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Old June 10, 2012   #1
jerryinfla
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 377
Default Amending Florida Soil

My first attempt at growing vegetables in Florida was a disaster due to our poor soil, bugs, heat, frequent rains and foliar diseases so I gave up on trying to grow veggies here for several years. Then one day my barber told me about "mushroom compost" available at the mushroom farm not all that far from the house. Soon thereafter a neighbor who has a pickup truck took me over there and we got two pickup truck loads of spent mushroom substrate, one for me and another for him, for $5 a load. One look at the stuff and I was convinced this was what I needed to fix my poor Florida soil. However, I needed a lot more than a couple pickup truck loads, so I found a guy with a tri-axle dump truck who brought me 36 cubic yards of the stuff for $400.

I spent most of last winter removing my Florida sand (pics 1 and 2) and replacing it with spent mushroom substrate (pic 3) mixed about 50/50 with the topsoil I removed to get to the subsoil. I built 4'x 8'X 6" beds with 3' paths between them laid in a 3x3 square -- 288 square feet of beds in a plot 30' x 18'. The soil in the beds is not raised above the soil level adjacent to them; however, the borders keep me from walking in the beds and compacting the soil. I laid a layer of newspapers with a layer of cardboard on top and added about 4" of wood chips in the paths (pic 4).

My crops are far better than my first attempts to grow veggies here (pics 5-9); however, I still have white flies, as you can see in pic 9 of the tomatoes, and other pests. They are my next challenge but I think I have a handle on the poor soil problem.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 1_digging_120123_125636_1.jpg (196.3 KB, 33 views)
File Type: jpg 2_subsoil_120123_125916_1.jpg (155.5 KB, 34 views)
File Type: jpg 3_spent mushroom substrate_120123_131146_1.jpg (194.7 KB, 36 views)
File Type: jpg 4_beds1 and 4_120609_134732_1.jpg (203.5 KB, 33 views)
File Type: jpg 5_field peas_120609_134335_1.jpg (204.8 KB, 32 views)
File Type: jpg 6_eggplants_120609_134704_1.jpg (180.2 KB, 28 views)
File Type: jpg 7_cucumbers_120508_115744_1.jpg (216.4 KB, 31 views)
File Type: jpg 8_corn_120609_134424_1.jpg (187.6 KB, 28 views)
File Type: jpg 9_tomatoes_120508_115931_1.jpg (116.3 KB, 32 views)
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