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Dillonvale, Ohio

I need OM badly. What's the best way to add it? I have some 2 year old square bales I'm adding. Would alfalfa cubes help much? Or would leaves be better?

10/30/2018 8:13:32 PM

Pittsburgh, PA

All those will work. I have access to leaf compost and have hauled in a lot and hoping to get more if the weather cooperates. Also adding aged manure is a good way to add OM. Can’t go wrong with mushroom manure either but it’s so expensive.

10/30/2018 9:17:27 PM

Deer Park, WI

Building OM is a marathon, not a sprint. In fact, the only way you could sprint this race is by hauling in high OM soil. In lieu of that, the best method for building OM is through the addition of quality compost. 1-3" per year is the recommended rate. More than this could spawn other issues, less than this will take more years than you may have patience for.

Addition of manures, bales, leaves, etc are all cost-effective methods of building OM over time. Non-decomposed matter will take time to decompose. it will also tie up important nutrients (nitrogen, notably) that could limit pumpkin potential.

In a perfect world, I'd add an inch or two of compost, turkey manure, and shredded leaf/grass mix. Ideally applied and incorporated in the fall immediately after pumpkin harvest so that warm soil temps can go to work on converting these substrates into beneficial humus. You can apply this mix in fall, just recognize not much will happen if soil temps are below 50 degrees (microbes go to sleep for the winter). Spring application and incorporation is also a possibility, but you will not get as much bang for the buck in the season as microbes require time and heat to do their job of converting these substrates into the stuff pumpkins need to grow big and fat.

Hope this helps.

10/31/2018 10:07:32 AM

Muddy Waters

Amen Joe! Friend's don't let friends till in raw matter

10/31/2018 5:14:48 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

Maple leaves break down much faster than oak leaves, and if you chop them up with your mower they break down even faster. The bales and oak leaves would be better if they are composted, adding a nitrogen source like green grass or fresh manure. The past few years I have been bagging up grass and poplar leaves with my mower and building a big compost pile. I add more grass through the summer. I don't turn the pile as often as I would like, so it takes 2 years to get it decomposed enough to apply. If I lose a plant to bugs or critters or disease in August or early September, I will pile on grass clippings and till them in with a fork before seeding my cover crop.

One thing that will hurt your OM is too much tillage. Every time you till you introduce oxygen that activates the bacteria that turn the carbon into CO2. And if you have sandy soil, you will have a real difficult time keeping OM up. Sandy soil has more space between the particles, letting in more oxygen and turning the carbon into CO2.

10/31/2018 8:48:20 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Peat moss and compost will help, here is a good read.

https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/peatcom.html

I have sandy loam with a high silt content, so peat moss, along with compost is what will give me the greatest benefit. We will also be adding mass quantities of perlite over the years also.

11/1/2018 11:10:10 AM

Deer Park, WI

Great article, thanks for sharing!

11/1/2018 2:56:10 PM