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Lodi, California

Dear fellow growers,

I am having a bit of a problem with excessive K and i think that is why my pumpkin this year went down to a dill ring split despite 3600 ppm Ca. Right now mt K ppm is 913 and my Ca ppm is 3700. I feel that this is quite a bit off balance and i am wondering if i should add more Ca despite the fact that it is already 3700 ppm or to just stay away from anthing containing K and hope that my K levels will go down. Another problem is high salinity, so i do want to add gypsum to lower the salt levels, which would also raise Ca. The only problem with this is that gypsum raises S and my S is 691. If you guys could look at my soil test I would be very grateful. Thank you!

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=209047

9/15/2013 1:33:40 PM

Torrance, Ca.

I kindda have the same issue going on Ash. I've been advised to plant sudan grass this fall,,,, cut in every other week, put the cut grass in the compost pile, water tell the cows come home then start fresh with lower readings of everything next spring.

My salt is very, very high at the new patch for some reason.


Here we go again with the fall prep,,,,,,,,,,,,,, is there ever a down time? :)

9/15/2013 1:58:50 PM

Lodi, California

I dont think covercrops are very good at depleting the soil. The 95% of the biomass of winter rye is made from the sun alone. Is there anything i can plant during the winter that will take away a lot the nutrients in the soil? Perhapse even grow 2 or 3 Ag's in the patch with a greenhouse up? Thank you!

9/15/2013 2:14:11 PM

Torrance, Ca.

Call and talk to John or Harry at Western Labs in Parma. Very helpful, love to talk soil and will advise you which cover crop will deplete your soil the best:)

!-800-658-3858

This way you won't get 30 completely different opinions on the matter. Just one proven method from someone with 40 plus years in the business:)

9/15/2013 2:34:39 PM

Lodi, California

Chris,

Thank you!

9/15/2013 3:21:11 PM

President - GPC

Ashton, I have very high levels of K in my soil, FOREVER. Been slowing using it up over the years.... Adding as little as possible.... I identified that adding copius amountZ of horse manure was not helping my problem. This was the first year I did tissue analysis... I was very surprised to see all my levels in sync as the plant takes what it needs... I always feared that I had too much.... My last test showed, the leaves needed a bit of KDL....(K) I would follow Ron Wallace's lead on HOW he Grew the 2009... I did... and was very surprised in the results... Mustard in the fall... Rye Grass in the Spring....Follow it to a tee.... Good Luck

9/16/2013 9:54:38 AM