Top dressed vs buried in an oxygen deficient soil base are two different things. If a 60$ bag of premium vermicompost can help me get 1000s of dollars of homegrown produce its not as outrageous as you might think. People pay that for a single meal.
Well that explains so many of my failures! At least now I can do things right, and stop mixing compost into my soil… thank you so much for sharing this priceless information 😁
Love your videos Gary. Thanks for your exceptional soil videos. Wondering if you would consider doing a video on edible palms like dates and coconuts some time? Looking forward to more great content. Cheers.
not all rivers are same. our standard topsoil is some spent mushroom compost and river dredging material, which is silt and clay. it looks wonderful when they deliver it, so friable, but turns into concrete within a season. nurseries and garden centres and influencers that have connections with suppliers, are not as thick/ignorant as they pretend..compost and similar material is an absolute goldmine in profits. you will often see youtube channels recommend raised beds for no apparent reason, apart from bs they spin about it and their connection to compost or raised bed construction suppliers. raised beds are a lot more trouble than they're worth, if you're on soil that you can work with, including clay, which can be often drastically transformed with hydrated lime and ammonium sulfate.
@@adrianjohnson1028 : the hydrated lime is the main ingredient that changes mucky clay to something friable and able to dry out. i used about 0.5 to 1 inch of hydrated lime (about 3 big bags on my 25 x 25 foot veggie patch) and thoroughly incorporated into top few inches of soil. you dont want any clumps of the lime to form. the ammonium sulfate will be used over time as regular fertilizer to bring down the ph if necessary. i've done this big change with loads of hydrated lime around existing veggies and also in perennial parts of garden. soil improved a lot and havent seen any plants suffer from the temporary ph spike. i'm also now incorporating 2 inches of river sand into veggie patch, to further improve texture.
@@adrianjohnson1028 : every so many years, as calcium is mobile. a non gardening use i found was "soil stabilization lime". my soil already had adequate ph but needed calcium. garden lime is slower acting and more expensive (less concentrated) source of lime. i've seen also a video or two of farmers applying lime, and they also use the cheaper and more concentrated hydrated lime.
I used to not understand with why you never really focused too much on compost until today. I've just finished harvesting bok choy from my pot and all of the peat moss has turned to sludge. I may have added too much fertilizer, but the soil has turned anaerobic and I had to mix and amend my pot with some sand. I guess I'll be using synthetic fertilizer sparingly. I may also have to eventually re-pot my blueberries with charcoal and sand in the next few years
Yup. Typically charcoal is first inoculated with biology first before being added, it is called biochar. But something tell me this guy ain't doing that 😅
When i buy kis mix soil its actually better the second year if i leave the pots overwinter i agree with most of what you say but my view is a high quality fully finished leaf fish horse or grass compost in the right amounts doesnt seem to rot as peat based mediums provide even better drainage than sand silt or clay
I get that compost shouldn't be mixed with clay soil. But what about top dressing such soil with compost as a 3-4" mulch layer ? This would improve soil structure overtime as it will promote soil life and also helps retain moisture due to a thick mulch layer . Is it advisable to follow this route ?
Percent of soil is by atomic weight unless stated otherwise. Silt and clay are in the same range of particle size the biggest difference being how they were created. Clay is created by chemical decomposition of the parent rock while silt is created by mechanical decomposition. Clay has the highest potential of yield because the hugely greater surface space per gram of material.
The most important thing to understand about phosphorus isn't the amount in the soil. It is the amount of available phosphorus because phosphate can get chemically bound to soil up to three different ways at the same time. The easiest key to unlock phosphorus is fall manure.
This guy is trying to help you, he has completely changed my mind on how to run my market garden nursery. He also gives away his soil recipe in detail and gives you all the principles you need to make your own with whatever ingredients you have access to.
I was looking forward to this information, however 2 hours is a deep dive into soil. I'm sure there's lots of information to cover, but any way to get the short answer on improving our garden soil? I don't intend to offend.
The shortest video we have on soil at the moment is titled “Your dirt may be killing your plants” and here’s a link to it ua-cam.com/video/KHZHy3_7PPE/v-deo.htmlsi=f2wNy_LNKwNnsC0Q It’s about 17 minutes long. We also have info sheets on our website lagunahillsnursery.com under the Soil Info tab. Hope that helps! 😊 -Brandon, LHN Media Rep
Those of us who aren’t able to attend in person, depend on the video to hear the comments. I wish Gary would at least restate the main point of the questions from the audience. Sometimes the answers to the questions are informative. Other times Gary will agree with the commenter and doesn’t elaborate. 😕
I guess Gary doesn't have an endorsement deal with Vermisterra to promote their worm castings and worm tea.
Mmmm worm tea. Sounds delicious
Top dressed vs buried in an oxygen deficient soil base are two different things. If a 60$ bag of premium vermicompost can help me get 1000s of dollars of homegrown produce its not as outrageous as you might think. People pay that for a single meal.
Thank you Gary! I could listen to you talk about soil for hours!
Well that explains so many of my failures! At least now I can do things right, and stop mixing compost into my soil… thank you so much for sharing this priceless information 😁
Highly appreciate you Gary for sharing such Wisdom that I had been looking for after years of growing. How can I ever repay you?
This new information changes everything in our small business.
Love your videos Gary. Thanks for your exceptional soil videos. Wondering if you would consider doing a video on edible palms like dates and coconuts some time? Looking forward to more great content. Cheers.
not all rivers are same. our standard topsoil is some spent mushroom compost and river dredging material, which is silt and clay. it looks wonderful when they deliver it, so friable, but turns into concrete within a season.
nurseries and garden centres and influencers that have connections with suppliers, are not as thick/ignorant as they pretend..compost and similar material is an absolute goldmine in profits. you will often see youtube channels recommend raised beds for no apparent reason, apart from bs they spin about it and their connection to compost or raised bed construction suppliers. raised beds are a lot more trouble than they're worth, if you're on soil that you can work with, including clay, which can be often drastically transformed with hydrated lime and ammonium sulfate.
Can you please provide more info on changing clay soil with lime and ammonium sulfate? Thank you!
@@adrianjohnson1028 : the hydrated lime is the main ingredient that changes mucky clay to something friable and able to dry out. i used about 0.5 to 1 inch of hydrated lime (about 3 big bags on my 25 x 25 foot veggie patch) and thoroughly incorporated into top few inches of soil. you dont want any clumps of the lime to form. the ammonium sulfate will be used over time as regular fertilizer to bring down the ph if necessary. i've done this big change with loads of hydrated lime around existing veggies and also in perennial parts of garden. soil improved a lot and havent seen any plants suffer from the temporary ph spike.
i'm also now incorporating 2 inches of river sand into veggie patch, to further improve texture.
@@Chris-op7yt fascinating. Are these changes lasting, or do you have to reapply the lime and till in on a recurring basis?
@@adrianjohnson1028 : every so many years, as calcium is mobile. a non gardening use i found was "soil stabilization lime". my soil already had adequate ph but needed calcium. garden lime is slower acting and more expensive (less concentrated) source of lime. i've seen also a video or two of farmers applying lime, and they also use the cheaper and more concentrated hydrated lime.
Thank you Gary.
I used to not understand with why you never really focused too much on compost until today. I've just finished harvesting bok choy from my pot and all of the peat moss has turned to sludge. I may have added too much fertilizer, but the soil has turned anaerobic and I had to mix and amend my pot with some sand. I guess I'll be using synthetic fertilizer sparingly. I may also have to eventually re-pot my blueberries with charcoal and sand in the next few years
Another great video! Thanks, Gary! I have a question: can hardwood charcoal (the one normally used for BBQs) be crushed and used in soil mixes?
Yup. Typically charcoal is first inoculated with biology first before being added, it is called biochar. But something tell me this guy ain't doing that 😅
Gary, can you give me the actual particle sizes for the Pumice, Sand, and DG? Thx, Rick
When i buy kis mix soil its actually better the second year if i leave the pots overwinter i agree with most of what you say but my view is a high quality fully finished leaf fish horse or grass compost in the right amounts doesnt seem to rot as peat based mediums provide even better drainage than sand silt or clay
Thank you Garry so adding compost to soil isn’t really helping anything?
I get that compost shouldn't be mixed with clay soil. But what about top dressing such soil with compost as a 3-4" mulch layer ? This would improve soil structure overtime as it will promote soil life and also helps retain moisture due to a thick mulch layer . Is it advisable to follow this route ?
That works perfectly fine -Brandon
Can you give me the actual particle size for the Sand, DG, and Pumice?
Have you tried rice hulls/husks in potting soil? Do you use it instead of peat moss?
I have. Works great imo. I mixed with sand and peat moss. If you got access to it, go for it.
Percent of soil is by atomic weight unless stated otherwise.
Silt and clay are in the same range of particle size the biggest difference being how they were created. Clay is created by chemical decomposition of the parent rock while silt is created by mechanical decomposition. Clay has the highest potential of yield because the hugely greater surface space per gram of material.
Where do the nutrients come from?
I had to kill 7 papaya plants to figure out I needed to start adding lots more sand and pumice to my dirt . 😢
Look up terra preta some of the worlds best soil was horrible clay amended with bio activated charcoals that over time grew alot.
If you are going to use heavy equipment on farmland then you should specify use of a subsoiler before calling the job complete to restore drainage.
The most important thing to understand about phosphorus isn't the amount in the soil. It is the amount of available phosphorus because phosphate can get chemically bound to soil up to three different ways at the same time. The easiest key to unlock phosphorus is fall manure.
👍🫶👍
This store only sells plants, in order to sell you bags of soil.
if you watch these videos the mediums recommended are not even what they are selling, truly a gift
This guy is trying to help you, he has completely changed my mind on how to run my market garden nursery. He also gives away his soil recipe in detail and gives you all the principles you need to make your own with whatever ingredients you have access to.
You can freely go buy everything and make your own., pos but you dont say anything about the bigbox stores.
Smile sometimes try be a happier person
Guess your store sells the other stuff 😂
I was looking forward to this information, however 2 hours is a deep dive into soil. I'm sure there's lots of information to cover, but any way to get the short answer on improving our garden soil? I don't intend to offend.
The shortest video we have on soil at the moment is titled “Your dirt may be killing your plants” and here’s a link to it ua-cam.com/video/KHZHy3_7PPE/v-deo.htmlsi=f2wNy_LNKwNnsC0Q It’s about 17 minutes long. We also have info sheets on our website lagunahillsnursery.com under the Soil Info tab. Hope that helps! 😊
-Brandon, LHN Media Rep
Thanks so much! I really appreciate all of the help and information you share!
Those of us who aren’t able to attend in person, depend on the video to hear the comments. I wish Gary would at least restate the main point of the questions from the audience. Sometimes the answers to the questions are informative. Other times Gary will agree with the commenter and doesn’t elaborate. 😕