Hello everyone!
Class this week dealt with “Fruits and Nuts”... and as you can imagine, among the students on breaks there was much merriment and joking about one of our far western states...as in, “the land of...” But not from me nor Darlin’ of course!
There was a lot of information given on our native pecans and the cultivars that do well in Oklahoma. Our presenter was an expert on nut trees, especially pecans, as well as peaches, and apple and pears. Pears are more hardy in the northern parts of Oklahoma because they bloom later and miss the late freezes that the peaches and apples can be subject to.
She also addressed fruits such as grapes and brambles. Oklahoma has started getting into the wine industry big-time in recent years and have found cultivars that make excellent vintages.
She also devoted a bit of time to the brambles, blackberries and raspberries. Blueberries can be grown in certain parts of the state, but they are a big challenge.They particularly like acidic soils, and most soils in Oklahoma run in the 6.5 range.
Because I seem to be a plodding typist, and because I’m being inundated with mounds of info which I WANT to share with you, I’m resigned to be working on that sharing probably for the rest of my natural born days! LOL! Well, at least for the foreseeable future!
So, please bear with me for the above tease on fruits and nuts, and I shall proceed with my SOIL NOTE TRANSCRIPTION. I’m convinced that this information is truly the key to a healthy garden and is highly relevant to all of us here! [Many of us recall Texokie’s painful lesson on the (mis)use of phosphorus a few years ago...]
So, here is the 4th installment:
Begin Installment 4:
CHEMISTRY – ACIDIC AND BASIC SOILS: pH
The pH value defines relative acid/base character.
The most productive soils lie in the 5.0-8.0 pH range.
9.0 – Ammonia cleaner - base
5.0-8.0 productive soil ranges
4.0 – Vinegar and Lemon juice – acid
PH and BUFFER INDEX
* Soil pH is a measure of acidity and alkalinity of the soil
* Nutrient availability IS RELATED TO pH!!!! If pH is too high (alkaline) some nutrients such as zinc, iron, magnesium, will precipitate out and become unavailable to the plant. Some plants actually do like the soil to be a little more acid, like blueberries : 4.5-5.0.
* Crops can only grow well in the center of the pH range.
* Liming can be used to bring up acid number toward the base ranges – it neutralizes the acid soils
* Soil actually has a lot of aluminum in it, which is NOT a nutrient, but if the soil is too acid, the aluminum is released and it becomes toxic to the plant.
LIME REQUIREMENTS
* Raise the soil pH to 6.5 for lawn and gardens
* Amount recommended is ECCE (effective calcium carb equivalent) lime [I understood this to be info to be looked for on packaging of a lime product]
* It takes TIME for soil pH to increase.
Before you plant or do ANY serious gardening, TAKE CARE OF THE PH FIRST!!
PH PREFERENCE: KNOW YOUR PLANTS
* Legumes, grains, sorghums, wheat, corn 5.5-7.0
* Fescue 4.5-7.0
*Bermuda grass 5.7-7.0
*Alfalfa, barley 6.2-7.5
*Azalea, blueberries 4.5- 5.0
ESSENTIAL PLANT NUTRIENTS
There are 16:
Main ones:
N – nitrogen
P – phosphorus
K – potassium
Secondary ones:
Ca – calcium
Mg – magnesium
S – sulfur
Non-mineral Nutrients:
C – carbon
H – hydrogen
O2 – oxygen
Mineral Nutrients:
Major: N,P,K
Secondary: Ca, Mg, S
Micro: B – boron, Cl – chloride, Cu – copper, Fe – iron, Mn – manganese, Mo – molybdenum
LIEBIG’S LAW of the MINUMUM:
If you want the most yield, you must fix the component that has the limitation. If N is poor, fix that first, it is the limiting factor. [Texokie comment: in human nutrition, one can see this at work with the calcium/magnesium levels. If a person is supplementing with lots of calcium but does not have adequate magnesium on board, the calcium will not be absorbed. It must have adequate amounts of magnesium in order to become available. Once the supplementation includes adequate magnesium, the calcium uptake improves. The magnesium in this case is the limiting factor which had to be fixed first.]
MOBILITY OF NUTRIENTS IN SOIL:
He used the analogy of a dipstick in a lawn mower.
He showed us a picture of a vertically held dipstick with a chart next to it with marks of “high, med, and low”
MOBILE NUTRIENTS – are like the gas in a fuel tank. These are:
N,S,B, Cl
IMMOBILE NUTRIENTS – are like the oil in the engine. These are:
P,K,Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn – Zinc, Mo,
End of Installment 4
The soils of our region are acidic due to the thousands of years of the Redwood forests. Lime is my second name except for my blueberry patch. Huckleberries thrive on our spread with many growing out of the old Redwood stumps cut around 1900 ~
Thank you so much!
Thanks so much. I really appreciate your efforts to share all the info you are getting in class. And - the timing couldn’t be better for a discussion on soil, since this is one of the best times of the year to improve it.