Author Topic: Plant Food (Read 3514 times)

xillent · « **on:** July 01, 2012, 10:11:41 am »

we've been growing vegetables for years but never seem to get decent yields. We grow a mix of everything on a heavy clay soil. We've improved it over the years with a mix of sand, spent mushroom compost and our own compost/ leaf mould.Its not a huge area, just our garden, but it's a good size. What do you think is the best organic plant food.

suziequeue · « **Reply #1 on:** July 01, 2012, 11:25:40 am »

Manure??

Have you checked the pH?

We are just starting on heavy clay soil and ours is quite acidic. Apparently it's a feature of heavy clay soils because they hold on to H⁺ions or somesuch which makes them more prone to becoming acidic over time.

I may be talking out of my hat but the neglected pasture that we are planning to grow veg on had a pH of 5.5!!!

We are liming it over the summer and then in the autumn we will be putting manure on and for the worms to take down over the winter and covering it..... but I suspect that regular pH monitoring and liming will be the order of the day as well as infilling trenches and holes with compost/manure/sand mixtures so that the crops have got something other than blue clay to grow into.

xillent · « **Reply #2 on:** July 01, 2012, 04:21:05 pm »

yes, we sometimes add manure but it's not a good plan when the plants are well established I think if its fresh. Someone suggested seaweed but not sure in what format. We've also used pelleted chicken manure but again results werent great (maybe I expect too much

)

YorkshireLass · « **Reply #3 on:** July 01, 2012, 04:25:41 pm »

I'd be wondering about minerals (which is where seaweed comes in)...also what is the structure like (crumbly, slimy etc etc?)

Greenerlife · « **Reply #4 on:** July 01, 2012, 04:39:32 pm »

Sounds like you need poo, poo and more poo. I am on heavy clay here too. Spent musroom compost just seems to bulk the ground out, but in terms of richness, I don't think it adds much. Same goes for sand and leaf mould. I have put barrow loads of OLD horse poo and my neighbour now provides me with donkey poo, which I dig in every year. yields have never been better. Good luck - its back breaking work!

suziequeue · « **Reply #5 on:** July 01, 2012, 06:04:20 pm »

Yes - our neighbour we has a manure pile which is over 20 years old.

It's beautiful dark chocolate crumbly stuff.

Mmmmmm.

Free for the taking. So that's our next stop after the lime has bedded in.....

xillent · « **Reply #6 on:** July 01, 2012, 07:10:55 pm »

over the years i have dug in horse manure. Got the soil tested and it was very good. We still think we should be getting better yields. Obviously the last few years wet weather hasn't helped.

YorkshireLass · « **Reply #7 on:** July 01, 2012, 07:42:24 pm »

Slightly obscure question - do you get decent weeds growing? What kind?

I'm thinking if you can grow deep-rooted weeds, perhaps there is a "pan" in the soil that your crops can't break through (but the weeds can)

xillent · « **Reply #8 on:** July 24, 2012, 08:05:52 pm »

We get a "fantastic" weed crop.

If only we were growing creeping buttercup, dandelions, ground elder, nettles and docks we'd be quids in.

RUSTYME · « **Reply #9 on:** July 24, 2012, 11:47:00 pm »

If the soil is still clay , you could add gypsum to help it build structure , and add 'well rotted' manure . If you add too much strawy or sawdusty freshish manure , it will deplete the soil of nitrogen , so always compost it first and add when it smells like peat and not sh*t !
As a test , you could try a couple of rows of whatever , say carrots or lettuce . One row sow in your soil as is . The other dig a trench and fill with bagged potting compost/cheap growbag compost , and sow in that . If that grows ok but the one with soil doesn't , you then know for sure it is the soil , ie a deficiency of some sort . This test is very easy to do and is almost fool proof . Both rows get the same weather , the same water , have the same plants but the plant roots are in different soil etc . Raddish and lettuce will give quick results , but try whatever you are about to sow .

the great composto · « **Reply #10 on:** July 24, 2012, 11:57:04 pm »

I had a couple of self setters grow next to the compost last year and got potatoes that were 2-3lbs each so this year I moved the compost and planted in the space. The plants are larger and greener than anywhere other potato patch so I would guess its just ground nutrients. I'll see what this year brings in a few weeks time.