you'll end up with is more clay.
If one of your goals is to uncompact the soil, you need to be thinking about ways to feed earthworms. Adding things like vermiculite and perlite your soil will not help in the long run. But as long as you concentrate on making the inhabitants of your soil (bacteria, fungi, insects, earthworms) happy, they will thrive and gladly aerate your soil for you for years to come.
i have 3 scoops of mushroom compost coming tomorrow, so that will be good. I will lay it down and probably saturate it with water every now and then, and then till it in a few days with some gypsum, verm, coco coir (i have way too much of this stuff), SOME worm castings, spent coffee (my grandma kept it for me for a long time).
mushroom compost = love
yeah i know what you mean.
hm. i hope i can grow my beloved jelly beans this year.
hm. i hope i can grow my beloved jelly beans this year.