".................listing of all required plant nutrients:
C HOPKNS CaFe, Mg B Mn CuZn MoCl = In spoken English, one pronounces the
phrase: "See Hopkins Cafe, Managed by my cousin Mozel
Carbon, Hydrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Nitrogen, Sulphur, Calcium, Iron,
Magnesium, Boron, Manganese, Copper, Zinc, Molybdenum, and Chlorine. We may
someday have to come up with a modified version to account for the concern
that Sodium (Na), Silicon (Si), and Nickel (Ni) are potential additions to
the list. In the meanwhile there is plenty to do just discovering the roles
of the known nutrients in the life of a plant"
http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/Posters/Photoguide.htm<<<< courtesy
of
.................................
So where do you want to start Laurie? :-)
...
id say you have high sodium levels ( due to your water supply- do you have
their yearly analysis of the water quality... SHould be a listing for water
hardness and a breakdown of Magnesium, Ca.cium, Sodium...
...... Our water here off the pipe in san diego runs agbout 50 ppm Ca, 25 ppm
Mg,
,,,Sodium registers at 80 ppm
coupled w/ low potassium low Magnesium, Calcium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen...
etc. Im guessing based on past experience w/ my own failures, what i've read
on the subject and how your experience compares
.. Are you putting an inch of coffee grounds down a month?
Some composts can contain extreme salt concentrations- quite alkaline...
you could try some gypsum,, a teaspoon maybe per 6 inch container.... if you
do nothing else this might just shift the symptoms to another area as
another element becomes "limiting".
bille
,,
I'm having a miserable time, again, trying to get things to grow in
pots. ... My basil does very poorly, stays quite stunted and tries to
flower instantly. Pineapple sage from last year is struggling to put out a
few leaves while plants
.... I've potted thesein a variety of finished compost and potting soil.
They get occasional
coffee grounds sprinkled on top, and they are mulched as well. I
haven't fertilized much, so maybe this is a cause. When I tried a
seaweed liquid I had on hand, everything I applied it to looked
decidedly worse for a week,
Regards, Laurie
I'm not sure on the water here, but I'll look into it. We're served by
run-off from the Sierra's which in this area puts us far ahead of other
SF area communities who are drawing water from the river delta with
significant agricultural pollutant factors. It has some of the
characteristics of "hard" water though, so I'm not surprised if that's
part of the problem.
Would the inch of coffee grounds be a good thing, or a bad thing? I
tend to spread them around to different parts of the garden, but if they
were especially helpful for the pots, I could concentrate them there.
How often would it make sense to change the soil in a pot? These have
been going for a year and a half. I leave all the plant residue in
them, and have been just adding new plants or seeds plus mulch since
there are always a few things still growing when the majority die off
and I hate to disturb them.
Thanks all for the suggestions. I'm feeling like I might be able to
work through this at get something going instead of giving up
altogether:)
Regards, Laurie
Mill Valley, CA
thing?
....................I don't know.... as i'm experimenting w/ grounds for
the first time , this year, for myself.
It would have something to do w/ the demands of the plant in the pot- to be
sure.
I would try on one,, but again you're chancing the possibility the the
symptoms will only change over to another limiting element.......
As to changing the sol in the pot- again it would have to do w/ the nature
of theplant in the pot...
bonsai plants- prolly not needed... corn/ squash/ other veggies -
definately.
