Allan - Gypsum increases calcium w/o introducing lime or changing the ph. Also colloidal phosphate is a good source of calcium. Aragonite is a great low-mag source of calcium, but it will also raise the ph. Finally, a serving of Azomite never hurt anything. Eh? Best, Essie
At 08:55 AM 3/11/02 -0500, you wrote: >Mind sharing how you plant and manage your potatoes? > >I've been very disappointed with my crops the past two years. Doing great >on the freedom from bugs and pretty good on the freedom from blight (last >year I mis-identified a fungal attack for sunscald and lost a whole row of >a variety by responding two late. For whatever reason, an application of >equisetum tea brought the others through, however. > > >Hugh tells me that he doesn't hill any more. He mulches with old hay. >(Anyone got good tips for unrolling big bales??) I've got lots of old >straw, but straw holds so much water, it kind of worries me to have it >around the spuds. I did lose a crop of spuds one year by apply hay after >the tops had come up: they melted away with fungus withing the week. > >Woody's suggestion of dipping the cut pieces in a slurry of local clay and >BC has worked very well for us. I don't think we ever have a cutting that >doesn't result in a plant. > >A good geek question for me: my Albrecht report suggests two tons of lime >an acres. The area I want to put the spuds in has not been limed (the pH >is 6.8) and I'd like to lime it after I put the spuds in but most sources >say to not lime a spud patch because it leads to scab. For myself, >however, I can easily suspect that my low yields could be attributed to >not enough calcium-based lime in the soils (Ideas?) > >How do you do your spuds?
