Category: Soil and Fertilizers

Soil and Fertilizers

Plant Nutrient Deficiency Symptoms and How to Correct Them

There are 90 or more plant nutrients, 17 of which are essential to plant health. Nickle was the newest to the list in the 1980’s. Without these nutrients plants cannot complete their life cycle. For a review on the role each of the nutrients plays in plant health visit 17 Essential Soil Nutrients For Plant Health. Silicon, cobalt and vanadium are also important nutrients to many plants … Continue reading Plant Nutrient Deficiency Symptoms and How to Correct Them

Kimberley PacholkoLeave a comment
Soil and Fertilizers

Calcium It’s Role in Soil and Plant Health

What is Calcium? Calcium is an essential plant nutrient who’s role is vital to both plant and soil health. Its presence in the soil affects everything from soil pH and soil salinity to a soils structure. Its uptake by plants is vital to cellular health where it serves to strengthen and thicken cell walls and to regulate cell permeability. Its role as secondary messenger additionally … Continue reading Calcium It’s Role in Soil and Plant Health

Kimberley Pacholko2 Comments
Lawn Care and Problems, Soil and Fertilizers, Tree and Shrub Problems, Winter Damage and Protection

Winter Garden Care – Protecting Your Plants From Salt Damage

Rock salt or Sodium Chloride (Na Cl) is commonly used to deice roads and walkways. As a deicer it is fast, easy to use, effective and affordable. On the downside though, its corrosive nature is damaging to vehicles, roads and pathways. This same salt can also be very damaging to plant material. There are 3 ways in which salt can damage your plant material: What … Continue reading Winter Garden Care – Protecting Your Plants From Salt Damage

Kimberley PacholkoLeave a comment
Soil and Fertilizers

17 Essential Plant Nutrients and Their Role in Plant Health

There are 90 or more plant nutrients, 17 of which are essential to plant health. Nickle was the newest to the list in the 1980’s. 3 are considered Basic Macronutrients or atmospheric elements and are usually available in sufficient quantities through air, water and soil. Note: Nitrogen is also considered an atmospheric element, as air consists of 78% nitrogen (N2). However, atmospheric nitrogen is not … Continue reading 17 Essential Plant Nutrients and Their Role in Plant Health

Kimberley Pacholko2 Comments
Soil and Fertilizers

Mycorrhizae Fungi -Your Plants Ticket to Good Health

What are Mycorrhizae Fungi? The word Mycorrhizae literally means ‘Fungus Root’ coming from the Greek words ‘mycos’ meaning fungus, and ‘rhiza’ meaning root.  Mycorrhizae are special soil fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots. In this association both organisms’ benefit. The fungi attach themselves to the roots and feed on the sugars (carbon) produced by the plant during photosynthesis. In exchange the fungi … Continue reading Mycorrhizae Fungi -Your Plants Ticket to Good Health

Kimberley PacholkoLeave a comment
Soil and Fertilizers

Identifying and Correcting Soil Problems

IDENTIFYING & CORRECTING SOIL PROBLEMS: Some soils have special challenges to face that go beyond texture, pH imbalances and nutrient deficiencies. Failure to address these issues will usually result in poor plant health even death.  HARDPAN: Hardpan is an impervious layer of soil at or near the soil surface. Roots, nutrients and water can barely (if at all) penetrate it. It is a difficult condition to … Continue reading Identifying and Correcting Soil Problems

Kimberley PacholkoLeave a comment
Soil and Fertilizers

FERTILIZERS – Natural Verses Synthetic

Wikipedia defines fertilizer as “any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin (other than liming materials) that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants.” Many of the nutrients essential to plant growth already exist in sufficient amounts in your soil and require no further supplementation. While others quickly can become depleted and … Continue reading FERTILIZERS – Natural Verses Synthetic

Kimberley PacholkoLeave a comment
Soil and Fertilizers

Soil pH and it’s Importance

What is pH? The small “p” stands for potential, and the capital “H” stands for Hydrogen. It pertains to a soil’s acidity or alkalinity. In some gardening books you may see soil described as being sweet or sour. Sweet soil means a soil is alkaline whereas a sour soil means it is acidic. Why is pH important to plant health? A soils pH is of paramount … Continue reading Soil pH and it’s Importance

Kimberley PacholkoLeave a comment
Soil and Fertilizers

SOIL TEXTURE AND SOIL STRUCTURE

Soil Texture Is one of the most important things to know about your soil. Soil is comprised of different sizes of mineral particles. The relative amounts of each of these different sized particles constitute a soils texture. There are 3 main soil textures; sandy, silty or clayey and there are pluses and minuses to each one. Get a container and collect a small sample of … Continue reading SOIL TEXTURE AND SOIL STRUCTURE

Kimberley PacholkoLeave a comment