Soil Test Done Now What?

Transcription

1 Soil Test Done Now What? Robert Cheatham Paulding County Master Gardener Volunteer Paulding County Extension Office 530 W. Memorial Drive Dallas, GA

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3 When to Harvest When to Plant Mulch Sunlight Water How Much Fertilizer?

4 Taking a Soil Sample Use a trowel to take random samples 6 deep Place a scoop from each sample site into a plastic bag Bring your sample to 530 W. Memorial Drive in Dallas Along with $9

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6 Soil, Plant And Water Laboratory 2400 College Station Road Athens, GA

7 LAWN VEGETABLE

8 Equipment Measuring Tape Pencil and Paper Calculator Scale Spreader

9 Units of Measurements Square Foot - 12 inch square 1 pound = 16 ounces or 16 oz.

10 Measure the size of your lawn L x W Lawn Weeding and Feeding This will give you the square footage of your lawn and allow you purchase the correct amount of product. You have purchased the correct fertilizer or herbicide, read the instructional label and surprise, surprise your spreader is not listed. What do you do?

11 Calibrate Your Spreader Measure a section 1,000 sq. ft. Ex. 20 by 50 Fill hopper with product-(10 lbs. per 1000sq.ft.) Set the aperture This is an educated guess Walk at a steady pace Decrease or increase setting until the correct amount of product is dispersed over a 1,000 sq. ft. area

12 20 12 Mr. Jones Soil Test recommends broadcasting 20lbs of per 1000 sq. ft. He wants to install both a summer and fall garden. He also wants to compare conventional and organic fertilizers. Mr. Jones How much convectional or organic fertilizer does he need?

13 All Fertilizer Computations Start With The Soil Test Recommendations Ratio: A B : C D If Mrs. Hall class has 12 boys and 4 girls and Mrs. Smiths class has 5 girls how many boys in her class? 12 x 4 = 5 5x12/4= 60/4= 15

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16 Organic Gardener Will use the soil test to determine type and amount of organic fertilizer No one organic fertilizer will meet all of the nutrient requirements, Organic fertilizer are not immediately available to plant and most will require 1 month to as much as year to become available to your plants

17 Organic Equivalent of 4lbs 13ozs. of Conventional Fertilizer N- Blood Meal (M-R) P - Steam Bone Meal (S-M) K - Potash Magnesia (R) Cow Manure (M) How to Convert an Inorganic Fertilizer Recommendation to an Organic One UGA Extension Circular Rapid- < 1 month Medium- 1-4 months Slow- 4 months to 1 year

18 Organic Equivalent of 4lb 13oz Calculate the Nitrogen (N) Recommendation Use a high N source of fertilizer such as blood meal( ). Divide the nitrogen number of the inorganic source ( 16 in the ) by the nitrogen number of the of the blood meal (12 in the ).

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21 Organic Equivalent of 4lbs 13ozs. of Conventional Fertilizer Summer Fall N- Blood Meal lb 6oz 9lb 10oz (M-R) P - Steam Bone Meal lb 14oz 2lb 13oz (S-M) K - Potash Magnesia lb 11oz 2lb 9oz (R) Cow Manure (M) lb 231lb Rapid- < 1 month Medium- 1-4 months Slow- 4 months to 1 year

22 Application Conventional Apply half at planting Wait 3 weeks and apply the remaining half Plants are not able use all of the recommended nutrients quickly

23 Application Organic Apply all at initial planting Because organics need time to become available to plants

24 WHY IS ALL OF THIS IMPORTANT?

25 We tend to think more is better Over application of any fertilizer or nutrient that is beyond crop recommendations can lead to water pollution problems in nearby streams, creeks, ponds, and wells.

26 HANDOUT ON LINE 1. How to Convert an Inorganic Fertilizer Recommendation to an Organic One UGA Extension Circular 853

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