Bad Soil? - Page 2

 take a test kit and send in smales of your soil, then you'll know what needs
to be adjusted.


--
There are those who believe that life here, began out there, far across the
universe, with tribes of humans, who may have been the forefathers of the
Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that they may yet be
brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the
heavens.


The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Sidewalk Astronomy
www.sidewalkastronomy.info
The Church of Eternity
http://home.inreach.com/starlord/church/Eternity.html

 
Where do you live?

 Note -  I have worked on optimum fertility levels for trees.  The problem at
this time with sending soil samples to Universities is that they make
recommendations for corn most of the time.  I know of no one having optimum
fertility levels for trees.  My recommendations of adding composted wood
chips and leaves properly as a mulch would help increase soil health.  If
interested in more detail contact me.  The other thing is starting on the
right path by properly planting trees and selecting healthy trees to start.
many of your problems may be that the trees were not planted correctly.
TREE PLANTING
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/sub1.html

SOIL MANAGEMENT
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/sub3.html

I do agree that many problems start with the soil.
See this article for more detail:
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/shigo/RHIZO.html

and
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/shigo/CHEM.html

And then comes the possibility that your trees were improperly pruned.  This
can cause a whole list of problems.

Again if you are interested in talking about these topics in more detail
contact me at:
610-864-5251

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and  www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

 I suppose some universities might lean in the direction of testing soil
for farm crops, especially in states that are focused on agriculture.
However, here in Wisconsin at least, you can specify the "crop"
recommendation you need from a list of 9 categories that break down to
41 specific crops.  For example, there are 41 crops listed in the fruit
category alone.

That said, I agree with an earlier poster that there are many other
conditions besides soil quality, and I suspect that soil quality is
usually the last on the list of culprits.

So then, the lawn: If there are a lot of trees or the trees that are
there have heavy canopies, it could simply be that the lawn doesn't get
enough sun or water to thrive.  If there is heavy shade, make sure
you're growing a grass that's suited to shade.  Even then, you may have
to water manually if the area under the trees is blocked from getting an
inch of water a week.

Then the dying trees:  Someone else raised the questions of what makes
you think they're dying, what type of trees, where do you live, etc.
That info would help a lot to get a better idea of what might be going on.

Regards,
Soozie Cue