- Jan 18, 2020
- 1,316
- 1,070
I'm down the rabbit hole of soil testing for N-P-K values.
Got some advice to stop fussing around with fertilizer N-P-K ratios until I know if my soil is out of balance for the veg I am tring to grow.
I looked for home soil test kits and even ordered two only to return after looking in the boxes.
Finally found a digital tester that was way cheap compared to "real testers" and am playing with it now.
The test results show my blended organic garden soil (mixed 50/50 with organic compost) is close to correct for most of my veg.
So now I know I just need to fertilize with fertilizers that match the needs of the individual veg's.
The test results I get from the average of 24 pots are an average of N=8.5/N=9.5/P=22.
These numbers are pretty close to what my research found for leeks, tomatoes, corn (but too low on N), pinto beans, mini watermellons, mini canteloupes, peppers and yukon gold taters.
I'm going with 10-10-10 or 10-20-20 for the leeks, 5-10-10 or 10-10-10 for the Habenero's, 20-20-20 for the corn,
5-10-10 or 10-20-20 for the pinto's, 5-10-10 or 10-10-10 for the jalapeno's, 5-10-10 or 4-6-8 for the melons.
During vegetatativbe stages they seem to need more nitrogen though.
Here's a chart supplied by the tester manufacturer.
At first I thought it was pretty cheesey but I've found this type of representation in pro soil test lab sources too..
Here's the chart..The tester is sold by (and perhaps made by?) Yieryi.
Got some advice to stop fussing around with fertilizer N-P-K ratios until I know if my soil is out of balance for the veg I am tring to grow.
I looked for home soil test kits and even ordered two only to return after looking in the boxes.
Finally found a digital tester that was way cheap compared to "real testers" and am playing with it now.
The test results show my blended organic garden soil (mixed 50/50 with organic compost) is close to correct for most of my veg.
So now I know I just need to fertilize with fertilizers that match the needs of the individual veg's.
The test results I get from the average of 24 pots are an average of N=8.5/N=9.5/P=22.
These numbers are pretty close to what my research found for leeks, tomatoes, corn (but too low on N), pinto beans, mini watermellons, mini canteloupes, peppers and yukon gold taters.
I'm going with 10-10-10 or 10-20-20 for the leeks, 5-10-10 or 10-10-10 for the Habenero's, 20-20-20 for the corn,
5-10-10 or 10-20-20 for the pinto's, 5-10-10 or 10-10-10 for the jalapeno's, 5-10-10 or 4-6-8 for the melons.
During vegetatativbe stages they seem to need more nitrogen though.
Here's a chart supplied by the tester manufacturer.
At first I thought it was pretty cheesey but I've found this type of representation in pro soil test lab sources too..
Here's the chart..The tester is sold by (and perhaps made by?) Yieryi.