Got my soil test results... now what?

[mwaller]

What should I add to this soil to make it suitable for my first crop? The report seems to recommend a hefty dose of dolomite, but it seems that would raise pH. (?)
Adding nitrogen with bloodmeal should be easy. But how should I go about adding K, Mg, Ca, and S?

 

[deluxestogie]

The recommendations are for "vegetables." I would leave the pH alone (5.8 is ideal for most tobacco), and just use some generic (low chloride) fertilizer, since the nitrogen reading is pretty much unreliable and useless. Your phosphorus is high, so you could go with an NPK forumla with lower P.

Bob

 

[mwaller]

Since the test was performed, I have added a compost / manure blend and a some premixed garden soil. I'll check pH with a test kit to make sure it isn't too low. Assuming it is OK, would I be OK just adding blood meal and kelp meal?
Should I be concerned with the low levels of Mg, Ca, and S?

 

[deluxestogie]

I have seen and used compost/manure blends that offer an NPK analysis of 0.5: 0.5: 0.5 (e.g. Black Kow). Unfortunately, many of the big box stores are selling a similar sounding product with an NPK analysis of 0.05: 0.05: 0.05, which is basically just cheap compost. Whereas I was applying 2 bags per 60 ft[sup]2[/sup] bed, the latter product would require 20 bags per 60 ft[sup]2[/sup] bed.

More to your point, your Mg and Ca are normal. The sulfur can be addressed by picking up some sulfur that is used to acidify soil for azaleas, rhododendrons and blueberries.

Here's an article from NCSU: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/tobacco-sulfur-deficiency

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

Lots of animal Crap works for me

 

[greenmonster714]

What should I add to this soil to make it suitable for my first crop? The report seems to recommend a hefty dose of dolomite, but it seems that would raise pH. (?)
Adding nitrogen with bloodmeal should be easy. But how should I go about adding K, Mg, Ca, and S?
View attachment 20396

Thank you for sharing this. I have never seen one. They do give you a pretty good amount of information.

 

[Smokin Harley]

What should I add to this soil to make it suitable for my first crop? The report seems to recommend a hefty dose of dolomite, but it seems that would raise pH. (?)
Adding nitrogen with bloodmeal should be easy. But how should I go about adding K, Mg, Ca, and S?
View attachment 20396

Tobacco growing isn't like growing vegetables or grass. Nitrogen in higher levels will only impede the combustibility of the leaf .
I'm not growing this year due to our moving to another state in a month , it kills me to not have the garden tilled up, instead I planted grass .
I have had good luck though amending my soil here (will county IL, clayey loam) with bales and bags of peat, sand, composted manures and mushroom compost, gypsum pellets and churned in with a rear tine tiller to about 8 inches. As a side dress or light planting application of an organic fish based fertilizer to attempt to come to a result of something similar to a commercial tobacco fertilizer formulation of 6-18-18. I do pretty well with it.

 

[deluxestogie]

A good point to make about the recommendations that come with your soil analysis is that when you submit the sample, the form asks what you will be growing. The choices are often a multiple-choice list. In traditional tobacco growing regions, it usually includes a choice of "tobacco," "bright tobacco," or "burley tobacco." Elsewhere, "tobacco" of any sort is not provided as an option. Just write in what tobacco you will be growing. If it's on-line, and there is no comment section, call them on the phone to tell them what you'll be growing.

The folks that work in these labs (extension service or private) know where to find the recommendations that will be helpful to you, it they know what you plan to grow.

Bob

 

[mwaller]

I'm curious about your comment that the nitrogen measurement is not accurate. Why is that?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

The nitrogen content of the soil is dependent on soil temperature and moisture level. Typically as the soil temperature increases the microbial activity increases which raises the nitrogen level. What you measure in April will most likely be different from what you measure in July. I get my Nitrogen tested (every 10 years when I do a soil test) in April. It gives me a baseline from which to work.

 

[deluxestogie]

The nitrogen content of the soil is dependent on...

Thanks for answering that. I couldn't remember exactly why the N measurement is not useful. I remember that it's not useful, because my soil analysis (from Virginia Tech) doesn't even have a place to report it.

Bob

 

[Smokin Harley]

I'm curious about your comment that the nitrogen measurement is not accurate. Why is that?

This may help...
http://www.cropnutrition.com/the-facts-nitrogen-fertilizer

Nitrogen is a funny element in fertilizer,since it IS a gas so in a sense it evaporates with varied conditions.. The rest of the formulation(Potassium and Phosphorus) are metal and mineral.