• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

What can I do with this dirt?

gasificada

gasificada

I don't know anything about soil, but I'm looking to make my ground suitable for chillies. I have an area I want to grow in but I'm sure the ground is too hard. I couldn't tell you what type of ground it is, so here's some pics (pics after a bit of rain):

IMG_0518.jpg


After breaking it up a bit:
IMG_0517.jpg


Anyone have any suggestions what I could mix into the ground?
 
In no particular order:

Have the soil analyzed to determine the levels of elements and pH.
Rotary till it.
Rake it to remove all non-organic materials.
Add compost or if you have time, plant winter wheat or ryegrass and let it grow through the off-season then till it in.
Do a really simple analysis of the make-up: using a small garden spade, remove a sample of the soil, collecting it from the top to about six inches deep. Remove all foreign matter from it then put it in quart (liter) jar. Add enough water to fill the jar about 2/3 of the way. Shake it vigorously for as long as you can, then do it again and again, until every tiny piece of soil is completely dissolved (it helps if you break it before putting it in the jar.

Set it aside for at least three days, then see what the levels look like. You should have a small layer of clay, a small layer of sand and a decent layer of silt. (I forget the ideal ratio, maybe 25-25-50?).

I have an area where nothing, not even weeds will grow and it has about one percent each of clay and sand, with the rest silt. It will not hold water and thus nutrients. But this spring I added a lot of compost and some potting mix to it and it turned out to be great soil.

YMMV,

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
In no particular order:

Have the soil analyzed to determine the levels of elements and pH.
Rotary till it.
Rake it to remove all non-organic materials.
Add compost or if you have time, plant winter wheat or ryegrass and let it grow through the off-season then till it in.
Do a really simple analysis of the make-up: using a small garden spade, remove a sample of the soil, collecting it from the top to about six inches deep. Remove all foreign matter from it then put it in quart (liter) jar. Add enough water to fill the jar about 2/3 of the way. Shake it vigorously for as long as you can, then do it again and again, until every tiny piece of soil is completely dissolved (it helps if you break it before putting it in the jar.

Set it aside for at least three days, then see what the levels look like. You should have a small layer of clay, a small layer of sand and a decent layer of silt. (I forget the ideal ratio, maybe 25-25-50?).

I have an area where nothing, not even weeds will grow and it has about one percent each of clay and sand, with the rest silt. It will not hold water and thus nutrients. But this spring I added a lot of compost and some potting mix to it and it turned out to be great soil.

YMMV,

Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks! Very informative! :)

But maybe a little too advanced for me right now. Plus, don't know how long I'll be at this place for... might only be here for this growing season. So I guess I'm not looking for perfect soil... just something a little more grow-friendly.

EDIT:

I have plenty of pots to grow what I want... But more of my seeds sprouted than I thought would and don't want to waste them!
 
If you get the mixture correct in pots you can grow some very nice plants.
Also you can move them around as weather conditions dictate.

My plants I have outside in the ground now have been getting beat to hell with 25-30 Mph winds the past 4 days.
 
FadeToBlack said:
My plants I have outside in the ground now have been getting beat to hell with 25-30 Mph winds the past 4 days.
Click to expand...

Damn, that sucks

FadeToBlack said:
Also you can move them around as weather conditions dictate.
Click to expand...

Not a bad thing coming into storm season here haha

The majority of my plants will be in pots, but I've been sowing more seeds than I need, thinking that not all of them will sprout, and what do you know.... all of them so far are sprouting! Instead of killing the ones I don't need, I thought I would just pop them in the ground and see what happens......

Just thought if I loosen and turn the soil, I could mix in some compost, etc, to make the ground half decent.
 
Yeah a quick way would be to just break it up and chuck some nice organic matter in there (cow turds, pony turds, disembowled politicians) and mix it up real good. I would try and remove all of the rocks there too, roots find it hard to grow through them.
Probably be an idea to invest in a worm farm too (or just make one), chilli plants love worm jizz.
 
Novacastrian said:
Probably be an idea to invest in a worm farm too (or just make one), chilli plants love worm jizz.
Click to expand...

Already found some worms in there while I was playing around before. :D
 
Novacastrian said:
Well thats good however the worms that are used in worm farms are different to the average run of the mill earthworm. Red wrigglers are used to make the jizz. :D
Click to expand...

Damn! I was all excited when I realized I had worms......
 
Earthworms are great for aerating your soil but composting worms are much more efficient at breaking down compost.
I agree with those whose suggested adding compost and organic matter, and maybe even some gypsum
 
Earthworms in the ground means your soil is healthy. In the US the town dumps usually provide leaf mold (leaf compost) to residents at no cost, which is a nice source of organic matter.

Though it takes a little work, I like double-digging which results in raised, mounded beds that have better drainage and aeration. Basically you dig out to a spade's depth, break up the underlayer with a garden fork, and add your compost to the top layer.

When planting I dig out a nice size hole for the seedling and scoop in a bucketful of composted cow manure with a handful of a balanced organic fertilizer, mixing it in well.
 
I was almost in the exact same situation your in. I wanted around 50 plants, but ended up with over 100 and no place to put them so I put them in soil like yours. I did add fertilizer, some good soil, guano etc, but the ones in the dirt grew about 1' in height and the ones in the 5 gallon pots all grew a minimum of 3' and some a lot larger. I quickly realized that the 5 gallon potted plants that got Pro Mix ON TOP of the bad dirt seemed to give me more than 5 times the pods of the same plant in the treated dirt. Save your money time and effort and just fill up your pots with good soil and put them on top of the dirt. It may look silly, at first, but once they start filling in you won't even be able to see the dirt underneath them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top