Hi
I sent soil samples to Logan Labs and received the results.
It was from my raspberry patch area and i told them that on the form I submitted.
Very confusing… no apparent recommendations. I couldn’t tell what was lacking, or what was too high or low.
There was no way to tell what I should do.
I searched online and got nowhere.
Help!
Can you somehow post the results here?
Yes post your results if possible. Our local soil testing lab is unfamilar with fruit and garden needs and generally only makes reccomendations on agriculture type crops such as corn, soybeans, etcc… As that is there bread and butter.
wow it posted!
Thank You for looking at it. I am helping a retired priest who wants to grow raspberries and has spent his whole life helping others!
Very high organic matter. That should be excellent for raspberries. I’d just add some potash, ie potassium ie K, and plant the berries. The typical fertilizer is labeled for NPK as in 10-10-10. You want something high in the third number.
thank you!
I’d agree with Fruitnut. The soil is high in P and organic matter. Didn’t see any numbers for N. Also high in Ca and almost high in Mg, so no lime or Mg, not that you need any with your pH.
If you can find some KSO4 (potassium sulfate) that would take of the low K, or a multi-purpose fert with high 1st (N) and 3rd (K) numbers would work well. Probably just follow general bag recommendations as it isn’t too far out of line.
Also a bit on the alkaline side (pH 7+) so perhaps some additional sulfur if you’re not adding pot sulfate to lower the pH a bit.
Thank you Fruitnut and Steve.
How does "Mehlich III Phosphorous work? What is a good value, and how do you adjust it?
On my test, the value was 610 (P2O5) lbs/acre; on Father Dan’s test the value was 76 (P2O5) lbs/acre.
The P is very high. Don’t add any more. I like Steve’s idea of KSO4 but it may be hard to find. With that much organic matter N, nitrogen, will probably not be low. But adding some won’t hurt. So a fertilizer medium in N and high in K would be good, say 10-0-20 or similar.
I bet you have some beautiful soil based on your 12% organic matter! I would love to have something like that to work with.
I believe a slight PH adjustment is in order unless you plan to grow a lot of asparagus. A little sulfur goes a long way toward this goal. I use a pelleted sulfur and it takes about 10 pound per 1000 sq feet to drive the PH down one point. Because the product is pelleted its very easy to spread and does not produce a lot of dust.
I agree with Fruitnut on the 10/0/20. I believe some lawn fertilizers may provide that combination, but lime is often used as a filler on a full analysis fertilizer like that. Given your PH, I would not use a fertilizer that contains any lime. I believe you can buy Potassium Sulfate in small bags at the farm supply store. I have seen an ORMI version used by organic growers.
You need sulfur and you need potassium, here is the product to use. Awesome product btw!
wow Drew
5 Pounds Sul-Po-Mag 0-0-21.5 with 21% Sulfur, and 10.5% Magnesium, Potassium Magnesium Sulfate.
sounds right
thank you
I grow raspberries btw, and have about 20 different cultivars. I would suggest buying virus free raspberries from Indiana Berry or Nourse Farms. Both places are excellent. It’s better to start a new patch with fresh plants. Raspberries often catch viruses and such, so taking ones from one patch to another isn’t always wise.
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Patrick, Welcome to this really good forum. As you live in the Chicago area, look up your nearest Lesco/ John Deere landscaping and get youself a bag of 21-3-21. It is a 75% sulfur coated product(slow release) with K2SO4(potassium sulfate). The urea nitrogen will slightly acidify you soil along with the sulfur coat and use the rest on your lawn. When I sold for Lesco, that fertilizer was the absolute best for sports turf, we sold tons of it for football/baseball/soccer fields.
Chikn
I’d be cautious about using Sul-Po-Mag. It is a great product, natural has some trace elements and I use it myself, but my soil is LOW on Mg. The tested soil is high already and at the upper range of acceptable Mg in these tests.
I think you’d do better to find a source of K and sulfur without the Mg.
Magnesium is one of the most soluble elements around. I would not trust the levels on the test as levels can vary a lot with time. Your levels are not that high. It is dangerous to plants in higher doses, but you never see problems as it leaches out of soil quicker than anything else. Your current levels are due to the large amount of organic matter IMHO. As it breaks down, levels will decrease. Although the fertilizer Chikn mentions sounds like a great alternative. You can use that high of dose of nitrogen on raspberries, but be careful too. They don’t require a lot of nitrogen. It can decrease fruit production. I have found organic sources of nitrogen better, yet that product is slow release, so it should be fine. I use Holly-Tone, which also contains sulfur.
Some of my raspberry harvest from this year, this is one day’s harvest
Here is what I saved for winter use
Last week I made some golden raspberry jam with seeds removed. I used frozen berries.
I wanted to show you these photos as I do know how to grow raspberries, and grow them well.
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Nice berries Drew. But I’d disagree with you on Mg in soils. It depends very much on the type of soil. If one is dealing with clay soils, then adding more Mg can be very bad (unless one is doing pottery). Higher levels of Mg are typically recommended for sandy soils where one is trying to increase the binding ability in the soil. On clay based soils Mg will make the soil more sticky and the Mg is difficult to remove. High level of Mg tend to release N from the soil too.
Of course it would help to know the nature of the test soil, rather than just discussing theory in the dark. @patrick can you tell us more about the nature of this soil, sandy, clay, etc and its history.
If I had to guess, I’d say this is likely a clay based soil (from the high CEC number) which had a bunch of manure and organics added, possibly poultry manure from the high P levels. But it’s just a guess…
That 12% organic matter sticks out like a sore thumb. Was the soil sample properly gathered? Top 1" of soil discarded, and an evenly sized core taken?
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Hi
love this forum…I am a member of MidFEx which has 220+ people in the Midwest Chicago area all having backyard orchards so I have to get the message out about this forum!
About the soil; former farmland which was chopped into sub divisions of 3/4 acre in the late 40’s. However the back yards were never scraped. The soil is black, at least 18" deep, whereupon you hit a clay layer. In the four (4’x25’) raspberry rows using Danish V trellises, I have added horse manure for the last three years, cause there is a stable nearby which has three fifteen foot high mounds of it for the taking.For the sample, I dug down at least six inches in three places and mixed it all up. I have a massive weed problem which are all competing with the raspberries. I have lots of varieties, and in past years gather extra large bowls for a month in the summer (but the last two years production has declined somewhat.)