A garden is only as good as the ground that it's planted in. Discussion forum for the many ways to improve the soil where we plant our gardens.
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#16 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Can you get a mushroom colony to grow in the wood chips.?
The right kind of mushrooms will break down wood quicker than anything. The other option is to add your choice of nitrogen. Worth |
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#17 |
BANNED FOR LIFE
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 13,333
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jojomojo, I found this site this morning that might help http://www.pawneebuttesseed.com/seed...ation-grasses/
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#18 | ||
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 14
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Is there an inoculant that I can add? Is there a way to use the fungus in my compost pile (if I see it again this summer) to make a "tea" to spray on the wood chip pile? I imagine just keeping it wet would work too. I'm sure the fungal spores in the compost came from the wood chips in the first place. Quote:
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#19 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Colorado
Posts: 124
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jojomojo, I would dig several holes at different depths and fill them with water and see if the water percolates down and out to see if there's any way to flush the salts out. If going down a foot or so helps the water percolate I would see if any farmers in your area have a tractor and ripper that can scarify the soil to that depth then flood the area like the recommendation says. Short of flushing the salts out as high as they are I don't think your going to have very good results with anything you plant even salt tolerant grasses. Salt destroys soil structure so the ripping won't hurt and can explain the compaction. If you can flood and flush the soil then add copious amounts of organic matter and look into adding a humic acid product, they actually mine a lot of the stuff in NE New Mexico and there are many articles that show the benefits of humic acid for reclaiming saline and sodic soils.
Good luck Marcus |
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#20 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 14
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We did a perc test last summer, 2 ft deep and hit water. I filled the hole anyway and I just stopped checking after a few days to see if it drained
![]() We have a 9N and I think a middle buster (would that work?). The area slopes from N to S. So the south edge of the field is lower and at the corner there's an open irrigation ditch (that nobody uses), so it might work to flush water into that. The TerraPro I just ordered is a humic acid product. I'm hoping it will at least lock up enough of the sodium to get a clay busting crop growing. If I can improve drainage, I'm hoping maybe some of the salts will flush deeper down. Keeping a cover on the soil at all times should help with evaporation/capillary action so the salt doesn't just creep back to the surface too. |
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#21 |
BANNED FOR LIFE
Join Date: May 2014
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lol, it made me think Salt Water Pond. You could raise your own shrimp and crabs in New Mexico.
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#22 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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__________________
Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture |
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#23 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 587
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You are looking a 3-5 year process, and even then you will not make a permanent change in the pH. Until that time, just go with mounded/raised beds with good stuff on top of the existing.
You said it was 3 acres and compacted. You might look into someone coming onsite with a big tractor and a sub-soil breaker. But that is also and expensive and semi-long term proposition. |
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#24 |
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I've read that turnips and radishes overwinter and help break up clay soils. They also add nutrients, but radishes start to smell bad as the plants age. You don't want either to go to seed because they tend to turn into weeds.
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#25 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 14
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![]() Turnips would be great, but they are salt sensitive. I'm really not worried about anything becoming weedy though (or stinky lol). All I have are weeds, at least turnips would be a beneficial weed. |
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#26 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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I have known people to buy houses with big back yards thinking they were going to put a garden in. Just under about 2 inches of soil was nothing but busted up concrete and construction garbage. ![]() They used the back yards for a land fill. Then there was the subdivision that was abandoned in the Houston area because they found out the yards were contaminated with chemicals. They had used the area to dump toxic waste. Remember Love Canal? Worth |
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#27 | |
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Join Date: May 2014
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#28 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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I have noticed it is hard to find good brick layers anymore. Most of the mortar they mix just crumbles in your fingers like sand. They dont use enough Portland cement to cut back on costs. That and they dont soak the bricks and the things suck all of the water out of the mortar before it has a chance to set. This isn't something I just read on line I was taught to lay brick and stone by a stone mason when I was in High School. I helped him on weekends. ![]() Worth |
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#29 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 14
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#30 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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A friend of mine from Buffalo New York used to ride with his dad to dump hazardous waste. The place they dumped it at was Love Canal. Here is a link to one in Houston. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...,d.b2w&cad=rja Not to get off subject of your land but the statement of a soil test made me think of it. Just a warning to people thinking about moving and buying property. They can pretty up a hell hole and you would never know it. Worth Last edited by Worth1; April 17, 2015 at 02:03 PM. |
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