soil Soil surprise: what to add now?

b3rnd

b3rnd

Hey guys! A few weeks ago I made a topic about the soil in my backyard here in Portugal. It seemed like a dead plot full of clay and very little organic material. But we've had a few rainy days after a few months of drought and behold: the whole area is completely covered with plants. What was first a barren piece of crap, is now a field of green. Now I went to check what plants started to grow, and as soon as I touched them I knew: stinging nettles. So I started to read about stinging nettles, and it seems that they grow in aerated soil that is rich in phosphorus and nitrogen. (source) So it seems the soil is fertile after all, and I think it just needs potassium.
 
Now my question is: what is the best way to add potassium to my soil? I've read about peels from citrus fruits, which we have plenty of here. But that needs to break down first I reckon, which could take a while with those peels. Any thoughts?
 
I use Sulphate of Potash, can be found in the gardening section of local hardware stores. It's in powdered form and can be dissolved in water or sprinkled around and dug through the soil. It's cheap too!
 
Thanks for the reply! How do you apply it, how much and how often? I've read about foliar sprays, but I already apply Epsom salt as a foliar.
 
I'm not convinced your soil is really K deficient.  But if you want to treat your garden, a few orange peels are not going to do a thing.
 
Get a big bag of potassium chloride water softener salt.  20kg should cost somewhere around 20 Euros.
Or find Muriate of Potash or Sulfate of Potash at the local nursery.
 
 
Thanks Geonerd! Could you elaborate on that first sentence? I just came to the conclusion because stinging nettles are overflowing the garden, and they are high N and high P loving plants. Maybe the thought process is wrong though.
 
b3rnd said:
Hey guys! A few weeks ago I made a topic about the soil in my backyard here in Portugal. It seemed like a dead plot full of clay and very little organic material. But we've had a few rainy days after a few months of drought and behold: the whole area is completely covered with plants. What was first a barren piece of crap, is now a field of green. Now I went to check what plants started to grow, and as soon as I touched them I knew: stinging nettles. So I started to read about stinging nettles, and it seems that they grow in aerated soil that is rich in phosphorus and nitrogen. (source) So it seems the soil is fertile after all, and I think it just needs potassium.
 
Now my question is: what is the best way to add potassium to my soil? I've read about peels from citrus fruits, which we have plenty of here. But that needs to break down first I reckon, which could take a while with those peels. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
Personally, I think you are just taking a wild stab at what's going on with your soil.  If you don't have access to someplace that can test your soil, then your best bet is to do what's been given to you as advice several times already - and that is to load up your soil with organic material.  Leaves, grass clippings, whatever.

The easiest way to get organic matter into useable form quickly - i.e., your citrus and banana peels - is to make a tea out of them.  Put them in a blender, add a carbohydrate source, and aerate.  If you really want to break it down good, use lacto bacillus culture in your tea, and skip the aeration.  Takes about a week.  Hope you have a lot of peels. 
 
solid7 said:
 
Personally, I think you are just taking a wild stab at what's going on with your soil.  If you don't have access to someplace that can test your soil, then your best bet is to do what's been given to you as advice several times already - and that is to load up your soil with organic material.  Leaves, grass clippings, whatever.
The easiest way to get organic matter into useable form quickly - i.e., your citrus and banana peels - is to make a tea out of them.  Put them in a blender, add a carbohydrate source, and aerate.  If you really want to break it down good, use lacto bacillus culture in your tea, and skip the aeration.  Takes about a week.  Hope you have a lot of peels. 
Click to expand...
 
It's true I'm taking guesses, yes. I'm trying to use the hints nature gives me to see what's going on with the soil. I wouldn't know where to test the soil here, but I could ask around. I'm in a farming area so someone ought to know. 
 
Also, I'm not purposefully ignoring that advice. I would start with adding organic material tomorrow if I knew I was staying here for the next couple of years. But I'm renting privately, and I plan to move to a better place as soon as possible. It's not bad as I have a lot of space to grow plants for now. But unfortunately the housing quality is poor, the neighbours are noisy and the owner is shady. So, I need short-term solutions. Didn't need to explain, but I don't want to come off as ignorant with the advice that is given to me, or make it seem like I don't appreciate the effort.
 
On topic: I think I've seen a topic about nutrient tea around here somewhere, I'll look it up. Thanks! 
 
 
 
ETA: Now that I think about it I've seen the local farmers and gardeners burn their plant waste etc. and mixing it in their soil while tilling. I was wondering why they could be doing that, but could it be because they are adding K to their soil?
 
It could be that they just want to get rid of it quickly.  People in rural areas tend to do that.  Oh, the things we burned when I was on the farm...
 
You don't get the trash truck picking up your green waste in rural Portugal, I'm sure.  So, in order to keep weeds from re-growing and taking over, it's a logical solution.  Putting down ash is not the best course of action for amending clay soil, so I really wouldn't choose that course of action.   Compost would be a much better solution.  Hot composted, and top dressed.
 
Oh yeah that sounds pretty plausible too. Haven't even seen a green waste bin anywhere. Well at least they seperate their glass from their plastic, lol.
 
Actually I didn't know about the difference between hot and cold composting. So I've read about it, and that hot composting seems pretty awesome. I was planning on starting to compost stuff, but because of the reasons I mentioned earlier I never did actually start it. This makes a big difference, thanks!
 
Cold composting can work, if you have worms.  I find that if you keep worm bins outside, quite often, the worms die off, and everything else ends up doing the composting for you.  Roaches, soldier fly larvae, termites, etc.  Whatever, it makes no difference.  For small batches, like kitchen waste, this is really the best way to go.  I don't think very much weed seed gets into my cold compost, seeing as how it usually germinates in the container.  But hot compost is for large scale compost production.  Just takes way more time.
 
Just try to grow some peppers and see what happens.
Thinking your soil is deficient in one thing, because something in particular is growing good is the wrong approach. Maybe its high in all nutrients so the nettle grows well. just because it prefers to grow where there's high amounts of certain nutrients does not make it deficient in the others.
 
IMO Either test it, or just try to grow and see what happens. The plants should tell you what they need, if anything.
 
 
Yeah, that's really true.  Clay, by definition, is high in nutrients, as it's minerals broken down to the smallest aggregate size.  
 
You have a great base to start with.  If you're not going to be at the property long, grow in containers.  If you're there for the long haul, then you've just got to put a bit of work in, and the earth will produce for you, effortlessly, after that.
 
nzchili said:
Just try to grow some peppers and see what happens.
Thinking your soil is deficient in one thing, because something in particular is growing good is the wrong approach. Maybe its high in all nutrients so the nettle grows well. just because it prefers to grow where there's high amounts of certain nutrients does not make it deficient in the others.
 
IMO Either test it, or just try to grow and see what happens. The plants should tell you what they need, if anything.
 
Click to expand...
This is actually simple, but great advice. I'm going to sow a few extra seeds for that, great idea! Thanks! This way I can even see the difference. Btw, I already did a small test the second half of this season. I came in late so I didn't have time for a full grow. So I wanted to test out what I had to work with around here. So I bought simple cayenne seeds from a garden store, sowed them in difference soil mixtures. I have one in basic store bought garden soil, one in a peat-compost-perlite mix I made myself, and one in that same mix but with the clay added in a ratio of 1:8.
 
What I've observed is that the pot with the added clay seemed to be way behind in size and flower set. But now after a few more weeks, it looks amazing. The color is deep green, compared to a lighter green of the other two plants. The size is still behind, but the side branches are almost as high as the main branch. The other two have really short side branches and one big main branch. Don't know if it is the seed that isn't growing true, or if it's really the added clay. It seems that it had a harder time rooting up, which made it stronger in the end. I can see if I can post some pictures.
 
solid7 said:
Yeah, that's really true.  Clay, by definition, is high in nutrients, as it's minerals broken down to the smallest aggregate size.  
 
You have a great base to start with.  If you're not going to be at the property long, grow in containers.  If you're there for the long haul, then you've just got to put a bit of work in, and the earth will produce for you, effortlessly, after that.
Click to expand...
 
Well the thing is, I don't know how long I'm going to be here. Could be two years, but I could also be gone in half a year. It's really uncertain at the moment. So I'll just go mainly with pots like you said, and do some clay experimenting on the side. That experience isn't going to stay here when I move to another place! And the soil here is the same everywhere anyway. Thanks for the solid advice solid7!
 
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