From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Lodi, California

Dear fellow growers,

I just wanted to make sure, if you have a higher om soil, you have to have higher nutrient levels to fill the extra cautions? If so, would you have double the nutrients if you have double the om? Thank you!

10/5/2013 3:35:11 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Not always the case...it depends on what created your organic matter. You can have a lot of organic matter with very little nutrient levels

10/5/2013 10:58:40 PM

Niagara Falls,NY

Yes, it all depends on what kind of om is going in to the patch.5 yards of leaves will be different than 5 yards of manure. Only way to be sure is to take a soil sample before and after to see what the difference is.
I find in my patch is I always use a wide variety of things - manure, coffee grounds, egg shells, dry molasses, grass clippings, leaves, well you get the point. Then after all that I still do a soil test to see if I need to bump up something here or there.Hope this helps.-Don

10/9/2013 8:48:26 PM

Springfield, Missouri

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/components/7402_02.html

"Very fresh organic matter can cause problems to crops in two ways - nitrogen tie-up and allelopathy. A temporary nitrogen deficiency for crops occurs if the organic matter is low in nitrogen. "Allelopathic" chemicals are formed when some residues decay, and can inhibit plant growth."

Like Don was saying, decomposing organic matter (active fraction) will donate different nutrient values depending on the source. The microbes that break down OM are what tie up nitrogen if you add a source of organic matter that are high in carbon and low in nitrogen. (the nitrogen is being incorporated into the cellular structure of the microbes)

As long as you are adding fully decomposed OM and keeping your pH balanced then your soil will have the ability to (hold) more nutrients. If pH is low your OM will be holding mostly protons and other nutrients are being leached away. If pH is too high then OM will bind to all of the nutrients, but it will not be able to release them due to the lack of protons in the soil.

Basically plants release protons and carboxylic acid from their roots. Protons interact with the OM and replace nutrients. Roots absorb the nutrients. Long winded response, but I hope it helps.

10/11/2013 1:01:25 PM