Hi greeneyes and everyone! Wow, as I start this post, I’m on the first page!
This week we had an INCREDIBLE class on BUGS!
There is a lot to share on it, but as I mentioned to greeneyes earlier, I am seeking to complete the soil notes before delving into the other stuff. I guess we’ll be doing these posts for the foreseeable future! There’s a lot here!
In the meantime, I did want to share a couple of things from the bug class:
Our presenter was Eric J. Rebek. He helped us learn to identify various “bugs” to the Linnaeus “Order” level. We looked at such things as wing type, mouth structures, body structure, legs, or no legs. The main thing I want to share with you guys is the incredible online OSU publication FREE which you can access at:
http://entoplp.okstate.edu/factsheets.html/?searchterm=E 1023
E 1023 is the publication with info on how to preserve the “good guys.”
Enjoy the pretty pix! Bear in mind these are the good guys found in OKlahoma.... but I imagine that some of them show up in many of our other states!
Here begins the 6th installment on SOIL:
PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
* Algal blooms: from fertilizer run-off. These will take up available oxygen in a pond or body of water and kill other life forms living there
* Reduce Direct Nutrient Loss: People’s grass clippings can be carried to local streams and ponds in the run-off and add to the nutrient loads in those bodies of water. Those nutrients are also then not available to the people to feed their yards and gardens.
* Use Spreaders: He showed several pix of a couple of different kinds of spreaders – Rotary and Drop Spreaders
* Eutriphication Impacts Water Quality (Webster: Definition of EUTROPHICATION: the process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients (as phosphates) that stimulate the growth of aquatic plant life usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen)
- Causes an increase in water treatment needs at a very high cost
- Decreases recreation value of a body of water
- Decrease in the aesthetics of that body (it doesn’t look as nice!)
He noted that a number of states and municipalities are restricting the use of fertilizers. These restrictions consist of such things as :
* Bans of P fertilizers on lawns
* Regulation of nutrient management plans/certification for lawn professionals
* Limits of fertilizers on lawns – based on soil tests
His comment is that we in Oklahoma [and for our purposes here, areas of people on our thread] need to be sure to use the fertilizers available to us properly so that they won’t be taken away from us.
BIORETENTION HOLES
Some people make runoff low spots which are called “bioretention holes” which will retain the phosphorus. – Plant-based filtration - The botanic garden in Stillwater, OK has one that can be viewed.
Here is a link describing one:
http://botanicgarden.okstate.edu/gardens-and-grounds/edible-landscape-1
He gave us a table which is a STATE SOIL TEST SUMMARY
Since I will not be able to duplicate it, I will seek to describe it.
Data is from the soil tests which the soil test department had issued (I did not catch the year or years this was documenting)
The heading describing the columns:
pH, N, Soil Test P index, Soil Test K index
The row descriptions are:
AVG, Median, Optimal
So
AVG: pH – 6.9 N-26 STP-221 [too high] STK-510
Median: pH -7.0 N-15 STP-143 STK-463
Opt: pH 6.-7.5 N 25-50 P 65-120 STK 250-350
He pointed out that the whole column listing the Phosphorus data was all way too high, and he is very concerned about them.
He pointed out that calcium will cause phosphorus to precipitate as well as aluminum. This depends on the circumstances.
CARTOON
He showed us a cartoon of a man and wife standing at and looking over their garden. He is holding a shovel. The caption to this picture is: “We have to take this soil to a fertility clinic!”
RELEVANT INFO FOR PEOPLE IN THE SOUTHERN REGION OF USA:
This includes NM, TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, TN, KN, NC, SC [my apologies if I did not get the correct abbreviation for your state!]
It shows how to find a soil testing lab in your area
http://aesl.ces.uga.edu/soiltest123/
End Installment 6 of SOIL
btw:
I cook asparagus in a wire fish cooker on indirect charcoal. Turn over at 8-9 minutes. Sprinkled with water, olive oil and a bit of pepper. Plus, some sprinkled jalapeno pepper that I dried and ground into dust with a blender.
Killer !
Great information and links. Thanks so much. We don’t fertilize our lawn at all. Planted it 39 years ago. We run the lawn mower over the leaves and that’s the fertilizer.
If we develop a bare spot that won’t grow anything, we plant a little red clover and fescue or quick grow rye.
Our gardens get plenty of organic amendments, but not chemical. Rotation planting of certain crops helps bring up nutrients, so we try that before we add P or K.
Wow! Thank you!