Garden Soil Test Question.

LRTX1 · May 10, 2011

Pilot said:
50 lbs of 10-10-10 spread over a 30 X 40 garden won't do anything--it's only 4 thousandths of a pound per square foot and much less than that for rooting area.

Once you have good soil test results, don't go to Lowes or Home Depot--go to a feed store. They will know more about what they are talking about and prices per pound will be lower.

Really? 30x40 is less than .03 acres. How many lbs of fertilizer do you think is adequate per acre? 1800lbs?

Pilot · May 10, 2011

Yeah, I typed before thinking, 50, maybe 100 lbs for a 1,200 sq. ft. garden should be enough.

jdonovan · May 11, 2011

Also keep in mind that you really can't fix a completely depleteted soil in a single growing season. You will need to put some down before the planting season, retest in the fall after harvest, again in the spring. It may be 2-3 seasons before you have the garden nutrients back to where they need to be.

One of the other advantages of a commercial soil test, is they can test for micro-nutrients that are hard/impossible for the home tester to do. These while not as important as the big 3 micro-nutrients do play a role.

Also test soil pH. Some nutrients become more, or less available as pH changes, so that needs to be checked too.

powergod1 · May 11, 2011

lot of good to know info. we are starting down the same road

LRTX1 · May 11, 2011

50lbs of trip-10 should be more than adequate. Like I said earlier thats at a rate of 1800lbs +/- an acre. Getting it spread evenly would be important. Ph is also importartant, but you said you were ok there. Without the proper Ph the soil may not get all of the benifits of the n-p-k.

Over the past few years I have added Bone and Blood meal twice a year. For your size garden 10-20lbs of each per application. I have noticed a huge improvement in soil quality.

I set up a rather inexpensive fertigation system to run a water soluble fertilzer thru my Drip Tape irrigation. I am very pleased with those results.

Good luck gardening.

RobertN · May 11, 2011

Take your test results to your local Ag extension office, or look up your local Master Gardeners. They can help interpret the test results, and send you towards the best places to get soil supplements(usually not the big box store).

Your local Master Gardeners will likely teach classes on the subject too; the chapter my wife belongs too has classes all the time. They did soils a month ago.

http://mastergardener.umd.edu/