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Tasmania Australia

I just got a soil report back for our Vegetable garden and it shows the calcium is way out of spec in regards to potassium
Soil Cation Ration shows the Calcium as 85% Magnesium as 12% and Potassium as 2%
Ideally it should be Calcium 70% Magnesium 12% Potassium 5%

The pH is right up at 7.2 and also the Exchangeable Acidity came back as 0

I was interested to know if i should just add Potassium hoping this will balance things out.
Or just add in some Sulphur to bring back the pH and see if this helps things out.

I used a friends PC with the Bryan Langley soil estimator and adding 74 pounds of Murate of Potash will balance things out, the patch is 1356 Sq Ft
But the program doesn't show what happens is you add Sulphur in relation to the soil pH, so not sure how much Sulphur to add to bring down the pH if that is the way to go

Internet search just says 80 grams per square meter, this works out to be 22 pounds of Sulphur for this patch ( 1356 Sq FT )
Calcium 6496ppm Potassium 327ppm Magnesium 561ppm Phosphorous 324ppm

[Last edit: 03/28/25 6:45:45 PM]

3/28/2025 6:11:00 PM

Syracuse, NY

Re-posted as a reply to another grower/modified and I'm just trying to help:
"I dunno how others are getting their STRs (Soil Test Report)s
into their Diaries as 'PDF-looking' JPGs, but if you could look into getting yours as that from the Lab and/or saving it as a JPEG and/or snapping a pic of it, and getting it onto your desktop, going to 'Grower Diaries' and at the top right selecting 'Submit to your own Diary (New!)' and going through the motions of filling in the blanks, then, others would have a graphic, colorized view of your Soil Report and therefore better input for any replies."
Failing that...If I could do less typing myself, too, I would, lol. It's probably easier for a knowledgeable replier to see what the values are and also see what it might affect if changes are made as well. Just sayin', as they say. If you have any great results, too, well, everybody'd like to see them, as well. I'm no one to talk, but I'd think that the recommendations from the Soil Lab 'For Atlantic Giant Pumpkin' would be valid, with AdDitIoNaL support from growers.
eric g

[Last edit: 03/29/25 3:14:47 AM]

3/29/2025 3:10:46 AM

Grittyville, WA

This reads like you have already got it figured out... Your numbers look good to me.

If you need nitrogen, ammonium sulfate would also bring the ph down.

[Last edit: 03/29/25 11:38:38 AM]

3/29/2025 11:38:21 AM

Tasmania Australia

Appreciate the replies,
I have just only found out where you can add Sulphur in the Bryan Langley soil estimator.
Adding 22 pounds of Elemental Sulphur will bring the pH back down and also help sort out the high Calcium % levels.
Great advice on the ammonium sulfate, will take a look at that also and the Nitrogen levels, a lot cheaper than adding elemental Sulphur

[Last edit: 03/29/25 5:51:01 PM]

3/29/2025 5:36:43 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

bluesilver,

just an FYI- that elemental sulphur breaks down very slowly. It can take 6 months to become available to the plant depending on your specific conditions.

3/30/2025 12:35:03 AM

Grittyville, WA

@ KC Is that true for both pellets and powder? I know the pellets are very slow. He should try to find the powdered stuff? They sell it for dusting roses or something.

3/30/2025 1:13:47 AM

Tasmania Australia

We have a store here that sells product that can be used for hydroponics, so this will be nice and fine.
6 months will be fine, it is only getting put down as a cover crop now until it is time to start planting again around October / November

3/31/2025 12:04:52 AM