Non Synthetic Soil Improvers

[Ukjay]

Hi,

As part of our goal to improve the health of our paddocks, vwe are looking into what options for non Synthetic Soil Improvement Additives there are on top of Seaweed, as our paddocks have had nothing put on for over 8 years now (prior to our being here), and prior to that - the owner used Seaweed as a soil conditioner (fertiliser I suppose), so looking to see options we have to help us rejuvenate our paddocks.

Currently we've topped them, currently grazing sheep over them to keep it under control, just harrowed them today and was amazed how much dead matter lifted (could have made a few suicide bricks out of it ), but noticed looking across the paddocks - one can see a lot of dead / standing old grass mixed with the healthy grass growth.
We are going to be testing the PH and look at Lime options etc as part of the plan..

 

[Yale]

Start with lime....

 

[Sharpy]

Continue with fym

 

[yellowbelly]

As part of our goal to improve the health of our paddocks, vwe are looking into what options for non Synthetic Soil Improvement Additives

Non synthetic soil improvement additives are known as sh!t in Lincolnshire.
As @Sharpy says above, lashings of it from the back ends of cattle or pigs or sheep.

 

[neilo]

You can’t even begin to guess what ‘improver’ you might need, without first seeing what, if anything, needs improving. No doubt plenty of snake oil (& seaweed) salesmen will line up to tell you otherwise though.

Soil test for the basics of pH, P& K first, so you at least know what you’re dealing with. ANY recommendations without knowing what might need improving are just pie in the sky tbh.

 

[Ukjay]

Start with lime....

Prilled

 

[Ukjay]

Continue with fym

Agreed, however not easy to apply with no livestock (cattle), and local farmers will no doubt require it for themselves - and horse sh!t offers little by comparison, hence the quest for available options.
Sheep doing their bit, but they cannot do it all.

 

[Kevtherev]

Soil test see what deficiencies there are
Lime manure and good grazing management will pay dividends.
(Oh and maybe some magic grey powder)

 

[Ukjay]

Soil test see what deficiencies there are
Lime manure and good grazing management will pay dividends.
(Oh and maybe some magic grey powder)

As above, soil test is already on the list for PH first, as that I believe plays the higher importance / significance in aiding the availability of the already tied up nutrients?

I then need to think about the other parameters in more detail, as to be honest, I'm struggling on the reliability of results due to threads on here questioning reliability of test results and stating they can be dubious - so stuck / unsure on that part slightly if I'm honest.

Sheep grazing will continue, no worries in that, not sure if the horse sh!t and chopped straw bedding will help if spread out after composting for a while, but it is some OM I suppose?

As for magic powder, what is that?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You need a full soil test as PH is only part of it really

 

[deleted user 837354]

Agreed, however not easy to apply with no livestock (cattle), and local farmers will no doubt require it for themselves - and horse sh!t offers little by comparison, hence the quest for available options.
Sheep doing their bit, but they cannot do it all.

Nothing wrong with horse muck. It's organic matter (as long as it is free of plastic twine and other garbage). Not very high in nutrients though but works fine.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It's far from non-synthetic, but the best soil improver of all is "management" ie your own input as a manager. Success is all "man made"

Unless you're wanting to go organic, get some ammonium sulphate on it, grow some more feed, and then manage it better than it has been managed previously.
If it's got a heap of thatchy crap in the bottom of the sward, little clover, then you will need to get some N into the system to give the decomposers food to multiply with... the sooner you do it the better.

Chances are your pH is in the 5s, but that won't worry AS much, what your plants don't use now will be used in the spring. 100kg/ha, once, won't hurt your biome much

The biggest input into your soil is the sugar from photosynthesis, so good grazing management is your biggest and best place to start IMO, keep those solar panels clean and as big as possible - then fart about spreading stuff that costs money to do. Do NOT let your sheep eat the regrowth, ie make paddocks and rotate them to protect your leaf area

 

[Ukjay]

Nothing wrong with horse muck. It's organic matter (as long as it is free of plastic twine and other garbage). Not very high in nutrients though but works fine.

Fortunately we are in full control of the horse muck / bedding etc as it's on site, so will not have the traditional often additionally added condements included.
The only 'added' part from our side would be horse hair from being clipped, but that does not worry me, as it should easy enough in the heap.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

If horses are involved then a sward lifter or Paraplough may help depending on soil

 

[Ukjay]

It's far from non-synthetic, but the best soil improver of all is "management" ie your own input as a manager. Success is all "man made"

Unless you're wanting to go organic, get some ammonium sulphate on it, grow some more feed, and then manage it better than it has been managed previously.
If it's got a heap of thatchy crap in the bottom of the sward, little clover, then you will need to get some N into the system to give the decomposers food to multiply with... the sooner you do it the better.

Chances are your pH is in the 5s, but that won't worry AS much, what your plants don't use now will be used in the spring. 100kg/ha, once, won't hurt your biome much

The biggest input into your soil is the sugar from photosynthesis, so good grazing management is your biggest and best place to start IMO, keep those solar panels clean and as big as possible - then fart about spreading stuff that costs money to do. Do NOT let your sheep eat the regrowth, ie make paddocks and rotate them to protect your leaf area

Hi Pete,

No, not going organic; simply prefer not to use very many chemicals on the land (personal choice), but one I wish to help avoid wherever possible.
As for the AS, what is the latest time that can be added - and are you suggesting a straight AS or one of the blended variations?

 

[Ukjay]

If horses are involved then a sward lifter or Paraplough may help depending on soil

The land is a project to say the least, as the PO's let far too many horses run loose over the very wet winter here, and the paddocks and an area close to the house got trashed and poached hard in areas

It has improved quite substantially in areas, but is nowhere near what we want it to be, and along with Moles and Rabbits adding to the problem, still a lot to do. Rabbits will be controlled easily enough, the Moles will have to see what I can do on that one, as never had any experience with dealing with moles myself.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Hi Pete,

No, not going organic; simply prefer not to use very many chemicals on the land (personal choice), but one I wish to help avoid wherever possible.
As for the AS, what is the latest time that can be added - and are you suggesting a straight AS or one of the blended variations?

To give you an idea we had some soil samples back from a farm yesterday- cutting ground PH was low to low ish Everything else was high to normal bar the Potash levels - straight Calcium lime going on with straight potash , if we had not sampled we would not have had a clue although being cutting ground the low K level is understandable

 

[Ukjay]

Ok, for the paddocks in question, who are the most respected companies to look into sending soil to for analysis, and how many samples per Acre should I look to add into the mix?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Hi Pete,

No, not going organic; simply prefer not to use very many chemicals on the land (personal choice), but one I wish to help avoid wherever possible.
As for the AS, what is the latest time that can be added - and are you suggesting a straight AS or one of the blended variations?

You can go quite late with ammonium sulphate because.... it's an ammonium form of N.
Urea needs to be converted to nitrite and nitrate into ammonia before it can "work" whereas AS will still be helpful at 5-8° soil temp.

Unless you know what else is low, then just go for a cheap SOA straight fertiliser; it's almost always cheaper to mix extras to straights, than buy blends. The S is nearly always useful as well, and as far as bagged N goes, it's about your gentlest product.

Generally in the spring we'll be applying SOA a good 6 weeks before we start spreading urea anywhere, helps see the moss off and just get those reluctant little plants up out of the ground after winter...

 

[czechmate]

Absolutely top firm...

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