Bad Soil?

[bobcob]

Just joined forum, please bear with me.
Sections of my vegetable garden inhibit growth of plants. I plant zucchini and cucumber especially. Plants will come up and grow slowly then when they bear, they curl up and die. I keep them watered, and I don't think insects are the cause either. Other things I plant in this section don't die just have stunted growth. I have sand in the soil to keep it soft, I added lime several years back and thats when I t think this all began.
I expanded my garden this year and the section added grew quite noticeably better than all the rest.
I have had my soil tested 4 years back (after lime addition), I have no ideal what to do and don't understand the results. I will attach image of the soil test results.
Does anybody know how to fix this?

 

[RonsGarden]

Hi Bob!
I have some questions to ask you before I can think of some solutions!
Do you do crop rotation? You should never plant the same crops in the same spot in the garden every year...Each species uses differing amounts of nutrients in the soil and if these nutrients are not replaced yearly the plants become more stunted. Diseases and pests issues do ocurre because the plants are not healthy enough to fight them off.
There are some wonderful websites that can give you detailed info on this necessary practice....

Do you amend the soil each year? Do you add compost, manure ( I prefer composted sheep manure since it has very few weed seeds), peat moss? You cannot have a balanced soil without a fair amount of organic matter...... Also: do you use mulch? Organic matter keeps nutrient levels stable and prevents them from being washed out from too much rain or during waterings....Look up sites that deal with organic gardening!

Now to your report: Your soil is too alkaline, and this prevents the soil nutrients from being available to the plants. Recommendation was to add sulphur to bring the soil ph down......There are a lot of good websites that deal with this issue on how to balance the soil ph levels and maintain this level between 6 and 7 which most vegetable species prefer in order to grow well and healthy!

Guess you used way too much lime and are paying to the price......Remember this rule of thumb "A little goes a long way" especially when dealing with maintaining a plant healthy soil ph level!
So please read up on these issues around dropping the ph level with sulphur.....because a little will go a long way.
I recommend you buy, or even make, your own soil ph testing kit to monitor the soil ph levels.

Since this is the end of the gardening season it is a good time to do research.

Ron

 

[bobcob]

Hi Bob!
I have some questions to ask you before I can think of some solutions!
Do you do crop rotation? You should never plant the same crops in the same spot in the garden every year...Each species uses differing amounts of nutrients in the soil and if these nutrients are not replaced yearly the plants become more stunted. Diseases and pests issues do ocurre because the plants are not healthy enough to fight them off.
There are some wonderful websites that can give you detailed info on this necessary practice....

Do you amend the soil each year? Do you add compost, manure ( I prefer composted sheep manure since it has very few weed seeds), peat moss? You cannot have a balanced soil without a fair amount of organic matter...... Also: do you use mulch? Organic matter keeps nutrient levels stable and prevents them from being washed out from too much rain or during waterings....Look up sites that deal with organic gardening!

Now to your report: Your soil is too alkaline, and this prevents the soil nutrients from being available to the plants. Recommendation was to add sulphur to bring the soil ph down......There are a lot of good websites that deal with this issue on how to balance the soil ph levels and maintain this level between 6 and 7 which most vegetable species prefer in order to grow well and healthy!

Guess you used way too much lime and are paying to the price......Remember this rule of thumb "A little goes a long way" especially when dealing with maintaining a plant healthy soil ph level!
So please read up on these issues around dropping the ph level with sulphur.....because a little will go a long way.
I recommend you buy, or even make, your own soil ph testing kit to monitor the soil ph levels.

Since this is the end of the gardening season it is a good time to do research.

Ron

I don't always rotate like I should, but I did this year, I plant a lot of Okra and I planted it in a different location this year, I increased that area by tilling further into the yard, Okra planted where the grass was grew much better, and grew 6 foot tall and at the end of the rows that ended in the original area were sometimes only 3 foot tall even though that area had new top soil added beginning this year, I am having a truck load of black dirt delivered today, but this time I'm adding a lot more.
I do fertilize but makes little difference, I added chicken manure this year as well but not much changed. I put a truck load of stump grind chips in it 3 years ago that seemed to help. I also did put some sulphur on it a few years back but not a lot because I wasn't sure how much to add and I only added it to a smaller area. That area did do a little better. It seems everthing I do only makes a small difference. I How do I know how much sulphur to add?

I will look into a soil test kit, the test I displayed in my original inquiry was a place several miles from here, I couldn't find anyone closer. Does the soil test kit show what is required to bring my soil quality back to a normal state?
Thank you for responding!

 

[RonsGarden]

Been doing some research on soil ph testers that is easy to use in multiple areas of your garden plot!

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/garden/weather-measurement/70504-soil-ph-meter?item=AB927&utm_source=free_google_shopping&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopping_feed&gclid=CjwKCAiAqJn9BRB0EiwAJ1Sztd5RkCBcMduo1SrRg2j_cyA91OE1QXjyDlMSRAG6z-lDNGkocNka_hoCvg4QAvD_BwE

 

[RonsGarden]

Lee Valley also have soil test kits that measure nutrient levels!