I have misplaced my Ph Test kit, so can’t check my soil at present, but I’m thinking that the soil might still be fairly acidic, even though I have been liming each bed prior to planting (using dolomite and lime combination). Some of my plants are looking a bit unhealthy, even though they have had adequate watering, fertilising( manure pre-planting, compost, charlie carp) and seasol. The capsicums in particular look sad. Slow growth, not very green.

Could anyone tell me the symptoms that vegies would show if the soil was too acidic? I have been told in the past that sorrel (which we had in plague proportions a couple of years ago) likes an acid soil. We aren’t getting as much of this in the vegie beds now, but still have a fair amount coming up in the surrounding area.

Also I gather that it would be unwise to add more lime while I have plants growing?

It might also be a magnesium or iron deficiency, but the leaves don’t look like my mandarin tree when it had the magnesium deficiency a couple of years ago

Won’t hurt to apply some wood ash and straw mulch.

roughbarked said:

Won’t hurt to apply some wood ash and straw mulch.

They already have sugar cane mulch. Will see if I can scare up some wood ash

One of the capsicums

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/beaver_album/th_P1010216.jpg

Oops. Try again

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/beaver_album/P1010216.jpg

roughbarked said:

Won’t hurt to apply some wood ash and straw mulch.

How much wood ash would you use per square meter?

I think you might find that capsicums, like tomatoes, like it a bit acidic. It could be that you have overdone it. Not all veges are lime lovers.

if you’ve killed off the sorrel the acidity has probably gone.
sometimes its a lack of sun.
although i see nothing wrong with your soil prep. i would sprinkle a few ‘dynamic lifter’ pellets around the perimeter and water them in with seaweed. if you can add molasses, potash, worm wee or compost tea to your seaweed that would be good. keep it dilute.
my beans looked sick for a start – yellowy like yours – but they came good – probably as the sun got higher in the sky they started getting more heat.

I have the same problem with my one and only capsicum plant, small but starting to fruit, everything else in the plot is going great guns which include egg plant and Tomatoes

Rook

bluegreen said:

I think you might find that capsicums, like tomatoes, like it a bit acidic. It could be that you have overdone it. Not all veges are lime lovers.

That is possible I suppose. I am aware that tomatoes etc like the soil a little more acid than other vegies, hence them being at the end of the rotation, but considering how acid our soil was before I don’t think I did use too much lime..especially as the capsicums are in one of the newer beds.

We haven’t completely killed off the sorrel, but there isn’t as much getting into the vegie beds as before.

Rook said:

roughbarked said:

Won’t hurt to apply some wood ash and straw mulch.

How much wood ash would you use per square meter?

wood ash is very alkaline – so its just a sprinkling over the soil. if you accidently leave a pile of ash in one place then rake it out thinly.

thanks pepe

yes .. you don’t need to use much.

if that’s proper sorrel…..makes a great soup.

aquarium said:

if that’s proper sorrel…..makes a great soup.

Not that I’m aware of aquarium, pretty sure it’s just the weedy one. Drives me crazy, but as I said we are gradually reducing it as we sweeten the soil. Still plenty around though, just fortunately not as much in the vegie beds these days. Kikuyu, couch and wandering jew are also fairly abundant so it is a constant battle to keep on top of the weeds and when my back is playing up I just don’t even attempt to get rid if them.

You can guess all you want but a Ph test kit is the only way you’ll know for sure.

as per my post some moons ago…i’ve tested the cheap probe type ph tester, and found it as good as the more complicated two part mix ph test kit. it’s much quicker to test with the probe in several spots, without running a chemist lab :)
the only problem with the cheap probe ph tester is the wiring can break off from inside the probe, if you screw it into the soil. should just insert into soil instead.

In more than forty years of gardening for myself and being a nurseryman, I have only ever tested a soil’s Ph once. That was when i first arrived here on this site. I took one look and guessed that I’d actually need to test this soil to see how much of a problem I had bought myself into.
The result was Ph 11.
I’d gardened on salty clays and rich red loams but never on calcrete and fatty clay loams. I’d taken acid soils and made them sweet but had never worked a soil this alkaline before. I was told I could back up trucks of Nitric acid and it wouldn’t alter the Ph enough to make it useable.. So instead I covered it with approx 90 tonnes of fresh from the distillery grape marc. This ploy worked and it has worked for 28 years so far.

roughbarked said:

In more than forty years of gardening for myself and being a nurseryman, I have only ever tested a soil’s Ph once. That was when i first arrived here on this site. I took one look and guessed that I’d actually need to test this soil to see how much of a problem I had bought myself into.
The result was Ph 11.
I’d gardened on salty clays and rich red loams but never on calcrete and fatty clay loams. I’d taken acid soils and made them sweet but had never worked a soil this alkaline before. I was told I could back up trucks of Nitric acid and it wouldn’t alter the Ph enough to make it useable.. So instead I covered it with approx 90 tonnes of fresh from the distillery grape marc. This ploy worked and it has worked for 28 years so far.

I must add that I increased this within the first decade to a total of 200 tonnes.

in 2010, I am beginning to think I need to do it again.. any offers of free grape marc are acceptable to this scientific test of three decades to continue. are gratefully received, I’ll gladly pay transport costs.