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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Sunday, April 06, 2025
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Steve's Garage
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New Castle, Indiana
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Entry 8 of 15 |
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We just had our spring meeting yesterday and got some really good information and tips from Joe Ailts. He basically went through the same thing he presented at the GPC conference but I feel like there was general agronomy stuff in there that some of us just either forget or just ignore entirely. In my case it was basically all new information. One thing that stood out to me was how nitrogen can be naturally generated by the organic matter already present in the soil once the temperature warms up. We tend to take our soil tests in late winter or early spring when it's still cold. The bacteria aren't active at that time so N levels are low. If you have a decent number of organic matter on your soil test, adding the hundreds of pounds of nitrogen products (alfalfa, etc) may not be necessary as nitrogen will be made available as the soil warms up and bacteria begin to work.
The was a recent post from someone (can't remember who) about boron levels in the soil. Joe talked about boron as well and apparently Boron leeches out faster than just about anything else so it may actually be a better idea to add the Boron in a root drench before and after pollination rather than adding it dry to the soil when adding the other amendments. We just got a LOT of rain here in Indiana and I'm willing to bet now whatever Boron was left in my soil is probably gone now. This would probably also explain why we're able to put high levels of Boron into the soil amendments without toxifying it and many growers are shooting for higher PPM.
Our club president, Mikkal Hodge, also talked about biologics a bit. He pulled up a recent study showing that the majority of Mycos products currently on the market may actually be ineffective, and in some cases detrimental. Since it isn't considered a fertilizer or any sort of control product, they aren't required to have any quality standards or certifications. I see a lot of growers here posting pics of the XG Mycos product. If you take the information in this study to be factual, I would leave that product out of the mix. There is a greater risk of root eating microbes colonizing the roots than there is of benefical ones. I apologize I don't have a link to the study but I'm sure someone here can dig it up if you want the source.
He also talked about some other things like adding humic and fulvic acid to the mix in your fertilizer. It's not very expensive and has the ability to benefit and maintain organic matter in the soil, which, going back to my first thing, can help the soil naturally generate nitrogen so we don't have to be caking on layers of alfalfa every year so it actually ends up potentially saving you money. I currently use a fertilizer tank with a siphon that sends it through the overhead sprinklers, so I'll be adding that (probably the WOW product) to the tank with the master blend.
Now all of this being said....I'm only a third year grower and have grown exactly 1 giant pumpkin...lol. This is all informati
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