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Trace Oswald wrote:I don't amend my clay soil before planting trees anymore, for the same reason Maarten mentioned. I have had really good luck with mulching around my trees with very thick layers of wood chips to keep the ground soft. I also plant a ring of daffodils around the tree at a foot or so out from the tree, and then go out another couple feet and plant a ring or double ring of comfrey. I don't even chop mine most of the time, I just let them grow because the bees love the flowers. Comfrey should grow really well there. Our temps are more extreme, and mine grows really well in my heavy clay.
In addition to breaking through the heavy clay soil, comfrey brings in huge amounts of worms. I often find worms that have eaten right into the roots. I'm sure all those worms are making pathways for the small tree roots to follow as well.
Annie Collins wrote:I suspect your friend has seen chemtrails being pumped into the skies which, from what I read, likely contain those elements. We have been continuously seeing chemtrails being made intensely where we live almost on a daily basis since February of this year, with a day or two off in between. We are in the US, but my son went to Germany for a couple of weeks over the summer, and found them to be there just as much. I doubt Spain is being spared the chemtrail activity; it seems to be going on pretty much everywhere.
Travis Johnson wrote:It is hard to determine because from what I can tell, your high PH level, and low organic matter is throwing everything out of balance. Doing anything without getting your PH levels down is going to be a waste of time, your crop, no matter what it is, is just not going to uptake your nutrients...the nitrogen especially which is why it is high. If the land has been left fallow for years, you got what amounts to 30 years of chop and drop by nature and why your nitrogen is super high...
Now nitrogen is VERY volatile so you are seeing the high levels, BUT it is not doing much good because it is not being trapped in that sandy, high PH soil. Is is simply being lost and not availed to plant growth. If I was to venture a guess, and I might be wrong, the sward is sparse and short?
You really need sulfur to get your PH down, which will settle everything else out. You also need lots of organic matter, either in the form of mulch (which I hate) or manure. But 9 acres is a fair amount of land to revitalize. It sounds to me like grazing livestock would be the cheapest, best alternative at this point...with sulfur to get your PH down.
Tj Jefferson wrote:Those are elements, and short of alchemy they must be added to a system. There are two elements that can be plucked from the air- Nitrogen and Carbon. You can fix deficiencies in those with healthy soil. I get some free sulfur from coal plants but not very much, sulfur is now becoming depleted since there are fewer coal discharges (but less cesium too so thats pretty good). Some people believe in "dynamic accumulators" which are proposed to make elements more available at the surface. I use trees and deep rooted plants to try to do that. I don't know how successful I have been because the rock dust allows me to do it much faster and quite cheaply. But yes I amend some minerals. Those minerals will be found in compost but not likely at a level that will allow you to balance the iron/copper/zinc levels. I have red clay, containing iron, so I am amending a small amount of copper and lots of zinc. Unfortunately they are deficient in the rock dust, along with boron. Manures may have quite a bit of minerals (although they are mostly lost in the urine of larger animals), but bird droppings will be mineral rich since they don't make urine. The problem is they are rich in nitrogen which you don't need.
If you can compost some bird manure and use the nitrogen to break down your carbon, you will be left with a mineral rich compost.
Sure, if you want to. I haven't because there is absolutely nothing I can do about it if it is there in quantity, but I have no reason to think it is (this would be industrial contamination). Not sure about aluminum. The whole earth is "contaminated" with it! It is a very common element. My rock dust is 10% aluminum, and pine needles/bark are loaded with it. Azomite is in the same ballpark. There are lots of things to worry about, I am more interested in obtaining soil health, letting the microherd present the plants with appropriate substrates, and letting the plants present me with appropriate substrates! And if you are storing rainwater in the soil, you have only to worry about the chemtrails but not the agricultural and industrial groundwater pollution. I'll risk it on the chemtrails.
I plan to stablish an almond/pistachio orchard with lots of companion plants and crimson clover to keep bees and other beneficial insects happy. At plain sight its a sandy soil, low organic matter, a place where short grass and plants are naturally present. It has a well and water is only at 5-6 meters deep, even in drought months.
