Soil

[CORVIDSTATION61]

Hi everyone!

Could anyone tell me if certain plants thrive in poor soil, does tha mean they wont grow very well in good soil? Thanks Mar

[Charles]

A counter example, Protea. Soil with adequate phosphorous for most plants is toxic to them. Pacific Horticulture magazine had an article about them, one place they grew very well would not support weeds.

I think there are other plants from Australia with a similar phosphorous sensitivity.

[Bill]

Take a peak at the reviews here.

or

Bill

[Billy]

Bill, I hope the holidays are being good to you. Mine started off fine but then the relatives showed up:-(

Books like "Weeds and What They Tell" really appeal to me but some times I wonder. One of the reviews read, in part, "Guilds, the author tells us, are groups of plants that function as an ecosystem to provide products for humans, create cover and food for wildlife, nourish the soil, conserve water, and repel pests. A simple example of a guild is the "three sisters" (corn, beans, and squash); corn stalks provide a trellis for beans, the beans supply nitrogen to the soil, and the squash leaves inhibit weeds and conserve water." The group kicked around the idea this year of growing beans on corn stalks and iirc the up-shot of it all was that there may be specific beans that do well on corn but in general, it is a bad idea. I grew my corn in blocks and the light seemed to have had a hard time penetrating in to the beans. The beans that grew on the periphery did OK but they had a bad habit of pulling the corn stalks over. The melons that I planted also had the sunlight problem and were stunted until the "hounds from hell" found them. That was the end of that particular problem.

The group discussions we have had have been more valuable to me than any of the books that I have purchased.

Oh, in response to the OP. Grapes make better wine if they are nitrogen and water stressed. If water and nitrogen are available, ad libitum, they will vegetate and not set fruit.

[Omelet]

Add more Bone Meal to the soil?

[Billy]

With grapes, the roots don't need it. I would worry about encouraging excessive fruit by adding excessive bone meal. One way of producing higher quality wines is to drop (cut-off) part of the crop (1/4 - 1/2). Normally, growers are looking at around 4 1/2 tons per acre, if it is less than that, then bone meal would probably be helpful.

[Omelet]

I added extra bone meal to the flower bed this year.

I ended up with unhappy plants and NO blooms.

They must need a happy medium. I will do major soil revision. Might even lift the peruvian daffodils to see if I can keep from losing them. :-(

[Bill]

I only add bone meal to new bulbs or plants I treat as bulbs.

Bill who thinks about that mad cow stuff for some reason.

PS Just went to a new computer system and it has been slow.