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Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

OM10.0, Bicarb P 99, Bray1P VH 276, K VH 322 H, Mg 350 L, Ca 6660, Na VH 30 L, PH 7.7, CEC 37.2, Base Saturation %k 2.2, %Mg 7.8, %Ca 89.6, %Na0.4
S 201 VH, Zn 17.3 VH, Saturation P% 100 VH, Al 148, K/Mg Ratio .28, ENR 112
Recommendation: N50, P205 60, K 75, Mg 35

My soil has improved at great deal. I havent decided weather to follow the lab recs or not. I applied 35 lbs/ ft2 90% sulfur last fall. PH has droped from 8 to 7.7 and will likely continue to come down. All thoughts appreciated
John

5/8/2006 9:08:25 AM

Phoenix, AZ

How much sulfur did you apply? Does not look like it came down much with the addition. Probably won't come down much more. What is the carbonate levels in your soil? Put some vinegar on a sample and see how much it fizzes. Lots of carbonates will buffer any ph adjustment. I put 10 lb on 200 SF and got a 1/2 pt drop only. However, my soil is about 20% carbonates. Your probably won't buffer that much.

5/10/2006 9:47:26 AM

Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

Here is a link to my grower diary with a copy of the actual test results if anyone is interested. http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=47236
I have consulted with several of my colleges on this and I have decided to apply equivelent of 350 lbs / acre of K-Mag (sul-po-mag) 0-0-20-10mg-20sul. I likley won't add any additional Phos as I will continue to apply manure/ compost and will be using water soluables all along anyway.
My sulfur application was 35lbs of product per one thousand square feet. I may need to consider Alumminum sulfate this fall to get a further reduction. As well I am diluting the soil profile with OM as I go forward and this alone should drop the PH. I believe the soil will contiune to react to the sulfur as it was mold board plowed last fall and the material wasn't really mixed very well in the soil profile. I can easily still find losts of undisolved product.

5/10/2006 1:31:32 PM