Hard Water (high pH) - effect on fertilizers
Q. We’re told our pH is very high here. Can we grow a garden? What amendments do we need to apply so that we can grow in this soil?
A. Probably the only thing you need to do is use gypsum in your Pre-Plant Mix. However, if you were to test your water and discover that it is in the pH range of 8.5-8.9, since sulfur lowers pH, you might need to use some sulfuric acid in the water to bring the pH down closer to 7.
Consider that Dr. Mittleider himself lives 20 miles from Yucaipa, California (notoriously high pH) and does nothing other than using gypsum. And his daughter lives IN Yucaipa, and they do nothing other than using gypsum, and they have wonderful gardens.
In Duccor, California several years ago, Dr. M. had water with a pH of 8.6-8.9 and he used sulfuric acid in the water. Other than that and one other place in Idaho, he has never had to go to those extremes.
He says to treat your blueberries like everything else, and if they aren't thriving, a little more gypsum, or in the worst case, a little sulfur will take care of it.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Mixing Square Foot Gardening with The Mittleider Method?
Q. I would like to get the fertilizing method clarified. For the past 3 years I have used the square foot gardening method in raised beds. Last year I wasn't as happy with my tomato production and realized when my husband turned the bed that I would have to do something with the soil. Initially it was 1/3 top soil, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 compost.
So this spring I decided to do some online research on how to fix my soil and came across the Mittleider Method. I thought I would be able to incorporate some of these methods with the square foot method. So, we added a bag of manure to each raised bed. They are 4' x 10' for 3 and 4' x 8' for two. We worked this into the beds along with some chopped leaves and peat moss. Once the soil was well mixed, we leveled it off and added 5-10-15 pre-planting fertilizer. In addition bone meal 7-5-0 was sprinkled on tope of each bed as rabbit
control. This was done before I read the ebook on the Mittleider method for fertilizing. Can I continue on with the weekly fertilizing? Do I really add fertilizer on a weekly basis? Since my beds are only 10' long, how much fertilizer would I use?
BTW, last year our garden with the exception of tomatoes did well. I was able to can 21 quarts of green beans besides what we ate fresh. It was a bad gardening year too. It was too hot and too dry. Tomatoes were really so so. Even zucchini did poorly which is why I started looking for other methods. I like the square foot method for higher yield production in small areas yet the fertilizing makes a lot of sense to me. So this year my garden is a mix of the square foot method and Mittleider method along with a heavy reliance on companion plantings.
A. I can't answer for what you can do, since you didn't say how much of anything you put in your beds, except the manure. I suspect you added more of the things you mention than needed, and you say nothing about the important secondary and trace minerals.
The reason fertilizing using the Mittleider Method produces such great gardens consistently year after year is that we always know just what we are adding to the soil, and we provide just what the plants need of all 13 natural mineral elements, without taking the risks of disease, weed seeds, and bugs that are so often associated with compost and manures.
We apply only small amounts of the Weekly Feed mix (5 ounces to a 10' row of plants) on a weekly basis until 3 weeks before harvest for single crop varieties, and until 8 weeks before first frost for ever-bearing plants like
tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc.
Best of success to you. I do hope you'll give the Mittleider Method a fair chance. I'm confident you'll be pleased with the easy and simple procedures, and especially pleased with your yields of beautiful healthy produce.
So this spring I decided to do some online research on how to fix my soil and came across the Mittleider Method. I thought I would be able to incorporate some of these methods with the square foot method. So, we added a bag of manure to each raised bed. They are 4' x 10' for 3 and 4' x 8' for two. We worked this into the beds along with some chopped leaves and peat moss. Once the soil was well mixed, we leveled it off and added 5-10-15 pre-planting fertilizer. In addition bone meal 7-5-0 was sprinkled on tope of each bed as rabbit
control. This was done before I read the ebook on the Mittleider method for fertilizing. Can I continue on with the weekly fertilizing? Do I really add fertilizer on a weekly basis? Since my beds are only 10' long, how much fertilizer would I use?
BTW, last year our garden with the exception of tomatoes did well. I was able to can 21 quarts of green beans besides what we ate fresh. It was a bad gardening year too. It was too hot and too dry. Tomatoes were really so so. Even zucchini did poorly which is why I started looking for other methods. I like the square foot method for higher yield production in small areas yet the fertilizing makes a lot of sense to me. So this year my garden is a mix of the square foot method and Mittleider method along with a heavy reliance on companion plantings.
A. I can't answer for what you can do, since you didn't say how much of anything you put in your beds, except the manure. I suspect you added more of the things you mention than needed, and you say nothing about the important secondary and trace minerals.
The reason fertilizing using the Mittleider Method produces such great gardens consistently year after year is that we always know just what we are adding to the soil, and we provide just what the plants need of all 13 natural mineral elements, without taking the risks of disease, weed seeds, and bugs that are so often associated with compost and manures.
We apply only small amounts of the Weekly Feed mix (5 ounces to a 10' row of plants) on a weekly basis until 3 weeks before harvest for single crop varieties, and until 8 weeks before first frost for ever-bearing plants like
tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc.
Best of success to you. I do hope you'll give the Mittleider Method a fair chance. I'm confident you'll be pleased with the easy and simple procedures, and especially pleased with your yields of beautiful healthy produce.
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