Certainly if the soil is poor 'not preps alone' should be your watchword, and the use of compost and/or compost tea could be considered. Equipment to deliver compost effectively might include something like a Rexius Express Blower, www.expressblower.com .
Dears, He's right. Preps alone are no answer. The building blocks of good soil must be present to build good soil. This means cation exchange capacity soil full of nutrients, as well as the creme' de la creme' of micro-organisms- azotobacters and their predators, which soil-food-web compost compost might supply. If soil calcium levels are low, having the patterns of the preps out there is little help if the appropriate species are not out there stimulating the aztobacters to fix nitrogen and do the nitrogen chemistry that should, ideally be done outside the plant. It's an intricate dance, but one that growqers could get off chemicals and gain enormously from. Here I've been growing corn as a soil improvement crop without fertilizers and getting killer yields. I'm not sure everyone is in a position to do this, but I've proved it possible. Best, Hugh Lovel
