Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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September 9, 2019 | #16 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Wasilla Alaska
Posts: 2,010
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If I ever see BER, I will determine if it is because of watering or if it is induced by high K, or MgSO4. If it is the latter, I will turn off the fertilizer injector for a couple waterings and just use the CaNO3. This usually resets the equilibrium and works like a charm. I always run high K anyway, it does bite back now and then. Anyway...
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September 11, 2019 | #17 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b
Posts: 1,369
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Everything looks pretty good.
Do not overlook Mark's point about even watering for calcium translocation. The only data point that confuses me is your OM %. That is off the chart. Not trying to make you feel bad, but I wonder if your sample was faulty. Perhaps you sampled too many areas where compost was the major component of the profile. Or, you have added so much compost to your soil, that it is in fact the majority of your soil at this point. OM (organic matter that is fully decomposed, which is what the OM test is, not organic material like leaves or manure) can hold 3 times the amount of elements as the clay colloid in soil. This means that your soil has the capacity to hold a lot of elements/nutrients. This also means you need a lot more of everything to saturate all the surface area that you have. So, perhaps you seemingly have "enough" of calcium etc, but it is not being released into solution for root absorption. Plant roots exude acids to etch the elements off the soil colloids and put them into solution for uptake. This brings us back to even watering, needing microbial diversity, and needing a diverse population of roots from plants other than just tomato roots. In short, I'd get a cover crop cocktail in this fall that has at number of species from different families in them (grass, brassica, legume). Cereal rye, tillage radish, crimson clover would be a good start. There are so many more...turnip, mustard, rape, wheat, barley, oats, vetch, triticale, annual alfalfa. Green shoots with roots 12 months of the year. Don't till in spring, rather mow and plant into residue, or mow and cover with tarps etc to smother, then plant into residue. Piling leaves etc on top is not even close to the same effect as living roots as far as carbon building and soil health. See Carbonomics on youtube by Keith Berns. Last edited by PureHarvest; September 11, 2019 at 09:27 AM. |
September 11, 2019 | #18 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: PA
Posts: 169
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Quote:
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March 25, 2020 | #19 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: PA
Posts: 169
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bumpStill wondering what Pureharvest has to say.
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