Love your soil - Learn about soil conditioners
Love your soil - Learn about soil conditioners
The condition of a soil will greatly impact how efficiently nutrients are taken up by plants. Most soils can be improved both in nutrient content and in structure by following good gardening practices. Soil that is in good shape will be free-draining, easy to dig, have a crumbly texture and a healthy earthworm population.
How to improve the condition of your soil
- Add organic matter as a soil conditioner. Compost and strawy animal manures provide plant foods and improve soil structure. If applied in the autumn cover the treated area with black breathable plastic or a winter green manure crop to avoid nutrients being washed out.
- Leaf mould contains very few plant foods, but can be used to improve structure. It can also help to release plant foods in heavy soils and to hold onto those present in light soils, improving fertility without directly adding nutrients. Leaf mould makes a very good mulch.
- Incorporate Green Manures into your rotation - they provide plenty of organic matter and can fix nitrogen. They also help to improve soil structure.
- Rotate your vegetables - practice a four (or more) year rotation to prevent the build up of pests and diseases. This will also allow the soil to rest after heavy feeder crops such as potatoes or brassicas.
- Use slow release fertilizers - the microbes in the soil slowly break down the fertilizer to release the nutrients so plants get a more balanced and continuous supply. The organic principle is to ‘feed the soil to feed the plant’.
Never -
- Walk on wet or sticky soils.
- Cultivate soil that is too wet, too dry, frozen, dried into solid lumps or wet enough to stick to your tools or boots.
- Mix topsoil with subsoil; there is a difference in colour between the two.
Soil Conditioners
Soil conditioners will improve the health of your soil by either altering the pH, improving water retention, adding trace nutrients, stimulating soil life, enabling the availability of micro nutrients or improving soil structure. They are important for keeping soil in good health and enabling it to produce healthy crops.
Seaweed is an important soil improver rich in minerals and trace elements. It contains almost every micro-nutrient in a fully chelated (immediately available) form. It is also full of carbohydrates, which plants use as a building block. Seaweed has 60 trace minerals and ready-to-use nutrients including nitrogen, potassium, phosphate, calcium, boron, potash and magnesium. Regular dressings stimulate microbial activity, improving soil structure and fertility. Seaweed dust should be worked into the soil before planting, used as a top dressing or added to the compost. Available in 4kg and 25kg bags.
Soil additive made of basalt rock dust. Has a high content of readily metabolizable silica and lime which are necessary for the maintenance of soil fertility and avoidance of micro-nutrient deficiency. Plants benefit in many ways from adding silica to the soil. These benefits include greater tolerance of environmental stresses, such as heat, cold, drought, salt buildup, mineral toxicity or deficiency. Plants also experience accelerated growth rates, and improved resistance to insects and fungal diseases. Silica is an essential building block for the structure of your plants. Available in 4kg or 20kg bags.
Soil improver with a high content of easily convertible silicic acid and other minerals that are essential for maintaining soil fertility and preventing trace nutrient deficiencies. Stores water and nutrients then releases thme slowly to the plants. Particularly suitable for improving the binding and nutrient availability of lighter, more permeable soils. Excellent for adding to soils used in container growing. Available in 4kg and 15kg bags
Lime
Loosens heavy soils and makes them easier to work. With the right lime content in the soil, the other nutrients become fully effective because water, air and heat circulation are optimal.
Dolomite lime - or magnesium lime is manufactured by crushing dolomite limestone down to very small pieces. Dolomite lime works to increase the Ph levels of acidic soil. As well as calcium carbonate, dolomite lime also contains magnesium carbonate. Magnesium deficient plants are often yellower, have shorter root systems, and produce noticeably lower yields than plants grown in healthy soil. Available in 4kg and 25kg bags.
Garden lime – Calcitic Lime for mild pH adjustment, soil loosening and soil structure improvement. Neutralizes build up of acids in soil. Activates soil life and eliminates soil exhaustion. Will increase the activity of micro-organisms in the soil and consequently improve fertility. Available in 4kg and 20kg bags.
Sulphur is an essential plant nutrient necessary for plant growth and improves the use efficiency of other essential plant nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. Lowers pH in alkaline soils. Also useful as a soil amendment around acid loving plants such as blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons. Available in 4kg and 20kg bags.
Biochar is carbon rich, extremely long lasting and porous - making it a great support for microbial life in the soil. Made from the aerobic composting of biochar with poultry manure through an in-vessel composting system. This process produces compost with a net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The resulting biochar is nutrient enriched which insures there will be no deficit of nitrogen in the soil which can happen when using non enriched biochar.
Mycorrhiza
Mycorrhizae are nature's stress managers; plants with mycorrhizae are more resistant to drought, severe temperature variations, pH changes, toxic metals and soil compacting. Mycorrhizae also ensure better soil structure due to their contribution to forming ‘soil aggregates’.
Since fungal threads can grow many metres from the roots and are microscopically thin, they end up in places where roots can never reach. This makes the extended root system hundreds of times greater than for plants that must make do without these auxiliaries, making it much easier for them to absorb water and nutrients. Mycorrhiza fungi take care of the living interface between the absorbing root system and the soil biology. An ample number of scientific studies show that the presence of useful mycorrhiza fungi noticeably improves plant health. They can also make do with less fertiliser. In addition, organic fertilisers are utilised better. The mycorrhizae thereby support plant resistance; they improve growth and the crop produces more fruit of better quality.
We stock Mycorrizae soil conditioners which contain a mix of specially selected microbes to boost plant health.
Mycorrhiza for Propagation and Nurseries, Mycorrhiza Pellets for Agriculture and Horticulture
It is also a good idea to get a soil test done so you know what conditions you are trying to correct.