Msg  : 30 of 30 - 21                                                           
 From : Helen Fleischer             1:109/426               Sun 20 Dec 92 20:40 
 To   : Mary Bolack                                                             
 Subj : COMPOST TEA                                                             

NO violets around here to test anything on, I'm afraid. I never did have much
luck with them, except with the ones that are taking over my back yard. I have
never managed to burn anything with the worm "coffee" even at 50/50 strength,
but I'd love to get a more clear idea of the strength and content of the stuff.
I got into worm bins a couple years ago after reading an article in Garbage
magazine. This is the third style of bin I've devised for myself (I refuse to
pay big bucks for a ready-made one) and it is the handiest yet. I used an
inexpensive laundry sink this time. I stuffed the drain with netting material
and placed a 2 gallon wide-mouth jug from clumping cat litter on a box so that
it come up just the right height to fit loosely around the drain. that allows
air flow as well ans drainage. The tub also has a layer of corn cob litter in
the bottom for drainage help (cats never took to that stuff so I had a lot left
from the 40 lb bag). The main bedding for the worms is a mix of rabbit manure
and sawdust, with occasional addtions of shredded cardboard and paper, because
the worms like it. In that I bury whatever kitchen waste I wish to compost and
add a bit of ground limestone from time to time. The worms don't like things to
get to acidic, so the pH is pretty neutral. Just judging by what goes in, ther
should be a decent balance of N,P,K, but how much??? Tis a puzzlement. By the
way, if you plan to build a bin yourself, I also need to mention the lid. It
keeps the worms in and the flies out, more or less. Fly control is something one
needs to be vigilant about, and worms can be killed by sprays so controls need
to be extra cautious. Pyrethrins are out of the question, for instance, and I
found that even the BT that controls fungus gnats causes a drop inthe worm
population. Sticky traps and beer traps are the safest and quite effective for
the fungus gnats and fruit flies that have been the only problems so far.
--- TBBS v2.1/NM
 * Origin: The Coffee Club BBS: 301-353-9315, Germantown, MD  (1:109/426)


 Subj : SQ. FT. FERTILIZING
                                                     
Well you asked for it.  Over the next few weeks, whenever I have a chance I'll
post as much information as I can on fertilizing. Forgive me if I'm too basic
but I'm going to come from the assumption that you know nothing, just incase
there are people who really don't.  I'll get into soil testing and how to read
the results in a later post.

1.  The 3 numbers on a fertilizer bag stand for the precent by weight of
nitrogen; phosphorus (P2O5); and potassium (K2O).  Since 1950 efforts have been
made to make conversion from oxide to elemental forms of phosphrous and
potassium, but customs are hard to change.  The numbers on the bag, therefore,
need to be converted in order to know exactly how much nutrient carrier there
is.
             Carrier        Elemental
               N       =        N
          P2O5 * .44   =        P
           K2O * .83   =        K

So for example if you wanted to know the amount of elemental nutrients in 1 ton
of 10-15-20 fertilizer:

1 ton = 2000lbs.

 .1 * 2000 = 200 lbs of N  =  200 lbs of N
.15 * 2000 = 300 lbs of K2O5 = 300 * .44 = 132 lbs P
.20 * 2000 = 400 lbs of K2O = 400 * .83  = 332 lbs K


Now say your soil test comes back and quadrant "D" (more later) has 66 lbs/acre
of "available" nitrogen.  For good growth for the particular crop we are growing
there we need 150 lbs/acre.  Hence we need to add the equivilent of 84 lbs/acre
of nitrogen.   Our major source of nitrogen is cottenseed meal which is 7%
nitrogen by weight.  We need to calculate how much cottonseed meal  we need to
add to each bed.  The size of the beds are say...  4' X 50' or 200 square feet
(sq').

1 acre = 43,560 sq'  (say 40,000 sq' for convience since this is not an exact
science).

So, 1 bed is 200/40,000 = 0.005 = .5% (one-half of one percent of one acre).

Amount of cotten seed per acre:

Now we have a fertilizer that is 7% nitrogen and we need 84 lbs/acre.  In other
words 7% of some amount of cottonseed meal ( "x" amount) is equal to 84 lbs (per
acre). OR:

.07 times xlbs/acre = 84 lbs/acre Nitrogen OR:

.07x = 84   or  x =  84/.07  or 1200 lbs.


Final Step is to calculate how many pounds per bed:

1200 lbs cottonseed meal per acre times .005 acres = 6 lbs cottonseed meal per
bed.

If you don't get the math have someone explain it to you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soil testing needs to be done at least once a year ususally in the spring.  When
a soil test is done in the fall you may get a false reading, for the soil will
be much warmer and there for chemical reactions take place at a higher rate.  A
rule of thumb for this is that for every 10 deg celcius rise in temperature,
biological and chemical reactions double.  Therefore you would like to get your
test done in the spring when less nutrients are available to the plants,
remebering that more nutrients will be available in the fall.  like I have said
before, fertilizing is more art than exact science.


There are several labratories that do soil testing (maybe we could get Cissy to
post a national list), and each gives there results in a different way usually
depending upon how much cash you send them.  The cheapest will send you a read
out in pounds of the following available nutrients per acre furrow slice ( one
acre 6" deep, which is equivilent to the acre measurement used in the
calculations above) :

pH value, units:  (for most crops should be between 6.8 and 7.1 more later)
Organic Matter:   (2% and up although most plants thrive when it is around 6%)

Ammonia Nitrogen: (should be between 50 to 100 )
Nitrate Nitrogen: (30 to 50 will explain the differences later)
Total Available Nitrogen: ( should be between 80 and 150 depending on the crop)

Phosphorus: (can be elemental or carrier depending on the company - 150 and up)
Potassium : (     "        350 and up)
Calcium:    (2000 and up)

Magnesium: (100 and up)
Manganese: (1 to 5)
Sulfate (SO4): (250 and up):

Chloride: (100 or less)
Sodium:   (300 or less)

You may also get a report on micronutrients and Cation exchange capacity.


                Essential Plant Elements and Their Sources

Nutrients used in LARGE amounts         Nutrients used in SMALL amounts
      (macronutrients)

Mostly from Air and Water:             From Soil Solids:

Carbon                                 Iron
Hydrogen                               Mangenese
Oxygen                                 Boron
Nitrogen                               Molybdenum
                                       Copper
From Soil Solids:                      Zinc
                                       Chlorine
Nitrogen                               Cobolt
Phosphorous
Potassium

Calcium
Magnesium
Sulfur

 > Can you post more about the horse manure tea? Why use
 > it instead of straight manure, how to make it, etc.

 > We are REAL new at growing things, but have had pretty
 > good success with snow-peas so far. Lots of 'em.

Congradulations on your success!  Snow peas are one of my favorites.

As far as manure tea goes....

Although I said horse manure it really can be any kind of manure.  It's great to
use chicken waste as it is generally too hot to put directly on your garden.

Fill up a big potatoe (for you D.Q.) sack (or any other kind of sack you happen
to have), with manure.  Place a 2X4 across a 55 gallon drum and suspend the bag
into the barrel.  Fill with water.  In a couple of days you'll have manure tea.
Always stir for it does settle.

Use it on starts, where any other fertilizer would be to strong.  Use it to give
a little extra boost during flowering and fruiting periods.   It helps but it
doesn't overwhelm the plant with nitrogen forcing it back into it's vegetative
cycle.  I water with it once or twice a week in the greenhouse.

                F R E E   F E R T I L I Z E R

    Would you like to have homemade fertilizer? It's free and
YOU control what goes into it. What's more it reduces kitchen
leftovers!!

HOW TO DO IT.

    Put your kitchen & table scraps (except bones & meat fat)
in a food processor/blender. If you have a heavy duty machine
(like a Vita-Mix), you may be able to get away with using
small chicken bones (this adds more trace elements to the
mixture). Fill the container no more than 2/3 full. Add just
enough water to cover the scraps. Grind to desired coarseness
or fineness. If you already have a compost pile, add this
"liquified" compost to it. If not, just pour it directly in
your garden/flower bed.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

    Using pureed garbage in the soil is a type of slow
("cold") composting. This produces more micro-organisms
(which are important for healthy soil) and retains more
nutrients compared to fast "hot" composting. While it is
true that "hot" composting kills weed seeds, there are no
such seeds in leftovers. Of course, more nutrients mean
healthy, more vigorous plants and better harvests. HAPPY
GROWING!!
Ä [16] SUST_AG (9:1992/111) ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ECHOMAIL015 Ä
 Msg  : 44 of 47 - 37                                                           
 From : Lawrence London             1:151/502               Tue 09 Feb 93 21:34 
 To   : Gary Faucett                                                            
 Subj : Sq. Ft. Fertilizing                                                     
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ

 > What is the best fertilizer for the square foot garden? I use a
 > lot
 > of compost, but I need something that will give the plants more
 > nutrients. I'd like to stay organic if possible.

Use rock or colloidal phosphate, New Jersey Greensand, granite screenings
(dust), granulated seaweed, fish emulsion, any other
rock powders available from quarries or Fertrell or ERTH-RITE fertilizers.

---
 * Origin: EARTH*Net-Host:SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE Echo-9199335957 (1:151/502)


 > Sorry I've been abit quiet, I have just spent a number of days out
 > at our research site. I installed a BBS out there and soon hope to
 > encourage local farmers to participate in the activities that we
 > offer.

Great show! Looking forward to communicating with them. Are any of them
vegetable/fruit growers?
Did you install RA under FD with TosScan? Of course you did. :-)

 > I see sust_ag has been rather busy while I have been away, but in
 > future I will be able to participate from our research site. We
 > meet with out field managers every month to review our broad acre
 > management programs and activities.

I'm sure they will find interesting subjects for discussion in this
conference. Hope so anyway.

 > We have about 1,600 acres under our care and our next trials span
 > only a small 10 acres. These new trials will expand my horizons
 > and knowledge, and I am keen to see sustainable agricultural
 > methods in practice. Our government is now pushing hard for
 > minimun till, sustainable methods.

Needless to say I am keenly interested in vegetable production and would like
to learn from the research you are doing. The underground micropore
irrigation could be easily adapted to my farm and would be very effective. A
main advantage would be reduction of water loss through evaporation. Reducing
the time the well pump has to run and the load on the aquifer would be highly
desirable. My 2hp pump would cost well over
$1000 to replace. Purging the pipes with air prior to irrigating with a very
dilute mixture of any combination of fish emulsion/liquid
seaweed/manure tea/compost tea with water should produce fantastic results.
My soil is very well drained, well aerated red-colored
Georgeville silt loam and would respond well to this system of
irrigation/fertilization.

Any input from you on this would be welcome, i.e. the equipment needed
for the system: micropore pipes, liquid pump/air pump, monitoring equipment,
moisture sensors, etc.

       FERTILIZING DECIDUOUS SHADE TREES IN THE LANDSCAPE
                        M.A. (Kim) Powell
               Extension Horticultural Specialist
                 April 1990     LEAFLET NO. 618


Shade trees, like any other landscape plants, will respond to
fertilization.  Most shade trees exist in nature without much
care, but transplanting trees into urban areas or man-made
conditions can create problems.  Often these trees will be
growing in restricted root zone areas, be surrounded by pavement
or compacted soil or even be physically damaged by construction
activities.  One should realize that the root system is just as
important (and delicate) as the above ground parts.  Fertilizer
will not improve the health of a tree stressed by one of these
environmental conditions.  Fertilizer is only one factor in the
complex formula of plant requirements.  The following are general
recommendations for the timing, methods and rates of applying
fertilizer to shade trees.

One should be able to detect when a tree needs fertilizing. 
Symptoms of a nutrient deficient tree include a slow rate and low
amount of annual growth on twigs and trunk, smaller than normal
foliage, off-color foliage, increased amounts of dead branches,
tip-die back in branches, and increased rates of disease and
insect problems.  Trees that possess these symptoms generally
would respond to a fertilization treatment.  One should make sure
that nutrients (or lack of) are the problem before fertilizing. 
Other common tree disorders to be aware of in urban areas would
include poor planting techniques, moisture problems, construction
damage, girdling roots, or utility leaks from a natural gas line
or sewer line.  Soil testing is highly recommended in
questionable situations.  


Soil Testing.  Before selecting a fertilizer take a soil test. 
Take several soil samples from the area, 6-8 inches deep using a
soil sampling tube.  Cores should be collected in a clean pail
and mixed thoroughly.  A soil test will reveal what situations
exist and give a recommendations for adjusting nutrient levels. 
Soil pH should be considered also.  Generally a pH range of
5.2-6.2 is the most desirable.  More acid soils should be limed
to raise the pH while more basic soils should be treated with
sulfur to adjust the pH downward.  Maintaining a soil pH range of
5.2-6.2 for shade trees generally insures that the availability
of essential plant nutrients will be available to the tree.  



Fertilizer Types.  When selecting a fertilizer, purchase a high
nitrogen level fertilizer.  Nitrogen is a principal plant
nutrient, and is important in production and maintenance of color
in the foliage.  Using the proper amount is important since
overdoses can result in root injury while lack of nitrogen may
result in poor vegetative growth.

Ratio of nitrogen to the other two major nutrients, phosphorus
and potassium, should be approximately two or three times higher.
Fertilizers which can be used include 10-5-5, 12-6-6, and
18-6-12.  Several of these fertilizers contain both the urea
formaldehyde and nitrate form of nitrogen, which allows for
smaller amounts of nitrogen to be released over a longer period. 

Root disorders caused by soil compaction, construction damage,
or drought, can be corrected by using fertilizers high in
phosphorus which will promote new root growth.  Superphosphate
(0-20-0) or triple superphosphate (0-46-0) are recommended.  High
nitrogen fertilizers, particularly fast release forms, should be
avoided because the resulting increased top growth will strain
the already inadequate root system.


When to Fertilize.  Normally, shade trees should be fertilized
only enough to keep them healthy.  In heavy soils or soils
underlain by a hardpan, too frequent or too heavy fertilization
may cause nutrients to build up to toxic levels.  This may be
avoided by periodic soil testing which will show abnormally high
or low nutrient levels.  Newly planted trees can be fertilized
annually to induce growth, but an established tree may not need
fertilizer but once every 5 years.  

Usually, October through November and March through May are the
best times to fertilize.  Soil moisture and temperature
conditions are best during these periods, and this will insure
that the fertilizer will be in place at the beginning of the
growing season when maximum benefit will be realized.  Late
summer fertilization may promote late growth which is undesirable
before winter.

Distressed trees should be fertilized at once.  Stress problems
will normally show up during the active growing season.  Root
damaged trees should be fertilized during periods of maximum root
growth which occur during spring, early summer and in early to
mid autumn.  



Where to Apply Fertilizer.  Fertilizer must be placed near the
tree's feeding roots.  The feeding roots begin several feet from
the trunk and can extend beyond the spread of outermost branches
by as much as 40-50%.  Shallow rooted species such as elm or
maple typically have roots that extend well beyond the spread of
the branches.  In such cases, extend the area fertilized to match
the estimated root spread.  


Application Methods.  The method selected will depend on the
plant cover under the tree, soil conditions, and amount of time
and labor available to fertilize the tree. Several common home
methods are discussed below.

1)  Drill Hole - Holes are drilled or punched in the soil in the 
    area to be fertilized.  An auger, punch bar, or crowbar is
    used to make slightly slanted holes 12 to 15 inches deep
    spaced about 3 feet apart.  The recommended amount of
    fertilizer should then be distributed evenly among the holes. 
    It is recommended to mix the fertilizer with peat moss, pine
    bark, or gravel to backfill the holes.  A funnel and a small
    can as a measuring device can be used to place the
    fertilizer/backfill into the holes.  This technique has the
    advantage of aerating the soil as well as placing the
    fertilizer in close contact with the feeder roots.  

2)  Feeding Needles - Several types of "needles" are available
    which inject liquid fertilizer solutions into soil.  The
    addition of fertilizer in solution adds moisture to the soil,
    provides nutrients almost immediately since nutrients must be
    in solution before roots can absorb them, and provides more
    even distribution.  Several types of liquid feeding needles
    are available commercially.  In most types, a plant food
    cartridge is placed in a chamber and water is supplied by a
    garden hose in the ground at the proper depth.  Needles do
    not work well in heavy soils at normal home water pressures. 
    Avoid high nitrogen, fast release plant food cartridges for
    root damaged trees.  

3)  Surface - The simplest and fastest way to apply fertilizer is
    to spread it on the lawn or soil surface under the branch
    spread.  (Many horticulturists believe this method to be just
    as effective.)  To prevent lawn or groundcover damage, the
    fertilizer should be applied in split applications with
    thorough watering after each application.  One application of
    the recommended amount followed by thorough watering is
    sufficient on bare soil areas.  Phosphorus, and to a lesser
    extent potassium, do not move well through soil; therefore,
    the fertilizer should be tilled or watered in, thoroughly. 
    Frequently, surface fed trees develop shallow (sometimes
    above ground) root systems which interfere with mowing,
    adversely affect grass growth, and make the tree more drought
    susceptible.  


Application Rates for Deciduous Trees.  The rate of application
will vary with the size of the tree.  Two methods of determining
fertilizer rates are commonly used for deciduous trees.

1)  Diameter of Trunk - Apply 3-5 pounds of 10-6-4 (or similar
    analysis fertilizer) for each inch of trunk diameter measured
    at 4 1/2 feet above ground.  For example, a 10 inch diameter
    tree required 30 to 50 pounds of 10-6-4 fertilizer. Diameters
    can be found by the following formula:

       Diameter = circumference x .318

    *(This method is not recommended if the root zone area is
        restricted by curbs, paving, etc.)

2)  Crown Spread Area - Apply 5-6 pounds of actual nitrogen per
    1000 square feet of soil surface area under the spread of the
    branches (crown spread).  Crown spread can be determined by
    the following formula.  The radius is the distance from the
    trunk of the tree to the edge of the branch spread.

       Crown Spread = (Radius) 2 x 3.14

    Example: if a tree has a crown radius of 18 feet, crown
    spread = 18 x 18 x 3.14 = 1017 square feet. The recommended
    rate would be 50 pounds of 10-6-4 fertilizer (10% nitrogen,
    6% phosphorus, 4% potassium).

    For trees less than 8 inches in trunk diameter, use 1/2 the
    above recommended rates. If the surface area beneath the
    crown spread of tree is obstructed (as by sidewalk, driveway,
    or street), reduce application rate by the approximate
    percent that the obstruction covers the soil surface area
    under the spread of the branches.  


Application Rate for Evergreen Trees.  Rates for evergreen trees
with over a 10 inch diameter can be calculated the same as for
deciduous trees.  For evergreens between 4 and 10 inches in
diameter, use 1/2 the rate recommended for deciduous trees of the
same size.  For evergreens between 1 and 4 inches in diameter,
use 1/2 pound fertilizer per foot in height or 6 to 8 pounds of
fertilizer per 100 square feet of crown area (assuming a 10-6-4)
or similar fertilizer is used).


Application Rate for Root Disorders.  Apply 3 pounds
superphosphate (0-20-0) or 1 1/2 pounds triple superphosphate (0-
46-0) per each inch of trunk diameter.  Professional advice
should be obtained, if the tree does not respond to one
application, before applying a second dose of fertilizer.  

                              * * * * *
 
