If you really loved me, you'd...

One bean = 1 lb of Sulfur apparently. Beans might go a little farther in WI than in the Chicago burbs. We will see what the exchange rate is when I go up to the two conifer nurseries close to Madison sometime in '07.

Willis

Edited for grammer twice.

This message was edited Jan 12, 2007 1:26 PM

This message was edited Jan 12, 2007 2:41 PM

Bill--come out here and buy your sulfur from the co-op. It's $11 for 50 pounds.

It is a date. A stinky date, but a date none the less. Here it is $9 for this 5lb bag.

Willis

I'm beginning to think that the tradition for all things organic is to get taken to the cleaners! (Note the brand name for the sulfur in Willis' photo. Clever, eh?)

Scott

The farmers co-op is THEE source for all things cheap. Iron sulfate comes in huge cheap bags. The sulfur is pelletized and cheap. Roundup. They even have the ammonium sulfate for those folks like me with hard water that renders their Roundup inactive.

Never heard that one before. Hard water makes Roundup inactive? Wow! How do you know how much ammonium sulfate to add?

Iron sulfate is the same stuff as Ironite, right? I vaguely remember that this isn't a great thing to add to your soil. Something about too much iron locks up other minerals, I think.

Scott

Scott:

I found myself using stronger and stronger Roundup to get the desired effect. I was telling my farner buddy that, and he turned me on to the Ammonium sulfate. Farmers around here routinely add it to their spray mixes. They sell it in 51(?) pound bags. I think it is 17 ppounds per hundred gallons, and the most common spray tanks are 300 gallons.....something like that. I figured out the equivalent amount for my 3 gallon sprayer, marked it off on a cut-off pop bottle, and that is the amount I use! Now the Roundup works as advertised at the strength advertised.

Oh--on the iron sulfate--It somewhat dissolves in water, so I dissolve it and use it on those plants that just won't abandon their chlorotic ways no matter what other methods I try. It works great on the perpetually chlorotic Itea(which I finally have looking and acting well). Not sure about it wrecking the soil--I don't have to use it on too many plants. I'll have to look that up.

One more thing--if you are going to use the ammonium sulfate--put your scoop of powder in your sprayer, fill up with water, THEN add your Roundup.

I think the only difference with the Espoma products is that they are slow release (I may be wrong).

Scott, why would iron sulfate be bad? Does the iron bond with negatively charged molecules, like various nitrogen ones, and make them unavailable to the plants? Just curious.

Willis

This thread has turned into chemistry class! Fools rush in...

For plants, most availability of the various nutrients is related to pH.

I welcome all agronomists and chemists to break in here, but this old LA's memory is that iron and associated nutrients become UNavailable to plants (especially ericaceous types) as pH increases. This equals chlorosis. Iron sulfate would act to lower pH, making the iron more available.

Aluminum sulfate in excess leads to aluminum toxicity in some plants.

Time to dig out the ancient soil science text...

That is just what I thought Viburnum. I never use the aluminum sulfate with my blueberries and am always surprised when I see it recommended. But what about possible negative effects of iron sulfate?

Willis

Vaguely, I remember too much iron in the soil locks up potassium, but I, too, will have to hit the books on this one.

I do know this for certain: Invariably there is plenty of iron in almost anybody's soil. It is always there. But in higher pH soils iron becomes locked up into molecules with other elements, and this can cause iron deficiency for some plants.

Scott