N, P, K, What!??!

I bought a house that used to be this farmer's cow pasture. He sold to developers and we bought it. Anyway, I bought one of those home soil test kits. (My first house and first attempt at gardening.) It says my soil is somewhere in the neutral range at about a 7.0 to 8.0. My Nitrogen was very low, Phosphorous was very high, and potash was average. I have clay soil and spent all last summer trying to work that and finally got it like butter. I have got it to the point that I almost don't even need a shovel in some spots, usually I can plant something just with my hands. However, my plants seem to be living and not thriving. I added some liquid plant food the other day to some flowers and they seemed to have "jumped up." All my neighbors seem to be getting great blooms but mine are just okay and take much longer. What should I be putting in there for nutrients? Is there anyway to only raise the level of the thing you are missing? For example, can you add only potash or only nitrogen and if so, how? How do I lower the PH level to around 6.0 to 6.5? I just don't know because they don't sell "nitrogen" or "potash" in the store. Not really sure about all the products.

If you're gardening with conventional fertilizers, ammonium sulfate will add nitrogen and lower the pH at the same time. You can use sulfate of potash (potassium sulfate) to add potassium if you need any, but it will not change the pH.

If you want to use organic materials, blood meal will add nitrogen and kelp meal will add potassium (potash) and lots of trace minerals. The kelp meal is especially recommended.

Shredded pine needles used as a soil amendment will lower your pH.

I garden for fun and to landscape my bare lot so I only do flowers and things. I don't grow veggies so I am not really worried if it's organic or not. (I know, I am bad.) I really just prefer whatever is easiest.

Part of what I did to soften the ground was to add pine bark mulch. Will that lower the PH too?

Will it say "ammonium sulfate" and so forth or do I look for them on the label?

Pine bark may lower the pH, but I don't know if it will as much as pine needles will.

Ammonium sulfate will have a clearly marked label. It's a very potent fertilizer, and a little goes a long way.

The kelp meal will also really help, and it doesn't take much of it, either. It also contains organic compounds that are reputed to stimulate plant growth.

I tried one of those home soil test kits and I think they're pretty iffy at best. If you really want to know what's going on a professional soil test would be far more reliable I think. I wouldn't go out spending money on a lot of fertilizers and soil ammendments based on those home tests.

Karen

Thanks Karen. I just knew my plants weren't really thriving so I bought it. I guess I was too lazy to go get it tested. I would have to take it about 30 miles away and with 3 little ones at home, even the car ride with them is enough to make me rethink it. I guess I will have to do that though.
Olivia

Pine bark mulch won't really affect your pH. The bark itself is low in pH, but as it decomposes, it tends to be neutral.

There is a way to only add what you need. Fertilizers are labeled by their NPK content. If using synthetics, You would probably want to buy a fertilzer that is 10-0-0.

I like to use alfalfa pellets as N fertilizer. Keep in mind, they take a while to decompose and be available for nutrients. And I add an occaisional compost topdressing to boost the organic matter.

So how is your compost pile?

Unfortunately, I don't have a compost pile. Like I said, I just bought my first house. I just learned how to grow stuff. At first, I tinkered for the last part of the summer last year. Then I read obsessively all winter. I tried some winter sowing and now I am really getting going for the first time.

Our subdivision was a cow pasture a while ago before it was built. Our lot had no landscaping only a couple shrubs and some bermuda sod in the front. I didn't even have 1 tree in the rear yard. I have 3 boys, 13, 2 and 1. I have my hands full and my hubby works long hours. I am still trying to lay out all my beds and get the plants in and then mulch. I wouldn't know how to begin composting although I was just talking about getting one of those compost turner barrell thingys. I thought that would be like free fertilizer all the time. All I know is you throw in household scraps. As much as my boys eat, I thought I'd have plenty of scraps to throw in.

Anyway, so give me the "for dummies" version. I know I need to add nitrogen and a little potash and get the ph down. Everything I see always has numbers like 10-10-10 or whatever. Shouldn't I be buying something that is specific to my needs and if so, is there something out there that has the numbers that would be high in nitrogen, low in potassium and average in potash. Also, on this card I have it says to lower the ph with "flowers of sulfate" or "iron sulfate". What are these?

Here's a link to a list of phosphorus-free fertilizer brands:

http://www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/doclake/fert/supplier.htm

"Flowers of Sulfur' means elemental yellow sulfur (brimstone). It may be labeled as "Wettable Sulfur". Iron sulfate is also known as ferrous sulfate, a common ingredient in vitamin/mineral supplements. Your local garden center or hardware store should have either or both.

I still recommend the blood meal and kelp meal over most other fertilizers because it's very hard to harm your plants with them if you even use twice as much as needed.

If you incorporate organic materials (like compost) into your soil it does tend to bring the pH back to normal. Organic methods tend to ignore the NPK ratios, if your soil is healthy then the other stuff tends to fall in line.

You really should start a compost pile. Your 13 year old boy could be in "charge" of the pile.

You can buy iron sulfate or aluminum sulfate at most garden centers.

You can buy fertilizers that have zeros for the last two numbers. Urea is a fertilizer that is like 45-0-0. I would caution a first time gardener on using something that high in N, because it can "burn" your plants. Look around at the garden center and ask a clerk for a High N fertilizer.

If you are planting perennials, I would mulch first and then plant, rather than the other way around.

ga_peach wrote, "Also, on this card I have it says to lower the ph with "flowers of sulfate" or "iron sulfate". What are these?"

One of the easiest ways to add iron sulfate to your garden is to use a lawn fertilizer called "Rid Moss". It contains about 47% iron sulfate plus some nitrogen fertilizer.

If you do happen to have moss in your yard, the Rid Moss will turn it black. Allow the moss to die in place and decay, releasing any iron or nitrogen it might have absorbed.

ga peach~I have never taken the time to do any soil test at all, so at least you have some clue. Self-testing kits are not that reliable. Why don't we make a pact to get our tests done by the county this spring? If you do nothing else, add some aged manure to your beds when you turn them, before planting. Lawn fertilizer is a high source of quick release nitrogen, used to green-up lawns. A better choice for a flower garden is a compost tea made with alfafa pellets, used as a soil drench. It will help the plants get going, and is less likely to burn the leaves. Happy Gardening!

This message was edited Apr 9, 2007 12:28 PM

This message was edited Apr 9, 2007 12:29 PM

I think I have enough of the manure. My yard used to be an old cow pasture. I had put out one of those kiddie pools for the little ones last summer. You know how it leaves the ring on the ground and kills everything under it. Well when I took it up, there was the ring and the weeds were dead and oooooohhhhhhhhh the aroma. All I could smell was cow manure when it got wet and sat for a while. You know, I would have thought with all the poo that went on, I would have pretty good soil. My luck I guess. As for the soil test, I know I should get it and I am gonna try but I just don't ever have a spare minute to do it. I checked once and they want like 15-20 samples or some large amount all taken from different areas, labeled, and taken from a certain depth. Then I would have to drive them like 30 miles away and I still have 2 boys in diapers and another 13. Between all of them, I don't even have time to go crazy.

Olivia

Olivia, the fastest (but chemical) way of getting nitrogen into your garden soil is to use lawn fertilizer. It's usually got a 20-4-8 ratio or something close to that. Just make sure it doesn't have herbicide in it (Weed & Feed) because it will kill your plants. To go organic, I agree with using blood meal or kelp.

Using bark mulch is a good way of improving soil texture, but the drawback is that woody material uses up nitrogen as it breaks down. This may be another reason your soil is low in nitrogen. To compensate, you'll have to add nitrogen. Incidentally, nitrogen doesn't last long in the soil, or even in bags of fertilizer. An old bag of cheap fertilizer may have lost as much as half its nitrogen over a year. The more expensive brands often use sulfur-coated urea as a nitrogen source, which lasts longer (2-3 years). I would invest in the latter because the woody material in your soil can take several years to break down.

To lower the pH, add lime. It's available in two forms: hydrated lime, which is fast-acting but short-lived in its effect, and dolomite lime, which is slow-release and lasts several years (up to five). I have a lawn close to a stand of white pines that gets covered with pine needles twice a year (that's a lot of raking!), and dolomite lime every three years has really helped control the soil acidity.

You and your 13-year-old will get lots of exercise... Good luck!

Wait, hold on, I am blonde and you lost me. I thought lime would raise the PH and may it more alkaline? I am at about 7.5 and want to get to 6. Isn't that going more acidic?

Olivia

georgia peach, you have it right.

andycdn, I find little information about old fertilizer, but what I do find says that fertilizer does not weaken with age? I'm curious to know what you've been able to find out.

I suspect andycdn was thinking "lowering the acidity" instead of 'lowering the pH".

His pine needles are doing to his soil what you want done to yours. If you can't get some that have already been shreded, you can run some through a leaf shredder they'll do the job even faster.

Another way to make your soil acidic and add nitrogen is to spread cottonseed meal as fertilizer (6-2-1). You can buy it at a feed store in 50-lb bags and use it in a drop or broadcast spreader. I don't think the amount of phosphorus will be a problem.

Ooops, my mistake, I meant "raise" the pH with lime; I forgot that you have the opposite problem. Pine needles certainly do make soil more acidic.

claypa, as I understand it, the reason old fertilizer loses its nitrogen is that nitrogen is a gas, while phosphorus and potassium are minerals. The gas is fixed in various forms in the fertilizer, but dissipates over time.

All three are elements that can exist as solid, gas, or liquid (or plasma) but the nitrogen in fertilizer would have to turn liquid before it turns into a gas, I guess. Now that I think of it, I have seen some juicy looking old fertilizer, maybe it was breaking down. Sorry to stray off topic...
When somebody says nitrogen, I think milorganite, I love the stuff. It's a red-letter day when I find a bag discounted at the store because it's torn, but it's not expensive.

http://www.milorganite.com/home/