A soil question

There's a good questiion and it's partly a semantic matter, rather than a
matter of culture of plants. What's being referred to here is actually a
clay-based soil, a clayey loam ( in all likelihood). Using the cake
metaphor is very good. and knifing leaves and compost into the clay is one
way of doing it. . What this will do is break it up for better aeration
You're going to improve your soil by adding a volume of compostable material
(rough and only partially decomposed in an amount about equal to at least
the volume of the clay--including bark and twigs). Start with about a
good-sized shovelfull. Then add an amount of coarse builder's sand equal
to the already improved (and worked volume) of material you started with.
Clay is now about 1/4th the volume of the entire mess. Add in about a half
pint of pelletized gypsum. Mix it all, water it, and it'll grow most plants
very well. It should drain freely A large flower pot of it should drain in
less than 5 minutes if filled to the brim and watered with a gallon of
water.

If it doesn't drain this fast, get coarser sand to add, and put in more of
the coarse compostable material. Consider this a kind of baseline soil to
work with. This may not work for everybody, but it works for me with the
clayey loam I have here that turns to near concrete in the summer when the
thermometer climbs into the 90s.
I can grow most lilies in it, arisaemas, vegetables, local native plants,
Asian arisaemas, rhododendrons and azaleas, lilies, irises,
erythroniums,hymenocallis, hellebores, tree peonies and herbaceous types,
etc.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Laura & Dave" <toadlily@olywa.net>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 2:55 PM
Subject: [pbs] A soil question

Hello all
Perhaps some of you can explain something regarding soils to me. I
was looking up culture for potted "Ipheion sellowianum" (yes, I know
that it may be called something else now), and I have once again run
across the phrase "a clay soil, rich in organic matter". When I think
of clay, it is the type found for making into pots, bowls, plates and
chalices. There is no organic matter, that I know of. When I've dug
around in the ground in Southern Ohio, at my in-laws' place, there seems
to be a layer of organic matter on the surface, in various stages of
decay as one descends into the soil, and then a fairly homogeneous layer
of clay, reaching down to bedrock. Is the organic matter spoken of in
the clay in a micro particle state in the clay? Or is the organic
matter at the molecular scale; that is, only organic molecules?
Does one duplicate this soil by putting compost into clay, and knifing
it in, kinda like making biscuits with shortening and flour? What
substitute soil type fools the plants into thinking that they are in
their ideal conditions?
I've come to the conclusion that soil is the key to understanding
plant growth; if you reverse the way one looks at plants, with the main
organism underground, and an attached solar collector, ventilation
system and reproductive organs all stuck up to wave around in the
weather, you see what I'm thinking.
However, the study of soil is a difficult subject, and I'd welcome any
help here that I can get!!

Thanks
Dave Brastow, Tumwater Washington (7A)
_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/