Soil Test Results-Now What?

[so lucky]

So I sent off a soil sample to the extension office, and got the results back today. It said I have:
"Medium to very high ratings on phosphorous, potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
Cation exchange capacity 14.1.
ph is 6.9
Organic matter is 4.2%
It said don't add N, P or K
Don't add calcium, wood ashes or lime."

I am curious why the organic matter is only 4.2%, in a clay soil, since I have been adding lots of chicken manure, straw, grass cuttings, etc for several years.

And I'm really curious why my tomatoes did so poorly last year. I usually do crop rotation to help cut down on diseases. Any suggestions, you knowledgeable folks? Like @MontyJ? @Ridgerunner? Steve? (lots of other smart people, too....just can't think of names right now)

 

[Smart Red]

Just did a short search. Found this:
"The amount of organic matter in surface, mineral soils can vary from less than 1% in coarse-textured, sandy soils to more than 5% in fertile, prairie grasslands."
At that rate, your soil is doing just fine at 4.2%, @so lucky. It sounds like a pretty good number for a working garden.

 

[seedcorn]

Lucky, that's great soil. In NE Indiana, we don't have that much OM in 4 acres. Now rocks, we have about 10%-the ugly ones....

 

[Ridgerunner]

In what way did your tomatoes do poorly? You gotta narrow that one down a bit before I'm going to make a guess.

Did they have any recommendations about adding anything? Maybe something like sulfur to try to lower that pH a bit? On the surface that pH looks high but what you need is some complex thing Monty understands which looks at Base Saturation, CEC, and pH together to see if it is really a problem. It's probably not.

That CEC is kind of high. That means you soil is holding a lot of good stuff ready to give it to your plants. That's why the high pH probably isn't a problem.

Chicken manure, straw, grass cuttings, etc are organic materials. When they decompose they become organic matter. You might remember Steve talking about how a pile of compost really shrinks as it composts. I found a source that said it takes about 10 pounds of organic material to make 1 pound of organic matter. That organic matter will continue to decompose but fairly slowly. Basically you have to add a huge amount to make much difference. Take Red's word for it that you are doing good there.

@Smart Red , a source I found said it would take 100 tons of organic material per acre to add 1% organic matter to the top 6" of soil. 100 tons! I'm going to need a bigger wheelbarrow.

 

[so lucky]

Thanks, friends, for your thoughtful answers. I thought I saw a reference to organic material for Arkansas that implied that 5% would be a low-end figure. And just extrapolated wrongly.
@Ridgerunner, last year my tomatoes---all OP but one, were spindly, pale, sparse foliage, weak stems, produced few fruit (some none at all) and got sunscald due to the poor leaf cover. Rootballs were small. Fruit was smaller than expected. Most of the plants died off slowly over the course of the season, with yellowing from the bottom up. I couldn't actually say they were diseased, just quick to succumb to death. I used organic fertilizer, and calcium to prevent BER, and used ENERgize twice over the season, per directions. They were mulched pretty heavily, and so I did not water them very much.
On the other hand, peppers did well 8 feet away, and other crops did fairly well.
Does that give you anything to work with? They didn't really look very good as seedlings, either, so maybe it is my propagation methods, and they were stunted/stressed from the get-go?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know what ENERgize is. I found something for canola but nothing for tomatoes. Did you perhaps over-fertilize and burn the plants? From your analysis you really don't need to fertilize much.

With your soils there is no reason to ad calcium. With clay there almost never is. What usually causes BER is too much or too little water, which affects how much calcium gets moved to the parts of the plant that needs it. Since you mulch heavily you should not have a problem with that. Last year was not all that dry or hot here and I suspect you were pretty much the same.

I've put tomato plants (and others) out too early where some get stunted and never do much good. But some plants side by side and going through the same stuff did great. It's possible something did stunt them.

As slow as they died back it does not sound like a disease I'm familiar with. Hopefully someone else has some ideas.

 

[MontyJ]

With the limited info from your test report, I don't see anything wrong. Your CEC and pH are dead on, and with an adequate Ca amount, that rules out aluminum toxicity. I also doubt a weak seedling issue. They may have been weak at planting, but they should have recovered. I have planted some tomatoes that should have gone to compost pile and they never fail to surprise me.
As was mentioned, OM is extremely hard to increase quickly due to the massive amounts required. You just have to keep plugging away at it.
My guess is your tomatoes suffered some sort of nutrient imbalance. Is it possible the soil held too much water? Also, did you happen to use peat pots? Did the plants appear to wilt in the heat of the day?
My initial guess is wet feet.

 

[flowerweaver]

Lucky, I was also thinking how great your soil nutrients and pH sound--I would consider it a success if I could get all my fields down to 6.5 from my 8.0!!! I would agree with Monty, that it sounds like there's too much waterlogging from the clay. One way to add tilth and aeration to clay soil is by adding sand, which won't raise your nitrogen level like compost. It also doesn't decompose, so it's a good investment. You could also plant your tomatoes in raised beds so they drain better if you are not already doing so.

It's also possible your tomatoes got blight. Here where it's so dry I don't experience it, but I know it's become rampant in many parts of the US.

 

[so lucky]

I think I did use peat pots, but I always tear the top half inch or so off, and make sure they get covered with soil. I usually plant tomatoes pretty deep anyway. Is there another issue about peat pots? I don't like that they seem to dry out so quickly while I have the plants under the lights inside. Maybe they don't decompose properly? Do most of us on this forum use peat, or plastic pots to grow seedlings on to transplant size?

Thinking about the waterlogging possibility: we did have several rains early in the season that flooded the garden. I remember the pepper plants were standing in water for a couple of days, but they seemed to survive, but maybe the same conditions were too much for the tomatoes.

The Energize stuff is a product that was marketed heavily in this area last year, on TV and at the garden shops. Testimonials about increased yields, etc. Is suppposed to have enzymes or some magic potion in it; states not a fertilizer, but makes the fertilizer work better. Maybe like the old "Superthrive"? I can't find the nearly empty bottle in my basement, nor any ads for it yet this year. Seems suspicious to me! I'm not even I have the right name.
Thanks, y'all!

 

[MontyJ]

In my experience, peat pots restrict root growth just when the plant needs to expand the root ball the most, when young. Some years ago I did some experiments with peat pots and root development. You can test it yourself with some "expendable" plants. Start some seeds in peat pots and without. Plant all the seedlings out and wait a few weeks. Then dig up the plants. You'll see.
While flowerweaver brings up a good point about blight, and it is likely that blight finished them off, they were overly susceptible to it because of their weakened state.
I would like to see the micro levels of your soil, but judging from the limited results you do have, I wouldn't expect to see anything seriously out of line. I still think wet feet was the culprit.

Many people believe adding sand to clay soil will help, and in some cases it can. I personally wouldn't recommend it. You would do better to continue adding all the OM you can. I know the test results said not to add calcium, but it cannot harm the soil and can help to break up the clay much better than sand. The CEC of your soil will regulate how much Ca is available to the plants. Any overabundance will remain in suspension, and not be available to harm the plants. Gypsum is the best choice for adding Ca. If you want some really good advice, send a soil test to A&L Eastern Labs. It's pretty cheap and you get the added benefit of being able to call the lab and talk to a true soil professional. They may have a lab closer to you, so just Google A&L labs.

And one more tip...stay away from the snake oil. Your soil is fully capable of growing tomatoes just the way it is