Quote:
Originally Posted by yak'em-n-stack'em
not trying to call you out,
but how do you know that triple 13 is what you need, and how do you know the rates?
it may pay off for you to get some soil samples analyzed and do some specific fertilization
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Just my experience with soil sample.....
When I started my garden a couple of years ago, I tilled up ~ 8" deep [soil has lots of clay] and added 6 yards of "flower bed" mulch [mostly sand and ground up would chips]. I fertilized ~ 3x what I normally put on the lawn. This was for a fall garden.
During the early spring, I added a lot of chopped up leaves, some fertilizer and tilled that in. About a month later, I took soil samples to LSU.
Results came back and most of the test showed everything to be in the high or very high range. pH was 7.5 so I figured I needed something to lower the pH. But to be on the safe side......I called our LSU Ag office.
Mr. T. looked up my results on the computer. He said not to be conserned with the pH. He said most garden plants can grow good in soil up to an 8 pH. Also said no fertilizer is needed.....but ok to add some.
Well the fall garden had done fairly well so I put out about the same amount of fertilezer and planted, thinking everything would grow good.
The young green beans were the first to show signs of some yellowing.
Short story.....my soil need a lot more fertilizer to "green" up the been plants. Maybe the leaves absorbed a lot of the fertrilizer? I still don't know if the 7.5 pH is part of my "growing" problem.
This spring I added a lot more leaves [did I say there was a high amount of pine needles with the leaves]. I also added ~35 # of 13-13-13, which is ~ 4x more that than the two previous plantings. The garden is ~ 15' x 25'.
Needless to say......I don't put much faith in soil sampling. I think [my gut feeling] something to lower the pH could help the plants to absorb the fertilizer better. This is why I have added the pine needles....maybe it is helping?????
Here is the results.
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